Now that you've joined Benefit, let us help walk you through the few shorts steps to running a successful fundraising campaign.
Create A Campaign
Campaigns are what allow you to manage where and how your funds should be allocated. Name your campaign and then add a targeted money goal, a start and an end date. You can even choose to allow your donors to support an individual within the campaign.
You can have as many campaigns running as you’d like, but you have to have at least one. We created a default campaign called General Fund. You don’t have to keep this one. It’s just there to ensure the money goes somewhere. Without a campaign, your donors cannot contribute to your cause.
4th Grade Field Trip
| $15,050 Raised so far | $21,500 Our goal |
Invite Some Users
Once you've got your campaign in place it's time to start inviting donors. You can invite donors from the campaign detail page, via the "invite donors" button. You will have the option of uploading a txt file of email addresses or you can manually enter each address on your own.
The email includes your name in the invitation with instructions on how to download the app and support your cause.
You do not have to invite via the admin. You can spread the word in other ways (announcement in a school bulletin, etc.). Our invite system is only there to make it easier for you, and it is entirely opt-in. We've provided you a few different templated options to send out to your donors.
Monitor the Progress
So now you've created a campaign or two and invited some users. Good for you. Don’t get too cocky. Now it’s time to see how the campaign is doing. Here is a little breakdown of what information we provide and how you can use it to your advantage.
Donors
The donors list tells you everything you need to know about how much each donor has contributed to the campaign. Sort the columns however you’d like to get a better look. If you have questionable donors in the system you can manage their access with a simple toggle.
Transactions
Transactions gives you a line by line breakdown of every transaction that supports the campaign. Transactions total, where it was purchased, and donation amount is listed here. Pending transactions show you the donor checks that have not yet cleared but are soon to be added.
Retailers
See which retailers your donors are shopping at most often. As we add local retailers in the near future you will be able to get an informed picture of the ones you should pay the most attention to. You can also use this information to convince new local retailers to join your fundraising efforts.
Getting Paid
Each month we will send you a check if the total is greater than $10. If you don't raise $10 in a month, the balance carries forward to the next month, indefinitely, until you've hit the threshold.
The check is emailed to the address you specified in the signup form. You can change the email address at any time by going into your settings. Emailing checks keeps shipping costs low so more money can go to the cause.
There is a one dollar charge for each monthly check sent. It is reflected in your statement under the debited line item.
That's all there is to it!
You’ve now been brought up to speed on how to run a successful campaign using Benefit. Keep in mind that in order to really get the most out of our tool it’s important to really educate your donors on how the mobile app works. Be sure to refer to our materials in email reminders, bulletins, and group events.
Watch a quick demo of the app in action.
We’ll notify your donors of new retailers and added features using monthly emails. This will help encourage better engagement, and more donations coming your way.
For further answers to your many questions please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions.