How to Create the Perfect JustGiving Page and Raise More Money

Setting up a JustGiving page takes only a few minutes, but creating a really effective one takes considerably more thought. If you are running a 10K, half marathon, marathon or another challenge for charity, your JustGiving page is where potential donors discover what you are doing, why you are doing it and why the cause deserves their support.

Too many fundraising pages are created using suggested wording, given a photograph and then barely touched again. The best JustGiving pages are different because they are personal, visually interesting and regularly updated, gradually telling the story of the challenge from the beginning of training through to race day and beyond.

Don't Just Use the Suggested Story

The words on your JustGiving page should sound as though they were written by you. Suggested wording and writing tools can provide a useful starting point, but simply accepting generic text wastes one of the most valuable opportunities your fundraising page gives you.

People visiting your page want to understand the person behind the fundraising. Explain why you have chosen the challenge, why you are supporting the charity and what reaching the finish line and fundraising target would mean to you.

If you are running your first marathon, say so. If you have never considered yourself a runner, explain why taking on the challenge is such a big commitment, while if there is a personal connection with the charity, include it if you are comfortable doing so.

Your story does not need to be beautifully written or overly emotional. Genuine, specific wording will usually tell a potential donor far more than a polished paragraph that could appear on anybody's fundraising page.

Read more about writing your story here.

Put Your Reason for Fundraising Near the Top

Do not make somebody read several paragraphs before discovering why you are raising money. The most important part of your story should appear near the beginning of the page, where visitors are most likely to see it.

Start by establishing the challenge and your reason for supporting the cause. You can then provide more information about the event, your training and the charity further down the story.

This is particularly important when there is a strong personal motivation behind the fundraising. If somebody understands within the opening lines why the challenge matters to you, everything else on the page has more context.

Give Your Page a Personal Title

Your title should quickly tell people something about the fundraising rather than looking like another generic event page. Keep it clear and personal so somebody arriving on the page immediately understands what you are taking on.

Your name, challenge and perhaps the reason or charity can provide the basis of a good title. You do not need to invent a clever slogan if a straightforward title communicates the story more effectively.

Choose a Strong Main Photo

Your main photograph is one of the first things visitors notice and will also help represent the page when it is shared. JustGiving recommends using a bold, standout cover photograph and encourages fundraisers to add pictures and videos to their pages.

Choose a clear photograph that looks personal rather than a generic running image or charity logo. A photograph of you running, training, wearing your charity vest or simply looking recognisable will immediately help visitors connect the fundraising page with the person asking for their support.

If there is a personal story behind your fundraising, an appropriate photograph connected with that story may be even more powerful. Always consider the privacy and wishes of anybody else appearing in photographs before uploading them.

Don't Stop at One Photo

The cover photograph is important, but your page does not need to remain visually unchanged throughout the campaign. JustGiving encourages fundraisers to use multiple pictures and videos, while wider online fundraising research also suggests that using several relevant photographs can help tell a stronger story.

Think of the photographs as a visual record of your journey. You might begin with a picture of yourself, later add a photograph from an early training run, then your charity vest, a long training run, your race number and eventually a finish line or medal photograph.

Avoid adding photographs simply for the sake of having more of them. Each one should ideally reveal something about you, the cause or the challenge and help somebody understand how the journey is progressing.

Consider Adding a Video

JustGiving supports video as well as photographs, giving you another way to make your page personal. A short video can be particularly effective if you find it easier to explain your motivation by talking rather than writing.

You do not need professional equipment or elaborate editing. A straightforward video recorded on your phone explaining what you are doing, why you chose the charity and why you would appreciate support can feel much more genuine than something highly produced.

Video can also be used later in the fundraising journey. A message after a major training milestone or once you have completed the event can provide a fresh addition to a page that supporters may already have visited.

Explain Why You Chose the Charity

Your supporters may know you well while knowing almost nothing about the organisation you are supporting. Your page should therefore explain both your personal motivation and why you believe the charity's work deserves support.

If the charity helped you, a relative or a friend, explain that connection if appropriate. If you simply discovered its work and wanted to support it, that is also a perfectly good reason, but tell visitors what made the organisation important to you.

Avoid copying a long section of corporate wording from the charity's website. Summarise what it does in clear language and connect that work with your reason for fundraising.

Read more about choosing the right charity for you here.

Show What Donations Could Achieve

A fundraising target tells people how much you hope to raise, but explaining the potential impact of that money gives the figure meaning. Check whether your charity provides examples showing what particular donation amounts could help fund.

If £10 could provide something specific or £50 could contribute towards a particular service, include appropriate examples on your page. Only use figures supplied by the charity or another reliable source rather than guessing what donations might pay for.

This can be particularly valuable when fundraising for a smaller or less familiar organisation. Someone may arrive because they know you, but your page can help them leave with a much better understanding of the cause they have supported.

Explain the Challenge Properly

Do not assume everyone understands what your event involves. Tell visitors what you are doing, where it is taking place and when you will be doing it.

For runners, it is worth giving some context to the challenge as well. Training for a first marathon might involve months of preparation and hundreds of training miles, something that may impress a non runner considerably more than simply writing that you are running 26.2 miles.

Include anything that makes your challenge particularly personal. It might be your first half marathon, an attempt at a particular time, a return to running after years away or completing the race in fancy dress.

Set a Fundraising Target

A visible target gives both you and your supporters something concrete to work towards. JustGiving actively recommends setting a target, and charity fundraising guidance also consistently encourages fundraisers to use one.

If you have a charity place with a minimum fundraising commitment, your target should at least reflect that requirement. For an own place runner without a minimum commitment, choose something ambitious enough to motivate you while still giving supporters the feeling that their individual donations matter.

Your first target does not have to become a ceiling on the campaign. JustGiving allows targets to be changed, so if you reach £1,000 surprisingly early, you can celebrate the achievement and consider setting a new goal.

Use Milestones to Keep the Page Moving

Your final target does not have to be the only figure that matters. Reaching 25%, 50% or 75% gives you an opportunity to update the page, thank supporters and show that the campaign is making progress.

Training milestones can work in exactly the same way. Your first 10 mile run, longest training run or beginning the final countdown to race day can all become part of the page's developing story.

This prevents the page from becoming static between launch and race day. Someone returning several weeks later should be able to see that both your training and fundraising have moved forward.

Get the First Donations Onto the Page

An empty fundraising page can feel very different from one where people have already started giving. Before sharing your page as widely as possible, consider asking a few close friends or relatives to help get the fundraising underway.

JustGiving itself recommends starting with close friends and family and says their donations can encourage others to give. It also notes that people may be influenced by amounts already donated.

If you are comfortable doing so, making the first donation yourself is therefore worth considering. You could also approach somebody you expect to be particularly supportive early in the campaign rather than leaving your strongest potential donors until much later.

Keep Updating Your JustGiving Page

Your JustGiving page should not look exactly the same three months after you created it. JustGiving provides page updates specifically so fundraisers can share milestones and turn the page into a continuing record of their fundraising.

Use updates to tell supporters about significant developments rather than simply writing another request for money. A successful long training run, reaching half of your target, receiving your race number or getting through a difficult period of training all provide genuine additions to the story.

Add photographs or video to updates where they improve them. Wider fundraising research also supports combining updates with fresh visual content because it helps supporters continue to feel involved in the journey.

Regular does not have to mean repetitive. The aim is for somebody returning to your page to discover something new rather than seeing exactly the same page they saw when you launched it.

Make Your Updates Worth Reading

An update saying only that you still need donations does not add much to your page. Give supporters a reason to read it by telling them something that has happened since your previous update.

A runner might explain how their first 18 mile training run went, share a photograph from the route and then mention how close the fundraising is to its next milestone. Another update might introduce a particular aspect of the charity's work before showing what the campaign has raised so far.

The fundraising ask can still be there, but it becomes part of an interesting update rather than the entire purpose of it. Over several months, those updates build a much richer picture of the effort behind the challenge.

Keep the Fundraising Total Accurate

Not every contribution to your campaign will necessarily be made directly through the online donation button. Someone might give you cash or you may raise money through an offline fundraising activity.

JustGiving allows offline donations to be added to the total displayed on a fundraising page. This means the totaliser can reflect the complete fundraising effort rather than only the money donated online.

Remember that adding an offline donation to the page does not transfer that money to the charity. You remain responsible for ensuring any money collected separately reaches the organisation.

Read more about managing offline donations here.

Connect Your Training

If you are fundraising through a running challenge, JustGiving allows compatible fitness services including Strava and Fitbit to be connected to your page. This can turn your actual training into part of the fundraising story.

For a marathon runner, seeing the miles accumulate can demonstrate months of commitment in a way that simply saying you are training cannot. Maps, distances and training activity also give returning visitors something new to see as race day approaches.

You do not have to connect a fitness app to create a successful page. However, for somebody whose fundraising challenge is based around running or another physical activity, it is a useful JustGiving feature worth considering.

Read more about Strava here.

Personalise the Thank You Message

Do not overlook the message supporters receive after donating. JustGiving allows you to personalise the thank you message included with a donor's email receipt, giving you another opportunity to make the experience feel less automated.

Write something that genuinely sounds like you and reflects the campaign. A supporter has just chosen to contribute their money to your cause, so a personal message is far better than leaving them with generic wording.

You can update your thanks again as the campaign develops if appropriate. The message does not need to be long, but it should make donors feel that their contribution has been noticed and appreciated.

Read more about saying thank you here.

Use Your QR Code

Every JustGiving fundraising page can have a QR code that takes somebody directly to it. This is particularly useful when somebody wants to sponsor you in person because they can scan the code and reach the donation page immediately.

JustGiving explains that a page's QR code can be accessed by adding /qrcode to the end of its page address. You can save the code and use it on appropriate printed materials or have it available on your phone when talking to people about your challenge.

JustGiving also offers options for keeping your fundraising page accessible through your mobile wallet. The important principle is to remove the gap between somebody deciding they want to support you and actually reaching the donation page.

Read more about QR codes here.

QR codes are easy to generate and perfect for fundraising events

Check the Page on Your Phone

Before you start directing people towards your JustGiving page, open it yourself and look at it as a potential donor would. In particular, check it on a phone because many supporters will reach the page after tapping a link or scanning your QR code on a mobile device.

Look at what appears first and ask whether the photograph, title and opening part of the story quickly explain the challenge. Then read the entire page to check names, dates, event details and spelling and make sure there is no unfinished or generic wording left behind.

The page should answer three questions without making the visitor work for the information: what are you doing, why are you doing it and why should somebody care? If those answers are immediately clear, the foundations of the page are strong.

Update the Page After the Event

The finish line should become part of your JustGiving page rather than marking the point at which you abandon it. Add a finish line, medal or post-race photograph and tell supporters how the event actually went.

Thank the people who supported you and update them on the fundraising total. If the target has not quite been reached, the completed challenge provides a natural final chapter to the story and may encourage people who were waiting to see whether you finished to donate.

Your page then tells a complete story rather than ending just before its most important moment. Someone discovering it afterwards can see the reason for fundraising, the training, the progress and ultimately the achievement they are being asked to support.

The Perfect JustGiving Page Tells Your Story

There is no single photograph, fundraising target or piece of wording that guarantees a successful JustGiving page. The strongest pages combine several simple things: a genuine personal story, good photographs, a clear explanation of the cause, an appropriate target and regular evidence that the challenge is progressing.

Start by making the page unmistakably yours rather than relying on generic wording. Explain your motivation near the top, choose a strong main photograph, show what donations could achieve and give supporters enough information to understand the scale of your challenge.

Once the page is live, keep improving it. Add photographs, videos and meaningful updates, connect your training if useful, keep offline fundraising reflected in the total and personalise the thank you message supporters receive.

By race day, your JustGiving page should look very different from the page you originally created. It should have become a record of the training, fundraising, setbacks, milestones, supporters and ultimately the challenge itself, giving every visitor a clear reason to become part of the story.