A silent auction is an excellent fundraising technique that is fun and productive for the non-profit and enjoyable for the participants. These fundraisers can be justifiably classed as easy but they repay handsomely.
A spacious venue such as a church or school should serve perfectly well for a silent fundraiser. Here first let us be clear on what a silent fundraiser means. In a silent fundraiser participants bid by placing bids on a sheet of paper and at the end of the bidding period the highest bid wins. This does not make the bidding competitive, it stays fun and in keeping with the spirit of charity.
Get the community members to donate items, from their home or business. There is a lot of scope here. You can build up a huge collection of stuff to auction for example, sports goods, household items, utensils, keepsakes, mementos, paintings, rugs, cutlery sets, etc. If required, you can purchase stuff to auction. However, the best thing to do is to solicit donations for the fundraiser. Start the gathering process at least a fortnight early. Have volunteers visit donors to gather the stuff. Send out emails and follow-up with gentle reminders. Tell sponsors that this...
Every charity or non-profit has a strong desire to host fundraisers that are easy to organize but yield maximum results. The ease and smoothness with which a fundraiser can be hosted depends upon factors such as the effort that will be required; the resources that you can muster; and the length of the fundraiser.
The amount of effort required is a function of the objective of the fundraiser. How much money do you wish to generate from the event? If you are heading a small group, then there is only so much effort that you can put in the time leading up to the fundraiser.
Also, if the group is small, there are bound to be resource crunches. You will find that you are in almost perennial need for resources, both time and money. An easy to host fundraiser can be the answer, but the question is how?
A fundraising preparation that does not ask for much from the volunteers stands a good chance of reaching fruition as desired and meeting the monetary objectives. Community youngsters will not mind giving a little time each week. Plan ahead and focus on completing the necessary activities. Apportion jobs and see if you can...
Aug
21
2010
Useful Pointers on Community Fundraisers
A community fundraiser offers good scope to charities for gathering much needed funds. Its advantage lies in the fact that it is a community activity, so overhead costs can be controlled. Community participation means enthusiastic support and also good publicity to neighboring communities, whose members are free to come and join the fun.
Start from your objective and plan backwards. What do you wish to achieve from this fundraiser? What are the monetary objectives? In fact, a good idea would be to set up tangible goals instead of money figures. People, both donors and volunteers respond better to objectives such as buying computers for the charity or painting the church, etc rather than money figures.
Connect with other causes, remember you are a charity and your responsibilities are limited only by your heart. If you have a choice of choosing a product or service to put up for your fundraiser that can make a difference to a bigger community than just yours, then choose that.
If there are other charities in the community, try to work synergistically so that there is no fatigue for donors. Host a joint fundraiser and share the funds or see that your event is not scheduled...
Continuing from the previous post, accountability and transparency go hand in hand. This means that as a charity you cannot have anything to hide from anyone that seeks information on the finances and activities of the charity. Your expenses have to be out there in the open for scrutiny. There should never be any secret agendas. If there are underhand dealings you run the risk of ruining the accomplishment of the honest objectives of your charity and driving people away. This is the most important consideration in the long-term sustainability of any charity work.
A dogged attitude is important, at times you will have funds to thrive and at times it will be a question of survival. Your fundraising techniques have to evolve from a mindset of determined faith in the goodness of what you are espousing. This means that if at times you do not obtain the desired response, do not give up hope. Do not fall prey to self-doubt. Break down your fundraising process into steps and check the step at which you are faltering. Have data at hand. Find out if prospective donors are turning you down outright or you falter at a later step when soliciting...
A person with the skills and experience to carry out fundraising projects is a valuable asset to any organization such as charities, non-government organizations, community-based organizations, and all non-profits. In fact, a fundraiser is valued even in profit-based organizations.
The ability to obtain funds is crucial to strengthening the condition of any non-profit and hence people with such skills are sought after and respected. Of course, it has to be very clearly understood that fundraising for charity purpose has to at all times comply with the legal and ethical laws that govern society. Trust is a major factor for donors who can serve as life-long patrons of causes that they take to their heart.
The trust that a fundraiser fosters in potential donors has to first be ingrained in his own mind. This is the basic requirement; it is followed by marketing and sales skills. Yes, there is no disconnect between these two. A good marketer has it in him to be a very good fundraiser and vice-versa. Of course, there are no volunteer marketers. You do get volunteer fundraisers. This, in fact serves as valuable experience which can stand volunteers in good stead in their professional careers. ...
Aug
15
2010
Basketball Fundraising – Easy and Profitable
Sports fundraising work. That’s a fact which most charities and non-profits are aware of. Americans love sport and any fundraising centered on a sporting activity gets them going. Basketball is one such sport. It offers a lot of scope for raising money.
Some of the advantages of a basketball fundraiser are –
• Easy to organize – You don’t need a lot of space. Unlike other sports you do not have to trudge to a field. You can do it in a corner of a building compound. It is not something that people have to take time out for to come to. A basketball fundraiser allows participants to come over even after a hard day’s work and arrive to take part in their shorts, t-shirt, and sneakers.
• Family activity – Anyone can participate. Grand-dads and grand-daughters can test their arms and their aims. Nice way to improve participation and increase probability of getting donations. It cuts costs and increases returns because you don’t have to do anything extra.
• Great activity – A basketball fundraiser can work as a standalone item or in combination with any other fundraiser. There is no clash, it blends nicely. Again, because it requires less space, it is an...
As mentioned in the closing of the previous post, resistance to social change can be a hindrance in raising the standard of living of the less affluent in rural communities. Smaller populations can compound the problem; it may be easy to reach out to all at the same time, sure. But getting them to understand your perspective and the need for them to get involved in charity may take some doing. Smaller populations also mean that the pool from which to gather donations is limited. Then again, there is a positive in the situation if you know how to extract it.
A small population offers an excellent chance for relationship building and developing a personal rapport with the people. You can get people on your side and then they will do the networking on your behalf. You have the opportunity for regular contact with people and to impress them with your work. This is not easily achieved in a big city where people scarcely know one another and are also changing place of residence.
A very powerful motivator for getting people involved in rural fundraising is that a lot of them are aware of their role in building America’s destiny...
Most articles on fundraising tend to focus on ideas and events for non-profits that are based in the cities and suburbs. The reasons are not hard to understand. Charities in cities face greater competition, need more resources to function, and also there is more donating /spending power in the cities as compared to the rural areas.
Also, companies that offer fundraising help or are in the business of fundraising do not need to do anything special or different. This is because the opportunities and challenges faced by urban charities are similar. However, the situation is different in rural areas. Effective fundraising in such areas requires special skills and knowledge of how to best tap the opportunities that present themselves.
Rural areas are huge with swathes of uninhabited areas interspersed by settlements. Travel is not easy. The vast distances mean conveyance has to be planned, and travel costs are higher. As is commonly understood, most fundraisers rely on people getting together. Vast distances do not make it easy, a small community fundraiser can be organized with relative ease; however this is not something that can be done ever so often and in any case the funds raised will have to be...
Oct
7
2009
Fundraising and Kids
Kids can bring a spark to any fundraising event and they add a whole new dimension to the proceeding. If your charity is such that it can benefit by involving kids in its fundraising drive then you should do so by all means. You have to be creative when involving kids. The thing is…kids have a way of tugging at our heart strings and if handled and managed carefully - any fundraising that has kids at the center of things will be a success.
One point to keep in mind when organizing a fundraiser with kids is that you should ensure the safety of the little ones - this is paramount. The fundraising ideas should interest the kids so that they participate wholeheartedly. A sweet positive of getting kids involved in charity is that it inculcates in them a community feeling and a sense of charity.
A drawing and crafts competition is great to get the competitive juices flowing for kids, it lets them show off their creativity, and parents will gladly pay the entry cost as well as the cost of crayons / colors if you supply them. It’s for a cause; they understand it and gives their young ones...
