Welcome Family Champions!

Getting Started: Planning Your Campaign  

1. Who are you going to reach out to?
   Get personal and select a handful of your closest family and friends to reach out to as you announce your campaign. Friends and family are more likely to donate, so getting them on board will let the rest of your network see that people are already supporting the cause. 
2. How will you reach them?
   Create a list of people with their contact information that you can easily access for emails, texts, calls or get togethers. For those who have been fundraisers in the past, we will provide you with a list of past donors to your page.  
3. Set time aside to work on the campaign.
   Everyone is busy, so set some time aside on your calendar now to work on the campaign. You may only need 20-30 minutes per work session, but planning ahead will help your campaign be more successful.

Fundraising Best Practices 

Fundraising leverages the power of your social network to meet fundraising goals and help move your favorite nonprofit closer to their mission. The success of your fundraising campaign depends heavily on the number of times and variety of ways that you share your campaign with friends, family, and colleagues. Social media, email, text messaging, and word of mouth are some of the most common way to get your request noticed. 

What’s the best way to share? 

Sharing your fundraising campaign via your Facebook page, Twitter/X/BlueSky, Instagram, or LinkedIn, in addition to your own personal email list, is at the heart of every campaign. Leveraging these networks is how you will meet—and hopefully exceed—your fundraising goals. Choose a few contacts that you know will respond well to a more intimate request via text messaging. Don’t inflict the poison that is group texting on these people; take the time to send individual (copied and pasted) texts to each one. 

Pro Tip: Get personal and select a handful of your closest family and friends to reach out to as you announce your campaign. Close friends and family are more likely to donate, so getting them on board will let the rest of your network see that people are already supporting the cause. 

How often should I communicate with my network? 

There are five absolute times you should communicate with your network during a fundraising campaign: 

• Pre-Campaign
• Campaign launch
• Midway goal 
• Final push 
• Thank you 

We recommend maintaining momentum between each of these main milestone communications with one to two social posts per week and one weekly email to help keep your campaign top of mind. If you’re texting, use those requests judiciously and make sure that you’re not monopolizing the conversation with donation asks. During the final push phase of your campaign, increasing your frequency to a few social posts a day has proven to be highly effective, so go for it!  

Privacy & Consent 

When communicating with your networks, please respect their communication preferences and adjust accordingly. This includes making sure you have permission to contact your peers, particularly if you’re sending text messages. 

Telling the WithinReach Story

While you are welcome to share your personal connection to WithinReach, this year’s public facing campaign could provide you with some clear messaging about why supporting WithinReach is so important in this moment in time in relation to our work in food access.

Some parents are skipping meals so their children can eat—because they are afraid asking for help could put their families at risk. WithinReach connects families to trusted information and essential resources. 

A story to share

At a routine wellness visit, a mother shared something difficult with her child’s pediatrician. 

Her husband had recently lost his job. Money was tight. Food was running out. 

But they were afraid to apply for Basic Food or visit a food bank. They worried that asking for help could somehow affect their immigration status—even though they have lived in the United States legally for decades. 

So they made an impossible choice. 

They made sure their children ate. 

And then they went without. 

Across Washington, families facing uncertainty need a trusted place to turn. Through the Help Me Grow Washington Hotline, WithinReach Resource Navigators connect parents to food, health care, and other essential resources—safely and confidentially. 

No parent should have to choose hunger over help. 

 

How WithinReach Helps

WithinReach connects families to trusted information and essential services. 

Through the Help Me Grow Washington Hotline, Resource Navigators guide families to programs like Basic Food, WIC, Apple Health, and community resources—ensuring children have what they need to grow up healthy

 

Impact 

97,738 people reached through WithinReach staff-led services and digital tools (2024–2025). 

73% of callers receive direct support for essential needs like food and financial assistance. 

84,723 people used WithinReach’s WIC locator and online resource tools in 2025. 

40,000+ website users accessed the online resource database to find food and other support. 

 

Statewide Need 

1 in 9 Washington residents relies on Basic Food (SNAP). 

888,300 Washingtonians receive Basic Food (SNAP) benefits. 

$456 average monthly benefit for households with children receiving Basic Food.