Planning a fundraiser for a school team, church, or other group? It can be overwhelming to ensure everything runs smoothly. To make it easier, we’ve collected some fundraising ideas to help smash your financial and awareness goals for your cause.
1) Outline a clear fundraising plan
Though fundraisers are exciting, it’s easy to get lost in the details. Remain focused and organized throughout the process by preparing a clear outline that covers your fundraiser’s purpose, goals, timeline and budget.
- Purpose & Goals
Are you looking to raise awareness, funds or some combination of both? If you’re raising money, how much are you hoping to acquire? Determine goals by reviewing previous fundraisers. How much was raised in the past, what were the methods executed, and the previous budgets? Consider what will be done differently this time to arrive at a goal that’s realistic so participants remain hopeful, yet ambitious so everyone’s motivated.
- Timeline
Create a timeline that outlines event dates along with all of the preparations in advance. Consider the timing of any emails sent as part of the marketing plan as well as prep meetings. Finally, include any follow-ups post the actual events.
- Budget
List all necessary components and corresponding costs of any events. Take into account the fundraising goal when determining the budget to ensure it’s covered. As with any budget, set aside funds for unexpected occurrences.
2) Use incentives to encourage success
Incentives inject inspiration into any fundraiser. Include milestone incentives where donors are rewarded once they contribute a certain amount. T-shirts, an incentive favorite, also simultaneously serve to create deeper engagement with the cause and the hosting organization. As an added bonus, your organization/team receives free promotion anytime someone wears the shirt. If you’re interested in custom printed t-shirts or other promotional products for your fundraising event, please reach out and we will be happy to assist!
3) Capitalize on social media
Almost all your potential donors use social media, so leverage that access. Send them invitations and any other communication about your fundraiser. Also, add a crowdfunding page. Crowdfunding, accessible via platforms such as GoFundMe.com, make it easy for social media users to not just donate, but share the cause exponentially expanding your reach. The best part is, you don’t even need a website. All info for the fundraiser can live on both social media profiles and the crowdfunding site you choose.
4) Ask companies to participate
To significantly impact fundraising growth, ask local companies to provide matching funds for donations. Work out the specifics in advance—for example, a company can match donations up to $5,000 in return for banner placement at your events. For retailers, ask to have your signage placed in-store to increase visibility of your cause.
5) Strong follow-up plan
Everyone is constantly multitasking, too often resulting in missing out on things they would like to do. Those that have yet to donate have probably simply forgotten. Don’t count them out yet! To refresh everyone’s memory, follow-up to those that participated at any point with either a phone call, thank you note, or email. This would mean you need to collect contact info throughout the fundraising process to make this final push possible.
