Fundable.com's Tips for Running a Successful P2P Fundraising Campaign

While Fundable.com is a great tool, it takes quite a bit of work to run a successful campaign, so we wanted to offer you some pointers on how to reach your target the next time around: * Write a detailed description, including photographs. People need to feel personally connected to you or your project to be willing to contribute to it. A more personalized description also increases your chances of being featured in our monthly newsletter, which can go a long way toward boosting pledges.

* Join your own campaign to get it started. It's tough to convince people to make a pledge when there's no money pledged already. The more money is in there from the beginning, the more confident people are that their money will be put to good use.

* Post your fundraiser on Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Craigslist, LiveJournal, or other networking/blogging/community sites. Not just that, but post announcements regularly to keep the campaign present in people's minds. The more people are aware of you, the more likely they are to contribute.

* Send e-mails to potential contributors. Don't spam them daily like you might with your MySpace announcements, but an e-mail at the project launch, one at the halfway point, and another a few days before it closes goes a long way toward informing contributors of how your project is going.

* Contact contributors personally. A phone call is worth a thousand letters. Call the ones that do contribute to thank them for their contribution and encourage them to spread the word.