Everyone has an opportunity to use their superpowers for good before Give More 24! kicks off on Thursday, September 19. In this case, our super-strength is the ability to inspire others to give alongside us.
Our 2019 theme, BeCause, offers a perfect way to channel these strengths. It allows you to share your personal story or passion for supporting a cause or nonprofit. There are other ways to spread the word too, so we’ve gathered nine tips to help get your friends and neighbors involved. Read below and do what you can before midnight on September 19, which is when our region’s unofficial giving holiday kicks off.
1) Save the Date: Life is busy, so start small by saving the date in your iCal, Outlook or Google calendar. If you’re the social media type, join our Facebook event or the Give More 24! Rally and invite your closest friends. You could even copy and paste this step or any of the ones below into an email and send it to someone who cares about local causes as much as you.
2) Profile Takeover: The easiest way to show your love for local causes on social media. Step one: add our official Give More 24! overlay to your profile image. Step two: download a pre-made Facebook or Twitter cover photo, and add one to your profile. By adding a Give More 24! theme to your profile it will become a billboard for promoting local giving. Keep reading for more ways to flex your social media muscles.
3) Sharing Is Caring: Social media is the easiest way to get the latest updates on Give More 24! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and share, retweet or repost our content. Heck, share the link to this blog. Also, don’t forget to use #givemore24 in your social media posts. This adds you to the larger Give More 24! conversation and puts your post onto the Tagboard at the bottom of our homepage starting on September 9.
4) Become a FUN-draiser: Another way to rally your friends and family is by becoming a fundraising champion. During Give More 24! anyone has the ability to raise funds on behalf of an organization. If you are a huge fan of a participating nonprofit, visit www.givemore24.org, and find its profile page. Then, click on the “Fundraise” button. You can see the button in the image to the right. For more information and step-by-step instructions, you can also read our Give More 24! Fundraiser Guide.
5) Make Our Video Viral: We created a fun, animated video that explains Give More 24! in just 30 seconds. You can preview the video below and, more importantly, create a buzz by sharing the clip on social media. It’s already on Facebook for easy sharing, or you can click share on the YouTube video below to post it on Twitter or wherever your online community lives.
6) Post Your Passion: Personal messages are always more powerful, so create your own posts that speak to which nonprofit you’re supporting or why you give back to southwest Washington during Give More 24! Visit our Downloads page and scroll down to get one of our social share images. Photos make your post stand out from the crowd. You can also promote a specific organization by going to its Give More 24! profile page and clicking on the social share icons next to the fundraise button.
7) Rally Your Team: We all have our own crowds, whether it’s our workplace, an informal club or long-standing organization. Think of the groups you’re already a part of and ways you can plug them into Give More 24! Maybe your church could rally around a specific nonprofit and hand out customizable Give More 24! flyers like the one pictured here, or maybe your office would be interested in starting a business fundraiser? Let us know what you come up with, or if there’s any way we can help bring your plan to life by emailing [email protected].
8) Make The Day Eventful: There are dozens of community events being hosted by nonprofits on Thursday, September 19. You can stop into a few, or plan your own. Gather your friends for a fundraising fiesta or incorporate a cause into your monthly book club. No matter how you connect, philanthropy can strengthen those bonds. Check the bottom of our events page for even more tips and ideas.
9) Give Out Loud: When you click the donate button on September 19, you also have the chance to share a link to that organization’s profile and ask your friends and followers to join you in supporting its efforts. If you want to show your care for your community even more, you can download and add an “I Just Gave” profile photo or social share image. Just like voting, when we give out loud, we encourage others do their duty.
If each of us takes at least two of these steps, we’ll be 2,000 steps closer to making sure that everyone in southwest Washington knows how to get involved in Give More 24! More importantly, we’ll help others discover local causes they care about and give them the chance to make their giving go further thanks to more than $500,000 in matching funds and $19,000 in nonprofit prizes. Not to mention local nonprofits will thank you for it, literally.
With our powers combined, we’ll surely make this Give More 24! a $1.6 million, record-breaking success. More importantly, we’ll make a lasting difference in our community. It’s an incredible feeling and we can’t wait to experience it alongside you and the thousands of other do-gooders who make Give More 24! possible.
Until then, we hope to see you showing off your secret powers online and in-person as we prepare to celebrate our region’s generosity for 24 hours.