Tips For A Successful Fundraising Campaign
01/07/2008 - By Ryan Bridge Fundraising for any organization can be a very challenging endeavor. While the right fundraiser can make thousands of dollars for your organization, the wrong one can actually end up costing your organization money, loss of reputation or worse.
Tips For A Successful Fundraising Campaign
Fundraising for any organization can be a very challenging endeavor. While the right fundraiser can make thousands of dollars for your organization, the wrong one can actually end up costing your organization money, loss of reputation or worse. While there are no set rules for running a successful fundraising campaign, there are some basic principles and guidelines that can help ensure you reach your fundraising goal.
1. Set a goal.
Before beginning any fundraising activity it is important to determine what your campaign needs to raise to meet the needs of your organization. This goal setting exercise will help you determine which types of fundraising activities your organization will pursue to ensure you will raise the necessary funds.
2. Set a deadline.
Determine what timeframe your organization has to work within to raise the necessary funds. Some programs can take months of preparation or require significant lead times to receive products or supplies. Event planning often requires advance reservations for facilities and equipment to ensure they are available when you need them.
3. Set your budget.
Determine how much money you will require to run your fundraising program. Unforeseen expenses such as liability insurance, rental deposits or pre-purchasing supplies need to be taken into account to ensure you have the funds required to support a successful fundraising program. Many companies may ask for large upfront deposits or sales commitments from your organization, be very wary of these types of requests.
4. Research your fundraising options.
Now that you’ve determined how much you want to raise, when you want to raise it by and how much you can spend, it is now time to determine the best method to raise the funds. This is your opportunity to set your organization apart from others in your community.
There are many, many fundraising opportunities out there for organizations of all kinds. Some of the more traditional events such as bake sales, dances, casino nights, or auctions can be fun but in many cases people do not find them exciting or different anymore. Merchandise sales such as chocolate bars, nuts, magazines or leaf bags can be successful but require a great deal of effort to raise a relatively small sums of money for your organization. Services such as clean-ups or painting, while effective, require a great deal of effort on behalf of the already busy people in your organization.
Instead look for new and exciting programs such as selling memberships in The Child Smile Network to set your organization apart from the others while at the same time supporting businesses within your community and helping you raise the funds needed for your organization.
5. Select your fundraising partner.
An effective fundraising program works when both the supplier and your organization work closely together to make it a success; it must be a true partnership. If your only point of contact with your supplier is through a website or catalog, it might be time to reconsider your options.
An effective fundraising partner should:
· Understand your needs and your fundraising goals.
· Provide you with the support and tools you need to make your fundraising campaign a success.
· Ensure that you can fulfill your commitments to your sponsors in a quick and efficient manner. No one wants to wait weeks for his or her product to arrive.
· Provide you with a product that is needed in your community.
· Not require upfront commitments or deposits for merchandise or services rendered.
6. Hold the kick-off event for your organization.
The kick-off meeting is one of the most important parts of any successful fundraising campaign. This meeting should involve as many of the people from your organization as can attend and a representative from your fundraising partner’s organization. The kick off should be used to educate and inform the people in your organization about the program and to build their excitement about raising funds for a program that you know they already support. This should be a fun and motivational event for everyone!
Tip: if you can translate what a donation or purchase actually does in your organization you will be much more likely to sell the product. For example: “Each membership card sold helps us buy 15 minutes of practice time for our team” or “Each membership card purchased helps feed 4 people a healthy meal”, etc.
7. Publicize, publicize, publicize!
Getting the word out in your community about your fundraising program will help you reach and surpass your goal.
A few easy ways to get the word out about your fundraising program:
· Attend public events or gatherings. Set up information or sales booths at local fairs, malls or shows to inform the public about your organization and what you do and to offer them a chance to buy your product or service or to publicize your event.
· Contact your local community newspaper or newsletter, they usually have a wide readership within your target “market” and are usually very interested in supporting local programs in the community.
· Use word of mouth; your supporters and members of your organization are already your best salespeople. They understand what you do as an organization and are committed to your success. Ask your members to talk about your fundraising program with their friends and neighbours throughout the community.
· Posters, flyers and banners, while not inexpensive, are great tools for getting your organization’s message out to the community.
8. Wrap it up.
All good things must come to an end. In Step 2 you determined your deadline and when your fundraising campaign had to be done, it is important to take some time at that point and determine if you have reached your goal, exceeded your goal or if you would like to continue the campaign a little longer. With some programs such as events, continuing them on is not an option, if you are not successful in reaching your fundraising goal on the day of the event, you may have to start the whole process over again to reach your goal. If your fundraising partner does not have any time restrictions on their product or service you may wish to continue the campaign for a longer period of time to ensure you meet or exceed your goals. Good programs can be run at anytime of the year and still be successful.
For more information on developing a successful fundraising campaign with no upfront costs and full support, please contact us at Fundraising@ChildSmile.com or call us at 905-689-7828.
