Setting Your Timeline

---

SETTING YOUR TIMELINE

•  Keep your timeline as short as possible to create urgency for your supporters.
• Include meaningful dates within your timeline to add colorful details to your story and opportunities for special promotions. (Don’t worry, if your CausePage is doing well and really gaining traction, we can always extend your timeline and/or use a phased approach).

 

CREATE URGENCY

One of the most common mistakes a Leader can make is believing that it’s better to have a CausePage open for a long period of time so supporters have more time to get involved. Our experience is that the exact opposite is true.

Shorter fundraising campaigns tend to perform better. The reason? Procrastination. If given too much time, supporters will naturally procrastinate and often wait until the end of the campaign before they consider taking action. If too many potential supporters procrastinate, the CausePage may appear to have little support, which can lead to missing your goal.

Excessively long timelines also allow you, the Leader, to procrastinate. Don’t feel bad, we all do it. 

Avoid this mistake altogether by establishing a timeline that creates urgency. 

We typically recommend CausePage timelines of 30, 60, or 90 days.

 

INCLUDE IMPORTANT DATES

Most causes have important dates in the future that are significant. Sometimes those dates are obvious, but other times you might need to get a little creative.

Important dates can be:

• Birthdays
• Deadlines
• Holidays
• National awareness days/weeks/months
• Events
• Anniversaries
• Etc.

Create a timeline that includes one or more of these significant dates. These dates give you opportunities to add detail and color to your CausePage. Sometimes there is an opportunity to leverage the significance of these dates to join forces with other causes promoting the same date and inspire action from supporters.

For your end date, think of it as your grand finale. Select an end date that has the most meaning and significance as possible. Use your end date, and the significance of the date, as a tool within your story and promotions to carry you over the finish line.

Here’s a great example a CausePage used to leverage their end date:

"There are 20 days left to order your “Defend the Fatherless” t-shirt to have it in time to wear on Orphan Sunday. I hope you will join me in raising awareness for all the amazing children out there still waiting for a home. Though we are still waiting for official approval and forms from China, we hope to have Xian home with us soon!"

Once you have a meaningful goal and timeline, your storytelling should be a whole lot easier.