GoFundMe. It’s a great way to raise money for funeral expenses, in a short time. But often there’s a gap between the “real need” and “funded,” and, believe it or not, it’s not that people are unwilling or unable to give. It’s a wording problem, easy enough to fix in the time it takes to read this post.

Start with a specific scene.

Fundraisers want to start with logistics — telling you who it’s for and why. The problem is readers skim right past that in less than a second. Open your page with a moment — it’s the story of the person that counts. The jokes told by the campfire while roasting marshmallows. Stories about the fish that got away, or were never caught. One scene, one picture told in your words, makes a stranger feel like they knew the person.

Trade a list of activities for a single picture.

“He loved fishing, hunting, and cookouts” tells me what he liked. It doesn’t help me feel your loss. Choose a memory. Let that memory do the work. One image outperforms three nouns. Every time.

Name the number and what it buys.

“Unexpected expenses” is vague. Most people will skip past it. But say something like “The funeral home needs $4,000” and now you’ve given a reader a tangible number they can see — and will willingly donate money toward. Specificity gives people a target to shoot for. It’s a transaction people can understand.

Ask like you mean it.

“Any amount helps, no matter how small” is a hedge — it’s exactly what we say when we’re afraid to ask straight. Say what the money will do, then ask. A direct ask, once the stakes are clear, reads as confidence. A hedge reads as doubt. Doubt doesn’t move people to click Donate.

Pick one photo, not a gallery.

A page with ten photos asks a stranger to do the work of finding the one that matters. A single, well-chosen photo does that work for them. Pick the one where the person looks exactly like themselves — mid-laugh, mid-story, mid-something. Let it carry the same weight as your opening scene.

Proofread it like it’s a resume.

Because it is — for trust. A stray apostrophe or missing period won’t sink a fundraiser. But people are being asked to part with money based on what’s on your page. Clean copy gives your potential donor one less reason to hesitate.

Remember, the goal is to close the distance between a stranger and your donate button. Your words make the difference between zero and your goal.