No two Just 50 Cents campaigns are exactly alike, but we’ve compiled a list of some common strategies that can help make the whole process—brainstorming, planning, and running the campaign—easier for you. For more ideas, we encourage you to check out previous campaign stories.
- Decide what kind of campaign you want to run. Depending on the size of your group, where you will be holding the campaign, and the audience you want to target for fundraising, you have many options for the kinds of campaigns you can run. You can do anything from setting out jars in your school or community center to collect change to organizing a full-fledged talent show or auction. Click here to see more campaign ideas.
- Set a goal for your campaign. Once you decide what kind of campaign you want to run, brainstorm with your group to come up with attendance, participation, or fundraising targets. Try to set a goal that is realistic, but also challenging. It will feel much better to come close to a goal you thought you could never reach than to accomplish your goal too easily!
- Pick a time and place. The sooner you know when and where you will be holding the campaign, the sooner you can start building excitement that will translate into successful fundraising. Keep in mind that, depending on the size and scale of your campaign, you might have to plan well in advance to make sure you can confirm a location.
- Get organized. Brainstorm all of the things you will need to do to make the campaign a reality, and delegate tasks within your group to make sure that nothing is left undone. As you plan, don’t forget that you can always contact the Global Network with any questions that you might have.
- Spread the word. This is by far the most important part; even the best-organized campaign won’t reach its goals if people aren’t aware that it is taking place! Think about how you can reach out to the community around you: distributing flyers, spreading invitations by word of mouth, making announcements at large meetings, sending emails, or posting messages on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.
- Educate yourself and your group about NTDs. Because most people have never heard of NTDs before, you will probably receive many questions about them during your campaign. It is important that you and your group have an understanding of some basic NTD facts so that you can answer simple questions about them and know where to refer people for more information. The Global Network’s website has fact sheets, field reports, interactive maps and videos that are a great resource for more information on NTDs.
- Have fun! Organizing a successful event is the perfect way to get people excited and to make them feel good about contributing to a cause. As long as you take the time to organize in advance, running the campaign itself should be fun for you and your group.
