A great story will outline your cause clearly, in a way that is engaging to read... all while speaking from the heart. This may sound simple, but it’s not always easy. The two areas to focus on? What to say, and how to make it look good.
First, check out these well-written campaign stories:
Sponsor a Camper With Disabilities
The Way of the Mountain
LLS Donation by Sudol Strider's
What to Say:
For a complete story that covers everything your readers will want to know, we recommend including the following:
- Introduce who or what are you’re raising money for. If not for yourself, how do you know the person you’re raising funds for? This is where you want to make a personal connection with your donors.
- An overview of what happened (or, your cause).
- How the money will be spent. We recommend getting specific, and sharing the costs associated with your goal. Donors appreciate being in the loop about where their funds are going.
- Why this cause means so much to you.
- Share your gratitude and appreciation that the reader is considering sharing or donating to your GoFundMe.
- Let the reader know how to share your GoFundMe. For example:“To help me get the word out, you can share my link to your Facebook Timeline!”
How to make it Stand Out
1. Break it up
Short paragraphs work wonders when trying to make a story easy to read and understand. If you’re not sure where to break up your Story, consider pressing enter twice after every four or five sentences.
2. Add bold or underlined headlines.
Consider headlines like “The Backstory,” “The Costs,” “How you can Help,” etc. This is a great way to draw your readers’ eyes to different areas of your story, in case they’re in a pinch. To do that, highlight the words you want bolded or underlined. Then, press the ‘control’ key and 'b' at the same time for bold letters, or the ‘control’ key and 'u' at the same time for underlined letters.
3. Add photos (or videos!) throughout your story.
This little known GoFundMe feature always makes stories look excellent. While in ‘Edit,’ place your cursor where you want the image to appear. Then, press the "Photo/Video" button.
4. Use italics in your story
Italics can be used for anything you’d like. We often see them used if a Campaign Organizer quotes someone, or would like a part of the text to stand out from the rest of the non-italicized text. To do that, highlight the words you want italicized. Then, click ‘i’ and the ‘control’ key at the same time for italicized letters.
5. Check your spelling.
Copy and paste your story into a free, online spell check, to make sure you don't have any typos.