This step may seem obvious, but you should start off with a clear idea of what you’re raising funds for, your goal, and your work capacity.
Think about how much you need to raise and how much you hope to raise. Having something to aim for will help you stay motivated, but it’s also an important storyline for donors that can make an ask feel more concret
2. Make a Timeline
Your timeline will help you build your structure, a campaign calendar, and create a sense of urgency with donors. Are you fundraising for an event, in response to something, or is this for evergreen donations?
Also, think about how much of your time you can dedicate to this campaign. Different structures and ideas take different amounts of time. If you and your team have a lot of other tasks, think about extending your timeline to reduce the weekly load.
For individual fundraisers participating in a peer-to-peer (P2P) event, high-volume outreach is the most effective approach. Put together a list of friends, family, co-workers, workout buddies—anyone who might be a potential donor. Think creatively here, beyond your social media and real-life friends. Do you have neighbors, doctors, or local business owners who might support your fundraising efforts? Hit them up.3. Send Handwritten Letters First, Not Emails
Email is faster and can return instant results, but old-fashioned handwritten letters give that personal touch. Individual P2P fundraisers often have great results making their initial requests via handwritten note, even if they’re participating in an online fundraiser. Set a Goal, Then Raise It
For individual P2P fundraisers, having something to aim for always helps. And nine times out of 10, P2P fundraisers end up doing better than they originally hoped, even when they set their personal donation goals high, within reason, to inspire themselves and their donors. Normally, if you’re a P2P fundraiser, you set your goals when you register, but consider that just a baseline:
- Make sure to set an inspiring but attainable goal-one that you can reach. You can go back and raise your goal as you start to see the fundraising dollars come in.
Humans are hardwired for narrative. Stories help us pay attention. They generate a-ha moments. And stories inspire action. Here are simple ways to use storytelling that will stick with your constituents and prompt them to support your cause.
5. Make Face-To-Face Contact
When you’re fundraising as a professional team or coaching P2P fundraisers, prioritize in-person connections. Fundraisers who show up for (or host) dinner parties, game nights, family reunions, community festivals, and athletic events, naturally build more solid relationships. That face-to-face interaction also affords the opportunity to make the ask or nudge those whom you’ve already asked.
6. Emphasize the Deadline
It’s a simple thing to do, but also one of the most powerful: Make sure to say thank you to everyone who supported your campaign. Send a meaningful message of thanks, preferably with a handwritten personal note.
7. Hold a Contest
One long-time swimmer and high fundraiser challenges his supporters to guess his swim time and whomever comes closest, wins fundraising prize he has earned. .
Save The Bay Language
SOLICITATION EXAMPLES
CLASSIC CROSS-BAY SWIM COURSE:
This year is Save The Bay's 50th year and I am so excited to swim the 2.0 miles across the East Passage to raise funds and awareness again in 2026 in support of Save The Bay's mission to protect and improve Narragansett Bay. In these 50 years, devoted athletes raised nearly $7,000,000 swimming more than a total of 24,000 miles. Please consider makign a donation to support this landmark year!
VIRTUAL SWIM:
This year is Save The Bay's 50th year and I am so excited to swim a 2.0 mile virtual swim to raise funds and awareness in support of Save The Bay's mission to protect and improve Narragansett Bay. In these 50 years, devoted athletes raised nearly $7,000,000 swimming more than a total of 24,000 miles. Please consider makign a donation to support this landmark year!
What Your Donation To My Swim Supports
Advocacy and Policy
Since Save The Bay's founding in 1970, Save The Bay has become known for our fierce advocacy. We champion the right of all people to enjoy Narragansett Bay with peace of mind and stand against coastal activities, actions and developments that diminish public access to the Bay.As a science-driven organization, we prize objectivity with a clear-eye view of the regional environmental landscape and laser focus on Narragansett Bay and its watershed.
Habitat Restoration & Adaptation
Protecting and improving Narragansett Bay means protecting and preserving all parts of the Narragansett Bay ecosystem—from coastal salt marshes, beaches and dunes, to upland forests, rivers and streams, to urban ponds and waterways, to aquatic habitats such as eelgrass, mud flats and shellfish beds. All of these critical areas provide important habitats, protect drinking water, and act as natural filters and nurseries for the Bay.
Education & Community Outreach
The ongoing success of our efforts to protect and improve Narragansett depends on the next generations of Bay stewards who will carry our work forward, understanding the threats that Narragansett Bay faces, the value of the Bay to our lifestyles and livelihoods, and their own role in protecting it. Connecting students and communities to Narragansett Bay has been a cornerstone of our efforts since the 1980s
Community Support & Engagement
At the heart of all we do is the support of the thousands of members, donors, volunteers and advocates who share in our efforts in a variety of ways. More than 4,000 volunteers and interns every year help us: in the office, in the field, on our beaches, on the water, and in so many other ways. Citizen scientist volunteers help us document water pollution conditions around the Bay, record high tide and storm surge events, monitor and count seals, and clean up trash from our beaches.
THANK YOU
Your Gift Supports Our 50th Swim!
Our loyal and dedicated swimmers have been training very hard to swim in support our 50th Save The Bay Swim. In those years. devoted athletes have raised nearly $7,000,000 swimming more than a total of 24,000 miles.
This landmark year celebrates hundreds of skilled athletes to swim 2 miles in open water. The nonprofit organization’s flagship fundraiser will take place this year on Saturday, August 8, 2026, starting at the Naval War College in Newport and finishing in Jamestown’s Potter Cove.
This event supports our efforts championing for a cleaner, healthier bay. That means advocating for important legislation, habitat restoration, education and community outreach under the mission to protect and improve our Bay.
We couldn't do this work without our swimmers and they couldn't raise awarness and funds without you -- 94 percent ot our funding comes from supporters like you.
If you would like more information about the Swim, Save The Bay or Narragansett Bay, please visit Save The Bay’s website.
Thank you so much!
