Asking friends, family and others within a personal network to donate money for a cause is a new experience for many people and can be uncomfortable. In an effort to aid your mentor community in taking this step and supporting your organization, you can find email templates that you can provide to the people who are fundraising.

The green highlighted portions are where you would want to insert BBBS agency- and location-specific information before sending these templates to your pagemakers, and the yellow highlighted portions of the emails below are where your mentors or other pagemakers would have to insert their personal touches.

You can also find a flyer template that you can edit to explain your crowdfunding campaign to your mentor community by checking out this article, as well as more information about setting up your campaign by reviewing this article.

SAMPLE EMAIL #1:

The following template can be provided to pagemakers who have created a Crowdrise page and need support doing outreach.

SUBJECT: An easy way to do good (and support me)!

Hi [Name]!

[Personal line i.e. How are you? I hope all is well. It was great seeing you last month.] As you might know, I’m a mentor to [mentee name] as part of Big Brothers Big Sisters, a stellar organization that is building out a program called mentor2.0 that will provide volunteer mentors to act as personal college coaches for students at partner high schools in the community.

Over the past [time], we’ve worked on [describe what you’ve worked on, what you’re proud of and describe your relationship].

This isn’t just about me and my mentee. It costs about $1,000 per year to support each mentoring pair and every contribution will help support more pairs like us. Now, more than ever, we need to show students that there are countless people across the country who care deeply about them, who stand with them and who will do whatever it takes to help them achieve their ambitions. Click here [Crowdrise page link] to donate quickly and securely. This is an easy way to take action if you don’t have time to become a mentor yourself! I hope you’ll donate today to support me & [mentee] and hundreds of pairs in [city, state] and even more pairs across the country!

SAMPLE EMAIL #2:

The following template can be provided to pagemakers who have created Crowdrise a page and need support doing outreach.

SUBJECT: Did you ever doubt you would go to college?

Hi [Name]!

Every week I get a chance to work with [mentee name] on [what you're working on]. In a world where talent is equally distributed and opportunity is not, I'm excited and hopeful that I'm playing a small part to right that imbalance.

I need your support to make college a reality for all students.

My fundraising goal is [$XX]. So far, I have raised [$XX]. Every dollar counts and gets us closer to giving every student the opportunities they deserve. I would be so grateful if you would consider making a donation to sponsor my relationship with [mentee]. You can click here [Crowdrise page link] to donate quickly and securely.

Thank you in advance for your support!

SAMPLE EMAIL #3:

The following template can be provided to pagemakers who need support reminding their friends & family to support their work.

SUBJECT: Did you forget?

Hi [Name],

I know it's been a busy few weeks but it would be great if you could take a minute to support me & [mentee name]. As a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters, I travel to [XX school] and spend precious time learning about each other, working on projects and ensuring that [mentee] has the resources [he/she] needs to make college a reality.

I didn’t realize until I started working with Big Brothers Big Sister mentor2.0 program that in the U.S. on average there are 457 students working with ONE high school counselor. BBBS fundamentally changes that dynamic by providing one college educated adult to EVERY STUDENT IN AN ENTIRE [class/cohort/high school]. Think about that impact!

My fundraising goal is [XX]. So far I have raised [$XX]. I need your help to reach my goal by the deadline of March 31. You can click here [CrowdRise page link] to donate quickly and securely.

We have all had individuals who have made an impact in our lives and with your help we can help Big Brothers Big Sisters continue to grow and reach more students [city/state]. 

Sample Email #4:

The following template can be provided to pagemakers as a thank you email to their donors.

SUBJECT: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

Hi [Name],

Thank you so much for your generous donation in support of me & [mentee name]! Without Big Brothers Big Sisters, I would have never met [mentee name] and I'm heartened to know that they will be able to keep making connections and helping kids get closer to their college and career dreams across [city, state].

If you ever want to volunteer yourself, BBBS is always looking for more people to get involved and I think you'd be an AWESOME mentor. Learn more here: [organization website]

Thanks again and hope all is well!

Note:

Changes specific to the organization that should be made before sharing templates with pagemakers.

Changes that pagemakers should make before sending out the email to their friends/families/etc.