Every single charity depends on various forms of
funding resources, although most count on grants from governments, corporations,
organizations and other charities, individual donations provides a large
proportion of continual source of their income stream. Only when a charity wins
the public’s trust, can one earn voluntary
giving from the individuals and communities. And such
giving also increases the charity’s credibility and advocacy support among the
public in return.
There
are many ways to raise money from the public, but how could charities achieve on-going support from the general public as well as create a
virtuous circles of donor loyalty? In that regard, this article lists four different
fundraising ways that charities can take
advantage of based on the various sizes, capacity, or charitable causes of your
charity.
·
Face to face fundraising
With the weather warming up, it is time for
charities to go out for face-to-face fundraising,
which is the most direct way to approach your
target populations, sign up supporters and convert them into monthly donors. You
can launch different types of face-to-face fundraising methods such as
collection from house to house, collection on a street or canvassing in a mall.
Before you proceed, you probably need to seek for
a permission from the local authority to run your charity collection.
Date and location are essential if you
choose to fundraise for your charity on a street or in a mall. You may need a plan
B if your first selection of collection site and date do not come out well, or
to avoid
having canvassers from other charities or non profits at the same spot.
Set up in a spot with substantial passing traffic, so you can
advertise yourself and reach out to potential donors in a short amount of time.
You surely should train your volunteers or collectors
prior to the charity collection, make sure they understand
potential donors and are well informed about your charity. It is also
extremely important for them to approach people with a friendly manner and show
gratitude for your donors.
In addition to oral communication, it is helpful
to use visual communication to deliver messages of your
charity. Make sure the collectors dress up in your charity’s logo color, or
supply them with graphic materials to promote your charity.
Last but not least, such form of charity collection should not occur too frequently at the exact same location
or area, because you don’t want to pitch to the same group of people repeatedly
and annoy them.
·
Event fundraising
Although event fundraising could be more risky
and costly, fundraising events are widely popular among charities since hosting a great event can raise thousands of
money for the charity. There are many types of events from running a marathon, organizing a concert to hosting a dinner gala.
You should choose the right forms of events depending on the needs of your
charity.
Before throwing an event, it requires lots
of time and hard work to plan ahead. Ask yourself these questions: are there
any other goals you want to achieve except raising money for your charity? What
is the amount of money you want to raise at the event? Set a goal and a budget
for the event you are planning, and include all
expenses in your budget while taking into
account the unexpected costs so that you won’t go over your budget. And don’t
forget to prepare alternative dates and locations for your events, in case
something goes wrong.
What’s next? Come up with a creative idea
to attract and engage attendees for your event. Leverage social network, email
letters, online ads and other marketing tools to promote the up-coming event. When
planning your promotions, highlight the most exciting aspects of your event,
and always offer fresh and exclusive content to your audience.
Afterwards, you will need a reliable team
with good management skills to execute the event. They will manage all event
details and volunteers, handle any arising issue, keep everything running
smoothly, and remain control over the costs. If you have little experience in
organizing an event, you had better seek help from professional event
planners.
·
Online fundraising
Online technologies are shifting the
landscape of charity fundraising. Online fundraising becomes a fast growing
income source for charities, and it is important for charities to maximize
their support by taking advantages of the online fundraising. For small and
medium-sized charities with limited resources,
online fundraising tools and platforms make it easier for them to raise money
from the public.
Websites like CanadaHelps enable charities to
provide their donors a convenient and safe donation experience and collect
online donations at low administrative costs, all charities need is setting a
free profile account and creating a custom donation page to direct their
donations through CanadaHelps.
Similarly, JustGiving allows charities to
create a custom fundraising page and boost their
fundraising by sharing the page on Facebook. If you’re in the UK, your donors
can make a donation simply by sending a text message to you. In regards of the
increasing usage of mobile device, it is a smart idea to integrate charity fundraising
with mobile and smartphones.
One great way to amplify your charity campaign
is to turn your supporters into volunteer fundraisers. You can find peer-to-peer
fundraising solutions on these online fundraising platforms, which allow your
supporters to create a fundraising page to solicit donations for your charity,
and empower them to spread the charitable message to their social network.
It normally creates more impact when including
offline events as part of the online campaign. For instance, you can encourage
your supporters to launch an onsite fundraising
event like a charity bike ride and engage their personal network to join the
event on Facebook.
·
Product trading
Have you ever considered raising funds
through product trading? There are multiple benefits for charities to involve
in product trading. Now you can collect donations of goods from your supporters
in addition to financial donations. You are able to diversify the income stream
by selling goods or service helps. And as long as you are a registered charity,
your charity’s trading profits are exempt from tax.
You may remember shopping second-hand goods
at a nearby charity thrift store. They usually provide a variety of affordable
goods from gently-used clothing to cheap furniture. Charities like The Salvation
Army run a charity thrift shop of their own and retail preowned household items
from donors. But it could be time-consuming and expensive to set up and operate
a charity shop.
The alternative is to cooperate with the
third-party retailers such as WebThriftStore and EasyCharity, who make
it possible for charities and non-profits to raise funds through product
trading. You can register as a charity, list and sell your products on their
websites, whilst the sale price will be proceeded to your charities. If you
don’t have any products for sell, you can encourage your supporters to sell
their products on the sites and select your charity as the beneficiary.
The benefits of working with such online
retailers are clear, you don’t need to hold a large amount of inventory on hand
or deal with buyers yourself. Beyond that, the EasyCharity website also offers
an easy-to-use marketing toolkit for charities, with which you can request tailored
promotional material for your online and offline campaign.
Apart from the four fundraising methods
mentioned in this article, there are many other creative fundraising techniques
for you to discover. No matter what methods you utilize for raising funds, these
methods should be used together as
a whole instead of being isolated from each other. By integrating different
fundraising methods and giving more options for your supporters, you avoid the
dependency on one single sources of funding and you are more likely to make a
success out of your fundraising campaign.