Creating a fundraising event is a fast and effective way to raise money for your charity, club, or nonprofit organisation. But people can’t donate to your cause if they don’t know it exists. Don’t worry – increasing awareness in today’s digital age is easy once you know how. To be successful, promote your charity event through various tactics; we’ve pulled together some tips and hints to help.

As you start planning and promoting your event online, define what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase awareness of your charity or raise much-needed funds for a particular cause? Keeping your goals focused will help you decide how best to promote your event.

Table of contents

Update your charity website

Use social media to promote your cause

Create the perfect fundraising newsletter

Make use of Google Ads

Activate your media partners

Write a press release for your charity event

Go local

1. Update your charity website

There are many benefits of a dedicated landing page or event website for your charity event – it serves as the focal point of your marketing activities. Your goal is for it to look professional, be engaging, and build a great user experience. Include the following for a cohesive site:

• Event information
• Sponsor information
• Link for online donations
• Media gallery
• Ticket purchasing

2. Use social media to promote your cause

Social media is one of the best ways to create buzz about an upcoming event. Most platforms are free to use at a basic level – so it won’t eat into your marketing budget. You’ll also want a clear marketing strategy, ensuring your message reaches the right people at the right time.

From identifying your target audience to thinking about where they spend their time on social media, there’s much to consider. And that’s before you shift your attention to turning awareness into engagement, and ultimately conversions. Read on to explore tips for nonprofit events.

Find a platform that works for you

Depending on your target audience and the posts you share, some platforms will be more effective than others.

• Facebook allows you to create event pages and post updates. Integration with Eventbrite means you can easily promote your event and sell tickets via the social networking site. Younger generations use Facebook to keep in touch with older relatives, so if the target audience for your charity event is broad, Facebook is great for intergenerational messaging.
• Twitter helps build a sense of anticipation and buzz – use it to share real-time updates before, during, and after your charity event. Creating a short, unique, and easy-to-understand charity event hashtag – and using it consistently – makes it easy for followers to find out more about your event. Encourage your attendees and followers to use the hashtag when discussing the event. You can join a wider conversation by searching for people and organisations using other fundraising or location-related hashtags.
• Instagram is a highly visual platform – perfect if you have engaging images relating to your cause. Like Twitter, hashtag selection is critical.
• TikTok appeals to younger audiences with its trend-led, short, music-backed video content. Match this format if you want to use the platform to promote your charity event successfully.
• Snapchat can help reach a younger audience. If your potential clients are teens and quaranteens, Snapchat is an effective tool.
• Nextdoor is a social-connection channel all about neighbourhoods and local community messaging. If you want your message to cut through the personal content found on other platforms, use Nextdoor.
• LinkedIn is the best channel for B2B and industry networking. Use this professional media platform to share event announcements and news about your cause. If you’re looking for staff for a charity event, you can post one free job at a time on LinkedIn for a maximum of 30 days.

Refresh your social media profiles

Before embarking on a social media campaign to promote your charity or cause, check and update your social media profile pages. Use bold image headers and profile pictures that are eye-catching and instantly recognisable. Remember: always check for the latest image size recommendations for each network.

Make sure your bio is clear and concise – only include relevant information, the event hashtag where appropriate, and add a URL linking to your website or Eventbrite page so people can instantly find out more and buy tickets.

Top tip: optimise any ‘About Us’ sections by including keywords that help your page appear higher up in search engine results.

Create engaging content

Each reaction, repost, and tag you get can help determine how many potential event-goers are seeing your promotional activities – so make every post count!

Include photos, illustrations, and graphics for maximum engagement. If you’ve held previous events, use photos of attendees enjoying themselves. And, if you have secured well-known speakers, partners, or vendors for your upcoming event, share their posts to build excitement.

Intersperse posts relating to the event and ticket sales with relevant news or lifestyle content. Your tone of voice should be engaging and conversational and not sound like a sales pitch. Tailor your content for each social network – and pay close attention to what style suits each platform. On Twitter, it’s short, sweet, and sometimes quirky. On LinkedIn, you need a more professional tone.

Increase your followers

There’s a reason why many businesses count Instagram followers as one of their key performance metrics. Developing a loyal following on Instagram helps you stay in touch with attendees – and connect with new supporters to grow your audience. With Eventbrite Boost’s Instagram Growth Playbook, you can find new followers on Instagram, even if your next event is months out.

Sell tickets on Facebook with built-in checkout

Eventbrite’s ‘Add to Facebook’ feature is a great way to cross-list your Eventbrite event on Facebook – and give your Facebook followers another place to buy tickets. The embedded checkout function allows attendees to buy on whichever platform they prefer.

Pro tip: If you’re starting out, don’t overlook RSVPs. Getting people to RSVP to your events on Facebook helps you achieve visible credibility, gauge interest, and tweak your marketing efforts.

Run social media ad campaigns

Facebook advertising doesn’t need to be scary! Using innovative technology, like Eventbrite Boost, you can build customised Facebook ads to promote your charity event and sell tickets. Facebook advertising lets you target a specific audience; you can even implement sophisticated advertising techniques like A/B testing for different ads to see which promotion works best. From folks who follow you on Facebook to those who look like those followers, reaching the right audiences is a snap.

Save time by using online tools

Coming up with promotional posts for your charity event can be time-consuming and, let’s face it, you can’t be online 24/7. Seek a helping hand in the form of online tools that help you plan, organise, and schedule.

These are helpful when measuring your social media activity. Key metrics help you assess where your approach has worked and where to improve. Things to review include engagement rate (how followers respond to your posts) and trending data. When you identify trends, repost top content to improve engagement rate and show up in more feeds.

Next, look at how many social media users click on links to your ticketing page. By monitoring your event reports, you can see how many sales each social media channel drives and target these platforms in future.

3. Create the perfect fundraising newsletter

Email marketing is another communication channel for your marketing toolbox. It takes time and dedicated attention to craft emails that resonate. But, get it right, and you’ll be rewarded with increased opens, clicks, and ticket sales. Read on for insights into email marketing campaigns.

Plan an exciting email campaign

When you receive a new email, the primary subject line is always bolded. The preheader (or secondary subject line) is the unbolded text that follows. Leverage the preheader to grab people’s attention, getting them to open your email.

Segment your audience

You can segment email audiences in many ways, so manage your email lists with this in mind. Create different emails for: regular attendees, one-time-only attendees, and subscribers who haven’t yet attended an event. By segmenting your list based on interests and location, you can maintain a strong sender reputation and build rapport by providing meaningful and exciting content.

Test your emails

Use testing to learn about your audience and how they engage with your content. For example, split your audience into thirds, send each group the same email at different times, and look at your open, click-through, and unsubscribe rates. The more emails you send, the more you test, and the more you’ll learn about your audience.

You can analyse the various responses received if you schedule emails at different times. Send reminder emails when your event is right around the corner and save time by using our pre-filled templates. Simply insert or update your event details, customise the visuals, and hit send.

Optimise your reach

Your email contact lists will grow over time. Always remember to BCC recipients – you don’t want to give away your contacts by sharing them with everyone. To grow your email contact lists, offer incentives for providing contact details. How about entering those who share their emails into a raffle?

4. Make use of Google Ads

Consider using paid search if you have funds to invest in your marketing. Google AdWords lets you buy keywords that help your listing rank at the top of the search results page. With Google AdWords, you only pay for the clicks or phone calls you then get. Did you know you can target people who match your attendee profile? This helps convert more search hits into sales.

5. Activate your media partners

Establishing great relationships with media contacts can result in valuable free coverage for your charity events. So, nurture your media relations where possible.

Free advertising with media sponsors

To gain free publicity, create a list of media contacts within your database and send them timely, relevant information. Nominate one person within your company as the main point of contact for all media enquiries. Prepare talking points for interviews and run through practice questions with a colleague to get feedback.

Reach out to the press

To streamline your messaging, create a digital or printed media pack with all relevant information about your charity.

Cast your media net as widely as you can. Look at:

• Radio
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• TV
• Podcasts

6. Write a press release for your charity event

Press releases create buzz and talk up your fundraiser. When drafting your press releases, consider:

• Limiting them to one single page
• Writing in the third person (“he, she, they” not “I, you, our”)
• Including a headline, subhead, body copy, and information about the brand or company sponsoring the event
• Including clear contact information for your relevant person

Include a campaign of press releases in your marketing plan. Each should mark a development, such as when tickets go on sale or when speakers get locked in.

7. Go local

To market your charity event locally, post on local Facebook groups and Nextdoor. Link using hashtags to local or venue online noticeboards. Location-targeted keywords are titles and word sets that are location specific. Using the best geo-targeting keywords will improve your SEO – search engines generate results tagged to an area because people want easily accessible options. We’ve fleshed out a few more strategies below.

Use the power of word of mouth

Credibility sells, and word-of-mouth marketing is successful because people trust what they hear from family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Simple referral programs encourage attendees to tell others about your events. Why not ask your followers to share and react ten times for a discount or offer group deals?

Submit your event to your city’s community calendar

Submit your date to every community calendar you can find. Look for them on local radio stations and websites. You can also get publicity in printed What’s On brochures and find What’s On freebie ads in daily or regional newspapers and newsletters.

Reach out to local businesses

Partnerships with local businesses for things like shared discounts make a significant financial difference to your bottom-line profit. Approach a few local businesses and offer to advertise where the supplies came from in exchange for free or discounted goods.

Remember to thank your partners in writing – they’ll often pin these certificates or letters to the wall to show community spirit. Our sponsorship cheat sheet is full of hints and ideas for finding the right catering partnership.

Be present at local events

Establishing partnerships and networking within the local community will raise the profile of your event and charity. Make your logo and images visible in as many places as possible in the build-up to your event.

You’re ready to promote your charity event

With these tips and advice, you are now ready to promote your charity event and bring in the attendees you need. To make the most of the marketing channels mentioned in this article, use Eventbrite Boost’s integration tools and reap the rewards.