Most people have a cause that they want to support. People do it through volunteering their time or raising awareness of the issue. Most people support causes by donating their money to fund it. In the past, most people struggled to find funding for their causes. Spreading the word, gaining support, and collecting donations were time-intensive endeavors. Technology and the development of crowdfunding platforms have made getting support for your cause much easier.

While you can use crowdfunding to fund your efforts, some people still find it difficult to raise the needed funds. There are specific steps that you need to take to gain support for your cause. If you are looking to find funding for your cause, here is how to get people, friends, and family to donate to your cause.

Decide on a Cause

Before doing anything to find support for your cause, you have to decide exactly what your cause is. Without a firm understanding of what you are working towards, you won’t be able to articulate it to other people. That’s a sure way to fail at getting donations. You need to determine what your cause is, what it is not, and what you want to do.

Your cause needs two components: a problem and a solution. Start by identifying a problem that needs to be solved. It can be a personal issue like finding a way to pay for medical bills. You can also pick a socially conscious cause such as supporting changes in local legislation. Once you have identified a problem, find a way that you can solve it. People are more likely to invest in a solution to a problem than they are to invest in a cause that won’t produce any positive changes.

Find Out if People Will Support This Cause

Once you pick the cause that you want to work for, do your research to see if others want to work on it too. Working towards a cause is pointless if you cannot get the support that you need to make positive changes. You will need the support of your community, family, and friends. Start with your close acquaintances like your family and friends. Poll them to see if they would support you in both monetary and non-monetary ways. Slowly expand your polling to others outside of your network. If there seems to be support for your cause in the community, then it is worth pursuing.

A fast way of researching your cause is to see if other people have tried to support it before. Some causes are universal and can be found around the world. If there are other groups working towards the same goal, then you can probably find the support that you are looking for.

Define a Target Donor Market

While it may be tempting to market to everyone, you will likely not be able to get the support you want without focused efforts. Choose a donor market to target when you advertise to get the most return on your time. For example, you will need to raise in the hundreds-of-thousands, if not, millions-of-dollars to make a tangible change in cancer research. So, you will want to target millionaires, billionaires, and their companies. These people and organizations are most likely to have the resources be able to donate enough for you to reach your goal. If you are working towards a cause that needs less funding to make a tangible change, then you can target people with fewer resources. Likewise, you’ll want to focus on local donor markets for local causes. Local donors will be more likely to donate since they are affected by local changes in the community.

Once you figure out your cause and donor market, it’s critical to pick out the right crowdfunding platform, get people engaged, and write the best copy. Learn how with our upcoming series about writing successful crowdfunding campaigns.