It’s the technological age, we know it and you know it. Maybe you’re not as savvy as your kids, or maybe you are, but digital advocacy is one of the easiest ways that you can support just about anyone. Influencers, Streamers, YouTubers, and more, often target us as their audience to influence our general opinions of the world. In that same vein, you are capable of swaying the influence that you have, no matter how big or small, to show them the ways that you care about your community.
While we understand the dangers people experience due to being doxxed online, we want to first state that if you have a large following and do not feel comfortable in supporting something super local due to your own personal safety that is completely fine. In small ways, however, you can still show your support.
We go over quite a few of these options in our Free Ways to Support, but will review the specific ways you can support us in the virtual space without over-extending yourself financially.
It’s hard to imagine that it’s been four years since the Hope For Home charity livestream. With so many others happening at a pretty consistent rate, you’d think I’d be used to it by now. Over time though, I learned quite a bit about how these streams operate and the ways that they actually benefit.
While some may find it hard to recognize the appeal, it’s not all that uncommon for people to enjoy YouTubers, Streamers, and other content creators simply raising money for a cause they believe in. Heck, even I was hyped when this past year (2024) CDawgVA and Abroad In Japan broke 1 million dollars in donations for the Immunodeficiency Foundation. The excitement of the chat, and the experience of seeing that number slowly tick into the millions was breathtaking.
It seems far fetched that one could do that themselves, but truly it only takes a passionate soul willing to show love and commitment to an organization that is doing good in your community. That is why we are here today to outline some free options for raising funds, even when you have a small audience.
On April 7th, World Health Day, people across the globe tuned in to support #HopefromHome, a first-of-its-kind multi-platform digital fundraising event for COVID-19 relief efforts. With a global presence, #HopeFromHome brought together celebrities, athletes and creators, including Jacksepticeye, Kiera Knightley, Dikembe Mutombo, Jaiden Animations, Jeff Goldblum, Markiplier, and many more. All funds raised from the #HopefromHome event, will be equally distributed between United Way Worldwide; the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization, powered by the United Nations Foundation and Swiss Philanthropy Foundation; and Comic Relief US’s Red Nose Day, whose collective work is more critical than ever in the face of the global novel coronavirus pandemic.
One of the easiest ways that you can advocate is to give just a few moments of your time to share, like, comment, subscribe, or simply engage with the content that is presented to you from those you wish to support. When you engage with a post, it not only helps to increase the visibility to others that may like the content but it also shows those in your own circle that you support these causes. So, if you want to show that you support the shelter in more than just a financial means try sharing their posts to your story!
For example, a post that is shared to just our Facebook often only gets around a hundred views total. Each like helps expand that audience, often equivalent to your active friend circle. That could be the difference between only a hundred people seeing something, and thousands.
Honestly, even as the Brand Manager I am notoriously bad at this. I often scroll past content without much thought even if I enjoy it, or support the cause. However, I do try my very best to jump on and give love to place that I enjoy.
When it comes to marketing, the number one thing that is on everyone’s mind is virality. We know that it happens often spontaneously, and while there are a handful of people that claim to know the secret… It’s usually just a lie to sell you some sort of silly book. One thing that we know works, is engaging with users.
If you can’t donate to a cause, something you can do is share the cause. Share that post to your feed, whether its on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter[X]/Etc. Engaging with the content either through reactions, liking the post, resharing, clipping, making content through remixes, it doesn’t matter. When you do that, that tells the platform that they need to show this content to other people. For a small non-profit, every pair of eyes on your content helps. So don’t be afraid to reach out, engage, and spam the content with likes and thoughtful comments. It’s free, and takes just a second.
The above images were taken and continue to showcase that your continued support on social media allows us to keep building and keep reaching for the skies. Each one showcases a moment in time that your shares, likes, and encouragement assisted in helping us pursue more than we ever thought possible.
Gather your friends, online and offline, and consider hosting a charity livestream! Through PayPal Giving Fund, many non-profits have access to donations on Facebook/Instagram streams that link to a charity. For other platforms, such as YouTube and Twitch, creators can utilize Tiltify and Streamlabs Charity. Twitch also has its own integration with PayPal Giving Fund, if you prefer those over the above options.
Whether it’s through drop-shipping on Shopify, or maybe the Creator Studio through TikTok Shop, perhaps you even have quite the following on YouTube, you can help by creating digital fundraisers through Tiltify, Streamlabs Charity, PayPal Charity, and even more. Digital fundraisers can be as simple as creating a birthday fundraiser on Facebook, one-time fundraising on YouTube, stream fundraising on Twitch & TikTok. The possibilities are limitless in this day and age, and exploring these options could allow you to make a donation with your digital community that means something to you. If you’re curious, here are some well-known examples below of United Way working with digital content creators to benefit our communities both local and Worldwide:
Do you use Microsoft Edge? Or, perhaps, Internet Explorer? Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, allows you to earn points through searching on their service. These points can then be used for giveaways, but in our case, you can assign them to be donated instead! With one click, you can use your… unique search history to help others. If you haven’t already, or are interested in learning more, you can check out the Give With Bing program.
If you would like to support the United Way of Southeast Iowa, you can visit this link here and it will redirect you to the Bing Giving search function to select our location.
As of late 2025, you are now able to donate a portion of your eBay sales to a non-profit of your choice! As a seller, you get benefits for donating as little as 10% of your total sale such as: waived sellers fees, increased visibility on search, and more.
If you’d like to raise money for the United Way of Southeast Iowa, you can visit our Charity page and save us as one of your favorite charities! Or you can browse other available options on their search function.
The oldest option out there. It’s completely free, and there are hundreds of community projects out there that are in desperate need for volunteers. United Way of Southeast Iowa has worked hard to come up with a centralized hub for those interested in volunteering, and if this is something you would be interested in we encourage you to check it out!
United Way of Southeast Iowa also has a list of varying DIY Opportunities for Volunteering, if you would like to dip your toes into participating with the community efforts. These can be altered, changed, and mixed around to fit your needs. There are tons of other options out there, but this list should help you get started on you new journey.
I’ve always been told that saving your pennies, is like a trickle donation to your future self. In fact, here at the office I drop my change in a jar to save as essentially that: a future donation for the end of our annual campaign. It may seem like nothing, but challenging yourself with a small donation goal and donating it during the annual campaign is a good way to learn finances as well as how your donations truly impact others.
Simply saving a quarter a week, is $13.00 worth of donations. For our 2025 campaign this year, if each person donated that amount in just the downtown area then we would reach our goal quickly. It doesn’t seem so strange, now does it?
So pull out a jar, perhaps make it a goal each year to save your change and then donate it to your local United Way. See how much good that you can do, in just a few weeks.