Successful fundraising requires following certain fundamental steps. Here are two things you have to do with every fundraiser:

1) Increase community awareness of your need

2) Increase community awareness of your offering

Everybody reading this instantly thinks, “Yep, we’ve got that covered. Everybody in our group knows what we’re doing.”

Let’s take a closer look and see, shall we?

Creating Awareness Of Your Fundraising Need:
1) Can your need be expressed in a single sentence?
2) Has everyone in your group memorized that sentence?
3) Is expressing your need a part of your approach to all supporters?

Test your group from top to bottom.

Randomly ask individuals to tell you why your group is raising money.

I absolutely guarantee you that you’ll be surprised at how weak the various answers are.

In many groups, more than 50% of those involved with the fundraiser will not be able to tell you in a single sentence the specific reasons why they are raising money.

What about outside your group?

Can you honestly say that you’ve exhausted every possible approach in getting the word out to the community about your fundraiser?

Does everybody know why you need money?

Have you done each of these?

Flyers
Posters
Press release
Roadside signs
Newspaper coverage
Public service radio announcements
Pre-kickoff letter, postcard, or email campaigns

Or, are you assuming that all you have to do is tell someone that you’re doing a fundraiser and that they’ll be glad to help?

Two problems with that approach. One is that most of your group can’t effectively communicate your need.

The second is that you are already assuming that your group has more than enough prospective supporters to meet your goal.

Both these problems limit your potential results.

Consider these three points:

One, if your need isn’t communicated clearly and concisely, it will not be understood and internalized as a deserving cause by your prospective supporters.

Two, if your sellers don’t really understand your group’s need, then they won’t push as hard to meet that need.
(more…)

Youth Groups are almost always in need of funds. Holding fundraisers to finance important trips like tournaments, museums, and musical events are just some of the needs that have to be met through fundraising. Others include the need for uniforms, sports equipment, art supplies, musical instruments, and more.

There are a lot of different ways your youth group can raise the funds they need. In this article, I will explore some of those with you and try to help you avoid some of the pitfalls. I will let you benefit from my experience and I will help you avoid some of my mistakes.

Let’s start right off with candy. I have tried to use candy as a fundraising tool on more than one occasion for more than one youth group.

Pros and Cons of using candy as a youth group fundraiser.

Pros: Candy is cheap and can be sold for a great profit for your youth group. Everyone likes candy, so it’s a fairly easy sale, especially if you go with name brand candy. The candy is cheap enough that most people have enough money in their pocket to purchase it.

Cons: Candy melts. Trust me on this. Candy melts and when it does, your profits melt with it as you try to clean whatever it melted all over. The members of your youth group eat Candy and when the parents have to pay for all the candy YOU let their child eat, you get phone calls. Trust me on this. You get a lot of phone calls. Candy smells. Trust me on this. Wherever you store the candy will smell like candy forever. Bigger children steal candy from smaller children and again parents end up paying for the candy and you get the phone calls.

Coupon Books are another commonly used Youth Group Fundraiser.

Pros: Some coupon books are filled with free stuff and everyone loves free stuff! Your youth group can raise as much as $10 per coupon book so they need to make less sales to reach their goals.
(more…)

The golden key to effective fundraising is an organizations ability to manage relationships. While some may consider this an oversimplified explanation of a complex non-profit business model, our experience has shown us that this is one of the most overlooked, yet lucrative, elements of our fundraising efforts.

The backbone of any fundraising campaign is the appeal to donors for contributions. The problem many organizations run into during this phase of their fundraising efforts is that they have neglected to keep their donors engaged with their organization since their previous appeal for support. The donor no longer feels engaged by, or attached to, your organization in any meaning way. What distinguishes your organization or non-profit from the next?

We advise all of our clients to develop strong relationships with their donors and supporters. In the non-profit sector, these relationships play a significant role in the success of any given campaign. In some cases, these relationships can make or break an organization. Keep in mind that appeals for support are not always of the monetary type. Organizations of every type need support staff, and your donor list is an ideal place to search for new recruits.
(more…)

To get the most out of any fundraiser, every participant needs to give their all from start to finish. This includes your team members, parents, coaches, and other volunteers.

To keep everyone’s interest from waning, make sure that you include fun in your fundraiser each step of the way.

Ten ways to put fun in your fundraising:
1- Do fun things
2- Use fun incentives
3- Take pictures
4- Show appreciation
5- Give out fun merchant prizes
6- Build in fun goals
7- Blend fun, food and fundraising
8- Create fun completion activities
9- Say thank you
10- Have a cast party

Do fun things
Don’t make it drudgery to be a volunteer or a participant. Remember that they’re giving up their free time to help.

Plan fun things to do during each stage of the process that will reward everyone. Not only will it be a more rewarding experience for everyone involved, but you will keep your participants and volunteers eager for the next fundraiser.
And we all know there will be another one sooner rather than later!
Make sure they remember the fun, not just the hard work.

Use fun incentives
Offer a Cream Pie Attack party to all sellers or participants reaching a certain level. Have a fun day where key organizational figures do funny things for meeting goals.

Extreme examples include shaving their heads or dyeing their hair blue.

Some safer, less long-lasting examples could be wearing a funny wig, dressing like a clown, risk the dunking booth, and so on.

Be creative and use an idea that is appropriate to your group.

Kids and adults love these types of incentives and they don’t cut into your hard earned cash.

Take fun pictures
Everybody loves to see themselves in a picture. Take plenty of candid shots. Have everybody pose and ham it up for a group photo.

Be sure to post them where everyone can enjoy them. You could even reward your picture posers with prizes for the best smile, the goofiest pose, or the worst dressed.

Ask volunteers to take pictures throughout the fundraising process so there will be a variety of photos and you can be sure that everyone will be included.

If possible, have a “movie” made of your group during each phase of the fundraising process and show the movie at a wrap up event.

Show appreciation
Show your appreciation to all levels of your organization and supporter base. Be sure to do fun things that aren’t fundraisers.
(more…)