Fundraising Ideas

Tips for Fundraising Momentum Through the Summer

March 3, 2020 By Heather Schlesinger

Despite the keen anticipation of three straight months of warm weather and freedom from the classroom, summertime is often the time of year that nonprofit activity slows down. With kids out of school, families take summer vacations to make the most of fun in the sun. That usually means donors, volunteers and staff organizers aren’t handling the same volume of fundraising tasks that keep them so busy throughout the rest of the year.

Nonprofits provide necessary social programs, particularly for school-age children and their families, so the absence of assistance in the summer season marks the start of an increased need. Over the Summer months, The Atlanta Community Food Bank observes two critical occurrences: kids aren’t in school to access daily meal programs, and nonprofits that could typically step in can be in short supply of volunteers and donors who are away for the summer. In 2018 alone, America’s summer food service programs provided 2.7 million meals to kids every day of the peak month of July.

Particularly for the Food Bank, which services a 29-county area through 700 partner agencies, summer hunger presents many challenges and difficulties in the vein of food insecurity for children and their families. In the 2019 school year, the Georgia Department of Education reported that over half of all school-age children statewide were enrolled to receive reduced-price or free meals. With numbers like these, it becomes clear that if organizations haven’t planned ahead, summer hunger can create a scenario in which funds and manpower for imperative assistance programs over these months are severely lacking. Fortunately, with a bit of forethought and insight on your part, you can take a page from the Food Bank and put the fun back in fundraising while watching your nonprofit’s summer participation and engagement increase.

Summer Fundraising Ideas

Take advantage of sunnier weather and longer days

With outdoor events, you can use the warm days and extra daylight to give you the edge you need to attract potential contributors looking for fun things to do with the family. Outdoor events serve as the perfect background for getting people excited and getting them involved, as well as increasing the likelihood that they’ll recruit family and friends to participate. The more the merrier, as they say. Bonus tip: make your events kid-friendly to engage the whole family while promoting the idea that helping a worthy cause can be fun.
Ideas for fun outdoor activities include movies in the park, a summer concert series, a community yard sale, or neighborhood cookouts. Everyone will appreciate the opportunity to have fun outside, and these are the types of events where you can expect multiple streams of incoming revenue from ticket/entry donations, corporate sponsors and food sales. Additionally, with the knowledge that many nonprofits will be experiencing the summer slowdown, your nonprofit efforts will stand out thanks to decreased competition for donor attention.

Peer to peer fundraising

Peer to peer fundraising can help circumvent the absence of volunteer and donor aid that impacts the increased community needs in the summer. Current supporters can tap their network and bring a significant increase in new donors to your organization, raising more funds with less tax on your already-reduced summer resources. Peer to peer events often include charity runs or walk-a-thons that are participant-friendly but can also apply to online fundraising campaigns, which are easily shared on social media for further exposure. Supporters can use their personal experiences with the nonprofit to tell a story that engages potential supporters, or asks that friends and family donate to their favorite nonprofit for their birthday or in lieu of holiday gift exchanges.

Summer service projects

Summer is an entire season of the year it’s assumed that all kids enjoy while feeling carefree with their family and friends. However, for many school-age children facing food insecurity, this is not the case. Recent statistics suggest as many as 37 million Americans struggle with hunger, and reliance on school meal programs that provide essential nutrition and nourishment means that when school is out of session, there’s a major food gap to fill. Parents are faced with the task of feeding their families without this support, and families don’t need to struggle in the summer to provide essential meals. Summer service projects can be a very effective way to tackle summer hunger head on.

Consider the efforts of the Food Bank, which hosts an annual Great Summer Dish volunteer initiative to ensure that children don’t go hungry during the summer months. Through a partnership with The Soulfull Project, the Food Bank dishes out much needed resources and support for local children. The Great Summer Dish day of service takes place each June and gathers members of the media to accomplish a goal of filling 500+ backpacks with nutritious food products for children in need. A summer service project like the Great Summer Dish engages a wide range of participants, generates action and brings attention to your cause. Families don’t have to fight summer hunger alone.

While in the summer months nonprofits often face an increased need in conjunction with reduced resources, with a little thoughtfulness and creativity, it doesn’t have to stop the stream of contributions. Using these tips and examples from the Atlanta Community Food Bank as a jumping off point as well as thinking outside the box will keep momentum flowing through the summer season and pay dividends towards your nonprofit’s summer success.

4 Ways to Make the Most of Your Nonprofit Advocacy Campaign

March 1, 2020 By Gerard Tonti

Let’s say you’re a nonprofit professional looking to establish an advocacy campaign for your cause. The mission behind your organization is important to you, and you want to raise awareness so that others can get involved as well. In the end, your ultimate goal is to enact positive change in your community or on a grander scale.

How can you launch this type of campaign, create an effective marketing plan, and maximize its potential?

First things first: What is an advocacy campaign? An advocacy campaign is a unique campaign strategy used by many nonprofits to draw in new supporters, increase exposure for the cause, and create change on a local, state, or national level.

An advocacy campaign differs from other nonprofit campaigns in that the main goal is generally not to collect donations. Although some advocacy campaigns will indeed call for donations to directly solve a problem, other key objectives include boosting awareness and gathering supporters to complete a certain action, like signing a petition or making a phone call.

The overall goal for an advocacy campaign is to create a change. Regardless of the mission you support or the path you choose to follow, there are a few tactics you can use to bring your campaign to the next level.

Consider these 4 strategies to make the most out of your advocacy campaign:

Establish good storytelling practices.
Use the right tools.
Foster relationships with representatives.
Boost your campaign with social media.

Ready to get started? Let’s jump in.

1. Establish good storytelling practices.

Your advocacy campaign is essentially a platform for telling your story— what your nonprofit does, why and how you were founded, why your mission is so important, etc. This is how you draw in new supporters and develop a team willing to fight for a needed change.

Consider these three storytelling tips:

Use emotion. Targeting your audience’s emotions is a great way to foster a connection with your nonprofit. When your audience has strong feelings towards an issue at hand, they are more likely to take action. Tell a true story of a particular group your organization is trying to assist, and encourage your audience to picture themselves in the story. By doing so, you can evoke feelings like a desire for an improved world, compassion for others, or even rage at injustice.
Explain the proposed solution. Unraveling your audience’s emotions won’t do you any good if you don’t have an outlet to direct that support toward. This is the perfect opportunity to bring in your nonprofit and the work you are doing. Whether you are advocating for a change in policy, awareness of a relevant issue, or signatures on a petition, you can once again bring your audience into the story by placing an emphasis on how they can help solve the problem.
Include pictures. You’ve heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, it’s cliche, but true. By using intriguing, eye-catching images in your marketing materials, you can grab the attention of potential new supporters and lead them into your campaign. Photos easily illustrate the issue, why it matters, who it matters to, and how your audience can help.

The key is to leave the story open-ended and conclude with a specific call-to-action. Encourage your audience to be part of the solution by completing a particular action. By the end of your story, the supporter should know exactly what they are being asked and how to follow up.

2. Use the right tools.

Before undertaking any new project, it is crucial to have all the tools you might need. Luckily for you, there are thousands of software options available to help you do pretty much anything. What used to be a fairly drawn out, manually intensive set of processes can now be streamlined with digital tools and automated resources.

Find a set of tools with comprehensive features including:

Online petitions: When you gather thousands of individuals as a collective voice, you increase the likelihood of your representatives taking you seriously and actually doing something about the issue at hand. Online advocacy software knows this, and has made it increasingly easy to start a petition, send it out to the world, and encourage supporters to sign and share.
Click-to-call: Click-to-call functionality creates a quick and easy way for supporters to connect with their representatives by automating the process. This decreases the research and effort from the user, and as a result increases the volume of calls going through— once again, amplifying your voice! You may also choose to provide a script or outline to further simplify the conversation.
Legislator lookup: When a user does have to search for the appropriate representative to contact, a legislator lookup tool makes this as simple as possible. A supporter enters their zip code or address, and is provided with their legislators and available contact information.
Alerts and updates: Your supporters likely want to keep informed on your mission and find out if there is anything they can do to help. Using tools with the ability to send out alerts and updates is an excellent way to send out mass communications to those who have already gotten involved.

No matter the technological route you choose, the right tools can cover a wide range of tasks vital to your organization. One recent trend uses optimized mobile apps to empower the supporters of your advocacy campaign.

The best resources can easily integrate with other tools so that the information collected can quickly stream from one program to another. For example, with your tools integrated, your advocacy app would be in communication with your CRM and your advocacy software! In fact, Salsa refers to this as an advocacy software ecosystem.

3. Foster relationships with representatives.

Because of the vital role that legislators play in enacting change to your community, it is a good idea to try to get them on your team. Having an elected official backing your cause increases the likelihood of real action being taken.

Follow these 5 key tips to leverage your organization’s relationship with local legislators:

Ask your supporters what their main concerns are. Consider taking a poll on social media or asking your followers to rank their top grievances. This will give you a better understanding of what your supporters want to see changing around them.
Decide on no more than three asks. Compile your list of concerns and decide on three that have been repeated the most among your supporters. These three will become your asks— the specific requests you plan to bring to your representatives in hopes of change.
Request a meeting with your local representative. Find your legislator’s contact information (using a legislator lookup tool!) and call their district office to set up an appointment. Plan for your meeting to last about 20 minutes; 10 of which should cover your nonprofit’s mission, with the final 10 minutes devoted to your asks.
Follow-up afterwards. Send a thank-you email a week or two after your initial meeting, and then continue to follow up once a month to check up on the status of your asks. You don’t want to be a nuisance, but you also don’t want to let them forget about you and your cause.
Encourage others to do the same. Gather other supporters of your nonprofit and set up meetings in other districts with other officials. Provide your list of asks to other advocates that meet with representatives so as to keep everyone on the same page.

Elected representatives know that part of their job includes keeping their constituents happy and taking their wants and needs into consideration. Take advantage of this by reaching out and making your voice heard.

4. Boost your campaign with social media.

Social media platforms are an excellent way to reach thousands of supporters at once, while also increasing your reach and exposure to new audiences. Social media can be an invaluable tool for your advocacy campaign— as long as you know how to use it.

Check out our 4 top tips to boost your campaign with social media:

Gather input. Social media gives individual supporters a voice and an opportunity to impact the greater organization. Encouraging supporters to share their ideas and concerns reiterates the fact that your nonprofit is fighting for the people. For example, you can request input when determining your asks for your legislative meeting!
Encourage supporters to share your posts. One of the greatest benefits of social media is the shareability. When you post engaging updates to your social media and encourage your current followers to interact with and share your posts, you increase your network to include their families and friends as well.
Try different angles. Mix up your current social strategy. Try different calls-to-action and varying approaches to see what works best. Maybe you are seeing high conversion rates with online petitions, and lower rates with click-to-calls. If you notice that one of your posts is doing particularly well, try to determine what makes it stand out and emulate that with other posts.
Explore various platforms. According to Double the Donation, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are currently the top three platforms for digital advocacy. Each offers unique benefits to your advocacy campaign (such as real-time updates, photo sharing, metric reports, etc.), so consider a combination of a few to maximize your campaign’s impact.

When your social media campaign successfully reaches new supporters, you continue to grow your voice. It is also a great way to keep your current followers up-to-date with the status of your mission. Celebrate reaching goals such as gathering your target petition signatures or convincing a representative to take action, so that your supporters see the difference they are making.

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By taking advantage of a few crucial tools, you are on your way to maximizing your nonprofit’s impact on the cause. If you’re ready to take your nonprofit advocacy to the next level, click here to discover other key strategies and techniques for running a world-changing campaign.

Keep fighting to make the world a better place. Best of luck!

Utilizing Financial Transparency as the Foundation to Fuel an Art Culture that Moves People

February 12, 2020 By Chris Safford, CMA, MBA

In today’s landscape, managing the increased cost of operating a nonprofit can be a challenge to any organization, even the arts. Still, research and experiences continue to prove that they make profound impacts on communities and an individual’s overall well-being and identity.

California Arts Council made one the largest investments in arts and culture in nearly two decades, reinforcing the state’s commitment to organizations trying to address societal challenges and shaping the future of our next generations with arts.

Relative to this, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), one of the nation’s most innovative contemporary arts centers, strives to reinvent the role an arts institution can play in the community it serves through local programs within local San Francisco schools and communities. Since its founding in 1993, YBCA has been on a mission to generate culture that moves people through year-round performing arts, civic engagement programming and visual arts.

Today, the center’s initiatives range from fighting for food justice with art and cooking alongside the Healthy Corner Store Coalition of San Francisco to developing a curriculum focused on community memory, using art and gardening as tools for local youth with Bessie Carmichael Elementary School. The center also spotlights artists and activists across the community, hosting a multitude of performances, programs and exhibitions.

Evolving the Arts Through Technology

It’s critical for nonprofit organizations to effectively manage grants and donations, as well as continue their initiatives to secure the necessary funds to expand their services and offerings. As a premier performing arts center, it was essential for the YBCA to remain extremely organized and establish strong financial visibility and accountability in order to continue supporting current activities and scale their operations. Doing so required an approach to adopting technologies that allow them to derive deep insights into operational expenses and use the data to inform business actions that align with the company’s future goals.

Looking to grow their organization, streamline its systems, move to the cloud, and modernize its financial management, the YBCA needed to implement new technology that both fit where they were at, as well as support the organization’s goals for the future.

Honing in on Culture by Eliminating Siloed Finances

The YBCA team decided to turn to Sage Intacct to implement radical changes the growing organization needed to track against its goal to generate a culture that spurs and supports societal movement. With Sage Intacct, YBCA was able to analyze the operational context for every transaction, introduce automated processes, develop meaningful key performance indicators (KPI) and bring together datasets that were thought to be unimaginable before. By doing so, the team was able to dedicate more time to strategic activities, sped up its lengthy financial processes while increasing budget accuracy by 30% and improving finance productivity by 25%.

For nonprofits, having a granular view into whether funds are being used effectively and efficiently is vital. The ability to generate insights into the fluidity of key operational tasks and functions, including the center’s grants, projects, programs, departments, revenue types, and donor activities all within one platform, enables organizations like the YBCA to inject efficient processes across its operations. For example, with this streamlined process, the center’s finance team can quickly deliver any information the city requires before releasing grant funding each year, which prevents the interruption of funding that could ultimately result in the delay of vital programs. The elimination of duplicate data entry led to a 60% faster close, saving $30,000 on extra employee costs to help execute their financial processes and instead get to the core of the mission they strive to accomplish on a daily basis.

These tools also offer a window into important trends and provide valuable data for future campaigns and assisting when establishing realistic goals. YBCA is now able to better target their audiences by importing individual donor demographics and event attendance data into Sage Intacct. This enables the organization to progress while keeping its mission in clear view, ensuring that important movements have the opportunity to be showcased for years to come.

Ways to Implement ESG & Expand a Nonprofit’s Reach

January 30, 2020 By Stuart Blair, CAIA

Most nonprofits have probably considered environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, or soon will. Interest has escalated, and as a result, advice abounds. Reading it, only one thing seems clear: ESG investing is complex. It seems every answer leads to two questions, and it’s no surprise that many turn away after an initial look.

The good news is that while it is true that ESG investing is complex, it doesn’t have to be complicated, and contrary to old beliefs, it doesn’t necessarily damage returns. With a solid understanding of what an organization wishes to accomplish, investment committees can implement ESG in a way that doesn’t necessarily sacrifice returns—but does bring investments into alignment with a foundation’s greater goals.

ESG’s Origins

First things first: ESG is not a new way of investing. It’s simply a set of criteria layered onto an organization’s existing investment guidelines. Environmental, social, and governance investing has been called by other names, and has been around for at least 30 years (some might say since the genesis of investing). It started with avoiding entire business categories for religious, moral, or ethical reasons, such as a Catholic foundation avoiding military, firearms, or adult entertainment. It expanded into environmental concerns, such as avoiding fossil fuels, or companies known to pollute.

Interestingly, the governance portion of ESG investing is often considered the newest, yet good managers have always used governance criteria. Corporate governance is one of the best predictors of long-term success; transparency and good governance leads to fewer losses, missteps, and regulatory problems over time. This has been a consideration of excellent managers for far longer than ESG terminology has existed.

The Power of ESG

The attraction is simple: It’s a way to do more good with more money, expanding an organization’s positive effects from just the proceeds of a portfolio to the entire portfolio. With ESG criteria, the organization is able to use its capital to support the same goals as its grants and spending, without sacrificing returns.

Often, we see interest from large family foundations seeking to increase their overall effects in their communities. Also seeking ESG guidance are large funds who recognize the conflict inherent in investments that public scrutiny might deem hypocritical or in opposition to the fund’s goals or beneficiaries. What once might have been ignored is now fodder for public outcry, such as with a recent New Jersey pension fund invested in payday loan companies, which are both illegal in the state and seen by many as predatory.

Adding ESG criteria to investment guidelines both enhances a foundation’s long-term effects upon society and helps shield against criticism. It can also improve long-term returns due to its focus on governance, according to many researchers.

Where to Begin

When clients ask for ESG guidance, we start with a basic, fundamental question: Why do you want to do this and what do you hope to achieve? Clients often don’t have an answer. Commonly, they’ve heard of ESG and know that they want their capital investments furthering the same goals their grants address, but they’re unsure of next steps.

It can seem daunting, enough so that many will abandon the idea before finding an advisor who can show them how to accomplish those goals without increasing risk or lowering expected long-range returns. Before becoming mired in details that may not pertain to their organizations, clients should determine exactly what they hope to accomplish with ESG criteria. That answer drives the implementation strategy and nuances within that strategy.

Six Implementation Strategies

There are essentially only six implementation strategies. Two will best suit most organizations—exclusionary screening or best-in-class selection—though we are seeing more interest in impact investing. The remaining strategies require more effort and often more capital, and are not as common. Regardless, it’s good to be familiar with each.

Exclusionary screening is the oldest and simplest. This strategy excludes companies based on core or significant business activities; entire sectors may be excluded (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, or gambling). Note that it is rare and not recommended to draw a hard line against entire industries. Overly broad proscriptions create too much risk and can generate returns quite different from the initial strategy.

There’s often disconnect between an idealist view and market reality, such as absolutists who pressure an endowment to eliminate any company profiting from the coal industry. Doing so leads to unacceptable risk and underperformance that could jeopardize the endowment, because such an overreaching mandate would include trucking and transport companies, manufacturing suppliers, power companies, even construction industries or banks and accounting firms that do business with coal companies.

Exclusionary screening has a greater effect on a portfolio’s risks and returns when compared with the next two strategies.

Best-in-class selection is often called positive selection or positive alignment. This strategy focuses investing on companies with better ESG track records compared with peers, but does not exclude entire categories of securities. Many indices are available for help measuring ESG parameters, such as the MSCI ESG Index, though this is not to say that this strategy requires investing in an index.

The index rankings are helpful for comparing a company against its sector and industry peers. A portfolio composition can remain the same, but be weighted more toward companies with better ESG rankings across the parameters important to the foundation’s board. Because no sector is excluded, it avoids adding unnecessary risk, as can occur with exclusionary screening.

ESG integration, unlike best-in-class selection, does not require ranking or comparing companies based on ESG scores, but rather takes ESG issues into consideration when evaluating specific investments. This is a hands-on approach that requires resources beyond indices. Many active managers implement this to varying degrees.

Thematic investing refers to investing only in companies that address specific ESG criteria, such as health care for underserved populations, green building, or alternative energy. The risk with thematic investing is that its focus necessarily chooses companies serving two goals: profits and social good, such as a health care company that serves poor or rural populations. Often, one must subordinate to the other.

Impact investing generates interest because investments are selected with specific outcomes in mind with respect to selected ESG issues, while achieving a stated return. In this implementation, the investor actively measures and reports the impacts on ESG issues, which requires resources. Impact investing also suffers the same risk as thematic investing, in that it is difficult for a company to achieve high returns while also serving a social good.

Active ownership is the most time consuming, and refers to engaging with companies on ESG issues as a vocal shareholder or investor. This strategy is resource- and capital-intensive and lies in sharp contrast with exclusionary screening, in which investors “vote” solely by divesting ownership.

Balancing ESG with Returns

There is no indisputable evidence that incorporating ESG criteria has a positive or negative effect on portfolio returns. It can help avoid losses from badly managed companies whose labor practices, environmental policies, or governance lead to fines, shut-downs, or catastrophic losses. But it can also forfeit gains from those same companies.

Even exclusionary investing doesn’t have to expose a fund to extreme risk. Exclusionary strategies can set percentages to measure a business’s acceptability, such as excluding only companies that earn more than 20% of revenues from the targeted industry. This avoids eliminating large sectors that generate solid returns, and often also serve businesses or charities aligned with the foundation’s goals.

In general, if you approach ESG criteria with clear goals in mind and implement those goals in a balanced and thoughtful way, you will end with a portfolio that looks different from previous incarnations, but should generate nearly identical returns, or at least ones that do not significantly differ from the original mandate. It may also have lower long-term risks due to selecting stronger companies with better management.

There will undoubtedly be costs for restructuring the portfolio, though it’s possible to limit or manage those costs. But aligning a foundation’s investments with its goals can broaden its impact on society and avoid the risk of unseemly investment in businesses at odds with a foundation’s stated goals.

In the long term, incorporating ESG criteria into a portfolio means that all of the organization’s money, not just the earnings earmarked for charities doing great things, can accomplish good in the world.

Ultimately, that is every foundation’s—and every business’s—goal: To be the most effective and efficient operation possible, generating the most possible return or impact with the least possible risk. ESG investing isn’t a fad; it’s a smart way to stretch a foundation’s impact.

About Canterbury Consulting
Canterbury Consulting is an independent investment advisory firm based in Newport Beach, Calif, overseeing more than $23 billion in assets as of December 31, 2019. Canterbury provides consulting services to tax-exempt organizations — including community foundations, educational endowments, religious organizations, arts and cultural foundations, health care organizations as well as individuals and family offices. Founded in 1988, the firm designs and manages custom investment programs aligned with each client’s specific goals. Canterbury acts as the investment office for its diverse clientele and provides objective investment advice, asset allocation, manager selection, risk management, implementation, and performance measurement. Canterbury strives to deliver performance and service that exceeds client needs and expectations. Learn more about Canterbury at www.canterburyconsulting.com.

12 Tips for Getting Corporate Sponsors

January 1, 2020 By Gail S. Bower

If you’re charged with getting sponsors for your organization, consider developing an ongoing process. Sponsorship needs to be a regular and ongoing part of your operation, so think in terms of marathon not a sprint.

Here are 12 tips to get you started.

Got value? Your corporate sponsorship program may be a source of revenue for your organization. For a corporation, it’s a marketing vehicle. The corporation pays a cash or inkind fee in exchange for your value. So, first, be sure you have something valuable to offer.
Sponsorship strategy. To develop value, define your strategy. What events, programs, initiatives, services, campaigns, meetings, conferences, and activities—called properties—in your organization represent opportunities for significant value to a corporate partner. And why? Define the value and the strategy behind it before you talk to any sponsors.
Business development strategy. Now comes the fun part. Which companies would benefit from access to the value your organization has to offer? Brainstorm a prospect list that includes a variety of industries whose brands, objectives, and missions best align with your organization’s.
Work backwards. If a company intends to derive value and a return on investment from sponsoring your property, you and the sponsorship decision maker need to co-create that opportunity. Afterall, you know your property better than the sponsor, and they know their brand and goals better than you. You have to work together.
Do your homework. Sponsors are busy. They don’t have time to take a deep dive into your event. You have a lot of competition out there. Meet the buyer prepared with solid ideas.
Research, research, research. Before you even contact the corporation, figure out if this company is even a fit. Why should they sponsor your organization? What’s in it for them? How does your opportunity support business or marketing objectives? Where in the sales cycle? Finally, are they a good fit for your organization? Would this company bring value to your organization and your audiences?
If your first thought is that it’s about your mission, check your thinking. Are you talking about their social mission and yours? Or are you honing in on their philanthropic objectives? If the latter, you’re moving into the world of philanthropy and not marketing. These are different approaches.

Relationship building. Getting to know the businesses and the industries you’ve selected in your sales strategy should be an ongoing activity. If you’ve truly got something valuable to offer, discuss your ideas with the right buyers. Find out more about individual priorities. Ask insightful questions that not only build the relationships but also enable you to ascertain whether your ideas align.
Sift and sort opportunities. Certain ideas will pass through your filters as you’re learning from your partner; others will not. Share the winners with your prospective sponsor in high-level detail.
Ideas. As you learn more, be prepared to brainstorm on the spot. Expand, narrow, and refine your ideas. Don’t hold on tightly; let the sponsor’s ideas influence yours. But don’t compromise on your deal breakers.
Now it’s time for your proposal. Here you go into detail about your ideas and the investments required. Too often organizations make the mistake of leading with the price tag. A seller I know just made this mistake. She pulled a number—a ridiculously low number at that—out of the air and her approach centered around money, not value. I guarantee she’ll leave money on the table.
Negotiate. Working through the details and adjusting the proposal and opportunity is perfectly natural. It’s rare that you could nail it on the first try. Make sure you have a negotiating strategy before you enter this discussion. This is another place where piles of money can get left on the table.
Win then grow. If you’re successful, you’ll make a partner for life. Congratulations. Now stay alert to how you’ll expand the partnership over time.

On the other hand, if you didn’t win this one, assess the reasons why. Ask the sponsor for feedback. Objectively evaluate your own performance. Ask your supervisor or coach to review what went well and where you can improve. Then, keep your process going, and make getting sponsors an ongoing activity for your organization.

5 Awesome Event Ideas to Pair with Your P2P Campaign

November 13, 2019 By Joshua Meyer

Peer-to-peer fundraising events, including runs, walk-a-thons, and bike-a-thons, share some common qualities: they encourage friendly competition, are interactive and fun, and are easily shared by participants to their wider networks.

While getting started in peer-to-peer fundraising (P2P) can sound daunting, it doesn’t have to be! With the right tools and resources, including a comprehensive peer-to-peer fundraising platform, you can successfully pair your campaign with an event and bring in even more donation revenue. Taking your peer-to-peer event online will also boost fundraising potential and make it easy for supporters to share their campaigns. It’ll also make the event simpler for you to organize.

We’ll cover some of our favorite event ideas to use with your peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns in this article. These include:

Walk-a-thons
Bike-a-thons
Dance marathons
Golf tournaments
Charity concerts

While these are some of our favorites, a peer-to-peer fundraiser can really work with any type of event! Grab some inspiration from these top choices and see what excites us about them. Let’s get started.

1. Walk-a-thon

Walk-a-thons are a tried-and-true event idea to pair with your peer-to-peer fundraiser. Any sort of athletic event is great because it naturally encourages the same friendly competition and teamwork that you need for a successful peer-to-peer campaign while also inspiring people to give.

As you plan your walk-a-thon, you’ll want to make sure your chosen fundraising platform is equipped to handle all the planning, organizing, and, of course, fundraising. For that reason, make sure you’re using a platform that:

Is participant-friendly. Donors should easily be able to register, raise money, post to social media, and invite other participants to take part in the event through your peer-to-peer fundraising platform
Allows participants to easily sign up. Participants should be able to sign up as a group or individual charity, depending on how big your event is, and easily add new walkers to their team.
Supports custom needs. Your platform should also support custom registration needs and order changes, as these can be common during walk-a-thons.
Tracks offline donations. There should also be a way to add offline donations to a participant’s total via your peer-to-peer fundraising platform in case you don’t have internet access at the event itself.
Is easy to set up. Your platform should be easily set up, customizable, and allow you to track any matching gifts.
Looks great on mobile. Your platform should be mobile responsive, meaning that the campaign pages adjust to any screen size. This will allow for easy sharing, engagement, and donations from anyone’s mobile device.

If your platform is up to the challenge, your participants will be, too. Your peer-to-peer platform will help keep participants engaged, fundraise, and enable your team to focus on campaign success.

If you want to get started on planning the perfect peer-to-peer walk-a-thon, check out the ultimate guide by OneCause.

2. Bike-a-thon

Bike-a-thons are another athletic event that do wonders when paired with a peer-to-peer fundraiser. But you want to make sure you plan it using the right approach! Follow these tips to put on a successful event and raise the funds you need:

Launch your site early. Aim to launch your event site about 3 to 6 months in advance of your event.
Feature all of your information. Your peer-to-peer fundraising site should feature information about both your charity and your bike-a-thon, as well as all details about the event and a registration page that’s mobile friendly.
Use a “donate” button. Include a “donate” button on your site that allows donors to give even if they choose not to participate in the ride. This will help boost your donation revenue.
Display a leaderboard. Use an online leaderboard so participants can see how the other riders stack up in their fundraising. Take it a step further and make sure you have a way to recognize the leaders at the event. You can award them with badges, branded custom shirts, or other prizes.
Keep it on the platform. Be sure to use a peer-to-peer fundraising platform to keep your registration, donation, and informational pages all on one site, which will make it easy for your attendees to find exactly what they need.

Hosting a bike-a-thon is an exciting way to engage your supporters, let them have some fun, and boost your donation revenue. Stick to your plan (and check out this comprehensive guide by OneCause!) to ensure you get the best results.

3. Dance Marathon

Dance marathons have become an increasingly popular method to fundraise. Participants, called dancers, raise money before, during, and after the event by leveraging traditional and peer-to-peer fundraising methods. In return, donors pledge to donate or sponsor the dancers’ time and energy spent dancing for a cause.

Here are some tips to consider as you plan out your event:

Choose the right platform. As with the other events, make sure you find the right platform that is user-friendly and will be easy for your participants to use. This is especially important because its usability affects how much they have the potential to raise.
Share video of the event. Many dance marathons will live stream their events online so supporters can watch the events as they occur.
Provide resources. Give your peer-to-peer participants resources like templates for emails, fundraising strategies, and examples of social media posts they can use to promote the campaign and event. Then, check in with them on a regular basis and work with your participants as needed.
Collect mobile donations. Text-based donations work really well with dance marathons! Try incorporating this into your strategy.

When you look at how social fundraising works, you may notice that individuals who see other individuals donate are more likely to give to the same cause themselves. Apply this concept to your peer-to-peer fundraising event! Be sure your participants encourage others to participate, give, and have fun.

4. Golf Tournament

As mentioned before, a peer-to-peer fundraiser is pretty versatile and can work with any type of event! So, if you want to host an even larger event, a golf tournament is at the top of our list. Bring together some of your top supporters and encourage your participants to fundraise for the tournament and spread the word.

Here are a few ways you can run your peer-to-peer golf tournament:

Your organization can offer participants the option to fundraise with or without buying a ticket to the tournament.
Participants can choose their own fundraising goal and your organization can add incentives (like a free ticket once a milestone is passed) to motivate your participants.
You can accept in-kind donations as tournament prizes or raffle prizes to add a level of engagement and excitement to the event.

A golf tournament can bring in a lot of revenue, and it’s also a great excuse to get outside and enjoy a game with your supporters. If you think this might be the choice for you, make sure you work through the right checklist to get started!

5. Charity Concert

Holding a charity concert is a great way to reach new audiences, but you’ll need to market it effectively. Marketing should go beyond your existing donor base and reach out to local music-lovers who might want to attend. That’s where peer-to-peer fundraising comes in!

You can hold your peer-to-peer fundraiser as a lead-up to the concert, which will serve as marketing while also helping to pay for expenses related to the event.

Follow these steps to start planning:

Choose the kind of show you want to put on. Determine the size of the event you think you can host and how many people you want to attend. Then, think about the type of music you want performed.
Choose your venue. If you know where your event will take place, it’ll be easier to find performers and promote the event.
Choose your lineup. The musicians you partner with will also be an important part of your marketing and fundraising. You can even ask them to set up team pages and fundraise as part of your peer-to-peer campaign leading up to the show.
Promote the concert. There may be a portion of your audience that comes for the performers rather than for your organization, but you’ll still have a great opportunity to gain exposure for your nonprofit and get them involved.
Sell tickets and accept donations. Make tickets available online beforehand so it’s easy for people to make a commitment to attend. Offer the audience a chance to make mobile donations at the event, too.

Your charity concert can be a huge hit if you take the time to carefully plan, incorporate your peer-to-peer fundraiser, and get everyone involved?—including the performers! Self promotion is an important part of running a nonprofit (and not promoting is a mistake made by many nonprofits), so be proud of your event and your cause.

There are many events you can tie into your peer-to-peer fundraiser, and hopefully this list gives you some inspiration! Beyond hosting these events, be sure to thank your donors and your participants for all the effort and support they’ve given you.

Part of running a successful event means investing in the right peer-to-peer fundraising platform. If you’re looking to upgrade your current process but aren’t sure where to start, check out this list of the top peer-to-peer fundraising tools. Good luck!

15 Easy Fundraising Ideas

November 6, 2019 By Louis Louw

Whether you’re fundraising for a school, a nonprofit board, association, or another important organization, fundraising is a challenge. To make the most impact, fundraising usually involves the tough tasks of organizing large groups of volunteers and marketing your event or drive so it’s a success.

Let us help. No matter the cause, we have 15 easy fundraising ideas that will help you reach your goals.

Dining out for charity. One great option is to partner with a local restaurant to host a charity night. Your nonprofit invites supporters out to share a meal and the restaurant agrees to donate a portion of the night’s earnings to your nonprofit.
Create in-kind sponsorships. Sometimes people are more comfortable donating items rather than money. By sponsoring a certain element of what your nonprofit stands for, people can see in a tangible way how their giving helps. Using dog rescues as an example, people can donate blankets and food for the transportation of rescue animals.
Create custom sports socks. Custom branded sports socks are a great way to raise money while also raising team spirit. Whether your cause has specific colors, a logo, or a tagline, it can be great to design socks to match. These fun, branded socks are a great way to get people to rally around a cause and donate money for a neat pair of designed socks in return.
Host a virtual charity run. A “regular” charity run can be an excellent way to bring a community together to support a cause, but it can be extremely difficult to organize. Instead, consider a virtual charity run. It can be organized through a website where people can sign up, join a charity team, and create a fundraising page. From there, people can visit the different pages and donate to the team of their choice. Teams can pledge the miles they are willing to walk or run and can complete those miles on their own time and where they would like, whether it’s at the gym, around town, or on a hiking path.
Friendly business fundraising competition. Another way to really get the fundraising juices flowing is to find two businesses in town (ideally with values aligned with your organization) and get them to join a fundraising challenge to see who can raise the most money. A little friendly competition never hurt anybody and it can be a great way to raise money and get the community involved.
Wedding fundraisers. Some couples prefer direct gifts to their favorite cause rather than registering and accepting gifts for their new home. This can be a simple way to raise money for an important cause that simply requires a mention on the save-the-dates and invitations.
Fun holiday fundraisers. There are endless numbers of quirky, fun holidays out there, including Ask Your Cat a Question Day. Choosing one of these days to run an online fundraiser around can be a fun and effective way to get people interested in and excited about your cause while raising money.
Run a matching gift campaign. A matching gift campaign is a great way to boost the power of your campaign to double. Not only does it mean your cause could walk away with double the funds, but it also serves as a powerful motivator for would-be donors. Try to find a major donor or partner that is willing to match the amount raised after a certain point.
Set up a personal feat campaign. Everyone loves to follow a person’s personal journey to greatness and it can also be a great motivator for raising funds. Choose a spokesperson for your campaign who is willing to try to accomplish a great feat (finishing a marathon, summiting a mountain, etc.) for a good cause. When people have a journey to support, they are likely to give more. It also presents a great opportunity to make the campaign social, as personal feats and accomplishments are usually rife with photo opportunities and stories to share to get people engaged and involved.
Create a 24-hour drive. Setting aside one specific day to raise funds or goods for your cause can often add in some extra motivation for donors. You have the flexibility to choose any day you’d like, which could also center around a day that is important to your nonprofit or cause. Rally supporters to get involved on this day, driving home the sense of urgency around the 24-hour deadline. If you can secure a matching grant for the funds raised on this day, even better.
Run a T-shirt fundraiser. Opt to sell customized t-shirts to raise money for your cause. Not only does this aid in raising funds, but it’s also a way to promote free marketing for your nonprofit or cause. Your t-shirts can be customized to showcase the nonprofit or to feature an event. You can even sell the shirts using crowdfunding techniques.
Try a text-to-give campaign. These allow donors and supporters to give right from their smartphones. Text-giving software allows you to set up a special fundraising phone number that is paired with a keyword. Donors can simply text your special number with the keyword to get a link to a mobile donation page. Once they donate, they can receive a digital receipt.
Host a silent auction. A silent auction is a wonderful way to get local organizations involved in a fundraising effort. Local businesses can donate items for the auction, which may include movie tickets, gift baskets, or other items that your target donors will be interested in. People can then bid on their favorite items. Silent auctions can also happen online, making it easier than ever to host an event like this.
Hold a car wash. This is a classic fundraiser idea that can be updated for the modern era. Add a theme to your carwash, perhaps having volunteers dress up a certain way or by turning the carwash into a musical event. This is a flexible event that can be tailored any way you like to raise funds for your cause.
Host a gala. Galas are another tried-and-true way to raise money for a cause. Galas can also be combined with silent auctions or raffles to double and triple fundraising efforts. Galas can also be customized by theme and turned into a costume ball or a themed party.

Utilizing one of these ideas may be your key to fundraising success. Consider all the options and narrow it down to two or three that make the most sense. After weighing the pros and cons of your top options, you should be able to settle on one that will have the greatest impact for your cause.

How to Easily Prepare Financial Statements for a Nonprofit on a Limited Budget

October 21, 2019 By Michelle Carley

Many small nonprofits that are just starting out lack funds to buy expensive accounting programs or to hire bookkeepers. They have great ideas on how to help those in need and their hearts are in the right place, but they generally don’t have any accounting experience. This can prove to be quite detrimental: nonprofits must keep good records or risk losing their nonprofit status. So, even if you are a small nonprofit, your first priority should be to keep accurate financial statements from the get-go. If the funds are just not there to hire a bookkeeper, or if you’ve been relying on volunteers without accounting experience, there is good news. There are accounting software tools in place that anybody can use. These tools will help you categorize your financial transactions and produce statements that are reliable and accurate. Producing these clear category totals will greatly help an accountant obtain true totals for year-end financial statements and tax returns.

But first, let’s start with a list of what is absolutely necessary to keep track of in your nonprofit. I’ll give you the why and the how: the details, the reports, and the suggestions for how to do this on a small budget. (Keep in mind this is for small nonprofits or nonprofits just starting out. If your gross receipts are over $50,000.00, then you will need to seek the help of your accountant to help you stay compliant.)

Preparing the Financial Details for Small Nonprofits:

A list of all revenues (or gross receipts as the IRS calls them)—whether restricted, temporarily restricted, or non-restricted—divided into the proper categories. This will make it easy for your accountant or tax professional to sort this out on your final year-end financial statements. But don’t get caught up in the terminology here. It is more important to keep accurate records of your financial position than to be sure every report generated during the year is perfectly tweaked for nonprofit terminology. If this is the case, your year-end statement prepared by your professional may need to be tweaked for nonprofit terminology.
A list of all expenses categorized accurately, taking into account all the checks you have written, any purchases you have made with credit or debit cards, and all cash expenditures. (TIP: keep receipts for all of these expenses in a categorized envelope or folder system.)
Your checkbook should be reconciled each month and include any outstanding items.

Nonprofit Financial Reports

I suggest starting out using the cash method of accounting instead of the more elaborate accrual method for your nonprofit. You will have to choose one or the other before completing your first tax return, but you can change it at a later time by requesting the IRS form 3115 here. It will be much easier to operate on a cash basis, especially for the kind of employees or volunteers you will most likely have (those with no bookkeeping background).

You enter transactions into ledger spreadsheets like the ones listed below to capture all the details before a program can produce the financial statements needed for your nonprofit:

Deposits Ledger – categorized
Checks Ledger – categorized
Cash & Charged Expenses Ledger – categorized
Bank Reconciliation
Subcategorizations for special events and fundraisers (which would show income over expenses for each event separately)

Examples of Financial Statements

To keep you (and those to whom you report) informed, it’s Important to understand which financial statements are necessary and why.

Income Statement (or Statement of Activities) with budget comparison.

This statement shows all your revenue (and income — Did you know your nonprofit can take in up to $1,000 of income each month before having to pay taxes.) against all your expenses.
Balance Sheet (or Statement of Financial Position).

The Balance Sheet shows all your assets less liabilities which equals your (equity) net assets.
Cash Flow – IN: A record of all incoming money
Cash Flow – OUT: A record of all outgoing money

Trial Balance at the Year-End: A list of all accounts and their balances

The Why:

Understanding why to keep these records is very important and will help to keep you motivated and current. The reasons are 1) to stay compliant – nobody wants to lose their nonprofit status they tried so hard to acquire and 2) because you will be held accountable to many people. To name a few:

donors
board members
accountants
tax preparers
auditors

It’s a Good Idea to Keep Clear, Concise, Accurate, and Auditable Records

Your records will be accurate if you have reconciled the checkbook and other accounts. Reconciling is a way to compare your records against what your bank accounts show on their records and list all the differences such as outstanding checks. You should have an audit trail of your expenses. An audit trail is a security-relevant chronological record of your transactions. In other words, it is a record of all checks in numerical order without skipping any, from the beginning of the year to the end. That means you need to record any voided check numbers also. It makes for a complete record and if audited you would have everything recorded properly – hence the term “audit trail.”

The How:

I’ll recommend a software package I designed which I use for both my personal and business financial records, but ultimately it will be your decision. Keep in mind that what you start out using should fit the volume of your transactions. You don’t want to use a program that is too large with too many features you won’t be using and too cumbersome as it will most likely be difficult to learn. If it’s difficult for you to learn, it could be difficult for each new volunteer treasurer to learn as well.

Excel Spreadsheets

If you are really good at making spreadsheets, you could use Google Sheets or (better yet) Excel to keep the records I mentioned above. Be careful not to waste too much time reinventing the wheel here.

Fund Accounting Software

There is no need to go out and purchase a cumbersome fund accounting package for a lot of money that requires a lot of training if your needs don’t warrant it at this time. But if you do, be sure you have someone lined up to be trained on the program. Also ask yourself: if that volunteer should choose to leave, will you be able to find another volunteer with the same experience rather quickly? These are just some things to think about.

It is so much better to keep track of your records in the simplest system from the get go instead of waiting to find an elaborate fund accounting program and then have to go back to the beginning of the year to recreate your records. Things have a way of falling through the cracks that way and can cause you many headaches.

Your Current Accounting Software Program

You may already have a current program you could use to get the job done. Just be sure it can print the above mentioned reports. Don’t be so concerned with the terminology of your current software. As I mentioned before, the most important reports are: the year-end nonprofit financial statements completed by your accountant to share with donors and others; and the nonprofit tax return that would be filed with the governmental agencies. Your monthly reports you prepare during the year are for your internal use only.

You May Want to Consider Using Big E-Z Books

Big E-Z Books, the accounting software I designed, can produce all the above-mentioned financial statements for your nonprofit for an annual license fee of only $79.95. It’s easy to set up and easy to enter and import your data. Once categorized and reconciled, it will produce all the above reports. What is nice about Big E-Z Books is how everything is laid out. If you need to correct an entry it’s easy to find it, correct it, and move on. Correcting an entry in a cumbersome program can take more time then you wish, especially if you have to do an online search to find an answer. Also, Big E-Z Books is so easy to learn how to use that you can train other volunteers quickly. Schedule a free 30-minute demo to see if Big E-Z Books is right for you and so we can show you how to customize it for your nonprofit.

Happy Bookkeeping!

The Art of Online Donations

August 22, 2019 By Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario

We’re all accustomed to the typical fundraising programming––galas, events, cold calling––but having a ‘donate now’ button on your website can help you reach diverse audiences and gain a new pool of donors. At ARTE, we work to engage young people, amplify their voices and help them organize for human rights change through the visual arts. To help them rise to the challenge, we have to remain flexible in the ways that we work.

To achieve our vision, we work not only with our students but with our donors, meaning we work both at grassroots and foundational levels. Donations help organizations like ours do the work they need to create a more just world. But, like so many others, we’re still up against limited bandwidth and budgets, so we were thrilled with the opportunity to work with Wix, the website development platform company, to redo our website through its Social Good Project at its Wix Design Playground in NYC.

We worked with the program’s students to create a strategy for increasing reach online and getting more people to donate. By including the button clearly on our site, we were able to create a simple call-to-action.

Tools to help nonprofits grow

Having an online presence is fundamental for nonprofit organizations. We are all attracting different stakeholders: donors, volunteers and recipients of our services. A website helps engage us with each stakeholder, while helping them easily understand the organization’s mission and culture. It also allows you to reach more people and create a connection, building an online community.

To get people to donate, make sure that the website enables them to easily do so. People are busy and anything that can delay a transaction can result in the most well-intentioned donor leaving. So, make sure to provide a process that is easy to understand, simple and quick.

Additionally, make the website informative enough that it keeps people coming back. That way, while some might not donate immediately, you can drive donations later by including a donate button in an email newsletter. This will also help readers continue to equate donations with the organization.

Donation button on your website

Connecting the donation button to your nonprofit’s bank account is the first and best option, since it eliminates third-party fees and expenses. However, third parties can help to spread the word about your organization and better appeal to their audiences. Wix’s funding options allow us to do both, enabling direct donations, as well as going through PayPal Donations, which connects directly to our PayPal account.

Using trusted merchant services to accept donation payments is crucial because it gives donors a sense of security when making donations to our organizations. Depending on the type of nonprofit, it may be wise to also use crowdfunding and social media donation buttons. Donors can more easily recognize these brands and trust them.

While Paypal is our go-to, there are also different donation buttons that suit an organization’s needs. Fundly, for example, is a great crowdfunding donation tool, particularly for collecting a lot of small donations. Other good tools include Double the Donation, a matching gifts donation button, and a verified button, which helps secure the organization and its donors.

Like galas, fundraisers and community activities, a website is a way to connect with your audience. Make sure it’s updated to modern standards, so you don’t lose the ability to continue the important work your nonprofit is completing.

How to Write a Letter of Thanks for Donations

June 17, 2019 By Giovonni Santiago

Funding can be one of the biggest single challenges of running a nonprofit. Without funding, programming becomes increasingly difficult. So what is the key to funding a nonprofit? Gratitude, of course! Writing an effective and heartfelt letter of thanks for donations lets donors know that you value them. And hopefully, this letter helps keep your nonprofit top of mind for future donations.

I started my own nonprofit to support transgender youth called Meta Center Inc in 2016. I had a big goal of creating an inclusive space for transgender youth to feel safe and supported. My goal was large but my funding definitely on the small scale. I dug as deep as I could into my own pockets. I also relied heavily on the kindness and generosity of family, friends and community members. A letter of thanks for donations helped ensure that my nonprofit started off on the right foot.

Over the years, I’ve worked on perfecting the art of gratitude. Here are my tips on how to write a standout donor-centered letter of thanks for donations:

Be Swift

You should send out your thank you letter within 48 hours. This means that you need to be prepared for a donation that could come at any time. Follow the steps below to ensure that your letter is ready to customize and send quickly.

Make it Personal

Avoid a pre-printed card you keep on hand. Personalization is the key to a memorable letter of thanks. Skip “Dear Donor” or “Hello Friend” and include your donor’s name. They took the time to donate to your nonprofit. You need to take the time to write a real personalized letter. If this is not their first donation, make sure you include: “Thank you for another contribution..” Return donors are so important to your nonprofit’s livelihood. This simple touch acknowledges in a personal way that you appreciate them thinking of you again.

Tell A Story

I start all of letter of thanks for donations the same way: I tell a personal story. This is the best way to grab the reader’s attention. Detail how the nonprofit directly impacted an individual’s life for the better. With permission, share that individual’s name and include a direct quote. Make it clear right from the beginning who directly benefited from their donation. For Meta Center Inc, a story might details an individual who was able to start their medical transition, find a gender-affirming doctor, buy their first binder and live as their true authentic self.

Include Statistics

Numbers, figures and statistics take the personal story and extrapolate that one individual’s experience to demonstrate the full reach of your nonprofit’s work. Did your nonprofit organization increase individuals served this year? Were you able to step up your programming efforts? You added an extra weekly support group? Share that with your donor! As a donor, they are champions of your nonprofit’s success. Brag a little!

What’s Next for Your Nonprofit

Once you’ve let your donor know how their funding has impacted your organization already, let them know what you plan to do next. If you haven’t completed a project, let them know where you stand. No one expects you to have everything together, but an update goes a long way! Stay transparent and tell your donor how their funds will be used.

Don’t Ask for Another Donation

This is a letter of thanks for a donation. This is not the time to ask for another donation. Asking for another donation 48 hours after you received the first one simply comes off as ungrateful. An effective letter of thanks for donations will ensure that when your donor is ready to give again, your organization will be top of mind!

Keep the Door Open

If your donor is local, let them know about your next event or invite them over to the office for a tour. Take them to coffee. Think of your donors as relationships. You nurture relationships, right? Donors are the same! Make sure the letter is written and hand-signed directly by someone on your leadership team.

Feel confident you can nail the letter of thanks for donations yet? Remember to keep it personal, tell a story and show that gratitude!