WELCOME TO TEAM RED CROSS!
Thank you for dedicating your next few months to fundraising for the American Red Cross. The funds you bring in will make a big impact in helping prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. This toolkit provides easy tips to help you raise life-saving funds to help those that need it most. Thank you for choosing Team Red Cross and welcome to the community!
Add photos and videos and update the story field. Personalizing your page is the best way to motivate people you know to support your efforts.
Set a High Goal. If you set your goal at the minimum amount needed, donors are likely going to stop donating to your page once you hit that goal. Set an aggressive goal and you are not only more likely to meet your fundraising minimum but you could go above and beyond!
Start Small and Build. Ask a few close friends to donate before you invite your broader network to support your efforts. Those few initial gifts will help people feel that they are joining a successful campaign.
Activate your Network. Use the tools available on your campaign page to contact your network and ask for donations. Social media, email, and phone calls are great ways to engage people you know. Use the tips provided below to guide your strategy.
Self-Donations. Consider donating to your page to get things started, even if it’s small it will show you believe in your own efforts!
Draft Potential Donor List. Think of people that you can count on for their support – friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.
Segment your Donors. For best results contact your potential donors in the way that is best for them. While sending a group email might be the easiest method for you, a personal email or phone call to key contacts might be best for them. Lay out your approach and group your contacts by the best form of contact. Start with friends and family, co-workers, and fellow volunteers.
Ask, then Follow Up. People want to support you, but everyone is busy and forgets. Follow up with your supporters, send updates to help remind them of your efforts and personalize your requests.
Turn-it-Around Fundraising. Remember those people that have asked you to buy products they sell, purchase cookies from their kids, support school events and donate to their charitable fundraisers? Now is the time to turn around and ask them to support YOUR efforts!
Update Often. Don’t just send out asks, send out updates on your progress as well. Let your donors know when you’ve reach certain milestones, or if there has been an exciting update from the Red Cross. Consider updating the photos on your page as well, finding unique ways to show your progress.
Thank Them. Be sure to personally thank your supporters, either by email, phone, eCards or in person, they want to know you appreciate them. Be sure to include an update on the campaign’s progress.
Tell your audience your Red Cross story. Why did you choose to fundraise for the Red Cross? If you don’t have a Red Cross story, take one from the Red Cross Story section below. A compelling story is always more likely to draw in donors.
You want to email as many donors as possible, but you also don’t want to sound like you are sending a mass email. When emailing important donors, take the time to send individual personal asks.
Don’t make the mistake of sending an email to 100 people and revealing everyone's contact information. Instead, send the email to yourself and BCC everyone else to protect their privacy.
Fundraising may be top of mind at first, but it’s easy for that to wear off, don’t let the fundraising deadline creep up on you. Create a calendar with templated posts so you can keep yourself on track.
Keep track of your likes and responses to understand which efforts you make are performing the strongest, and double down where you’re seeing the most success. For example, did sharing a personal story resonate, or was a direct appeal for support more effective? Even considering day of the week to reach out can improve your response!
There will be a public link from your fundraiser dashboard that will take friends and family directly to your fundraising page. You can copy it and paste it into emails and social communications. This is your public link, copying the URL while logged into your campaign will not post your page.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.
Always share the link with a photo of yourself or the cause. Your post can easily get lost without an image.
Create Urgency.
With each post, create a greater sense of urgency, tell your audience you really need their help to hit your fundraising goal or to save a life. Explain why they should donate now rather than later.
An offline donation includes any funds not coming in through your online fundraising campaign, commonly cash or check. If you receive a cash or check donation, please use the Offline Donation Form when mailing it in so we know which runner to credit the funds to. Please DO NOT mail cash. If you receive cash, keep the cash and either submit a donation online to your campaign page in the donor's name, or mail us a personal check for the same amount.
Checks can be made out to the American Red Cross and mailed to:
101 Station Landing, Suite 510
Medford, MA 02155
2200 W. Harrison St.
Chicago, IL 60612
520 W. 49th Street
New York, NY 10019
209 Farmington Avenue
Farmington, CT 06032
8550 Arlington Blvd.
Fairfax, VA 22031
836 Calle Plano
Camarillo, CA 93012
209 Fairfield Road
Fairfield, NJ 07004
Northern Michigan Red Cross
735 S. Garfield Ave.
Suite 100B
Traverse City, MI 49686
231-342-2966
Use the below posts to get some ideas on how to ask for donations through email and social media. Feel free to make these posts your own, the more personal, the better!
Have a post that you love but don’t see on this list? Share it with us! That will help us to share your great idea with others.
Dear NAME:
(Insert personal intro for each individual donor: example: It was great to see you at Thanksgiving! Or. I hope you are doing well. I wanted to reach out to you about something that is important to me.)
I am excited to support the American Red Cross while running the XXX Marathon.
The Red Cross is there for others in their time of need, connecting service members with their families, delivering blood to hospital patients, deploying volunteers to support victims of disasters, and administering measles vaccinations to children in foreign countries. They provide hope and relief when all seems lost.
Please join me in supporting the Red Cross by making an online donation on my personal fundraising page. A gift of any size will help someone in need when the next disaster strikes. Your gift could be the one that saves a life.
Please go here to make your donation now: (Insert GoFundMe link)
Thank you for your generous support to the Red Cross and for helping me take one more step towards achieving my goal.
Dear NAME:
(Insert personal intro for each individual donor.)
Every 60 seconds, the American Red Cross touches an average of 250 people. The Red Cross responds to nearly 200 disasters every day, provides the nation’s largest blood supply, teaches life-saving skills like CPR, helps support military service members and their families and helps strengthen communities around the world.
This is why I've agreed to support the American Red Cross while training to run the XXX Marathon. Will you please join me in supporting the Red Cross by making a donation online on my personal fundraising page?
Your gift will help ensure that the Red Cross is there in your community, across the country, and around the world - connecting service members with their families, delivering blood to accident victims, deploying volunteers to a disaster site, or administering measles vaccinations in foreign countries. A gift of any size will save the day when the next disaster strikes.
Go to the website below to make your donation now.
(Insert GoFundMe link)
Thank you for your generous support for the American Red Cross and for helping me take one more step towards achieving my goal.
Dear NAME:
(Insert personal intro for each individual donor)
I am proud to support the American Red Cross while I train for the XXX Marathon.
The Red Cross is there in times of great need - Whether responding to more than 60,000 disasters a year, connecting members of the military with their families, delivering life-saving blood, or vaccinations to children around the world. They provide hope and relief where it’s needed most.
I have set a goal of raising $XXX to assist the Red Cross in their lifesaving mission to alleviate human suffering. I hope you can help me achieve this goal by making a donation to my personal fundraising page below.
{Insert GoFundMe link}
Your gift supports the vital work of the Red Cross in your community, across the country, and around the world.
Thank you for your generosity.
(Insert personal closing here)
Team Recruitment
Help us recruit great people, invite your network to join our team!
Fundraising
Use these fundraising posts to lead your network to donate on your personal GoFundMe page.
Team Recruitment
Fundraising
To access the library and download images, you will need to agree to our Terms and Restrictions below.
The mission of the Red Cross is to help prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. Across all the ways we provide help and hope to others - from bringing disaster relief, providing lifesaving blood and training in lifesaving skills, to reaching across borders to reconnect families and supporting military families - the American Red Cross makes a big impact.
Explore this collection of videos that can be shared with your fundraising asks about what the Red Cross brings to everyday people, every day.
Use the latest news stories and press releases for your fundraising. Keep your donors informed about Red Cross activities, from the ways we deliver on our mission, to the impact of our work on everyday lives.
No need to recreate the wheel, use the content that we have already posted for your fundraising asks. Reposting our content will save you time and allow you to focus on something else important, your training!
Every year, the victims of more than 60,000 disasters rely on the Red Cross for immediate help.
Each year the Red Cross provides more than 540,000 services to military members, veterans and civilians. Local Red Cross chapters brief nearly 400,000 people each year through the “Get to Know Us” program.
On average, over 4.6 million people a year receive Red Cross training and information in first aid, water safety and other skills that help save lives.
Approximately 275,000 people volunteered last year to help fulfill the mission of the Red Cross.
Last year, the Red Cross collected nearly 4.5 million units of blood from more than 2.3 million volunteer donors.
Every hour of the day, more than 1,650 people are helped by the Red Cross.
An average of 90 cents of every dollar the American Red Cross spends is invested in delivering care and comfort to those in need. Everything we do depends on the needs of the people that we serve.
For example: Did you know that on average 7 people die each day from a home fire in this country? Help me reduce tragic home fire related deaths in our community by providing a smoke alarm to a family in an at-risk community. Donate $15 to my campaign and you could save a life.
Yes, check and cash donations can be collected. As a fundraiser, you can collect check and cash donations and either drop them off or mail them to your local Red Cross Chapter. Allow 2-3 weeks to see these amounts reflected on your fundraising page.
Yes, if offline amounts have been verified and received in time to meet the provided parameters.
Contact us to request a duplicate copy of any donation receipt. We will need to have the name on the card used to process the donation and the email address associated with the donation.