Tips for Fundraising
If you find the idea of asking for people to sponsor you a little daunting, this page is here to help. Below are some tips for activities you can do to get the word out.
Make a list of potential sponsors:
- Relatives
- Friends and neighbors
- Coworkers
- Teammates
- Members of your religious community
- Members of your online community
Decide how you want to contact each potential sponsor. If you’re emailing people, try to personalize each email if you can—a personalized greeting and message can go a long way toward making your potential sponsors glad that you reached out to them. Post to all of your social media networks, and talk about your goals and what Clarion West means to you.
If you keep a blog, write about what the workshop and the Write-a-thon mean to you, and be sure to link to it from the email and social media posts you send out. Post flyers at your workplace or community centers—we have a flyer that you can customize, print out, and post.
We’ve also seen some strategies in the past that might work for you:
- Offering to name characters after sponsors (also known as Tuckerization)
- Sending sponsors books as rewards
- Doing Kickstarter-style reward tiers
- Giving fans sneak peeks of new work
Be sure to post updates to your Write-a-thon page! Keeping your page up to date on your progress toward your goals is a fantastic way to give your potential sponsors incentive to click the PayPal button.
Once you have sponsors, it’s up to you how often you contact them. We recommend sending out a weekly email to your sponsors, updating them on your progress. Consider giving back to your sponsors. Some writers share excerpts of work they’ve done during the Write-a-thon; others send their sponsors a completed novel or short story draft once the Write-a-thon is over.