Virtual Fundraising & LiveStreaming
Fundraise with ZERO GoLive! and support patients during COVID-19
Your voice is mighty! Sure, not everyone is a professional “influencer,” full-time livestream personality, or social starlet, but you don’t have to be famous to have a vast impact. No matter who you are, you can create a successful virtual fundraiser and help ZERO Out prostate cancer!
We have surpassed all the previous 12 years of raising funds, and we did it all VIRTUALLY!
Team Nikituk’s hair-dying challenge raised $19k
Are you a chef? Musician? Exercise buff, comedian, gamer, golfer? Or do you find yourself casually browsing Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram? Do you have a passion, hobby, or special skill that you can demonstrate live and online? If so, then virtual fundraising is for you! Put your creativity on display, spread the word on social media, and you’ll be making an impact for prostate cancer patients who need help because of COVID-19.
Some Inspiration for You
To get the creative juices flowing, check out what ZERO Champions – people just like you – have done to spread awareness online and bring in donations:
Get Started
Anyone can take their fundraiser virtual, whether you’re a casual social media user or a tech wizard. All it takes is a bit of planning, spreading the word, and working with the tools you have to bring your community together in real time:
Make a plan
Sky’s the limit
What are your passions? What would make waves among people who know you? The only boundaries are your imagination, and you don’t have to make it into a big event to be successful.
Milestones & Incentives
One of the best ways to encourage donations: vow to do something special when you meet fundraising milestones and your ultimate goal. Whether it’s a special perk for the donor, or something entertaining for the world to see, everyone loves meeting a good challenge!
- I dare you… – For some reason, people love forcing friends to do something they would rather avoid. Promise to dye/shave/grow/style your hair, do a dance on-camera, public karaoke, live-blog a scary movie, or wear a silly outfit. Marathon-style tasks (e.g. go to bed an hour later for every $X raised, exercise a number of minutes/miles/reps for each gift given) are another great option, if you can handle the grind.
- Exclusivity – Offer donors-only access to a virtual event, private group, website, or chat room. Make donations a ticket for a comedy show, concert, or one-on-one teaching session. Give special recognition, merchandise, your secret recipe, or a special badge of honor.
- Share your Clout – Even if your audience is small, donors often will be motivated by letting them “take over” temporarily. Offer to retweet their message, promote their workplace, share their favorite story, or reach out to an influencer in your social network. And if you’re broadcasting, definitely give them a shout-out for their gift.
Create a fundraising page
Dedicated fundraising sites are great because they give you a central location to explain your efforts to donors, let you collect gifts securely (and without having to worry about the tax implications), and offer promotional tools to help spread the word:
- Facebook Donations & Fundraisers
In just a couple of clicks, you can create a fundraising post to benefit ZERO, add a donation button to your posts and videos, or add a donation sticker to Instagram.
- Bold for Blue fundraisers (powered by JustGiving)
More powerful options to customize your page, and no Facebook account is needed to donate. The site offers great extras like multi-fundraiser teams, email invitations, Strava Fitness App integration.
- ZERO Run/Walk, Grow & Give, Team ZERO, and Tee Off
If you’re already participating in ZERO’s event series, consider adding a GoLive! element to turbo-charge your fundraising efforts. Update the text and images on your personal page, and send people to your donation form to get the details of your event. No need to keep it specific to running, golfing, or growing; use your creativity, the only limit is your imagination!
- Advanced users & social influencers
If you’re already an established streamer who has experience using broadcasting software and Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Gaming, etc., then check out Player ZERO: our growing team of content creators who are using their influencer status to do charity streams for ZERO Cancer.
Whatever route you pick, be sure to customize your personal page with the full details of what you’re doing, pictures, and ongoing updates as your fundraising efforts are paying off! Take full advantage of the promotional features of your fundraising site; depending on what fundraising tool you’re using, that might include email tools, social media posts, video channel embeds, smartphone apps, and/or Facebook fundraisers.
Spread the word
Talk early and often about what you’re doing, giving the link to your fundraising page and giving updates as your efforts start paying off. Tease your fundraiser to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and everyone you know. Posts and tweet about it on social media. Put up fliers and talk about it around the water cooler. Create a t-shirt and become a walking billboard. Create milestones to tease the bigger event as fundraising meets individual goals.
Social media is an important tool as you promote your event to the people you know. Check out the social media toolkit lower down this page for best practices, pre-made content, and graphics you can share.
Need help?
Planning something big and want assistance? Looking for an official representative to participate in your livestream? Or just excited about what you’re doing and want to share the enthusiasm? Contact us at streaming@zerocancer.org and we’d love to talk about how ZERO can help!
Do your thing
GoLive! for ZERO is any activity that draws a crowd online and intentionally focuses on interaction with (and getting donations from) those who tune in. It doesn’t have to be complicated, use new and unfamiliar technology, or even live completely “in the cloud.”
For some people, GoLive! might take the form of an ongoing back-and-forth over Twitter replies, social media comment threads, YouTube video chat, Facebook messenger groups, Slack, Internet forums, or Reddit. For others, it could be a face-to-face videoconference over Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. And for those who are already using sites like Twitch, YouTube Live, or Facebook Gaming, GoLive! can absolutely take the form of a charity livestream for ZERO.
When you’re live, it’s a good idea to have quick sound bytes you can rattle off in-between activities. For in-depth information, check out the rest of ZERO’s website, but here are some summary concepts to help explain the cause of ending prostate cancer in the U.S.:
Facts & Stats
What to know about prostate cancer
- There is no cure for prostate cancer.
- Prostate cancer is similar in frequency and mortality to breast cancer.
How Common is Prostate Cancer?
- 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes.
- 3.1 Million men currently have the disease (roughly the population of Chicago).
How Deadly is Prostate Cancer?
- Prostate cancer is 99% survivable when caught early.
- When prostate cancer spreads, 5-year survival rate drops to 30%.
- A man dies of prostate cancer every 16 minutes.
- 33,000 will die of prostate cancer this year (enough to fill a baseball stadium).
What challenges do we face addressing of prostate cancer?
- Research funding for prostate cancer lags far behind breast cancer.
- Few at-risk men discuss prostate cancer with their doctors.
- Most prostate cancer surgeries are on hold when COVID-19 flares up in the community.
Are some more prone to prostate cancer than others?
- Military Veterans are twice as likely to get prostate cancer.
- African Americans 2.2X more likely to die from the disease.
- African Americans are 1.8X more likely to get prostate cancer.
The key to a successful ZERO GoLive! fundraiser is spreading the word. Even if you’re only moderately active on social media, it’s a great place for quick and easy outreach.
Consistency is key; only a fraction of the people in your network will actually see your post in their feeds. In the lead up to, during, and after your GoLive!, keep giving fresh content to ensure your posts/tweets are highly visible and to reinforce your message.
What you say matters much more than exactly how or where you say it. It’s great if you have the ability and access to create slick images and video, but some of the most successful social content consists of cellphone pictures, selfie videos, and simple text or links. For those looking to brush up on best practices, here are some insights on what makes social networks most likely to choose your post for your friends’ feeds:
Best practices
@mentions
Make sure ZERO can see and share your content, include @ZEROCancer in your Tweets and Facebook posts, and @zeroprostatecancer on your Instagram content.
#hashtags
Adding the tags #ZEROStrong and #EndProstateCancer will make the sites more likely to share your content in feeds and searches.
Image Tags
Helping the site understand who is in your image will ensure that it shows in that person’s feed as well as their friends’ feeds. It’s a small extra step, but can have a big impact.
Multimedia & Interaction
Sites put extra emphasis on images and video, as well as content that has multiple reactions, comments, and replies. It doesn’t have to be fancy — pictures from your phone can work as well as anything made in photoshop or iMovie – just offer a variety of content to help draw attention to your fundraiser.
Banners & profiles
In addition your individual posts, your page’s banner image and profile picture can draw significant attention to your efforts.
Ultimately, you know your audience best, and you are what they want to see, so create social media content that is custom to your efforts and community.
If you’d like to share some official stats, the images below are ready-formatted for social media. Just click the appropriate network tab, select the thumbnail to view it full-sized, and right-click on the image and save to your computer:
Post/Tweet/Share Ideas
Click the box to copy the text, then paste into a new post/tweet/share:
AnnouncementDay BeforeDay of EventThank YouPost-Event
On (DATE), I’m doing (ACTIVITY) to raise money and awareness for @ZEROCancer. Consider donating now at (DONATE LINK); every $1 given provides $5 in debt relief for #prostatecancer patients who’ve been hit hardest by COVID. #ZEROStrong #EndProstateCancer
On (DATE), I’m doing (ACTIVITY) to raise money and awareness for @zeroprostatecancer. Consider donating now at (DONATE LINK); every $1 given provides $5 in debt relief for #prostatecancer patients who’ve been hit hardest by COVID. #ZEROStrong #EndProstateCancer
Don’t miss my (ACTIVITY) tomorrow to help #prostatecancer patients impacted the pandemic! I’ll be live at (TIME), with all donations benefiting the @ZEROCancer COVID-19 Support Fund. Tune in, give, and help us #EndProstateCancer! #ZEROStrong
Don’t miss my (ACTIVITY) tomorrow to help #prostatecancer patients impacted the pandemic! I’ll be live at (TIME), with all donations benefiting the @zeroprostatecancer COVID-19 Support Fund. Tune in, give, and help us #EndProstateCancer! #ZEROStrong
I’m live RIGHT NOW at (URL) to fundraise for @ZEROCancer. If we raise (GOAL) by the end of the stream, I’m vowing to (INCENTIVE)! 1 in 9 men have #prostatecancer, let’s show them that nobody has to face it alone. With your help, we are #ZEROStrong to #EndProstateCancer.
I’m live RIGHT NOW at (URL) to fundraise for @zeroprostatecancer. If we raise (GOAL) by the end of the stream, I’m vowing to (INCENTIVE)! 1 in 9 men have #prostatecancer, let’s show them that nobody has to face it alone. With your help, we are #ZEROStrong to #EndProstateCancer.
Thank you to everyone who tuned in to my (ACTIVITY) supporting @ZEROCancer today! Your donations are helping at-risk #prostatecancer patients who have nowhere else to turn. It’s not too late to give, visit (DONATE LINK) to help save lives and #EndProstateCancer. #ZEROStrong
Thank you to everyone who tuned in to my (ACTIVITY) supporting @zeroprostatecancer today! Your donations are helping at-risk #prostatecancer patients who have nowhere else to turn. It’s not too late to give, visit (DONATE LINK) to help save lives and #EndProstateCancer. #ZEROStrong
You are all amazing! Last week I (ACTIVITY) to fundraise and support #prostatecancer patients. Together your generosity helped us (RESULTS) for @ZEROCancer! If you missed the fundraiser, check it out at (POST URL) and consider making a donation at to my fundraising page at (URL). With your help, we are #ZEROStrong and getting us closer to #EndProstateCancer!
You are all amazing! Last week I (ACTIVITY) to fundraise and support #prostatecancer patients. Together your generosity helped us (RESULTS) for @zeroprostatecancer! If you missed the fundraiser, check it out at (POST URL) and consider making a donation at to my fundraising page at (URL). With your help, we are #ZEROStrong and getting us closer to #EndProstateCancer!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to start using new websites like YouTube and Twitch, get a nice webcam, or learn new software?
No.
Go where your passion lies and your audience is established. Sometimes it makes sense to branch out, but new technologies and platforms take time to get started. Being on the cutting edge is much less important than having people who tune in.
Besides, even the most established social influencers still rely heavily on traditional methods like email, posting on other social media channels, sharing pictures, uploading videos, blogging, phone calls, selling crafts, and other offline activities. Technology is a means to an end, and being yourself is what matters most (whether you’re a live streamer or your digital life stays firmly within Facebook/Twitter/Instagram).
What will I be doing when I GoLive! for ZERO?
Anything you want, just be yourself! You know your audience better than anyone, and they want YOU. The funds you’ll raise are hugely important for patients who have nowhere else to turn, but in the end your donors often are giving more to support you and your passion than they are specifically interested in prostate cancer. So whatever activities you choose, have fun with it, share your life, and choose activities that revolve around what’s authentically you.
Are any topics off-limits?
It’s all about YOU, so anything you’d say or do in person is likely appropriate when you’re online, too. Let common sense be your guide: don’t do anything illegal or harmful to others, violate the terms and conditions of the social network you’re using, or give medical advice if you’re not a doctor.
What does the term "livestream" mean?
At its simplest form, a live video broadcast where the person on camera reacts in realtime to their viewers (feedback usually comes in some form of text chat). If you’ve seen a Facebook live, GoToMeeting Webinar, or noticed comments scrolling up the side of the page of a YouTube video, that’s essentially it.
Often when people talk about an individual as a “streamer,” they’re referring to someone who livestreams on a regular basis using broadcasting software to add advanced features to their live videos. These livestreamers often stick to websites like Twitch or YouTube, which have monetization features allowing viewers to send the performer money, subscribe to future shows, and collaborate with advertising businesses. It’s a bit like a regular television show, with the most successful streamers’ “channels” providing enough income to work on the websites as a full-time performer.
Should I start playing video games?
If that’s your passion, sure. But if you’ve never gamed before, there are plenty of other options worth considering. Even amongst full-time professional streamers, roughly a third of them are non-gamers, including artists, musicians, public speakers, political activists, or some other topic.
