How to Write Your Story for a Fundraising Campaign

If you’re new to medical fundraising or refreshing your Help Hope Live Campaign Page, this blog will share tips on how to tell your unique story to engage your community.

Use our worksheet, sample fundraising story, and tips below to write your Campaign Story.

If you need help updating your story on your Campaign Page, click here for a guide.

Tip: You Don’t Have to Write Your Own Story

You can ask a friend or family member to write your Campaign Story for you.

If you do, feel free to share this blog post with them for inspiration.

Just make sure you review the story so you’re completely comfortable with the content they include about you.

Tip: Using a Word Processor First

You can draft and edit your story in a word processor program like Microsoft Word before you add it to your Campaign Page. Copy and paste your finalized story to your Campaign Page when you’re ready.

You can use our “clear formatting” option if you need to reset the story format for your Campaign Page:

Story Writing Worksheet

Here are the questions to answer when you’re telling your story for a fundraising campaign:

How would you summarize your reason for fundraising in a short sentence? This will become the “headline” for your story – your campaign title. (Tip: If nothing specific is coming to mind yet, save this step for the end when you’ve written the rest of your story.)
How would you briefly introduce yourself to someone new?
What is your diagnosis, and how long have you been living with this diagnosis?
What are some things you like or dislike and some quirky or interesting facts about you? What do other people notice and love about you?
What do you struggle with because of your diagnosis?
What are you fundraising for?
How do you hope your life will change for the better because of this fundraising campaign? (Think about activities you want to be able to enjoy, things you want to achieve, how you can give back to your community, whether you plan to return to school/work, and spending more quality time with family and friends.)
How can supporters help? (Answer: by making a donation in your honor! You may also want to mention how they can get involved as fundraising volunteers.)

Sample Fundraising Story

Bring Joey Back to School and Back to Life!

Joey is a 20-year-old student at his local community college studying game design. He lived an active life until a viral infection damaged his kidneys.

He’s been trying to manage his health with medications and diet changes but had to start dialysis in the fall. He’s approved to receive a kidney transplant and is now waiting for a donor kidney to become available.

An avid gamer, Joey loves to play both online and board games with friends and family. He enjoys strategy games and is fiercely competitive! He can talk for hours about games and gaming with his friends, but he is shy around new people.

Cheerful and helpful, Joey has been a bright light in the lives of everyone he has known.

Since an infection damaged his kidneys, Joey has had to be on a strict diet, which is hard on his schedule. He has to cook for himself rather than eat at the dining hall with his friends, so he’s missing out on a lot of social time.

He also struggles with his sleep, as muscle cramps keep him awake at night, so he spends most of the day tired. He retains fluids at times, making him self-conscious about his looks.

As you can see, it’s been a hard road—but Joey has met his challenges with resilience and hope.

This is the part where you come in…

In addition to all these medical challenges, Joey is facing financial challenges due to this diagnosis.

Joey is fundraising for the cost of relocating closer to his transplant team, as he will need to stay nearby for six weeks after his release from the hospital. He also will need to pay his co-insurance for the surgery and wants to be able to cover the costs for a living donor if he can find one.

His team estimates this will cost about $5,000 out of pocket. This amount could double or triple if he experiences any setbacks or complications.

Joey hopes that his kidney transplant will allow him to get back to his normal life. He looks forward to resuming school and his work at the local library teaching computer skills. Joey hopes he will be able to get a job designing the games he loves to play after he graduates!

Please donate to Help Hope Live in Joey’s honor today, and ask your friends and family to give, too! We would love to plan some fundraisers in Joey’s honor, too, so if you can help with that, please contact his sister at [email protected].

Thank you for your generous support!

Tips for Telling Your Story

We know it can be really difficult to write about yourself, especially if it’s for the purpose of asking for help from your community.

The four most important things to keep in mind when you’re sharing your story for a fundraising campaign are: simplify, go beyond the medical, explain why fundraising matters, and get feedback.

We explain each of these tips below.

First, simplify your story.

Your instinct may be to include extensive details about your diagnosis, the history of your medical challenges, scientific info about treatments and recovery, and similar details.

Keep in mind that for someone living inside the world of treatment and recovery, it’s easier to process these details—but for someone reading your story for the first time, medical info and details can become confusing and overwhelming.

In most cases, you will want to focus more on the “why” and the “how”—why you need to fundraise, and how your community can help.

Here are additional tips if you’re struggling to cut out medical or technical content:

If you want to…reassure supporters your story is legitimate.

Then try…sharing the fact that Help Hope Live verifies your medical need and funds raised can be used to cover only verified medical expenses and related costs.

If you want to…help supporters understand your medical history.

Then try… explaining your reason for fundraising with a little bit of medical history, then following up with a more in-depth summary of your medical history in short bullet points at the end of your Campaign Story.

Second, share more than your medical story.

We know your life is more than your diagnosis. You will want to include details that give both existing supporters and new visitors an idea of who you are beyond your medical identity.

A few things to consider:

How would a close friend describe you?
Do you have a partner, spouse, or children?
Do you have extended family members you love to spend time with?
Do you have any pets?
What is your job, or what was your job?
Where do you live?
When did you move to the area?
Did you attend school or university? Where?
Have you ever volunteered or been a part of faith groups, churches, committees, or other gatherings locally?
Do you have any hobbies or passions that are important to you?
What might someone see you doing if they were to drop by your house on a Saturday afternoon?

Third, explain how fundraising will change your life.

You have a unique story to tell, and you’ve probably reached multiple obstacles, milestones, and victories to get to where you are right now. If your medical diagnosis is a recent event, you may have a lot of updates and challenges you want to communicate to keep your community informed.

All of this can be helpful information to share. However, remember that your supporters also need to know how fundraising plays a role in what comes next.

People who have never been through a major medical crisis may not understand the first thing about the financial reality of your situation.

Help them to clearly see why you were forced to fundraise—and how much more hopeful your future will become with their support.

A few ways to do this:

Share three specific out-of-pocket costs you are fundraising for right now.
Link to a resource that details additional costs associated with your diagnosis. You can find our cost pages by clicking on your campaign type on this page.
Explain in a sentence or two what led you to choose your first fundraising goal.

Fourth, ask for feedback!

Behind every great writer is a great editor. If you feel like your Campaign Story is just about finished, or if you’re stuck and need some input, it’s time to ask for feedback.

You can seek out opinions from friends and family members. They probably know you better than we do, so they may suggest some details to add or edit that help you stay true to you while communicating effectively.

Ask your Client Services Coordinator to take a look at your story and suggest impactful changes. We can put our 40-plus years of fundraising experience to work for you to help your story resonate.