PAWSitive Impact Fundraising Guide

First, decide on the type of fundraiser you’d like to create. You can fundraise to celebrate a special occasion, honor someone special in your life, raise funds as you train for an athletic event, participate in a community event, or even host your own. Visit our Get Involved page or Fundraising Ideas to learn more.

Next,  register! In just a few easy steps, you’ll set up your account and enter details about your fundraiser. Once you’ve registered, you’ll have ongoing access to your fundraising page and all of the resources to help your fundraiser be a success.

You can log into your account at any time using your email address and the password you set at registration. If you forget your password, simply use the 'Forgot Password' link to reset it. You can use the settings panel to adjust your fundraising goal, create a unique URL for your fundraising page, and manage your privacy settings.

Once you’ve registered, you will have access to all of our fundraising tools and handy templates. Below are five steps to achieve your goals.

Step 1: Kick things off by making a donation. By being the first to donate to your fundraiser, you set a committed example for potential supporters.

Step 2: Tell your story! The best way to inspire others to give is to personalize your fundraising page by sharing why GDB’s mission is important to you and how their donations will have a pawsitive impact. Add your own photo or video to make your page shine!

Step 3: Spread the word! Click on the message icon in the upper left corner of your fundraising portal. Here, you will find templates you can use to send emails to your family and friends. Leverage social media to share your fundraising page and amplify your reach! You can even create a Facebook Fundraiser simply by clicking a button in your fundraising center.

If you’re interested in incorporating a QR code into your PAWSitive Impact fundraising efforts, it’s quick, easy, and free.

QR codes are great tools for printed materials that support your fundraiser, when using your fundraising page URL is a bit too long and isn’t practical for letters, postcards, or flyers. For all online fundraising, continue to use your fundraising page URL.

Follow these steps to generate and save a QR code that will take a donor directly to your fundraising page.

1. Go to any free QR code generator, such as QRCode Monkey at https://www.qrcode-monkey.com. (Please note that Guide Dogs for the Blind is not associated with QRCode Monkey in any way.)
2. In QRCode Monkey, under “Enter Content”, copy and paste your fundraising page URL in the “Your URL” section. (You will find your fundraising page URL by clicking your “Get Page Link” button at the bottom of your PAWSitive Impact fundraising page.)
3. In QRCode Monkey, Click the “Create QR Code” button, then the “Download PNG” button.

Your QR Code is now saved for your use as an image file in your downloads folder on your computer. QR codes created through QRCode Monkey do not expire

The image below depicts a QR Code, comprised of black squares against a white background. This QR Code leads you to the Guide Dogs for the Blind PAWSitive Impact fundraising landing page.

Step 4: Express gratitude. Your supporters will automatically receive a thank you message and receipt from GDB but sending your own heartfelt thanks will make your donors feel even more appreciated. Track your donations and send thank you messages directly from your fundraising center or thank and tag your supporters on social media to recognize them publicly.

Step 5: Watch your fundraising thermometer rise in real time and celebrate your success!

Your Inner Circle

• Family
• Neighbors
• Co-workers

Your Network

• People you see at holidays or reunions
• Your holiday card or wedding invitation list
• Friends from school, college, or your sorority/fraternity
• Groups that you’re part of like clubs and sports teams
• Former co-workers and business contacts
• Clients
• LinkedIn connections
• Your spouse’s or significant other’s contacts

Your Community 

• Businesses that you support like doctors, dentists, hairstylists, dry cleaners, and restaurants
• Your children's activities
• Volunteer work
• Religious institutions
• Professional organizations

Think of unique ways to contact individuals in your community, such as phone calls, e-mails, texts, social media, or handwritten letters. Be sure to follow up and provide updates about your fundraising along the way.

Keep the link to your fundraising page handy! Include it in your email signature and paste it into Facebook, Instagram LinkedIn, and X posts. This will make it easy for your network to contribute!

The GDB community is large and diverse, and we want everyone to be included and enjoy the experience. We encourage you to make your social media posts as accessible as possible by following these best practices:

• Add alt text (short for alternative text) or image descriptions to your post to describe the image or video that you are sharing.
• Avoid text as image whenever possible, and if you must, be sure to copy the text of the image into your caption so everyone can access the same information.
• Avoid special fonts and overuse of emojis as they are hard for screen readers to detect

Hashtags can set either a positive or negative tone in a social media post.  Please be mindful when using them.

• Examples of preferred hashtags; #IAmGDB #GuideDogsForTheBlind
• Examples of discouraged hashtags #guidedogfail #gdbdropout
• Whenever possible, capitalize the first letter in each word to make your hashtags more accessible and easier to read. For example, use #GuideDogsForTheBlind not #guidedogsfortheblind.

Post updates often and share your progress. This will serve as a friendly reminder for those who have yet to make a donation. We also have images available in our Social Share Assets section that you can include! And be sure to ask your friends and family to share your posts to maximize your reach!