Fundraising can be difficult. It’s something people spend years learning about. If you are interested in generating money for your business, a good cause, or a charity, then you need to make sure that every fundraising event you host is a success. However, ensuring a fundraising event is a success can be a supremely difficult thing to do. This post will help you out by telling you how you can ensure all fundraising events held by yourself or your business are successful and more importantly, generate cash. Keep reading to find out more.
Coming Up with Good Fundraising Ideas
If you want to ensure your fundraising event is a success, you need to come up with good ideas. For example, unique spring fundraising ideas for schools like sponsored runs and bake sales. Whatever specific fundraising idea you settle on, make sure it’s relevant somehow to the cause you are raising money for. If you aren’t going to ensure relevancy, at least make sure that you advertise your cause around the site of your fundraiser, just so people know what they are donating their money to.
Setting a Target
Those interested in fundraisers need to set targets for themselves. You need to have a fixed amount in mind that you want to raise. A lot of fundraising organizations then keep track of donations on a large screen, letting donors know how close or far they are to achieving their goals. Make sure the amount you want to raise is realistic and achievable. Also ensure it’s not asking too much. Asking too much of your donors can lead to them feeling demotivated and disinterested. For example, if you are the headmaster of a public high school, trying to set a target of over $1,000,000 is ludicrous.
Showing Thanks
Make sure that you thank the people who donate to your cause. Don’t get into the habit of seeming ungrateful. If you appear ungrateful, nobody is going to want to donate to your cause. In addition to showing thanks, make sure that you recognize people’s donations by giving especially large rewards, i.e., a plaque or even a statue. If you are going to recognize people’s donations with plaques and statues, make sure that you do so tastefully and with their approval. Some people prefer to give silently, so respect individuals of this kind.
Telling Story
If you want to compel people to donate to your fundraiser, you need to tell them a story. Telling people a story can tug at their heartstrings and motivate them to commit their funds to whatever cause it is that you are raising money for. It’s not easy getting people to part with their money, especially today when you consider the ongoing financial crisis and rising cost of living. Telling a story is without a doubt one of the most effective ways of ensuring that you are able to generate donations and get people interested in your fundraiser.
Track Donations
As mentioned above, it is a very good idea to track the donations that come in. Tracking your fundraiser’s donations will help you to get a better idea of how much engagement it is getting and also give those donating an opportunity to see how close you are to hitting goals. By showing people how close you are to your target, you can motivate them to donate. If your fundraiser is, for example, a few hundred dollars short, donors might pool money together to help you reach the finish line. Showing the target on a large screen to your audience is a good way of tracking it.
Be Creative
If you want your fundraiser to be a success, be as creative as you possibly can. Going back to fundraiser ideas, you need to make sure that your fundraiser is unique and novel. A unique fundraiser will get people’s attention and increase their chances of committing money to your course. If you are unsure how to plan a fundraiser, there are consultants and professionals that you can hire to do the work for you. If you are planning on hiring a consultant to help you quote you need to make sure you find one with a good reputation and positive customer feedback on their site. Positive customer feedback shows that a business can be trusted and will help you to decide whether they are the person for you or not.
Asking for Volunteers
The point of a fundraiser is to generate as much money as possible. People typically do this by saving money on things like staff and supplies. Usually, people are asked to volunteer to help out at fundraisers. By hiring volunteers, the people running fundraisers don’t have to worry about paying anybody, meaning they can save themselves lots of money. If you are going to ask people to volunteer at your fundraiser, make sure that you are polite and offer them some kind of incentive, i.e., free food or drinks. You need to encourage people to participate as volunteers. The average person is not going to want to devote their time to helping for free. In addition to asking for volunteers, if you plan on running a bake sale or something of that kind, try to get people to bake at home and then donate their bakes to your company so that you can sell them and raise money.
Media Endorsements
Finally, try to get local media endorsements. Media endorsements can be a good way to attract attention and motivate people to donate money to your course. One of your main priorities as the organizer of a fundraiser should be attracting interest and getting people aware of what you are doing. If you do not get media endorsements, the chances are nobody outside of your immediate circle is going to know you are even fundraising. Media endorsements are usually free. Radio stations and newspapers are unlikely to ask you for money if you are trying to raise funds to donate to a good cause.
Fundraisers can be great money-making initiatives. If you are planning on organizing one, make sure you take the guidance given here and utilize it to get as much money as you can. Hire a consultant if you are not comfortable running your fundraiser alone.
