Having a web presence for your cause is great, but how do you get people to come see it and contribute? There are three basic ways to promote your fundraisers:

Emails

The key to effective email solicitations is to share personal stories and images that bring your cause to life! It's also helps when the recipient of the email knows the sender personally. Writing effective email solicitations is critical to making a strong connection with your donors. Visit Email guidelines.

Before you can send out any emails to promote your Wish List, you need to setup your Address Book

givezooks! has worked with VerticalResponse to incorporate bulk email services, a monthly email grant, and discounts on other services into your fundraisers so that you can spread the word and save money.

Vertical Response, Email Delivery, and You

Widgets

Widgets are a customizable effective way to promote your wish list somewhere else on the web - on a website, blog, or social network page of your organization or one of your supporters. A widget is a real-time view of wish list progress. If you want, you can display donors names in a scrolling window.

Widgets let you take your wish list into other sites that provide relevant context; for example, if your cause was raising money for books for kids, you could place your widget on the page of a willing local bookstore.

How to Create Widgets

From your Campaign Dashboard click on Widgets then Create a New Widget. From here, you can customize your widget with colors and information that suites your campaign's needs. Click the Update Preview or Refresh buttons to see how your widget will look.

We recommend that you create a few widgets with different design characteristics because widgets may be hosted in a variety of settings - blogs, corporate websites, personal websites, or social networking environments. When you have created one, name it something that will suggest its content - like "Emergency Fund Wish List, 3 Items"

How to Publish Widgets

After creating a few widgets, how to publish them will depend on the software used to create the host site; consult the help/support for assistance. Search for "inserting widgets."

Share with a Friend

The Share link invites your supporters to spread the word about your wish list, in their own voice, broadening the reach of your wish list.  Sharing can occur via email or through social networks, book marking sites, or blogs.