ChaiRaiser Learn
The fundraising playbooks
63 working guides for the people who actually raise — gabbaim, menahalim, campaign chairs, and the person who got handed the spreadsheet. No fluff, no theory: what to do, in order, with the tools to do it.
Yeshiva & School Campaigns
7 guidesThe annual campaign, the phone room, the dinner alternative — run properly.
Alumni Giving for Yeshivos — The List You Already Own
Your alumni are the most under-worked donor list in the yeshiva world — how to find them, re-warm the relationship, and turn class loyalty into an annual engine.
5 min read
The Bochurim Phone Team — Scripts, Shifts, and the Board
How to turn a yeshiva's bochurim into a phone-room team that closes — the training hour, the call scripts, shift structure, and the live board that runs the night.
6 min read
The Dinner Alternative — Keep the Honoree, Skip the Hall
What the annual dinner really nets after the hall and caterer, and how yeshivos keep the honoree, journal, and community moment while moving the giving online.
5 min read
The Tuition Assistance Fund — Raising for Scholarships
How mosdos raise a real scholarship fund — the case that moves donors, the dignity architecture for families, and the campaign mechanics that fill the gap.
5 min read
The Yeshiva Annual Campaign — A Complete Playbook
The annual campaign from six weeks out to the morning after — anchors, matchers, the phone room, the live board, and the follow-up that turns the pledges into paid.
6 min read
The Yeshiva Matching Campaign — Doubling Night Done Right
Running a matching campaign for a yeshiva — recruiting the matchers, setting the window, the doubling-night mechanics, and what to do when the match stalls.
5 min read
Yeshiva Fundraising Ideas That Actually Work in 2026
Fourteen yeshiva fundraising ideas ranked by what they really raise — from the annual phone-room campaign to prize wheels, matching, and the dinner alternative.
7 min read
School & Dinner-Journal
4 guidesDinners, journals, auctions and drives for mosdos and schools.
School Fundraising Ideas for Frum Mosdos — Ranked Honestly
Twelve fundraising ideas for frum schools ranked by net and effort — the journal campaign, parent teams, prize wheels, auctions, and the ones to skip.
5 min read
The PTA Fundraiser in a Jewish School — Small Money, Big Glue
What the PTA lane is actually for — the boutiques, prize tables, and bake sales that raise modest sums and priceless goodwill, run without volunteer burnout.
5 min read
The School Building Campaign — Capital Money Done Right
When a school needs a building, the campaign changes species — the quiet phase, naming ladder, pledge periods, and the public push that finishes the job.
5 min read
The School Dinner Journal, Modernized
The dinner journal is a tier ladder wearing a binding — how schools move ads, brachos, and diamond pages online and out-raise the printed book.
5 min read
Shul Campaigns
6 guidesBuilding funds, capital campaigns, memberships and the kiddush economy.
Small Shul Fundraising — Thirty Families, Real Budget
How a small shul funds itself — the three engines that work at thirty families, what to skip, and the year's calendar for a kehillah that runs on volunteers.
5 min read
The Kiddush Sponsorship Program — A Shul Economy Done Right
Turning the weekly kiddush into a working sponsorship program — the price menu, the calendar, simcha and yahrzeit flows, and the honor economics behind it.
5 min read
The Shul Building Fund — From Minyan to Mikdash Me'at
Raising a shul building fund — the membership core, naming ladder, the kiddush economy, and the campaign that moves a minyan from a basement to a bayis.
5 min read
The Shul Capital Campaign — The Playbook Beyond the Building
Renovations, expansions, the new mikvah wing — how a shul runs a capital campaign start to finish, from feasibility through the finish push and the dedication.
5 min read
The Shul Membership Drive — Dues Without the Dread
Running the annual membership renewal as a campaign instead of a chase — tiers that work, the renewal season, new-member onboarding, and the arrears problem.
5 min read
The Shul Renovation Campaign — Raising for the Unglamorous
Roofs, boilers, and bathrooms don't photograph well — how shuls raise real renovation money by selling the future, bundling the projects, and naming the honest.
5 min read
Emergency & Medical
5 guidesThe first 24 hours, crisis appeals, and community funds that move fast.
The Community Emergency Fund — Ready Before the Crisis
Building a standing emergency fund for your kehillah — governance, funding rhythm, disbursement rules, and why the fund beats improvised campaigns.
5 min read
The Emergency Campaign — The First 24 Hours
When a crisis hits, the first day decides the campaign — the launch checklist, the honest number, the update rhythm, and the mistakes speed makes.
5 min read
The Hatzalah Campaign Playbook — Funding First Response
How Hatzalah chapters run campaigns worthy of the trust they hold — equipment-unit goals, the annual drive rhythm, and 24/6 credibility.
5 min read
The Medical Fund — Community Support Through a Health Crisis
Standing up a medical support campaign with dignity — what the money actually covers, the privacy architecture, the long-haul rhythm, and the family's own voice.
5 min read
Writing the Crisis Appeal — Urgency With Dignity
The craft of crisis-campaign copy — the three-sentence opening, dignity rules that outrank persuasion, honest urgency, and the words that break trust.
5 min read
Simcha & Hachnosas Kallah
5 guidesWeddings, smachos, and community help with dignity built in.
Standing In for Family — The Yesomah Kallah and the Community
When a kallah has no parents to make her wedding, the community becomes the family — the campaign architecture, the roles beyond money, and dignity as the design.
5 min read
The Bar Mitzvah Chesed Project — A Campaign That Teaches
Turning a bar mitzvah year into a chesed campaign — choosing the cause, sizing the goal, the boy's real role, and the chinuch that outlasts the party.
5 min read
The Community Simcha Fund — How to Build One
The standing simcha fund that helps families make weddings and smachos with dignity — structure, funding rhythm, disbursement rules, and the gemach partnership.
5 min read
The Hachnosas Kallah Campaign — A Complete Guide
Running a hachnosas kallah campaign with the dignity the mitzvah demands — the discreet structure, realistic goals, who asks, and the community's role.
5 min read
Wedding Costs and Community Help — The Honest Map
What a frum chasunah actually costs, where community help comes from — funds, gemachs, takanos packages — and navigating the gap with dignity.
5 min read
Kollel & Torah Support
5 guidesMonthly partners, matching campaigns, and dedications that endure.
The Kollel Monthly Support Program — Building the Base
How a kollel builds a monthly-partner base that pays the checks every Rosh Chodesh — recruitment, the partnership pitch, retention, and the annual rhythm around it.
5 min read
The Matching Campaign — The Complete Guide
Everything about matching campaigns — recruiting matchers, structuring the multiplier and window, and the integrity rules that keep matches working.
5 min read
The Siyum Fundraiser — Celebrating Torah Into a Campaign
How a siyum becomes a fundraising moment worthy of it — the sponsorship menu, the community-wide siyum campaign, dedication tie-ins, and keeping the simcha primary.
5 min read
Yissachar-Zevulun, Modernized — Partnership That Means It
The classic learning partnership as a working modern structure — what it really is, how kollelim formalize it, and the connection layer that sustains it.
5 min read
Zechus Dedications — The Honor Menu That Funds Torah
Building a dedication program that endures — the menu architecture, pricing honors honestly, yahrzeit and simcha flows, and delivering every honor impeccably.
5 min read
Gemachs & Chesed Funds
4 guidesReplenishment drives and the funding side of every gemach.
Starting a Gemach — Funding the First Pool
How new gemachs raise their founding capital — choosing the niche, the founding-circle drive, seed deposits, and the first-year credibility that unlocks growth.
5 min read
The Food Gemach Fundraiser — Feeding Families With Dignity
Funding a community food gemach — the consumption model vs the loan model, sponsorship streams, Yom Tov surges, and the discretion that makes families accept help.
5 min read
The Gemach Replenishment Campaign — Refilling the Well
How a gemach raises the money that keeps it lending — the replenishment campaign, the depositor model, loss funds, and the annual rhythm that sustains free loans.
5 min read
The Simcha Gemach — Funding the Lending Side of Joy
Gowns, centerpieces, keilim — how simcha gemachs fund acquisition and upkeep, the free-vs-fee economics, and an inventory that serves everyone.
5 min read
Camp & Scholarships
3 guidesScholarship funds and send-a-kid campaigns that fill buses.
Camp Fundraising Ideas — For Camps and the Kids Who Go
Fundraising for the camp itself and by the campers — the alumni engine, canteen and visiting-day streams, camper chesed drives, and the ideas that fit camp culture.
5 min read
The Camp Scholarship Fund — Sending Every Kid to Camp
Building the fund that fills the buses — why camp scholarship is summer's strongest ask, the dignity mechanics, the spring campaign, and the year-round structure.
5 min read
The Send-a-Kid-to-Camp Campaign — Spring's Best Drive
Running the spring camp campaign — the camper-unit ladder, bus-themed milestones, the alumni and kids layers, and the August report that funds next year.
5 min read
Games & Prize Campaigns
8 guidesThe wheels, the auction table, and why gamified giving out-raises the flat ask.
Gamified Giving — Why It Works, Honestly Explained
The real psychology behind donation games — decision friction, moment-making, share mechanics, and the honesty architecture that keeps gamified tzedakah kosher.
5 min read
Prize Wheel vs the Flat Ask — The Honest Head-to-Head
The wheel campaign against the classic donation page, compared honestly — completion, average gift, reach, effort, and where each one actually wins.
5 min read
The Free Entry Path, Explained — Why Every Game Has One
Why prize campaigns carry a no-payment entry route — the sweepstakes structure in plain language, how the path works on ChaiRaiser, and why it protects everyone.
5 min read
The Fundraising Games Catalog — The Ten, Explained
Every ChaiRaiser donation game and what it's for — the wheels, Gelt Drop, Pushke Scratch, the Auction Table, Dreidel Drey and more, matched to campaign types.
5 min read
The Gelt Drop Fundraiser — Physics With a Sealed Heart
Running a Gelt Drop campaign — the plinko mechanics, the on-screen commit hash that proves fairness, Chanukah-season timing, and the demo that converts skeptics.
5 min read
The Online Chinese Auction — How to Run One
Moving the community's favorite format online — prize committees, entry packages, the Auction Table game, drawing night, and the logistics that make it smooth.
5 min read
The Scratch & Reveal Fundraiser — Pushke Scratch at Work
Running a Pushke Scratch campaign — the thumb's universal mechanic, broad-participation design, the gold-coin warmth, and where scratch beats spin.
5 min read
The Spin-the-Wheel Fundraiser — A Complete Guide
How a prize-wheel campaign works — every number one slot, the landed number is the gift — with the math, the psychology, and a launch plan for your organization.
6 min read
The Organizer Playbook
8 guidesCopy, launches, follow-up, teams and thank-yous — the craft of raising.
Campaign Page Copy — The Guide to Words That Raise
Writing the campaign page — the headline's one job, the story's honest arc, goals that mean something, tier copy, and the edits that double conversion.
5 min read
Campaign Updates — The Momentum Engine Nobody Runs
The update rhythm that keeps campaigns alive — what each update should say, milestone craft, the sag-week moves, and the closing update that funds next year.
5 min read
Recruiting Matching Donors — The Living-Room Craft
How to actually recruit matchers — the prospect map, the leverage pitch, the meeting itself, handling the maybe, and turning one matcher into a pool.
5 min read
Team Fundraising — Leaderboards That Actually Work
Running team campaigns — forming teams that make sense, captains who carry them, leaderboard psychology without the toxicity, and the mechanics on the platform.
5 min read
The Campaign Launch Checklist — Ready Means This
The complete pre-launch checklist — the page, the seeds, the anchor, the rails, the first-hour plan — and the launch-day run sheet that makes hour one count.
5 min read
The Donor Thank-You — Gratitude as Infrastructure
Building the thank-you system — the 48-hour rule, what each gift tier deserves, the difference between receipts and gratitude, and thank-yous that raise next year.
5 min read
The Pledge Follow-Up System — From Promised to Paid
Building the follow-through rail — the ledger, gratitude-first reminders, the sequence that works, and the pledge-to-paid rate that decides campaigns.
5 min read
The WhatsApp Fundraising Playbook — The Chat Cascade
Running a campaign through the community's real medium — the seeded cascade, message craft for chats, group etiquette, and the second-ring reach that decides totals.
5 min read
Fees & Platform Decisions
4 guidesWhat platforms really cost and how to choose with eyes open.
Choosing a Jewish Crowdfunding Platform — The Diligence Guide
How to evaluate crowdfunding platforms for a frum organization — the fee test, the tools test, the community-fit test, and the questions that sort the field.
5 min read
Crowdfunding Fees Explained — What 2.9% Means, Honestly
The real fee anatomy of crowdfunding platforms — platform fees, processing, tips, and hidden lines — and how ChaiRaiser's 2.9% flat model actually compares.
5 min read
Crowdfunding vs the Dinner — The Honest Spreadsheet
The event and the campaign, compared on real numbers — gross, net, staff-weeks, community value — and the hybrid calendars that take the best of both.
5 min read
Pledge Mode vs Instant Charge — Two Philosophies of Giving
The real difference between pledge-based campaigns and instant-charge platforms — conversion, trust, cash flow, the follow-up duty, and which fits your community.
5 min read
Seasonal Campaigns
4 guidesChanukah to Tishrei — the calendar of communal giving, planned right.
The Chanukah Campaign Guide — Eight Nights of Momentum
Running the Chanukah drive — the nightly-candle structure, gelt and dreidel game layers, family participation, and the season's natural giving psychology.
5 min read
The Maos Chitim Campaign — Every Family's Pesach, Funded
Running the community's Pesach fund — the Purim-to-bedikas-chametz arc, family-unit goals, distribution dignity, and the season's oldest tzedakah made modern.
5 min read
The Purim Campaign Guide — The Day the Whole Community Gives
Running the Purim drive — matanos l'evyonim's same-day reality, the mishloach manos economy, the Mystery game layer, and the season's compressed calendar.
5 min read
The Tishrei Appeal Playbook — The Season That Sells Itself
Running the Elul-through-Tishrei appeal — the season's giving psychology, the Yamim Noraim windows, the Kol Nidrei moment, and the calendar's own deadlines.
5 min read