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How to Run a Private or Secret Online Fundraiser

Find out how you can use private fundraising and have greater control over who sees your crowdfunding campaign!

Jan 23, 2021 Fundraising Tips
  1. Reasons for a private fundraising campaign
  2. How do you make a campaign private?
  3. Tips for private fundraising
Ann-Marie D'arcy-Sharpe
GoGetFunding Author

When you think of crowdfunding, you may picture lots of promotion; typically people are trying to reach as wide an audience as possible. You might even picture fundraising campaigns being featured in the media! While visibility is key for the majority of campaigns, for some they may choose to keep their online fundraising more private.

Reasons for a private fundraising campaign

There are lots of reasons someone may choose to keep their campaign discreet.

  • A special occasion
    1. When it comes to a special occasion such as a wedding, honeymoon or baby shower for example, people may use online fundraising either to raise money for the event, or in place of gifts. A crowdfunding website is an easy, organized way to ask for monetary gifts rather than having a gift registry.
    2. The people who are giving you gifts for such an occasion are going to be your closest loved ones. It’s unlikely that you would want to promote your campaign far and wide. For this type of personal occasion, keeping your fundraising private can be more appropriate.
  • A surprise event
    1. If you’re raising funds to run a surprise event for a loved one, then of course you are going to want to keep things low key so they don’t find out! This could be for a birthday party or a celebration of an achievement. What fun to be able to surprise someone that you love with such a joyous celebration!
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  • Offering support to a loved one
    1. When loved ones are going through difficult times, you may want to offer your support financially. You may choose to have all the funds in place before you present the offer of help to them, perhaps so as not to get their hopes up or to avoid making them feel embarrassed. Fundraising privately on behalf of your loved one allows you to give them that support, keeping things discreet until you are ready to share your efforts with them.
  • Private charity fundraising
    1. Some organisations may want to keep fundraising events internal, involving only employees, volunteers and those close to them. Private fundraising allows them to use the campaign page to clearly display a breakdown of costs, targets they need to meet, and information about employees involved in the fundraising, for example, without those details being shared with a wider audience.
  • Private team fundraising events
    1. Some companies may want to run fundraising events internally, involving only those who are part of the company. GoGetFunding has plenty of features to allow you to involve your team. You can display the names of each team member on your campaign page. You can set targets, share pictures and videos of your progress and even offer incentives to increase morale and the competitive spirit. If you have teams competing against one another, you could even use support campaigns for each team!
  • A sensitive cause
    1. For some, the cause they are trying to raise funds for may be more sensitive, for example specific medical fees or legal costs. Not everyone wants their story to be promoted far and wide. In this case, they may wish to keep things more private so that their story is only viewed by a select group of people.
  • Choosing who you don’t want to ask for help
    1. There may be some cases where fundraisers don’t want specific people to know about their campaign, for example in legal cases or for more personal reasons. Having the ability to choose who you don’t want to ask for help as well as who you do, can be empowering and can keep those who may be in vulnerable situations safer.
    2. It can be tough to feel comfortable asking loved ones for help, so having the ability to select who you want to ask specifically allows you to choose the people you feel most comfortable with.
  • Minimizing your online footprint
    1. A lot of prospective employers, new landlords or mortgage providers for example, will do background checks regarding finances, and in some cases check general online activity. To prepare for these future scenarios, keeping things private may be more beneficial, particularly if the fundraising is in relation to personal financial struggles.
  • Phased campaigns
    1. Often phased campaigns are used by bigger organizations to increase the momentum of the campaign and offer valued clients or members of the organization priority access. The campaign owner may choose to offer exclusive rewards to those who donate early in order to get donations rolling in right from the off.
    2. An organization may choose to first send their campaign link only to a select group of people before they roll out a second phase of promotion for a wider audience. This is more common with business start-ups, large organizations or high-profile individual campaigns.

How do you make a campaign private?

With GoGetFunding, there are several ways that you can keep your campaign private. You can adjust your privacy settings on your campaign page at any time both during setting up your campaign and when you are running it. You can decide if you want to promote your cause to a wider audience at any point, or choose to make a public campaign private; it’s about what suits you!

  • Control over your campaign link
    1. Once you create your campaign, a unique link is created. The link takes people directly to your campaign page. You can decide who you want to share your link with, therefore controlling who sees your campaign page.
    2. However, those who have the link may choose to pass it on. You can combat this by asking them to keep the link to themselves, but remember that they have free will so nothing is guaranteed. Using other privacy features can offer extra security.
  • Password protected
    1. With our site you can create a password for your campaign page. This means that those who have the link need to enter a password before they can view your page. You could even choose to change the password regularly to ensure that you minimize the chances of access being passed around to those outside of your selected group.
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  • Hidden within our site
    1. You can hide your campaign within our site which means that if you search for it on our platform it will not be located. The campaign will not appear when people are browsing through our site either. However, with this option your campaign can still be found through an outside search engine.
  • Not indexed
    1. If you choose not to have your campaign indexed, this means that it will not appear on any outside search engines, making your campaign even more private!

Tips for private fundraising

  • Choose a site that gives you the privacy you require
    1. If you need to keep your campaign private, it’s vital you choose a site that gives you clear and user-friendly privacy options. Our site provides plenty of privacy options and allocates you a personal fundraising coach who can take you through all the details of making your campaign as private as you need it to be.
  • Pick the right level of privacy
    1. With different levels of privacy, ensure you choose the right level for your needs.
  • Plan who you are going to share your campaign with
    1. When you are running a private campaign, it’s important to think carefully who are going to be sharing your campaign link with. Plan this in advance. Making a list can be useful to ensure you don’t miss anyone, and also that you don’t include anyone you don’t want to see your campaign!
    2. If you’re doing a phased campaign, organize who the campaign will be released to at each stage.
  • Ask those on your team and in your crowd to be discreet
    1. Specify to those you share your link with, whether they are on your fundraising team or are potential donors, that you don’t wish them to pass the link on. Even if they know your campaign is private, they may not realise that they need to keep the link to themselves unless you are specific.
  • Share your link through email, text and direct word of mouth
    1. With a private campaign you aren’t going to want to promote your campaign through social media or by printing flyers and posters! Instead your promotion will be directly to those you want to share your link with. Consider direct emails, texts and direct word of mouth.
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  • Set clear targets
    1. Setting a clear timeframe and monetary goal increases urgency for potential donors. Within a smaller pool of people, this becomes even more important. Specific targets allow donors to understand exactly what you need and when you need it, as well as allowing you to keep track of your progress.
    2. If you choose an ongoing campaign, be sure to explain to your audience why you’ve chosen this option. Bear in mind that even if you don’t reach your target, GoGetFunding allows you to keep all of the funds you raise. We even allow you to choose to withdraw funds during your campaign or to wait until the campaign is finished.
  • Make your story and update section personal
    1. With a private campaign you can make the story section of your campaign even more personal. You will control who will see it, so you may feel more comfortable really expressing your feelings and the motivation behind your cause. This can help your audience to connect emotionally with your campaign and be more inclined to donate.
    2. You can choose to make your page even more personal by customizing it through adding pictures and videos, choosing your font, your title and even your colour scheme!
    3. Consider being clear in your story about why the campaign is private, to help your audience to understand your campaign more. The clearer and more honest you are, the more likely you are to build trust, evoke empathy and generate donations.
    4. With a smaller specific group of people being your crowd, your update section takes on a new level of importance as they will be highly invested in your journey and your fundraising success. Be sure to use the update section regularly to let them know how the campaign is going and keep them involved.
  • Consider incentives and rewards
    1. A campaign on a more personal level may benefit even more from rewards and incentives to encourage donors to contribute and to thank them when they do. With a smaller group of people, each individual donation takes on a new level of importance. It’s so important to make people feel valued.
    2. When it comes to phased campaigns, offering exclusive incentives to the first phase of people you will share your link with, can make them feel important. This can also aid in generating those initial donations and really getting your campaign off to a running start.
    3. Rewards and incentives can be adjusted to fit your budget. You could offer personalised thank you emails, hand written cards or send out gifts. If you’re a business or charity, you could offer access to specific information or updates as incentives. Our site stores donor information to make shipping and sending rewards really simple.

So you see, even if you don’t want the whole world to know about your fundraising campaign, you can still utilize crowdfunding! Whether you’re an individual or an organization, you can get started today by clicking here to launch your campaign.

Ann-Marie D'arcy-Sharpe
GoGetFunding Author

I'm Ann-Marie, I'm 32 and a passionate freelance blogger and writer. I live in Scotland with my husband and lots of pets. My favourite things are bright coloured hair, animals, hiking, writing and anything creative!

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