How to create your first fundraise on Pageraise

To create a fundraiser on Pageraise, sign in, open New fundraise in your dashboard, fill in a title, link, category and description, then publish. The whole thing takes a few minutes, and you can edit the details later.

Anyone 18 or older can start a fundraise. There's no platform fee, and you keep every successful contribution even if you never reach your goal.

Before you start

You'll need a Pageraise account. If you don't have one yet, sign up with a username, email and password, confirm your email, and then set a display name and short bio. If anything goes sideways there, our guide on signing in, passwords and usernames can help.

To actually receive money, you'll also need to connect Stripe. You can create your fundraise first and connect Stripe afterward, but your page will show as not yet accepting online payments until setup is complete. We walk through it in how to connect Stripe and get paid.

How to create a fundraiser, step by step

1. Go to create a new fundraise.
2. Write a title between 5 and 120 characters. Say plainly what you're raising money for.
3. Choose a custom link (the slug), up to 60 characters. Your page will live at pageraise.com/f/your-slug.
4. Pick a category from the list of 15.
5. Write your description, up to 2,000 characters. Emoji are supported and your line breaks are kept, so feel free to use short paragraphs.
6. Add an optional goal, or leave it blank.
7. Add a cover image by uploading your own or choosing one of 10 preset covers.
8. Optionally write a Thank You message that donors see right after they give.
9. Publish.

When you publish, you land on your new fundraise page with a share window already open, so you can send it to friends and family right away.

Choosing a category

Categories help people find your fundraise in search. The 15 options are:

• Medical and Health
• Memorial and Funeral
• Emergency and Disaster Relief
• Education and Tuition
• Community and Nonprofit
• Animals and Pets
• Environment and Climate
• Sports and Athletics
• Creative Projects
• Small Business
• Family and Children
• Faith and Church
• Travel and Adventure
• Technology
• Food and Hunger

Pick the one that fits best. You can change it later if you need to.

Setting a fundraising goal

The goal is optional. Leave it blank if you'd rather run an open-ended fundraise. If you do set one, the maximum is $10,000,000.

A goal is a target, not a requirement. You receive every successful donation whether or not you hit it.

Cover images and your Thank You message

A good cover makes your page feel real and personal. Upload a photo, or pick one of the 10 preset covers. If you skip this step, a preset is assigned automatically so your page never looks empty.

The Thank You message is a small but lovely touch. It can be up to 300 characters, and you can use bold, italic, underline and strikethrough. Donors see it on the thank-you screen right after they give, which is a nice moment to say what their support means to you.

Sharing and managing your fundraise

Every fundraise has a Share button with options for X, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Telegram, Reddit, email, copy link, and your phone's share sheet.

Once it's live, you can manage it from your fundraises. The menu on each fundraise lets you:

• Set Active to start accepting donations again
• Pause to stop accepting donations for a while
• End the fundraise
• Get the Embed code, which adds a floating donate button to any other website (one-time donations only)
• Delete it

Paused and ended fundraises stop accepting donations, and you can set them active again at any time. You can also post Updates and Gallery posts from your posts to keep supporters in the loop.

Common questions

Do I need to connect Stripe before creating a fundraiser?

No. You can create your fundraise first. It will show as not yet accepting online payments until you finish connecting Stripe at Linked Accounts.

Can I change my fundraise after publishing?

Yes. You can edit the title, description, cover, goal, category and Thank You message any time from your fundraises page.

Do I keep the money if I don't reach my goal?

Yes. You receive every successful contribution, goal or no goal. The only deduction is Stripe's processing fee, explained in fees and tips.

How many fundraisers can I run at once?

As many as you like. There is no limit.

Why can't I delete my fundraise?

A fundraise can't be deleted while it still has active monthly donors, so nobody keeps getting charged for a page that no longer exists. You can pause or end it instead.