What Equipment or Assets are Available?
Once you start fundraising in earnest - or rather, before
you start, you need to know what equipment is available to
help you. The days of pen and notebook are far gone, so
start looking for that computer software specially made for
fundraisers. Once considered a luxury, software programs
for fundraisers are necessary for those whose task is an
ongoing one.
If you are just doing a raffle for your local club, you may
not need anything like this, but if you are officially the
fund-raiser for a large organization, you need equipment.
If you don't have an office, then you will certainly need
one and all the things that go with it, such as phone,
answering machine, photocopier, computer and printer.
Special fundraising software will also aid you in your
task. Your only trouble might be in choosing the correct
package.
To get the one most suited to your needs, you'll need to
know the specific elements in your annual fundraising
program, how many computers are in your office and their
speed, chip, RAM and storage capacity, how much you can
spend and what your staffing structure is.
Your program may only need to be the most basic and simple
of all, in which it should only cost you around $1,500.
Those with all the bells and whistles may cost up to
$20,000. There are a variety of in between programs, of
course. You are the only one who can work out what your
needs are. The most complicated programs will need more
staff training, of course, so this may be a consideration.
What about assets? Assets for fundraising may include a
variety of things. If you need to have meetings - and you
will - is there a room or hall suitable to hold it in? Do
you have access to an overhead projector or something
similar if you need it? Decent sound equipment is sure to
be needed also, unless you want a hoarse voice.
An asset could also be an account for running expenses. You
can't raise money without spending some first. Even for a
raffle, you need to spend money on the prizes. You may be
able to take the expenses out of the raffle money in some
cases, but in others, you need to have the prizes on
display to sell the tickets.
For fundraising that goes into the thousands or millions,
you certainly need an expense account for travel, marketing
and advertising and other related things. While board
members should be volunteers, their costs such as travel
and child-care need to be met.
Who are Your Current Supporters?
The supporters for any fundraising event are usually those
who are passionate or interested enough in your cause and
help in whatever way they can. Whether this is by making a
donation or asking others to make one, or whether it is by
offering their skills, talents or time is up to them.
When you are organizing your event, the first line of
supporters will be the committee members. They are
voluntary board members who offer their time and expertise
to help make the plan a success. There will be the
president, treasurer and secretary, plus advertising
executive, PR person and the marketing manager. Even if you
are only arranging a chook raffle, you will need to have
volunteers to sell the tickets.
Your supporters can be anyone who agrees with your cause
and would like to see it prosper, but your current
supporters will generally be those who actually work to
support the fundraiser in some way at the present time. It
may be that they simply wear a badge or some other icon to
promote and advertise it, they may simply give advice and
suggestions on the running of it, or they may get in and
work very hard in a number of other ways to support you.
Past supporters may be persuaded to come on board once
again in another category if they prefer. Being offered the
opportunity to serve in a different capacity could stir
their interest anew and your organization will benefit
greatly from their past experience.
A supporter - or sponsor - is often the one who donates
money to your cause. Since the reason for having a
fundraiser is to gain funds for a specific cause, a lack of
these supporters will mean your fundraiser is doomed to
failure. It is important then to get these supporters on
side and give them the opportunity to support your cause.
While it is great to be able to use modern technology such
as email to alert supporters to the chance of making a
donation, nothing can really take the place of the personal
touch.
If you are able to make appointments to meet with the heads
of business who have shown an interest in supporting your
cause, then you will be much more likely to gain a donation
of considerable use. Most people are not that free with
their checking book that they will hand over a large
donation to an operation that is largely faceless. Support
at every level is the keyword.
What is Your Fundraising Strategy?
Implementing specific strategies is done in all levels of
business and no less in fundraising. Fundraising strategies
require careful thought. Some organizations concentrate all
their efforts on a single annual event, while others may
prefer a monthly event or some kind of ongoing fundraising
that keeps them constantly in the public eye. What your
strategy will be is largely decided by how much money you
need and whom it is for.
Smaller, local fundraising efforts often use the once a
year approach. This may be in the form of a school fete or
a concert to which parents and grandparents are invited. It
may be a camp or it may be a cookie drive or a raffle. If
there are a limited number of helpers, the raffle or jumble
sale is often a good way to go. Sometimes it's better to
have these say, four times a year rather than weekly, then
people don't get tired of them. Finding out whom your
target market will be is also part of the strategy of
fundraising.
There are many organizations that will help with ideas for
fundraising strategies. For those who have never done
fundraising before, using one of these organizations may be
the ideal way to start out. You may be provided with a
choice of candy bars or lollipops to sell, online magazines
to subscribe to or many other ideas. You may decide to have
a walkathon, runathon or skipathon. There are strategies to
suit large, medium and small groups of helpers. Very often
they will help you with advertisements and media kits.
Strategy is not only about what you will sell or do to make
money and when, it is also to do with how you will
advertise, how the event will be planned and how to get
people involved in helping out. It is about 'branding' -
how your organization will be known in the community and
whether it will be local thing or go nationwide.
One good strategy for all fund-raisers is to present their
need as an investment opportunity rather than a need. For
instance, if you need funds for a school, present that
school as the answer to the problem of unemployment in the
area, rather than as funds needed to shore up a failing
institution.
Sponsors are much more willing to donate money to what
seems like an investment. And if their company employs
people from the same area, you can point out how much
better their future employees will be fitted for the job
once they've been trained with the additional funds.
Stay Tuned for Part 3...
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