This article talks about the five most successful fundraising campaigns and why they were successful. The first was the Toys R Us campaign to raise money for underprivileged children. They were successful because they used celebrity Shaquille O’Neal to get the word out about their campaign.

Customers at Toys-R-Us and Babies-R-Us stores were encouraged to “Join Shaq, Give Back,” by bringing unwrapped new toys into the stores and by making in-store or online donations.

The next campaign, Charity Water raised money for those without access to clean water. They used twitter to get donations. The Breast Cancer Foundation raised money for breast cancer victims by sending two e-mails to 7,000 recipients.

Against all odds, BCF achieved its $10,000 goal for the Heinz Challenge with a mere two email messages sent out, four days apart. Why did they work so well? According to experts, they got the basics right: An intriguing subject line, a succinct but passionate appeal and a simple, straightforward process.

There are many different tactics that can be used to raise money for your non-profit. A lot of these involve using social media technology to get the word out about your organizaition. Depending on the specific campaign that you are trying to raise money for, some of these “secret ingredients” or others might work to reach your target audience and get the maximum amount of donations.