8. Customize and personalize your donation website

Each dancer and/or team is assigned their own web page entirely for collecting online donations! Setting up your online account is the first step to supercharging your fundraising efforts. It only takes a few simple steps to ensure a successful campaign.

Your personal web page is your chance to customize your fundraising message to your family, friends, and other donors! Generally speaking, people contribute to your cause based on the personal message you convey. Therefore, it is important to spend time customizing your page.

• Include a message
  
• Upload images
  
• Pick a template to best match your logo
  
• Use Colors to personalize your page

[To set up your webpage, click on the home page and follow the instructions. To edit your homepage after registering, click on the home page.]

7. Promote the availability of your donation page

• Use the system provided by our fundraising site to send emails to your friends and family to direct them to your fundraising page.
• Direct donors to the Dance Marathon website (dancemarathon.berkeley.edu) and have them click on the home page. They can then type in your name and donate directly to your personal fund.

6. Break down your fundraising total

It might seem like a lot to get $75 from your family and friends.  Break it down into smaller amounts: 10 bucks here, 20 bucks there, and before you know it you will have made it way past 75 bucks!

• Ask for $8 donations, since this is the cost of two shots of Neviraprine, a drug that cuts the risk of mother-to-child transmission of AIDS by 50%.

5. Form a Fundraising Team with your floor, apartment building, or fraternity/sorority!

People are always happy to see a group of us youngsters working together to make a difference. Form a fundraising goal for your group. Imagine how impressed potential sponsors will be when you tell them you and your friends are going to raise $1,500 (or any amount you pick) to fight pediatric AIDS.

4. Company-matching programs

Companies often will match any donations that their employees make on your behalf. Remind friends and family members who donate to approach their employers to support you as a dancer. This is a very simple way to increase funds raised.

3. Canning in class

Arrive early to your classes and kindly ask the professor if you can make a classroom announcement regarding fundraising for Dance Marathon and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

• Make an announcement to the class explaining what Dance Marathon is and your role in the event
• Then pass a can or envelope around the class asking for any possible donations (only after getting permission from the professor).

2. Have a plan and stick to it

The most effective way to achieve your fundraising goal is to create a detailed plan outlining the steps you'll need to complete in order to meet your objectives.

• Set a Goal
• Educate your Donors on your cause
• Stress the Benefits of contributing
• Follow Through by sending emails
• Send Thank You notes
• Ask BIG before going small
• Never Feel Guilty about asking for donations
• Ask, Ask, Ask! Every $1 contributes to finding a cure for Pediatric AIDS!

1. Life begins at 75 (bucks)!

Don't stop when you reach the $75 minimum!  There’s always one more relative or friend you can call.  Every dollar counts!