What should I ask participants to do for the challenge?

For your videos to attract attention, you’ll want to choose a challenge that will catch people’s eye as they scroll through their social media feeds. Your challenge should also be something that most of your supporters would be able and willing to do. Most importantly, steer clear of any challenge that would be particularly dangerous or offensive.

Considering all of these aspects, you could ask participants to:

• Do a short dance routine
• Lip-sync to a particular song
• Eat something spicy or an atypical food combination (like bananas with ketchup or a butter and sugar sandwich)
• Draw or write with their eyes closed
• Create a post directly related to your cause (for example, an environmental organization could ask participants to post before and after photos of cleaning up litter in their communities)

Whatever challenge you choose, make sure to give participants clear instructions and warn them about any issues that could come up to ensure the fundraiser goes smoothly.

 What social media platform should I host the fundraiser on?

First, you’ll need to consider which platforms your organization already uses. Your video challenge is much less likely to go viral if you have to create a new account since your existing followers are essential to the fundraiser’s success.

Then, you’ll want to think about which platform works best for your chosen challenge. For example, TikTok is especially well suited for dance and lip-sync challenges because the site’s premise is sharing videos with background music. Facebook would work better for a cause-specific challenge, though, since it allows users to choose an image layout when they create a post.

How do I spread the word about this fundraiser?

The easiest way to market a viral video challenge fundraiser is to start it yourself! Post a video on your organization’s social media of you or someone else at your organization doing the challenge, and encourage your followers to join in in the caption.

Create a simple hashtag (for example, a sports team doing a spicy food challenge could use a hashtag like #SalsaforSoccer or #HotSauceforHockey) that supporters can use when they share their own videos. That way, you and your supporters can search the hashtag to see all the challenge videos at once. Ask them to tag your organization’s account in their posts as well so you get a notification each time a video is posted.

Fundraisers often get more traction if you market them in multiple ways, so make sure to tell supporters about the challenge via email and on your website as well.

How do I use viral videos to raise funds?

Since your fundraiser takes place online, you’ll be raising funds online as well. You have a few options for fundraising platforms:

• Add a donation feature to your original post if the site allows.
• Direct participants to an online donation form.
• Provide a text-to-give number.

Some viral video challenge fundraisers ask participants either to do the challenge or to donate. But in order to maximize revenue, you’ll want to ask for at least a small donation from every participant.