Fundraising for your Chabad center is crucial to running it successfully and helping the community, which is why this guide aims at helping you boost online giving through proven tools, tips, and a sample Chabad fundraising appeal letter. Read on to get started with raising money for your Chabad center.
Did you know that a new Chabad center opens on average every three days? This exciting movement is spreading quickly with a powerful mission to provide quality services and programming for Jewish people all over the world.
Chabad fundraising is a vital part of this expansion, as Chabad centers are typically fully funded by their community. Without the right strategies, fundraising for your center may be lagging – or currently nonexistent.
Don’t worry, we have you covered with nine powerful fundraising tips and best practices for Chabad fundraising. We’ll also include a sample Chabad fundraising appeal letter sample you can use to make your appeals.
Chabad is a philosophy in the Jewish faith that was founded in Lubavitch, Russia. Chabad is an abbreviation of three Hebrew words: Chochmah, Binah, and Daas, which means wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.
In observance of this philosophy, there are now thousands of Chabad centers all over the world that help Jewish people no matter their denomination.
Their activities include hosting classes and workshops, providing counseling services, hosting Shabbat meals, and helping the poor and needy in their community.
Chabad centers provide a lot of value to their attendees and surrounding communities. Here’s why Chabad fundraising is so important.
Chabad centers are usually funded by their communities. This means that they must fundraise to support their most basic operations.
That’s why having the right fundraising platform is so vital to the survival of these important institutions. Collecting donations online with seamless, comprehensive tools makes all the difference in Chabad fundraising.
Donorbox helps thousands of Jewish charities and organizations raise money to do more good! With attractive donation forms, dynamic fundraising and crowdfunding pages, peer-to-peer functionality, easy ticket sales through Donorbox Events, and in-person, cashless donations through the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app, Donorbox has the tools you need to amp up your Chabad fundraising.
Check out how Chabad of Duluth embeds Donorbox’s recurring donation form on its website to collect donations that support its basic operations.
Fundraise for Your Chabad Home!
In addition to supporting basic operations, Chabad fundraising also helps Chabad centers expand their programming.
Chabad centers host lectures and workshops about Judaism, workshops that help members of their community grow personally and professionally, social events, youth events, and more. These additional programs provide so much value to members of the Chabad community!
Donorbox Events enables Chabad centers to create customized event pages and ticketing forms to sell online tickets to their workshops and events. This tool is an excellent way to boost event revenue through strategic pricing of unlimited ticket tiers, tax-deductibility information, ticket quantity limit, ticket purchasing deadline, the ability for additional donations, and more. Learn about its functionalities and steps to get started in our guide.
When emergencies like natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic strike, Chabad centers provide support to their communities through personalized outreach and financial support for costs like rent and food.
That’s why it’s so vital for Chabad centers to have a strong fundraising program. The more they raise, the more they’ll be able to support their community in times of direct need.
A crowdfunding campaign is the ideal way to raise money for your Chabad’s relief campaigns. These campaigns create a sense of urgency among your supporters with a limited timeline and a fundraising goal thermometer. The idea is to crowdfund small amounts of money from a huge number of people to be able to meet the fundraising goal in times of need.
Donorbox Crowdfunding is packed with storytelling and shareability potential and includes proven tools like a goal thermometer, an Updates tab, a virtual donor wall, social media sharing buttons, and more to ensure the success of your Chabad’s crowdfunding campaign.
Your first step to boosting your Chabad fundraising is to accept tzedakah or charitable donations online. In an increasingly cashless world, online fundraising allows your supporters to donate from anywhere and anytime. Giving tzedakah online is fast, easy, and secure!
To start accepting tzedakah online, all you need is a donation form. Donorbox Donation Forms are attractive and customizable so you can make one that perfectly fits your needs and branding. You can choose to embed your donation form on your website or host it on Donorbox.
For example, this organization has a donation form specifically to collect daily tzedakah. We love how they customized their amounts to reflect giving a certain amount per day for a week. They also have recurring donations enabled so those who donate can choose to give weekly, monthly, or annually, which results in more donations for their important work.
A pushka, or coin box, is a great way to encourage those visiting your Chabad center to give just a little bit toward your important work every time they visit. But in a world where fewer people are carrying cash, this practice is drying up – quickly.
That’s where a donation kiosk comes in! The Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app quickly turns your iOS or Android tablet into a donation kiosk. You can pair it with a card reader device to collect donations from your visitors via cards and digital wallets.
This easy-to-use tool helps your Chabad center capture those spontaneous, in-person gifts to a pushka that you would otherwise miss out on. You can set this up in your Chabad center lobby and carry it around to fundraise during events! Learn more about this product here.
Although people may not carry cash anymore, there’s one thing they’re almost guaranteed to have – their smartphone. That’s why text-to-give helps Chabad centers raise more money during services and in-person events through the power of mobile giving.
With Donorbox Text-to-Give, you’ll simply activate the add-on on Donorbox and receive unique campaign IDs for your campaigns on the platform. If you choose the Short Code plan, you will be able to use a custom keyword that is easier to remember and type in. You will then share the campaign ID or the keyword and the texting number with your donors. They will text and receive a mobile-friendly donation form link to give to your Chabad center. Once they donate, they can easily give again via text.
Get Started with Donorbox Text-to-Give
Check out these ten successful text-to-give campaigns for inspiration!
QR codes are another great way to help your supporters give via their smartphones. Simply post QR codes to your online donation form around your Chabad center and on any materials you share with your supporters. All they have to do is scan your code and donate.
QR Codes are automatically generated for your Donorbox campaigns and events! Simply visit your campaign dashboard, edit your QR code as needed (you can customize it to add a different link than the campaign), and download the image.
It works the same way for Donorbox Events. You will get a free QR code with each event, which you can customize and download to use.
Donorbox also enables you to add a QR code to your live campaign for Donorbox Live™ Kiosk. You have the option to customize this QR code to redirect donors to one of your Donorbox campaigns or a different link of your choice.
Because giving tzedakah is expected – usually at the amount of 10% of someone’s net income for the year – recurring donations are a great way to help your supporters give more over a longer period. This results in easier giving for your supporters and more donations for your Chabad center!
Donorbox Recurring Donations helps you add recurring donation intervals to your Donorbox donation form. You can choose up to four donation intervals to include on your form. Donorbox also enables you to set the default interval and the recommended interval which is marked with a heart. Once someone signs up for a recurring donation, they can log in to their donor account on Donorbox at any time to make changes to their plan or download the donation receipt.
We love how Chabad Bahia Blanca embedded two donation forms on their website to collect both one-time and recurring donations. They’ve also included explanations for what each donation amount can provide for their community – which encourages people to give more!
Accept Recurring Donations for Your Chabad Center
An important part of the Chabad philosophy is that anyone who practices the Jewish faith is welcome – regardless of membership. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t leverage an optional membership program to raise more funds for your Chabad and provide some fun perks for your members.
Establishing a membership program ensures you’ll have a steady stream of contributed income to support your programming. You can include incentives for joining your membership program, like special members-only events or swag like t-shirts.
Donorbox Memberships has the tools you need to launch your program right away! Offer monthly and annual memberships and let your members manage their membership accounts on Donorbox. You can add unlimited membership tiers to your membership form and even embed the form on your website. Alternatively, you can use the Donorbox-hosted membership campaign page to run your Chabad’s membership program.
Check out these seven proven ways for nonprofit membership retention and growth to get started!
A great time to make the ask is when you’re trying to buy or build a new building for your Chabad center. Typically, supporters are excited to be a part of such an important campaign, and there are some great donor recognition opportunities in your new space.
Chabad S. Pedro used Donorbox to raise over $57,000 to open a new Chabad house in Los Angeles. Their fundraising page includes a donor wall where donors can leave a comment with their donations. This utilizes social proof to encourage more donations!
Selling tickets to events is a fundraising avenue that many Chabad centers overlook. While most Chabad programming is provided for free, selling tickets to a fundraising event is a great way to allow your community to support you!
Plan a fun event with an auction or raffle component to drive up your event revenue. Use Donorbox Events to easily sell tickets with as many ticket tiers as you’d like! Plus, you can set deadlines for purchasing tickets and limits on each ticket tier so you know exactly how many people you have – which really helps, especially if you’re new to event planning.
Use our free event planning checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything in your planning process.
With Donorbox Events, you also have the option to ask for additional donations on top of ticket sales, which significantly increases your event income. For each ticket tier, you can list how much of each ticket is tax deductible, which encourages people to buy tickets at a higher level. Jewish Center for Justice used this Donorbox Events feature to boost ticket sales for their Summer event by showing buyers how much of each ticket could benefit them during tax time.
The festival of lights is a perfect time to ask for donations for your Chabad center. With the spirit of giving and hope that the season inspires, you can significantly boost your end-of-the-year fundraising efforts with a few well-placed appeals.
Create a fundraising campaign and reach out to your supporters with a personalized appeal to encourage them to support your Chabad center. We love how Chabad of Bristol used a Donorbox-hosted donation page to help spread Hanukkah cheer in the Southwest! Each gift amount corresponds to a different holiday action in their area.
Pro tip: Use peer-to-peer fundraising during Hanukkah to empower your community to help raise money for your Chabad’s basic operations and upcoming learning workshops. This helps them feel more connected with your mission and the work you do year-round.
If peer-to-peer fundraising is on your mind for increased outreach and donations, give Donorbox Peer-to-Peer a try for the best results this Hanukkah! You can easily create a peer-to-peer campaign and invite fundraisers right from the tool to fundraise for your Chabad.
Donorbox has the robust toolbox you need to raise more money for your Chabad center. Whether you’re ready to take your Chabad fundraising to the next level or are just getting started, our fundraising platform is easy to use and brings you powerful results.
Our conversion-optimized products and features like Recurring Donations, Customizable Donation Pages and Forms, Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer, Text-to-Give, Events, Memberships, Live™ Kiosk, QuickDonate™, and more will help boost giving and retain more supporters for your Chabad center. Learn more about them on the Donorbox website.
If you’re ready to join the 80,000+ organizations raising money with Donorbox, check out our guide to getting started or watch this short video now:
We understand how important a fundraising appeal letter can be in terms of effectively fundraising in your community. Your supporters would appreciate a personalized approach that considers their giving abilities and highlights the impact of their past donations.
For more fundraising letter tips, check out these five must-dos for engaging fundraising appeal letters.
The following sample will help you get started with writing a great fundraising letter personalized for the donors of your Chabad center.
Dear [Donor Name],
Jewish families in our area struggle to feel connected with their faith and find supportive programming to help them raise strong children. [Add a statistic here] This year, our Chabad center is launching several new programs to share the philosophy of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge with the children in our community.
We serve as their beacon of light, connecting them with love and G-d while improving their quality of life. That’s why this new programming is so important – and that’s why we need your support. We would be honored if you would consider a donation of $100 [change this amount for different donor groups] toward these new programs.
[Add information about your center] Our Chabad center is the largest in the state. We currently serve over 3,000 individuals with our weekly services and ongoing Torah classes. Providing valuable programming, education, and entertainment to our community is our ultimate mission.
Please help us reach our fundraising goal of [Amount] by giving to our campaign. Your support does so much to help us achieve our goals. [Add an incentive, if you have one] If you give now, your name will be added to the donor wall outside our new classes, so children for generations to come will see your generosity and know that you’re to thank for their renewed closeness with their faith.
[Add the link to your fundraising campaign page or donation form]
Sincerely,
Signature of your Chabad Rabbi or other Officer
With the way the Chabad movement continues to grow, Chabad fundraising is only going to become more important. These effective centers provide so much for their Jewish communities – and they do so almost entirely with donations.
These nine tips will help you whether you’re just starting out or looking for holes in your fundraising strategy. The goal with Chabad fundraising is to cover all of your bases by making sure you have many different giving options to appeal to your many types of donors!
Looking for more inspiration? Check out these eight Jewish fundraising ideas!
Donorbox helps you smoothly capture more donations both in person and online. Plus, we have a ton of resources to help you every step of your fundraising journey! Our Nonprofit Blog has tons of fundraising ideas, guides, and other articles. Donorbox Library has free downloadable resources. Donorbox Academy has pertinent classes to make you a fundraising pro fast and our YouTube channel is packed with webinars, podcast episodes, and more.
Ready to take your fundraising to the next level? Sign up now!
Lindsey spent years wearing many hats in the nonprofit world. Whether she was helping arts nonprofits with their messaging and content, planning a fundraising gala, writing an NEA grant proposal, or running a membership program with over 400 members, she learned how to navigate – and appreciate! – the fast-paced world of fundraising. Now, she loves sharing those hard-earned lessons with the Donorbox community.
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Lindsey Baker Bower