8 Tips to Maximize Your CaringWays® Campaign
Addiction Recovery Fundraising
Fundraising Tips & Ideas
CaringWays® Success Stories
Setting up a CaringWays® campaign is the best way to provide practical help for someone going through a health-related crisis. Whether you’re a CareChampion who is helping provide secure financial support for a loved one or a patient who wants to allow people to help you cover health-related expenses, your CaringWays® campaign provides the path toward receiving support in a difficult season.
So how do you maximize the impact your CaringWays® campaign makes? Here are a few of the tips and best practices we’ve seen from successful medical fundraising campaigns:
Everyone knows the expensive costs of healthcare. Whether it’s cancer treatment, addiction recovery, or an unexpected medical expense, there’s a good chance a patient will easily hit their maximum out-of-pocket. But what about the other expenses a patient might not be able to cover during recovery?
Additional costs such as travel to and from treatment and other medical expenses can add up. Then there are the everyday responsibilities such as laundry, cooking, and cleaning that can be incredibly difficult to accomplish. These are often the intangible costs of recovery that can create an incredible burden on patients.
When setting up your campaign, it’s important to consider ALL the costs of recovery. This will help you determine the best goal to cover everything a patient needs during treatment.
Our CareCalculator was built to help you determine your fundraising goal by anticipating the cost of treatment along with all the other health-related expenses a patient should anticipate during treatment.
While asking for help can be very vulnerable and scary, sharing the patient’s story honestly and earnestly will help more people connect with the campaign. People want to help. The more they can understand the reality of the situation and the unique circumstances the patient is facing, the more willing they will be to provide support.
The more personal you can make it, the better. Every patient is a fighter. Others want to know how they’re doing in the battle and what they’re hoping to accomplish through the campaign.
Supporters want to help and stay up-to-date on how a patient is doing, but they might hesitate to proactively reach out. Providing updates during treatment and during recovery is key to helping people stay connected to the campaign. This includes celebrating milestones and sharing frustrating moments. Try sharing personal videos, photos, and written messages every few weeks.
In most cases, there are more people who are willing and interested in helping than a patient realizes. As you think about how to promote your campaign, think about all the possible relationships and connections that a patient has in their network. This could include family, coworkers, your church community, school connections, neighbors, and friends past and present. Sharing with these groups at the very start of your fundraising campaign will help maximize its reach and create momentum for the rest of the campaign.
One tactic that has been effective for many CaringWays® fundraisers is tagging people on social media and encouraging others to do the same. This helps expand the reach of your campaign on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn by allowing others to see it. One simple goal might be to tag three people for every update you share on social media.
In many cases, companies have a process in place to help support employees during medical-related emergencies. Sometimes they are willing to offer a “corporate match” for funds that are raised or can make a one-time donation for the patient. If they can’t provide direct support, they are likely willing to encourage employees and other connections with the desire and capacity to help.
Some of our most successful CaringWays® campaigns included a partnership with a business that wants to help the patient in need.
Because CaringWays® is an online platform, the possible reach of your campaign is endless. At the same time, supporters have different communication preferences. For example, someone might not see your email asking for support, but they’ll notice a text or Facebook post.
Make sure you share your campaign in as many ways as possible: email, texting, Instagram, Facebook posts and groups, community message boards, in-person gatherings, etc.
While some people might not have the financial means to donate, they can still champion your campaign by sharing it with their network. Donations made by people they don’t even know are some of the things that encourage and energize patients the most during treatment. Asking your network to advocate and share, even if they can’t give, creates a way for second and third-degree connections to give to the campaign.
As crowdfunding has grown in popularity, some supporters have become skeptical. This is what makes CaringWays® the best fundraising platform for medical expenses. Unlike crowdfunding platforms that don’t specialize in healthcare and recovery-related expenses, CaringWays® offers a more focused, secure way to donate and provide financial support.
By sharing what makes CaringWays® unique, you’re able to give donors peace of mind through the knowledge that their money is being spent responsibly.
As you continue to promote your campaign and provide updates, our CaringWays® team is here to help. Our weekly updates help you know exactly how much you’ve raised and what you can do to increase the impact of your campaign. Whether you’re a patient or CareChampion, we believe your life and your story have a powerful effect on those around you. We are grateful to help you raise the support you need during this difficult season.
