How to write useful descriptions for fundraiser images

A fundraiser image might introduce the person being helped, show an approved community activity or carry the details of a benefit event. Someone who cannot see that image still needs the information it contributes.

A useful description starts with the image's job on the page. The goal is to preserve meaning, not to inventory every color and object or squeeze a second appeal into a hidden field. The examples below are fictional writing exercises and do not refer to real people or campaigns.

Understand the places where text can appear

A visible caption helps readers understand a photograph. Alternative text, often called alt text, supplies a text alternative that assistive technology can use. The surrounding story can provide fuller context. These serve related purposes, but one should not be assumed to replace another in every editor or layout.

The W3C guidance on informative images recommends a short alternative that communicates an image's relevant meaning. What counts as relevant depends on why the image appears and what nearby text already explains.

Check the controls available where the image will be published. This article does not claim that every campaign or social editor offers a custom alt-text field. If the supported field is unclear, consult that service's current guidance and keep essential information in the visible story or caption as well.

Decide what the reader needs from this image

Before writing, answer three questions:

• Why is this image here?
• What does it add that the surrounding words do not already explain?
• What facts can be stated accurately and appropriately in public?

For a portrait, the meaningful information may be the approved identity of the person shown. For a photograph of volunteers preparing supplies, the activity may matter more than every person's name. Do not infer a diagnosis, family relationship, rank or emotional state from appearance.

Privacy applies to descriptions too. If a location or name has deliberately been left out of the public story, do not reveal it in alt text. Use the photo privacy checklist before describing the public-use image.

Work through three common examples

An approved portrait

Imagine a fictional campaign for an adult named Alex Morgan. The selected image is an approved portrait of Alex outdoors, used to identify the person the fundraiser supports.

A useful draft might be: “Alex Morgan standing outdoors.” The surrounding story can explain the fundraiser's purpose. Avoid a description such as “Brave hero fighting an unimaginable battle” when those words do not describe supported image information.

If the page already conveys all relevant information and the image adds no further meaning, the publisher should consider whether it is decorative or redundant in that context. Do not make that decision solely because the photograph looks attractive.

A flyer containing important words

Imagine a fictional benefit flyer with a verified event date, venue and campaign address. A description that says only “Fundraiser flyer” leaves those details unavailable to someone who cannot read the image.

Put the essential event details and a working campaign link in ordinary text alongside the flyer. The W3C guidance on images of text favors real text where possible and explains that text alternatives need to convey image text when it is used. Check that dates and names in the image and surrounding text agree.

Do not require readers to scan a QR code as their only route to the campaign. Provide a descriptive clickable link where the publishing format supports one. This is especially useful when the image is being viewed on the same phone a reader would otherwise use to scan it.

An image that acts as a link

Imagine a campaign preview image that is the only content inside a link. Someone using that link needs to understand its destination. The W3C alt decision tree distinguishes functional images from ordinary illustrations: the alternative should communicate the link's purpose when that purpose would otherwise be unclear.

For the fictional example, “Open Alex Morgan's fundraiser” describes the action. If a clear text link already supplies that purpose in the same link, the publisher should check for needless repetition. The correct implementation depends on the actual page markup, not just the sentence drafted in a document.

Keep a small description worksheet

For each image, prepare:

• Image and intended placement.
• Purpose: identification, activity, information, link or decoration.
• Relevant facts supported by the image and approved context.
• Essential information already present nearby.
• Proposed visible caption and, where supported, text alternative.
• Final check for private details, unverified claims and duplicate wording.

For a complex chart or graphic, a short phrase may not convey enough. Place the important explanation in ordinary page text and follow the publishing service's supported accessibility options. Do not force a long explanation into an arbitrary character target.

Review the published context

Read the story, caption and description together. They should make sense without contradictory identities, dates or roles. If the image is changed, reconsider the description; a sentence written for a portrait will not automatically fit a group photograph.

Where possible, have the publisher check the actual rendered page with accessibility tools and a screen reader. Previewing the words in a document does not prove that the website exposes them correctly. Avoid calling an entire page accessible based only on the presence of alt text.

Clear descriptions are one part of preparing a useful campaign. The phone-readable story guide covers the wider explanation. When the story and public-use images are ready, visit FundTheFirst.com. Start a Fundraiser People Can Trust.

iDfunder is a FundTheFirst.com publication. Examples are fictional editorial exercises. This guide offers practical writing advice and does not certify accessibility compliance or describe unverified editor features.