Sample Crowdfunding Emails

1. Pre-Launch Email
[This is an email that should be sent to a select group of people, like close friends and family members, who you’re fairly certain will donate on launch day. These are your pre-raise donors.]

SUBJECT LINE: Want to Join the Dream Team?

[DONOR’S NAME],

As you probably already know, I was accepted to the National Theatre for Student Artists this year and will have the opportunity to perform off-Broadway this summer. (Eeeeeeee!) I could not be any more excited to join this incredible group of students and start rehearsing this production. However, getting to New York City will be expensive, and I’m going to need your help to make this life-in-a-lifetime trip!

I’m going to be launching a crowdfunding campaign next week to help raise the money needed for my travel, housing, meals, and course fee. I’m hoping that you’ll join my special inner circle of supporters and donate on launch day! It’s super important for a crowdfunding campaign to reach 10% of its goal within the first 24 hours. Crowdfunding campaigns that do are way more likely to hit their goals! So I’m hoping that you’ll jump onboard during launch day and become part of that 10% dream team!

If you think you might be able to make a donation next week, just reply with a “YES!” email. I’ll send you a message in a few days with more information about how you can make your donation!

Thank you SO MUCH, [DONOR’S NAME]! I couldn’t do any of this without my family and friends, and I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful I am that I have so many amazing people in my life like you who believe in me and my dreams!

Best wishes,
[DONOR’S NAME]

[Make sure to send a personalized THANK YOU as soon as your pre-raising donors send you a YES! email. Show them so much love! You want to give your early supporters the warmest welcome possible because they’re going to help get other donors on your team. The day before your launch, give them a heads-up that you’re going to be sending them an email tomorrow with the link to your crowdfunding campaign, and then on launch day, send them the link! If they still haven’t donated by 7 PM, there’s nothing wrong with sending a text message or making a phone call because they’ve already pledged their support. If they haven’t donated yet, you can be almost positive that it’s just because they got distracted and forgot!]

2. Launch Email

SUBJECT LINE: Want to Make a Dream Come True?

[DONOR’S NAME],

Hope that everything’s going well with you! [Add personalized paragraph — How are your students this year? How was your recent vacation? I saw that you had exciting news on Facebook!, etc.]

I wanted to share some exciting news with you: I was recently accepted to the National Theatre for Student Artists, a group of students selected from across the country to create new productions together off-Broadway. I was one of only forty students selected (out of over 650!) and will be traveling to New York City this summer to perform at the York Theatre! You know how much I want to be an actress. [If you have personal anecdotes related to how this person has supported you in the past, include them here — when they attended your school plays, helped you in a vocal/dance class, watched you sing in church, etc.] So you understand how performing in the theatre capital of America would be nothing short of a dream come true for me!

However, getting to New York will be expensive. I have to raise $### to pay for my travel, housing, meals, and the course fee for the three-week program. My family doesn’t currently have the resources to afford this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. [If there are any extenuating circumstances that donors should know about — layoffs, medical bills, etc., you might want to consider including them here.] So I’m asking for your help! I’m currently running a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to help raise money for my upcoming trip. If you could make a donation, I’d be so unbelievably thankful. To show my gratitude, I’ll be taking as many photos and videos as possible during the program and compiling them into a thank you video, so that you can see exactly what I’ve been learning this summer and join me on my adventure! You can make a donation here: [LINK].

Thanks so much, [DONOR’S NAME]!

Best wishes,
[YOUR NAME]

3. End of Launch Day Thank You Email to Donors

SUBJECT LINE: One Midnight Gone . . .

[DONOR’S NAME],

Thank you so much for donating to my crowdfunding campaign! I’m working hard to make sure that this campaign is a success, and I just wanted to keep you updated on my progress on the road to NYC!

Thanks to you, I was able to raise $### in ## hours! You helped me reach the first key milestone in my campaign and that means so much to me. Today was absolutely crazy, but before I go to bed, I just wanted to say THANK YOU a million times over. I couldn’t do any of this without you on my team!

Best wishes,
[YOUR NAME]

4. Update Email for Donors
[You probably want to send one of these per week.]

SUBJECT LINE: Update #1: You’re the Tops!

[DONOR’S NAME],

Thank you once again for your support! It’s Day ##, and we’re one-quarter of the way into the crowdfunding campaign! We’re on a roll with # supporters having helped raise $### towards my NYC performance. That’s #% of my goal!

I am so amazed and blessed to have such a supportive group of people behind me. I’m hoping that you’ll help me invite even more supporters to Team [YOUR NAME].

Could you share the link to my crowdfunding campaign with your friends on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and/or send it out to your friends via email? You can find the crowdfunding campaign here: [LINK].

In the meantime, here’s a short thank you video that I made just for you! [LINK TO YOUTUBE VIDEO]*

Thank you SO much! You guys are actual superheroes!

Best wishes,
[YOUR NAME]

5. Update Email for Non-Donors
[You probably want to send one of these per week.]

SUBJECT LINE: Update #1: We're at GO!

[DONOR’S NAME],

I just wanted to keep you updated on my progress on the road to NYC! It’s Day ##, and we’re one-quarter of the way into the crowdfunding campaign! We’re on a roll with # supporters having helped raise $### towards my NYC performance. That’s #% of my goal!

Join Team [YOUR NAME] today by making a donation to my crowdfunding campaign! And if you can’t afford to give right now, you can still help make all of my dreams come true by sharing the link to my crowdfunding campaign with your friends on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and/or sending it out via email. It would mean the world to me!

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Best wishes,
[YOUR NAME]

6. Matching Donor Email
[You want to send this email out on the morning your match begins to maximize the amount of donations. If you’re leaning heavily on adults (like friends of your parents), you’re probably going to want your matching donations to happen over a Tuesday-Thursday period because those are the days when adults are most inclined to donate!]

SUBJECT LINE: Want Your Donation to Count for DOUBLE?

[DONOR’S NAME],

EXCITING NEWS! I have a matching donor for my crowdfunding campaign. That means that whatever you donate between now and Thursday counts DOUBLE! So if you donate $25, my matching donor will also donate $25, meaning that you’ve really given me $50 towards my goal of getting to NYC!

I’m only $### away from reaching my goal, so any donations made (and matched!) over the next three days would make a huge difference. Thank you so much! I’m so blessed to have people like you on my team!

Best wishes,
[YOUR NAME]

7. Last Chance Email
[You should email this one 24 hours before your campaign wraps up on Day 30.]

[DONOR’S NAME],

We are in the final stretch of this crowdfunding campaign! Thank you so much for coming on this amazing journey with me. We have managed to raise an incredible $### in the past 30 days, but we still have a little bit more to go! Can you help us reach the finish line in the final 24 hours?

Please share this link ([LINK]) with everyone that you know, and if you haven’t donated yet, please consider contributing in these final hours! I cannot believe that I’m so close to representing [STATE] off-Broadway. If you’d told me a few months ago that I would be en route to New York City, I never would have believed it — but, thanks to you, dreams really do come true!

Thank you once again for all of your support! Here’s a short thank you video that I made just for you! [LINK TO YOUTUBE VIDEO]*

Best wishes,
[YOUR NAME]

8. End of Campaign Email
[Email this one after your campaign ends.]

SUBJECT LINE: Welcome to New York! It’s Been Waiting for You . . .

[DONOR’S NAME],

What can I say? It’s been a crazy month! But you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin, and I cannot tell you how thankful I am that you’re on my team. We managed to raise $### towards my trip to New York City. While we didn’t quite reach our goal of $###, we made a ton of progress, and I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished together!

If you know me, you must also know that I never ever ever give up! I’m hosting a one-night cabaret at [VENUE] next month to help close the gap and reach my goal. It’s going to be on [DATE] at [TIME.] You can buy tickets for $15 at [LINK]. Please come out and support me — and listen to some fantastic showtunes performed by me and my friends from across the community! We’re even going to be performing a song from [TITLE OF NTSA SHOW], so if you won’t be able to see me perform off-Broadway, you can consider this your exclusive sneak peek!

Thank you once again for all of your support! I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many incredible people that believe in my dreams; without you, none of this would be possible. You are truly the dream team!

Best wishes,
[YOUR NAME]

* For thank you videos, I'd recommend just shooting a quick video on your phone of you saying THANKS! to everyone for their donations. You can even sing part of a song that you've been practicing! Or if you're in the middle of a school play, you might want to film your thank you video backstage and then pass the phone off to a friend when you go on to perform (so that they can capture you in action!).