How to Choose Photos for a Fundraising Campaign

In this blog post, you’ll get tips on how to choose the right photos for your Help Hope Live Campaign Page—including how to choose a campaign picture and how to organize your photo galleries.

Reminders: Image Formats and Copyright

First, here are a few quick reminders about Help Hope Live campaign pictures:

Images should be in PNG or JPG format
Images should be at least 600 pixels wide in size
Images should not include copyrighted info you don’t have permission to share
Use our Campaign Editor & Dashboard guide to learn how to add a campaign picture and manage your galleries

Tips for Choosing a Campaign Picture

Photos can help convey the who, why, and how: who you are, why you’re fundraising, and how supporters are making a difference in your life.

The first photo supporters will see when they visit your Help Hope Live Campaign Page is your campaign picture.

Here are our top tips for choosing your campaign picture.

1: Use a photo of you.

Your campaign picture should be a photo of you.

Seeing your photo on your Campaign Page will be the easiest way for supporters to confirm that they are in the right place. It’s also a way for strangers to get to know you if they come across your page.

The photo doesn’t need to be perfect or professionally shot, and you don’t have to look glamorous. It just needs to look like you!

2: Choose a large, clear, and easy-to-see photo.

Make sure the photo you choose is large enough to be clear and easy to see. The photo should not look pixelated or fuzzy.

Avoid using a photo-of-a-photo—for example, a smartphone photo of a printed photograph, or a screenshot of your Facebook profile photo. Photos-of-photos and screenshots typically appear fuzzy, so they will be hard for visitors to see on your Campaign Page.

If you don’t have a photo to use, take a new selfie photo on your own or ask a loved one to take a photo of you.

Keep it simple! Don’t add text, filters, or decorations to the photo or it will be harder for supporters to identify you at a quick glance.

3: Don’t use a very outdated photo.

You want your campaign picture to be recognizable as you.

It’s okay to choose a favorite photo from, for example, a wedding five years ago. Just try to avoid photos that are decades old and may make it difficult for supporters to recognize you.

4: Don’t crop out friends and family.

Your campaign picture should be a photo of you, but it doesn’t have to be a photo of JUST you. Whether it is a family portrait or just a casual photo with loved ones, a group photo can be a great way to visually convey who you are (and who you care about).

If loved ones are part of a favorite photo of you, keep them in the photo! No need to crop them out.

5: Choose a happy photo.

In our experience, happy photos inspire supporters to donate more than other kinds of photos.

Supporters want to feel like the fundraising campaign in your honor is going to give you more joy, comfort, and peace.

Happy photos give supporters the reinforcement that fundraising is a positive force in your life—that their help is your hope.

Keep in mind that you don’t need to use your campaign picture to convince anyone of your medical need. Help Hope Live does that part for you with our fraud-free medical verification process for every campaign.

6: Include mobility or medical devices if you want to.

It’s a personal decision for each of us to determine how much of our lives and medical journeys we want to share with other people.

You can use a campaign picture that includes a medical device such as an oxygen tube, or a mobility device such as a power chair.

You don’t need to crop these items out of your campaign picture. They are a part of your life and a part of who you are, and they may give Campaign Page visitors a better idea of your day-to-day with a certain diagnosis.

If you would prefer not to include these items, you can choose your campaign picture accordingly or use an older photo of you.

7: Don’t try to tell the whole story in one photo.

Unless you are in the photo, don’t use a photo of what you’re fundraising for—such as an accessible van—as your campaign picture.

Your campaign picture is just a quick introduction to who you are. You will be able to add plenty of other photos to your Campaign Page using galleries to help explain why you need to fundraise.

8: Don’t show graphic medical or surgical photos without a warning.

Don’t use a graphic medical or surgical photo as your campaign picture.

If a photo includes things that supporters might not want to see, don’t share it without a warning. Examples would be photos that include a surgery taking place, the scene of an accident, wounds, blood, or sutures.

As we mentioned earlier in this post, because of Help Hope Live’s medical verification process, you never need to worry about using graphic photos or medical photos to convince supporters you are “really sick.”

9: Check the background of the photo for personal content.

Before you upload a new campaign picture, check if there is any personal or sensitive content in the background that is not suitable to share with the whole world.

Don’t use a photo that includes, for example:

Your home address
A full prescription medication label or medical records
A tablet or laptop screen that has sensitive, personal, or work-related information on it
Images, items, or text that might not be appropriate for someone under 18 to see
Personal items around your home that you aren’t comfortable showing to the public
Children or teens if you haven’t asked permission from their parents or guardians to share the photo publicly on your Campaign Page

10: Ignore our tips—we don’t mind.

Even though these tips are based on our experience with successful medical fundraising campaigns, they are only suggestions—they are not requirements.

If a photo of you as a 10-year-old holding a rubber ducky is a hilarious inside joke between you and your closest friends, and you want to use it as your campaign picture, go for it.

Make your Campaign Page your own, including your campaign picture. Authenticity is more important than sharing the “perfect” photo.

Tips for Using Galleries

Your Campaign Page includes galleries so you can add more depth to your visual story.

Here are a few tips for using galleries. If you want to learn how to add photos to galleries and manage your galleries, click here for our Campaign Editor & Dashboard guide.

1: Organize photos into galleries by theme.

Galleries can provide a great opportunity for storytelling. Make sure that story is easy for supporters to follow by naming your galleries and organizing your photos according to themes.

Just a few examples of theme galleries you could create:

Gallery of photos from before an accident or injury took place
Gallery of recent photos of you
Gallery of childhood memories and family photos from the past
Gallery of supporters wearing your fundraising t-shirts
Gallery of photos of your family members, spouse, children, or grandchildren
Gallery of your favorite photos with your dog
Gallery of photos that show you participating in activity-based therapy sessions
Gallery of items you are fundraising for
Gallery of items you have been able to add to your life so far thanks to the fundraising campaign

2: Add a date for fundraisers, events, and milestones.

Add dates or timeframes when you name your galleries to make it easier for supporters to tell what happened when.

You don’t need dates in every photo or gallery name, but they help to clarify the timeframe for fundraisers, events, or important milestones.

Examples:

We got the van! September 2028
Silent auction items summer 2026
Beef and Beer fundraiser July 2027
Transplant evaluation January 31, 2026
One month after injury
60^th birthday party 2026
First year post-transplant
First day back from inpatient 9.10.29
2020 Christina and Julie’s wedding

3: Show how fundraising makes an impact.

You can use text updates to communicate a lot about your story, but photos take your storytelling capabilities to the next level.

Use galleries to show positive changes in your life made possible through fundraising.

That could include photos of you using a new mobility device or participating in a new kind of therapy, a family outing in a wheelchair van made possible through fundraising, a post-transplant adventure, or even just a happy selfie after reading an encouraging message.