Fundraiser Participant Experience in Simple Raise

Fundraiser Participants are the individuals from your program’s organization that solicit contributions from donors (typically students). They will receive either an email or text message invitation to your fundraiser depending on the method you used to add and invite them.

As a participant for Simple Raise, you are an essential part of raising funds for your program! You’ll start out by receiving an email invite from your fundraising leader, this can be your coach, band director, teacher, or anyone else that might be helping put the fundraiser together. 

Step 1: Accept Fundraiser Invitation

Once received via email or text message, the participant should click the 'Accept Invitation' button to log in and join the fundraiser:

Email invite example:

Text invite example:

Invitations are unique to each participant and cannot be shared. If a participant would like for a member of their family (such as a parent, guardian, or sibling) to be added to the fundraiser to help solicit donations, they should contact the Organization Administrator or Fundraising Assistant with this request.

Step 2: Create a Participant Profile

Next, the participant needs to complete a form with the following information:

• First Name, Last Name, and Preferred Nickname
• Email or Phone Number (depending on which one is missing)
• Password - must contain at least:
  • 8 characters
  • 1 letter, 1 digit
  • 1 special character (e.g., @#$%^&*)
  • NO spaces
  • Password entries must match exactly

Participants have the option to upload a headshot photo as part of their profile.  While optional, this is HIGHLY recommended to help boost recognition and encourage contributions with potential donors. When finished entering the profile information, click the Sign Up button to save.

You will then see the screen refresh and your Participant Fundraiser Dashboard will appear:

If the participant already has an established profile in Simple Raise, then they will skip this step upon being invited to their next fundraiser activity. Participants retain the ability to modify their Simple Raise profile anytime from their dashboard.

Step 3: Add Donor Contacts to a Fundraiser

To get the best results and raise the most funds, it's best to add as many donor contacts as you can.

Start by clicking on your fundraiser. From the Fundraiser Dashboard, you will see a “Add possible donors’ card displayed in the top left corner of the table. Click on the ‘Add Donor Contacts’ button and you will see a form to add a single donor contact. Enter the Name, Select their Relationship to you, and enter either their email address and/or phone number, then click the ‘Add & Invite’ button to send an invitation to your donor. 

Continue adding donors following the same steps. To get the best results, we recommend you add at least 15 donor contacts for each fundraiser you are a participant in.

Step 4: Promote Your Fundraiser

From the Fundraiser Dashboard, you will see a “Your Fundraiser is Live” card displayed in the top right corner of the table. Click on the “Share Your Link” to copy and paste the link into your social media feeds.

You can also add a personal video to help your donors understand more about your amazing cause and heartfelt passion. Go to the 'Settings' tab of your Fundraiser dashboard and click on the “Add your video’ button and follow the instructions to upload your video file for review and approval.

When you submit your video for approval, that action will trigger Simple Raise to send a notification to your Organization Administrator and Assistants to review and approve your video. The Admin or Assistant can choose to approve or reject your video, depending on the criteria they have established for content. Once approved by the Organization Admin or Assistant, you will receive a notification and your video will be published and appear on your personal fundraising page. Simple Raise will also notify you if your initial video submission was rejected. Fear not! You can make a new video and resubmit it for approval.  Talk to your Organization’s Admin or Assistant (Teacher or Booster Leader) for feedback on why your initial video submission was rejected before re submitting.

Step 5: Monitor and Manage Your Fundraiser

From the Fundraiser Dashboard, you can keep track of key statistics such as how much funds you have raised, total number of donors active and inactive, number of days left to fundraise. As a participant, you can also view a preview of your personal fundraiser donation page by clicking on the 'Settings' tab from your dashboard.

To see how individual donors are performing, click on the ‘Donor Contacts’ tab from your dashboard. You can nudge inactive donors, invite new supporters to become donors.

Managing Your Fundraiser Donor Contacts

From the 'Donor Contacts' tab within your Fundraiser dashboard, you can perform the following actions:

• Use the pencil icon to edit a donor
• Use the paper airplane icon to resend an invitation to a donor
• Use the trash can icon to delete and remove a donor from your fundraiser

While the fundraiser is active, you can continue to add and invite new donor contact by clicking the ‘Add Donor Contact’ button and using the by phone, email, or file method.

Message Sending to Donor Contacts

When an SMS message fails, Simple Raise will automatically attempt to resend the message to the mobile phone number on file up to 3 instances. A participant can also choose to manually resend an SMS if needed to a donor contact from the Dashboard

Message Failure Tracking and Updating

You are able to see the status of your donation request messages to each donor contact. From your 'Donor Contacts tab, you can view both the email and phone number status. If you see that either has failed, you have the option to easily edit and correct either the email address or phone number. When updated, Simple Raise automatically resends your donation request to the updated donor contact.

You will see three small icons next to each email and SMS text message status:

• An airplane icon to resend the email to the donor contact
• An hourglass icon to indicate that a message is scheduled to be sent
• An SMS icon to send the text to the donor contact

Participant Notifications During the Fundraiser

During an active fundraiser, a participant may receive the following notifications from Simple Raise:

• Invitation to Join (sent because an admin/assistant added them as a participant)
• Forgot Password (sent because the participant requested to reset their password)
• Reminder to Add Donor Contacts (sent because the participant has not added any)
• Reminder to Add More Donor Contacts (sent because the participant has <5 contacts)
• Reminder to Add a Personal Video (sent because the participant has not yet uploaded a video for approval)
• Video Approved (sent because the Organization’s Admin has approved the participant’s video and it is now published)
• Video Denied (sent because the Organization’s Admin has rejected the participant’s video and a new one will need to be submitted for approval)
• Donor Contact Status Update (sent to show the participant what their donors are doing and if any donors are not receiving messages about the fundraiser)