What to Know When Promoting Your Fundraisers on Social Media

October 29, 2025

In this post, we’ll break down strategies like these that boost awareness of your fundraising campaigns, drive meaningful engagement, and strengthen your relationships with donors. 

Make Posts Feel Like a Two-Way Street

Successful marketing campaigns are all about embracing the unique qualities of each communication channel. For example, handwritten messages feel personal and authentic, while emails are convenient and highly targeted. Social media, on the other hand, encourages supporters to react and engage in two-way conversations with your organization. 

So, rather than treating your social media profiles as one-way bulletin boards, think of them more as a roundtable discussion where supporters feel included and not pitched to. You can encourage this open back-and-forth conversation by:

Telling Stories About Real People

Showcase all the people responsible for furthering your mission, giving followers a look into what it would be like to join your efforts. For example, highlight volunteers with behind-the-scenes photos or in volunteer spotlight posts. Or, show the impact that supporting your fundraising could have by telling the story of a beneficiary impacted by your work.

Telling real stories from real people makes your online presence feel authentic and approachable, making supporters feel comfortable about engaging.

Use Prompts and Fun Formats

Your messaging doesn’t always have to be serious to be effective—in fact, more playful formats might be what supporters need to leave that first comment. Prompt followers to engage via quizzes, polls, or even a fun question of the day. For example, a library foundation might quiz its followers on literary greats each Friday.

Using free or low-cost nonprofit graphic design tools makes it easy to spruce up these posts and catch followers’ attention, but keep in mind that you don’t have to go all out for every post. In fact, adding too many shiny graphics or interactive elements could undermine the primary purpose of your social media page as a conversation outlet. Instead, carefully choose when and where to invest your design time.

Ask for Input

Show supporters that you genuinely care about their feedback by asking for and implementing their thoughts and suggestions. For instance, have supporters vote on the design for your next t-shirt fundraiser or event theme. This also helps build buy-in before the campaign launches—they’ll feel more invested in the campaign’s success when they had a hand in it.

Let your followers vote on merch designs, event themes, or your next fundraising goal. It builds buy-in before you make the ask.

Time Posts Strategically

There’s no plug-and-go formula that will reveal the perfect time to post. However, knowing when your audience is most active online can be a big help in boosting awareness and engagement. These steps can help identify the best windows for social posts:

Step 1: Look at First- and Third-Party Data

As DeepSync explains, first-party data is information that supporters share directly with your organization via your owned properties (think your website or social media posts). Third-party data is information about a specific target audience that external sources collect and distribute.

Both of these data types are important for uncovering audience preferences:

• First-party data: Analyze your own social media performance metrics for each platform. When do posts get the most likes and comments? If your organization only has a small amount of first-party data to reference, you’ll likely need to start with third-party data and adjust your strategy as interactions ramp up.
• Third-party data: View benchmark data from reliable sources to identify prime posting times. For instance, Sprout Social provides reports that detail the best times to post on Instagram each day of the week. 

Step 2: Consider the Platform

Keep in mind that audiences may use different social media platforms at different times, and plan accordingly. Additionally, think about each platform’s unique strengths when posting anything time-sensitive, such as:

• Countdowns: Instagram has a built-in countdown sticker you can add to stories, making it a great option for time-sensitive campaigns.
• Livestreams: Drive real-time engagement with platforms that offer built-in livestream tools like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
• Limited-time challenges: Boost the chances of your fundraiser going viral with a time-bound challenge shared via TikTok or Instagram Reels.
• Urgent updates or appeals: Need to share a last-minute venue change or a final call to action to push your fundraiser across the finish line? Post these on platforms like X. 

Step 3: Use Scheduling Tools

Use tools to create and schedule batches of posts in advance. These tools can also help you manage posts across multiple social media accounts from a single platform. Doing most of the legwork in advance keeps your posts consistent without taking over your week—just remember to set aside some time to engage with supporters’ comments or messages. Additionally, reviewing your campaign’s performance will be much easier because all social media data will be stored and displayed in the same way.

Mobilize Potential Advocates and Fundraisers

You’ve likely got a few followers who repeatedly pop up in your notifications tab for liking, commenting, or sharing your posts. Look to these highly engaged, loyal followers when you need extra fundraising support via crowdfunding or peer-to-peer (P2P) campaigns. 

As Bonfire’s guide to P2P campaigns highlights, they are a great way to organically raise money, spread awareness of your cause, deepen engagement, leverage social proof, and maximize resources. To encourage participation on social media, make sure to:

• Optimize your website, making it easy for potential fundraisers to learn about your mission and how they can get involved by including a link to donate on your homepage or in a pop-up.
• Create and distribute shareables, like caption templates and graphics optimized for social media, to P2P participants so posting is quick and easy.
• Use a P2P platform that offers shareable links so spreading the word on social media takes minimal time and clicks. 
• Celebrate and thank your loyal supporters online, posting when they get their first donation or reach their personal fundraising goal.

Keep the Momentum Going 

Your fundraising campaign or event may be over, but that doesn’t mean the online buzz has to be. You can keep social media engagement high by:

• Showing off the results by letting followers know how much was raised and what it will raise (bonus points if you create visuals or a mini impact report).
• Thanking and tagging everyone who made your success possible, including volunteers, sponsors, and major donors.
• Sharing what’s next by using this campaign’s wins to tee up your next event or program—this will build excitement early and keep supporters tuned in.

Finally, don’t forget to identify ways to improve for next time. For example, did you achieve high click-through rates on social media posts, only for a lackluster overall conversion rate? In this case, you may need to revamp your website’s conversion pathways by changing the size, placement, or text on the site’s donate buttons.

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Marketing your fundraisers on social media doesn’t have to be overwhelming or ultra-polished. Instead, add a personal human touch by engaging directly with supporters and highlighting those who make the work you do possible.