Fundraising Ideas

5 Helpful Tips for Raising Funds for School in 2020

September 1, 2020 By Debbie Salat

In a perfect world, every student would have access to quality learning materials, field trips, sports equipment, modern learning technology, musical instruments, and this year, a deep stockpile of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.

But as we all know, programming and supplies like that are expensive. In some districts, school budgets barely cover the essential classroom supplies, and students have to work with out-of-date textbooks and obsolete software.

When budgets are tight, one popular way to bring in extra money is with a school fundraiser. You’ve likely seen countless ideas for running an easy and effective fundraiser, but it can be challenging to pick an option that works well for your school—and for the current pandemic.

At ABC Fundraising, we provide the tools and resources that schools and other organizations need to raise critical funds. Over the years, we’ve helped countless groups raise over 50 million dollars, so we’ve seen firsthand the profit and success that determined organizers can achieve with the right platform.

Along the way, we’ve picked up a few key tips on how to run a successful fundraiser for your school, including:

Choose a timely and relevant fundraising option.
Find a platform that allows you to execute your fundraiser remotely.
Customize your fundraiser to your school.
Pick a high-quality food product.
Consider discount cards and scratch-offs.

To get you prepared for the new school year and start fundraising off on the right foot, we’ll be diving deep into each of these tips. Let’s begin!

Choose a timely and relevant fundraising option.

Seasonal fundraisers are classics for a reason. Your fundraiser will be more successful if it taps into current events or the spirit of the season.

We aren’t just talking about Christmas, though coordinating your campaign with this winter holiday does make it easy to encourage purchasing items to give as gifts. Consider theming your fundraiser around another holiday, like Halloween, for a more unique twist!

Your school can also choose a fundraising idea that matches the weather, like how an outdoor summer fundraiser is built for sunny days.

Right now, the most relevant topic on everyone’s mind is the COVID-19 pandemic. Selecting a fundraiser with coronavirus in mind (like a custom face mask fundraiser) will definitely ensure your campaign fits in with the current times.

With this type of fundraiser, you can sell cotton face masks branded with your school’s logo and colors. Face mask fundraisers help your community show school spirit, stay safe, and gather revenue all at once—a win-win for all!

Because the pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon, a face mask fundraiser will remain a current and appropriate choice for months to come. But if you’d rather explore a different timely option, the holiday season is right around the corner.

Find a platform that allows you to execute your fundraiser remotely.

Traditional fundraising programs usually involve in-person interaction, so you’ll need to make the appropriate changes to your strategy this year. For instance, many schools sell merchandise or other items to help raise money for their programs and buy supplies. Potential contributors may be wary of getting close enough to handle a paper order form, and students and parents might experience challenges safely selling door-to-door.

In our current times, communities will have far more success with fundraisers that are socially distanced. Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can still fundraise safely, whether you’re using an online ordering system or executing a virtual peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.

Modern fundraising vendors can now create a customized web store for an entirely contact-free experience. Additionally, students and parents can easily share forms online to collect orders instead of relying on a paper form. Then when the product is delivered, you can hold contactless pickup (just like restaurants) for locals or ship to far-away supporters.

In many ways, compared to your more traditional in-person efforts, remote fundraisers are easier and more convenient for parents and students to execute, adding a bonus benefit beyond addressing safety concerns.

Choosing a fundraising vendor with an online order system will have advantages that last far beyond the current pandemic. You’ll be able to accept a variety of payment options like PayPal and credit cards, which is key in a world where plastic is more common than cash. Plus, you’ll be able to extend your reach to a wider geographic area than is possible with a purely in-person fundraiser.

Customize your fundraiser to your school.

When you start planning your fundraiser, you’ll want to consider the specific needs of your students and community. Every school is different, so some varieties of fundraisers may work better for you than others. Consider soliciting feedback from parents before you make your final choice.

In addition to picking a fundraiser that suits your school’s individualized wishes, you can also customize elements of the fundraiser itself. Let’s explore the example of selling merchandise or other items for your school’s fundraiser.

With the right fundraising platform, you can customize your order forms and web store with your school’s colors and brand. This infuses school spirit into the entire fundraising process and encourages generous support from your community.

Showing off your school pride can also extend to the items sold in the fundraiser. You can sell a variety of products custom-branded with your school’s colors and logo, including:

Face masks
T-shirts
Travel mugs
Car decals and magnets

And this is just a small handful of the options available. If you can think of it, you can probably customize it! For more ideas you can personalize to your school’s specific needs, check out this list of the best school fundraising ideas.

Pick a high-quality food product.

Many school fundraisers depend on selling an edible item as your featured product. But we’ve all encountered the low-quality, overpriced options that give fundraising food a bad reputation.

If you’re going to fundraise with a food item, you need to pick something that your supporters are sure to love—and that will generate a good profit for your school!

Be sure to find a vendor that focuses on high-quality food products at prices that make sense for your community.Here are a few of our favorite delicious options that your supporters will enjoy:

Cookie dough
Gourmet coffee
Chocolate bars
Cotton candy
Gourmet popcorn
Gummy bears

Many food-based fundraisers cost nothing up-front for your school and have low minimum orders, making them affordable and accessible options.

Consider discount cards and scratch-offs.

If your school wants to branch out from the traditional food fundraiser and selling your own items, another top recommendation is to offer discounts for third-party vendors in exchange for donations.

For example, you can sell:

Discount Cards. Generally, a discount card includes up to 20 amazing deals valid at local businesses. In exchange for their contribution, your supporters get a plastic wallet-sized card with discounts and free items, like $5 off a haircut or a free appetizer at a restaurant.
Scratch Cards. With a scratch-off card, donors can scratch off circles to reveal a small donation. As a thank you, they receive a sheet of coupons from national sponsors. Because this option is so low-cost, it’s a good fit for small fundraising goals.

Gathering discounts like these can be a lot of work—someone has to request and gather sponsorships from local stores, franchise locations, and restaurants. But with the right fundraising vendor, this process can be hassle-free for your school. They can handle the entire process from finding and securing merchants to selling and producing cards.

Fundraisers like discount cards and scratch-offs are a highly profitable solution because your supporters still get something valuable without needing to deal with a physical, perishable product.

Although the coming school year will have plenty of challenges, these fundraising tips will help set your school up for success. For more suggestions to help your school raise funds, check out ABC Fundraising’s list of easy and effective fundraising ideas. Good luck!

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.

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 Plan a Profitable Nonprofit Gala

June 10, 2019 By Gail S. Bower

Thousands of nonprofits produce galas and other elaborate fundraisers each year. They can be tremendous assets for your organization or enormous wastes of time and money.

If you choose to make yours an asset, here are the two most important areas where you need to focus.

Start With Your Business Model.

Let’s be clear about the purpose of your gala: it is to make money profitably. That’s it.

Events can be used for many purposes—build audiences, fulfill your mission, communicate news, reinforce the sale, among others.

The gala’s function is to generate a significant profit.

Before you do anything else, determine the best business model for the event so that it does expressly that.

And here’s a hint. Galas do not make money on ticket revenue, just like newspapers do not make money on subscriptions or individual newspaper sales.

In both cases, the big dollars come from sponsors. Corporations and individuals commit to a fee or a more generous contribution in support of the cause.

Your business model should identify the activities and relationships necessary to secure sponsors, attract individual donors, and lead to profit. For sponsorship, be prepared to articulate compelling value and engage the sponsor in mutually beneficial ways.

You also want to activate your attendees in other revenue generating activities at the event, such as a Live Auction and a Fund-A-Cause. Be sure to hire a great auctioneer and put the odds ever in your favor.

Attract the Right Audience.

That leads to the next important detail, which is to attract the right people to your gala.

It’s quite natural to want to open the invitation up broadly to your community, to include constituents, partners, friends, donors, funders, and all sorts of stakeholders. For any other event, that broad invitation is appropriate.

For your gala, be selective.

Attract people who have both the financial capacity and commitment to your cause. Your attendees must be enthusiastic about actively participating in the gala and donating.

One of the best ways to attract the right audiences is to have your best supporters do it, not by absent-mindedly delegating. Rather, be highly strategic.

In fact the word my colleague Kathy Kingston uses is “obsess,” as in obsess over audience development. Kingston, an expert fundraising auctioneer and author of A Higher Bid: How to Transform Special Event Fundraising with Strategic Benefit Auctions, encourages leaders to “hand-select every Table Ambassador,” she says.

“Invite each person with a call or personal visit,” Kingston says, “so you can explain how they can help build relationships with your great cause by engaging with their guests before, during and after your fundraising gala.”

When you fill the room with the right people who have the right expectations, you reach your revenue goals and create loyal fans for the future.

When you don’t, your revenue suffers. One organization gave a discount to an honoree who wanted to buy one hundred tickets to bring her young staff. First, red flag: “fundraiser” and “discount” do not go together. This honoree clearly didn’t appreciate that filling the room was not the primary goal.

Things got worse. These one hundred young people showed their enthusiasm and support for the cause and the honoree, cheering her on and having fun at the event. However, no one prepped them to give. They had no idea of the expectation to make a contribution through the silent auction or fund-a-cause.

Because this group represented about a third of the audience, the organization missed a huge opportunity and lost money on these one hundred attendees. To make matters even worse, the organization never connected with them afterwards to nurture them and activate them in their young friends program.

Galas are enormous investments and, with the right strategy and attendees, important assets. Use these focal points to lay a strong foundation for profitability.

DIY Fundraising 101: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About DIY Fundraising

June 18, 2018 By Gary Wohlfeill

Do-it-yourself (DIY) fundraising is one of the most exciting growth opportunities for nonprofits and is definitely one of the fastest growing types of peer-to-peer fundraising out there.

That’s why we thought it was time we gave DIY fundraising a good deep dive so that we can help nonprofits understand how it works and why it’s such a great tool to implement for those looking to grow and expand their peer-to-peer fundraising.

Here we go…

What really is DIY fundraising?

DIY fundraising is a new fundraising channel that empowers your community of supporters to raise money on your nonprofit’s behalf by starting a fundraiser of their own at any time —without cannibalizing any of your other campaign efforts.

The DIY part refers to the notion that your supporters have the flexibility to create an event or fundraiser that’s personal to them, not attached to a larger nonprofit campaign or event. Your supporters can get creative, have fun, and support you during a time that works best for them, and in any way that they want.

How is this different than peer-to-peer fundraising?

The peer-to-peer fundraising you might be most familiar with is usually organized around an event. Supporters are encouraged to start a fundraiser for an organized event (marathon, seasonal or themed campaign, bowl-a-thon, giving day, etc.) with all of the money raised by each individual rolling up to a grand total for your event.

This differs from DIY fundraising in that, with DIY (a subset of peer-to-peer) you are empowering your supporters to create a fundraiser whenever they want, based on whatever style of event they want to do. Maybe they want to do a birthday fundraiser, a memorial fundraiser, or get creative in the name of your cause. By creating a DIY fundraiser, they’re not attaching their campaign to an event you’re running at a specific time. Instead, they’re just starting a fundraiser whenever they want.

Both utilize passionate supporters to reach out to their network of friends and family in order to increase donations and awareness, but the main difference is in who organizes the event — the event is organized by your nonprofit vs. organized by the supporter themselves. (This also means that there isn’t the associated maintenance for your nonprofit that typically comes with running a structured campaign.)

Does DIY work in the real world?

I answer that question with a resounding yes (and if we embraced exclamation points we’d even add one here). Time and time again, we’ve talked to partners who’ve had incredible success when they’ve incorporated DIY fundraising into their overall strategy.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is one example of how embracing DIY fundraising can make such an impact. With their Lifestyle program, LLS offers up encouragement and ideas on how you can create your own DIY fundraiser. The director of the program, Colby Marple, nailed it on the head when he told us recently, “People want to make a difference. Instead of keeping [ideas] regional, what we wanted to do is create a national platform that allows all these great stories, all these great ideas to come together in a single place. And that’s what CrowdRise enabled us to do with our Lifestyle program. It’s really about making it possible for anyone to start a movement to help us cure cancer. It’s about saying yes and just empowering people to get after it and make a difference.”

“It’s really about making it possible for anyone to start a movement to help us cure cancer.”

– Colby Marple, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

And that’s what it’s all about. Empowerment, encouragement, and in a way, letting go of control. As an organization, you have to allow your supporters to show their passion for your nonprofit in their own way. Your supporters are hungry for an opportunity to show they care, but they may not have an outlet that allows them to do so in the way they want. This is why DIY fundraising really can be important for your cause.

This all sounds great, but is it a ton of work?

The great thing about DIY fundraising is that it works well without a lot of hands-on activity from you, the nonprofit. Now, that’s not to say that it’s a ‘build-it-and-they-will-come’ type of idea. But rather, if you take the time to put the structure in place, provide encouragement along the way, and make your fundraisers feel like heroes during and after their campaign, you’ve got the makings of an evergreen fundraising push that will see repeat performance throughout the years to come.

As LLS thinks about it, “the theme across the board is any activity, any passion, any hobby, anything that brings people together can be a tremendous movement and a successful movement to help us cure cancer.” And, isn’t that what every nonprofit is ultimately trying to get to? Empowering movements that create real impact in order to create the change needed to get you to your goal?

Curing a disease, building shelters, rescuing animals… no matter what cause space you are in, passion runs deep in your supporters. And when you give them a platform to take that passion and run with it, amazing things start to happen.

How to get started

Show your supporters the possibility of DIY. Include inspirational stories or examples of fundraisers who gave up their birthday, ran their own race, or shaved their beard for your cause. Put together some best practices for your DIY fundraisers and set up a schedule of encouraging posts, emails, and reach-out opportunities for your organization in order to keep supporters motivated and excited. Also be sure to thank them at the end of their fundraiser so they feel appreciated and hungry to do even more. It’s also important to make sure you’re set up on a fundraising platform that allows for simple DIY fundraiser creation, as well as gives supporters access to your best practices and examples so that they feel encouraged and motivated to stick around and set up their campaign page.

With DIY fundraising growing at a rapid pace, with the right fundraising platform, and some up front strategizing, embracing and encouraging DIY can make a huge impact on your cause.

School Fundraising Ideas

January 30, 2018 By Annie Korp

It seems like every time a parent turns around their kid is selling something for a fundraiser. School fundraisers shouldn’t add stress to families. They shouldn’t require overworked teachers to do more work. Fundraising can be incorporated into the classroom to teach kids valuable lessons about giving back. They can be student-led and provide important leadership experiences. Use fundraising opportunities to bring communities together and get people excited about opening their wallets for a good cause. It should be an amazing experience for everyone involved–teachers, students and their parents.

Change Wars

These days, it might seem like a penny or dime doesn’t go very far. Don’t let idea fool you – loose change can still make an impact! Have your students search their couch cushions, underneath the seats in their family car and the laundry room for spare change to collect and donate. All that change can add up. Make it a competition. Classrooms, grades or even schools can compete to see who can collect the most change. Incorporate the change wars into math lessons on money, addition, multiplication and budgeting. Just be careful the students don’t cause a change shortage!

Walk or Run

Get kids motivated and literally moving with a walk-a- thon or fun run! Take advantage of your school track and local walking paths, encourage students to walk to school or up the ante in gym class! Students can collect donations or pledges from a sponsor for measurable goals, like distance or time increments. If walking or running aren’t a good fit for your school, host a different type of marathon. It
can be a bike-a- thon, dance-a- thon or read-a- thon. Cater the activity to what your students can do best so they stay motivated and enjoy themselves while fundraising for your cause.

Spirit Week or Field Day

Incorporate fundraising into the school’s spirit week or field day. Add another level of competition by having the classes or grades fundraise during spirit week or leading up to field day activities. The class or grade that raises the most money can win incentives during the field competitions. For example, during a kickball game the grade or class that raises the most money can earn a bye game or an extra out in an
inning.

Athletic Accomplishments

Make athletic accomplishments count off the scoreboard. Student athletes can fundraise using their own accomplishments. They can raise money through donations and pledges for their athletic achievements in their respective sports, whether it’s kicking an extra point in football, hitting home runs or a goalie counting their saves. Student athletes find it brings extra meaning to their sport and accomplishments while raising funds and awareness for their cause.

Incentives

Principals, teachers or other school staff can incentivize their students toward reaching their fundraising potential. As long as staff members don’t mind a little fun at their expense, students will be motivated to see their principal or teacher spend the night on a roof, dye their hair a bright color or take a pie to the face.

Philanthropic School Clubs

Student-run philanthropic clubs are a great way for the students to take the lead to support a cause they are passionate about. Students form the club, plan fundraising events and execute the events during the school year. Students take a hands-on approach to the decision making, rather than being told by the school what fundraiser they will participate in. Similar to other school clubs, they can have an executive
board and members. In addition to raising money and awareness for a great cause, the students will build leadership, social and decision-making skills.

Lemonade Stands

What is more student friendly than an old fashioned, all-American lemonade stand? Valuable lessons can be learned while fundraising. Students use social skills to interact with customers. They use business and math skills to figure out what supplies they will need, how much everything will cost and how much profit they will be able to donate to the cause.

Set students up for fundraising success with activities they actually want to participate in. Invite feedback or collaborate with the students. They might have creative and successful fundraising ideas that adults never would have dreamed of! Kids want to give back. Sometimes all they need is a spark to their imagination and they’ll figure out a great way to support their cause.

A New Approach to School Fundraising – Funding Education with Education

January 23, 2018 By Alexandra Swenson

As a parent of three children in public schools, I know the importance of raising funds for classroom materials and enrichment programs. Yet too often fundraisers like bake sales and McTeacher Nights promote unhealthy eating or turn students into competitive sales reps for big brands.

The good news is you don’t have to compromise. There are ways to fund education with education, creating a win-win situation for students by choosing fundraisers that promote healthy living, art, reading and writing. We’ve all heard of the book fair, a great way to promote children literacy while raising money from book sales and read-a-thons, but let’s explore some lesser known fundraisers that promote health education, enrichment and writing.

Educational Fundraiser #1 – Fun Exercise Stations

Add a big twist to the usual Walk-A-Thon by having students complete five health stations in one day. For example, have a hip-hop dance station, a Kung-Fu station, a yoga station, juggling station or GoNoodle station. Find local teachers interested in donating their time to get their name out and find new students. Not only will this raise money for your school through pledges, kids may be introduced to a new sport they had not considered before and become more active.

Educational Fundraiser #2 – Personalized Art

Use creations made by students during art lessons to create personalized products for parents to purchase: greeting cards, mugs, plates, tote bags, ornaments… the sky’s the limit! This is a great fundraiser before the holidays, when families are looking for special gifts for grandparents and loved ones. Kids work harder on their art when they know it may be printed on Mom’s favorite coffee mug. They’ll also feel real pride in their accomplishment when seeing the final product.

Education Fundraiser #3 – Student Publishing

The Classroom Book was our answer to an educational fundraiser that empowers each child in the classroom. Students create a book in class based on what they are studying, be it poetry, short stories, non-fiction or any lesson plan that lends itself to project-based, creative work. Each child participates with a written page and a page of artwork. The final product is a hardcover book that turns every student in the classroom into a published author and illustrator. Book purchases support the school while encouraging the child, as they champion their writing and efforts. The books make a wonderful keepsake, showcasing work done in school, and motivating parents to stay involved in other fundraising efforts.

This highlights another benefit of educational fundraisers – parent involvement. Parents of school-age children, especially those who have more than one child, often suffer from fundraiser burnout, dreading the next cookie sale or silent auction. Educational fundraisers bring into light the direct link between money raised for the school and the benefit to their children, so they continue to stay involved and care.

Creating personalized products from student work increases arts-integrated project-based learning in the classroom. This brings added educational value, not just as a teaching tool, but because kids learn differently when they work towards creating something tangible. Their level of commitment and engagement changes. Like Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Still not sure what the best fundraiser is for your school? This winter, as you look for fresh fundraising ideas, try testing each possibility with these three questions:

Does it create value for the student and parent?
Does it go against parent’s values or youth education in general?
Can I double the impact of my fundraiser by making it educational in nature?

After all, school fundraising is there to benefit our children’s education.

If you’re wondering if educational fundraisers are really the way to go, consider this surprising statistic: schools raise $1.5 billion every year for education, yet two thirds of the nation’s 4th graders cannot read at grade level.

It’s not just about how much. It’s also about how.

Are You Using DAF’s to Attract a Younger Donor Base? You Should Be.

November 14, 2017 By Charlie Vanek

Millennials. Some associate this word with new opportunities: they consume information differently than older audiences, use different evaluation processes to make decisions, and have very different expectations in multiple areas of their lives. For many across the public and private sectors, this word is symbolic of an audience that is hard to attract and retain. Community foundations will rely on millennials, as well as Generation X, for their organizational sustainability going forward, but have experienced many challenges engaging these new donors. Younger generations expect that the organizations they donate to have the technology to answer specific questions around the constituents that benefited from their donation as well as the longer term impact on the community or issue.

This movement from checkbook philanthropy to investment-minded philanthropy is a significant change that community foundations need to account for moving forward. It also contributes to a second challenge facing many organizations: how do I make a younger donor emotionally invested in a community they may not have lived in for a significant period, or to remain emotionally invested in a community they have moved away from? Let me ask you a question. Have you considered donor-advised funds (DAFs)?

Community foundation-supported DAFs encourage a level of transparency and accountability that is craved by millennials when investing their funds in a philanthropic cause. By investing in a DAF, donors serve in an advisory role, choosing where their money goes and supporting specific issues and causes they care about. Though this level of involvement may cause some uneasiness, this is an opportunity for community foundations to strengthen their relationships with millennial donors by offering expertise on causes and local organizations. This provides an opportunity to gain a great partner, increasing the likelihood they’ll become a recurring donor, especially if your donor management technology enables them to consider and see the direct impact they are making. According to the Council of Foundations, donors are also more likely to serve on your board, or participate in special events sponsored by your community foundation. What a great way to engage those younger donors you will need to serve in leadership positions in the future!

Another straightforward and simple reason to consider DAFs: they’re popular. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, grantmaking from DAFs to qualified charities jumped almost 17% from 2014-2015. In 2016, a donor-advised fund, Fidelity Charitable, made headlines when it took the top spot on the Philanthropy 400, a ranking of the US charities that raise the most money. For millennials, DAFs provide an easy way for them to give in a way that allows them to feel more in control of the difference they are making. The Nonprofit Times acknowledges that often this audience wants to make a philanthropic contribution, but is unsure where to give and how much. So, beyond the obvious tax break benefits, community foundations can capitalize on their impact stories when discussing the possibility of DAFs with prospective donors.

As demonstrated in the Philanthropy 400 list, the growing popularity of DAFs means they are also being utilized by top firms as investment options. Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard are all offering DAFs as financial management options for their clients, again touting the benefits of tax breaks and the high level of flexibility around when clients need to use these funds. While community foundations often see these private sector financial institutions as competition, increased general awareness of DAFs as a result of their mainstreaming could mean less work for your organization when it comes to educating potential donors on what this type of investment looks like. Instead, you can focus on the key differentiators for community foundations: your unique knowledge of the needs of the community, and your experience helping other donors tell their community impact stories.

If your community foundation does not yet offer DAFs it’s time for you to join the 80% of your peers that do (2014 Urban Institute Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy). If you are part of the 80%, that’s great! Continue to share the unique benefits a community foundation DAF can offer donors, and make sure you have the technology that give millennials the experience they expect, and that can tell your donors the impact stories they are looking for..

Good luck!