You are here: Fundraising News » Non-Profit Fundraising

Maximize Fundraising Income With the Correct Fundraiser

July 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When it comes to operating a non-profit business, it isn’t going to matter if the financial system is good or negative the fundraising must go on.

For almost nine a long time I volunteered with a youth sports organization in New Jersey. Five of these a long time I spent as president and it was not until I took that role above that I genuinely recognized the value of fundraising.

Even though our specific business charged a registration payment, that payment (along with a subsidy by the township government) only went so far. So in purchase to make up for the shortfalls you had to do fundraising.

We did them all from marketing candy, to hosting sports activities tournaments to marketing raffle tickets, you identify it. But the most successful fundraiser we had was the pancake breakfast buffet. It was so profitable that it grew to become a yearly function for our organization.

The way it labored was you would promote organization card sized advertisements for twenty-five bucks every single that would be printed on the placemat that would go beneath everyone’s plate at the breakfast.

On a aspect note the adverts that worked the very best were the ones that ended up coupon codes.

We brought a local printer on board to cover the printing expenses and in return he obtained marketing on every placemat as a border advert and five totally free tickets to the function. Nicely really worth the trade if you consult me. There was no limit on the number of advertisements you could promote, we would just generate more placemats and have our printer create what we essential.

The tickets to the celebration had been five dollars for older people, 3 dollars for pupils and seniors and kids beneath twelve ended up free of charge. With the help of a regional church we had been ready to use their recreation hall to do our cooking and serving of the customers.

The meals was simple.

We served pancakes, sausage, coffee, tea, orange juice and water. That is it. Any longer and we brain as well be called an IHOP. We arranged it up buffet design so the customers would serve by themselves and they could eat as much as they wished.

The foods was all donated by members of our league so we had no charges there. Of study course we did all of the labor, the cooking, cleaning, and so on, so we did not have to spend any person for that either.

By the time we had tallied our ultimate receipts we had produced a little far more than five thousand dollars, which may possibly not audio like a great deal to larger organizations, but for our tiny non-profit group it was income that paid out for every thing we essential.

Just before you get into offering candy or publications or what ever, contemplate a pancake breakfast buffet. If arranged appropriately to decrease your charges and get everybody in your business involved, you can far exceed the dollar quantity we attained, irregardless of what financial situations your region is in.

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , , , ,

Non-Income Report Ongoing Donation Troubles

July 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Fundraising troubles continue to plague the non-revenue sector as many organizations report prevalent declines in their contributions and other funding resources. Compounding the influence is that most of these same non-earnings are going through enhanced desire for their services.

A November 2010 study on fundraising ready by GuideStar and their partners at The Non-Revenue Research Collaborative, stated that decreases in charitable contributions proved to be the norm for charities in the Well being, Public-Society Gain, and Religion sectors. The research went on to say that these affected organizations were coping with the situation by applying minimize-backs in plan companies, operating hours, salaries, and personnel.

These sorts of reduce-backs are normal for most non-earnings. The first reaction for most boards of directors is to curtail packages or exchange workers with volunteers. But that mindset assumes a limited number of venues to elevate money for an business, and generally sets into movement a downward spiral of even more lower-backs.

With a minor operate, you will locate that there are many approaches to compensate for declining contributions. Viewing the out-pour of dollars for some of the recent earthquake victims need to tell you that there is no finite quantity of donations that every person need to compete for. By implementing a couple of alterations to your current fundraising activities and funding methods, you are going to normally locate that there were far more contribution dollars obtainable to you in your community. So how does an organization continue?

One particular of the greatest techniques is to brainstorm and compile a comprehensive record of fundraising tips, which includes alternative funding tactics these as Planned Providing venues, or Cause-Related Advertising campaigns. You’ll want to do that prior to your next fundraising committee meeting, as nicely as let your committee assessment the list beforehand.

If you might be considering that Planned Giving or Result in Marketing methods are only for huge organizations, you are going to be happy to discover out that numerous can be implemented pretty easily. One of the easiest planned providing packages is to inquire your board members to contemplate creating your organization a one-2% benefactor in a single of their active lifestyle insurance policy policies. That is a five-minute exercise – with small resistance – for most board members, but in the lengthy haul, it will pay off huge and get you by way of future bad economic instances.

Once your fundraising notion listing is with each other, you will also want to do a quick summary of every of individuals concepts so that committee members obviously comprehend each celebration or funding mechanism. Set up to get your group collectively for a weekend retreat, and make positive that none of the usual disruptions are current, this kind of as cell phones and e-mail. Assign somebody to facilitate the method, or retain the services of a specialist facilitator. This strategy will typically generate a dozen or a lot more tips that will support your business increase the funding essential to avoid cutting back on companies or personnel.

Never underestimate the power of displaying video examples of successful activities being operate by other organizations. YouTube can be a source for many examples, when your record is set jointly. Examples of how to do these function summaries, along with video clips can be seen at www.FundraisingAlmanac.com. A few of the video clip examples on the website are a Bowl-A-Thon that lifted over ,000 a Golf Ball Drop fundraiser from a helicopter and one particular mom’s efforts to increase cash for her daughter’s Autism therapies by acquiring 99 women to help her place jointly a naked ‘cheesecake’ calendar.

Website link to GuideStar Report: November 2010 Fundraising Report.

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , , , ,

Plan a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser for your Non Profit Organization – Here’s How!

July 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If your charity, sports team, social group, or other non-profit organization needs to raise money, why not organize a pancake breakfast? Pancake breakfasts are easy to plan, often have amazing turnouts, and are a great way to raise money quickly.  Here are eight easy steps to help you and your organization plan and organize a pancake breakfast.

Plan a Pancake Breakfast Step 1: Pre-plan and establish roles:
Hold a meeting with committee members to determine who’s doing what to plan the pancake breakfast and at the pancake breakfast event itself. You’ll need folks to do the following:
Host and Hostess
Servers
Table clearing and cleanup
Cooks
Photographer
Administrative, advertising, & planning duties

At this meeting, determine your timeline and create a checklist for all duties and roles.

Plan a Pancake Breakfast Step 2: Determine advertising:
How will you advertise this event? Will you take out an ad in the local paper? Will you hand out fliers in a parking lot? Or just rely on word-of-mouth? Also, in order to offset the cost of the venue, materials, and rental equipment, you will need to convince local businesses to donate to your cause. Typically, this is accomplished by printing event programs, pamphlets, or paper placemats with local businesses’ ads. 

Plan a Pancake Breakfast Step 3: Plan the menu:
To make everything run smoothly, stick to pancakes-only. In addition to pancakes, you’ll need to provide drinks and syrup. Adding more items to the menu is great for guests but complicates kitchen duties and increases costs. You’ll already have pancake batter flinging every which way in the kitchen—no need to add slippery sausage links and messy cinnamon rolls to the mix!

Plan a Pancake Breakfast Step 4: Find a venue with a kitchen:
Make sure the venue has a kitchen available. Typically, churches, VFWs, banquet halls, community centers, and schools will have a large hall with a nearby kitchen available. Verify you’ll have enough tables, cooking utensils, and chairs to accommodate the crowd.

Plan a Pancake Breakfast Step 5: Procure ingredients:
Ask local businesses if they’ll contribute  to the cost of pancake batter, eggs, milk, juice, paper plates, and other necessary items. In exchange for the donation, explain to the business that they will receive an ad in your event literature.  Purchase the ingredients at a warehouse club store, such as Costco, to save money. 

Step 6: Set prices:
Determine ticket prices by calculating any out-of-pocket fees for supplies and add in enough to make a profit.  Sell tickets in advance, if possible, to estimate your turnout.

Step 7: Hold a meeting the day before the pancake breakfast:
Make sure all volunteers know their roles by holding a meeting prior to the breakfast.

Step 8: Follow-up:
Write thank you notes to any businesses that donated to your pancake breakfast event, and include a copy of the literature with their advertisement.  Following through with your promise and showing the business what they received in exchange for their donation encourages a healthy working relationship and increases the chances the business will donate in the future.  Remember to thank the committee members and volunteers.

Planning a pancake breakfast is a great way to get your organization’s name and goals out in the community, while raising money in the process. Plus, who doesn’t love pancakes?

Find More Non-Profit Fundraising Articles

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Easy steps for creating events for non-profit organizations

July 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When creating events for non-profit organizations, two important purposes are almost always the driving reason behind the event. Events help to raise awareness of the organization and its mission. Most non-profits struggle to keep their name in the public eye without seeming too needy. The same event usually doubles as a fundraiser for the non-profit organization. It is important to keep in mind that whether it is a stated goal or not, the event will draw some attention to the organization. Because of this, the event must not only raise money, but do it in a way that enhances the non-profit’s image in the community.

Decide on an event that matches the knowledge of the planners.

It is critical that the planners of the event have enough experience in this type of event to be able to cover all of the bases as it is put together. If the planners are short in the experience department, it is best to either choose a different event or recruit knowledgeable help. For example, someone planning a golf tournament needs to at least understand the basics of the game of golf and have some idea of what golf courses will draw the best teams to participate.

The event should fit the needs of the organization.

The needs of the organization is to raise money and be represented well. If the plan is to raise ,000, a local bake sale will not likely meet this need. Likewise, if the organization is church affiliated, a party featuring strippers is not likely to fit the way that the non-profit would like to be viewed. As a general rule, having more people attend is better as long as the crowd can be managed.

Once the type of event is selected, begin laying the ground work for the event to occur at least 3 months from now.

It is better to give yourself at least 6 months to put together a quality event. However, some have assembled great events in a few days or weeks. A lot depends on how big the event is, and how it will be advertised. Once the date is selected, begin to build in the steps needed to make the event happen. For outdoor events, you will have to locate shelter or tents and portable restroom facilities. Seating, tables, food, and special groups may need to be arranged. Factor all of this into your time line.

Establish a working budget for the event.

After laying out the event and the steps needed to bring it into reality, you will need to gather up the cost of each item for the event. By making a budget early in the process, you will be better able to control cost. This will also let you solicit sponsors to help underwrite the cost of the event. By having all or most of this cost in hand ahead of time, the money raised will all be available for the original purpose.

Keep good records of each step in the process.

This will give you accountability to others after the event. It will also give you guidelines and a map for doing the same type of event at a later time. Many non-profits like to do similar events each year. If other sister organizations want to know how you did it, this record will be a help to them, too.

Find a venue to host the event.

This can be a city park. It might be a golf course or civic auditorium. Depending on the type and size of the event, make sure that the venue has all of the amenities necessary to make the event a success. You will want to locate 2 or 3 choices to get the best mix of cost and event site. Sometimes paying a little can be better than free if the site is more visible or more readily accessible.

Do sufficient advertising.

Pull out all of the stops with this one. Use every type of advertising that you can afford. You cannot get the word out too much or too soon. Make fliers and other ads attractive and informative. Get help to make sure that the event is well publicized.

Plan for set up and clean up.

You need to arrange a group to set up for the event. Have a leader and a couple of teams so that the work can be divided. The same is true for the clean up teams. They need to leave your site the same way that you found it. This will help make the site available to you for future events.

More Non-Profit Fundraising Articles

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , , , , ,

Online Non-Profit Management Mba: How to Find an Accredited Business School

July 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Non-profit management MBA holders hold a wide variety of positions in the non-profit world. Non-profit MBA graduates may hold titles such as program analyst, program director, program officer, director of information systems, director of public relations, assistant director of fundraising, marketing/research associate, community outreach coordinator, or finance director. These professionals work for religious organizations, universities, hospitals, foundations, and other non-profit organizations. In fact, there are more than 1.4 million non-profit organizations in the U.S. with more than 12.5 million employees nationwide.

If you want to become a member of this growing talent pool, you should earn an undergraduate degree in business, followed by an MBA with a focus in non-profit management. Many MBA students work in the field while earning their degree at night and on weekends. Others might choose the online option, which allows students to complete their MBA anytime, 24/7/365.

When searching for online non-profit management MBA programs, students should search sites such as Princeton Review (princetonreview.com) or college directories such as Bizdegrees.com. Princeton Review is an excellent source for lists of top business colleges and Bizdegrees.com narrows the search by listing top business schools along with contact info. Google and Bing may be useful as well, but you will have to browse through literally hundreds of listings to find what you’re looking for.

The schools listed on sites such as Princeton Review and Biz Degrees are accredited. When using search engines, you may have to double check accreditation if you find a school that sounds appealing, but you are not familiar with it. Just a few top accrediting agencies include:

-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

-The Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)

-The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)

Many online programs have also been accredited by:

-Distance Education Training Council (DETC)

-Council on Occupational Education (COE)

Regional accrediting agencies include:

-Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

-New England Association of Schools and Colleges

-North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

-Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

-Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

-Western Association of Schools and Colleges

If you come across a school that has not been accredited by any of the agencies listed above, check the U.S. Department of Education website at ED.gov for a complete list of recognized accrediting agencies.

Besides accreditation, another way to spot a top business program is to check out the curriculum. A high quality Non-profit management MBA program should prepare students for a career in management by teaching the following courses:

-Business Computing

-Business Finance

-Business Statistics

-Effective Career Management

-Entrepreneurship

-Human Resource Management

-International Business

-Legal Environment Business

-Organizations: Structures & Behavior

-Principles of Management

-Principles of Marketing

-Writing and Speaking for Business

To learn more about online non-profit management MBA degrees, including curriculum info, program info, and common MBA coursework, visit bizdegrees.com. To learn about non-profit management careers, visit the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Starting a Non-Profit And Fundraising

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

For most people, the first-time fundraising for a non-profit is a daunting task. Many people start off “doing a non-profit” because they found a passion that they cannot help but do something about. It starts with a lot of passion, but the road ahead is long. Few people that start non-profit have adequate training for the road ahead. Being prepared for the process ahead helps.

More likely than not, you are starting a non-profit by yourself or with a couple of friends. You and they have full-time jobs, families and commitments, and the non-profit is not going to pay the bills – at least for a while. You have not scored a big deal, and a bunch of people do not owe you favors. Most people know only a few rich people, and it turns out that paper wealth is very different from liquid wealth.

There are a lot of books on successful fundraising, including how to write and apply for grants. Craigslist Foundation and others run conferences for non-profits. The Foundation Center and others have data. Books on successful grant writing do not tell you all that you need to know. There are very few mentors that will take you through the ups and downs are few and far in-between. It seems that everyone who is starting out is in the same position as you – frustrated.

The reality is that starting and building a successful non-profit for the first-time is in many ways more difficult than building a for-profit business. You have no profits to distribute. This means that you don’t have greed working for you. Although the competition may not be as intense as in for-profit, you have no intellectual property to protect yourself either. Furthermore, the product that you sell as a non-profit, even when you make the sale to a donor, changes in value depending on the financial position of the buyer at the time. Because its an affinity sale, the value of the same product varies from buyer to buyer.

The reality is that starting a non-profit is very hard work. You have told your family and friends that you are going to do it. You have managed the expectations with those that you are going to help. Two months in, you seem to have it a dead end. All the people that you thought you can count on are not there, or less helpful than you thought. You have learned that people who are paper rich as not necessarily cash rich. You have learned that it is not personal, and do not waste any energy reading into it any more.

There is no magic. The reality is that you have to be every bit as scrappy as an entrepreneur and more. Before the internet age, it used to take seven years to build a business. You should apply for foundation grants when they are a good fit, but don’t invest the resources in a spray and pray method. Second, find local businesses that give a little something to a lot of organizations, like your local utilities companies, and local businesses and community foundations, and apply. You will get their cash and their big name. You have to take the hundreds, and occasionally, the thousands, whenever you can get them. Third, find out who works for companies that have matching grants, and make sure that you take advantage of them. This is easy money. Finally, use the media to get you a presence for free. Run successful event and invite the media. These days everyone can pick up a camcorder, a camera or a pen and post their events on their website as well. Over the course of a few years, all these small grants and your presence will give you a much better chance at a successful large grant.

Applying for grant funding, especially ones for capacity building, is very competitive. Grant funding is a very scarce resource, and grant makers like to fund scrappy and successful non-profits just like private investors.

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , ,

Non Profit Fundraising – Thinking Outside the Box

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There are more groups that do fundraising every year than you can imagine. I am a pastor and therefore every family in the church with a kid is in some sort of fundraiser. You have the youth fundraisers, sports fundraisers, band fundraisers, Boy Scout fundraisers, Girl Scout cookies, candle sales, candy fundraisers and on and on. I have a policy. Don’t you love policies? Actually mine is a principal. I believe it’s good for the kids to learn to make a presentation and actually try to sell something. So, my policy is this; if a parent asks me to buy something from their children for a fundraiser my answer is always, “no thanks.” But, if the kid comes and makes a presentation and asks me to buy I will always buy. I try to help them with their presentation. 

There was only one time when I was approached by the kid that I didn’t buy. I was in Newport Beach, California and this kid came up and asked me to buy some item.

I don’t remember the item but do remember it was . I guess in Newport Beach that price point is acceptable. Funny how around here it’s more like -. In any event, I asked what the sale was for and they told me their football team wanted to go to Hawaii. I said, “No thanks.” I will help buy equipment for the football team and help them get to a reasonable tournament but I am not funding a trip to Hawaii for anybody but me and my wife. Call me selfish.

But, I do get tired of all of the fundraisers having the same catalog. I mean how many rolls of Christmas wrapping paper can you buy? I have it left over from three Christmas’ ago. And, what tools or ideas might there be involving the parents in the fundraising other than hitting up their friends to buy more wrapping paper or candles. What methods could there be that wouldn’t be one time, raise a little money and then plan the next fundraiser could be out there? Well, I wanted to know and here are some things I have come up with.

First, I found a ministry out in California called Kingdom Builders that does a tremendous job with a new twist on a golf tournament. I hate putting together golf tournaments. They are a lot of work and you get so little in return for all of the work you put into it. You get as many as 128 players.

(It’s the biggest one I have worked. We used two courses simultaneously.) You have to have gifts galore. You rent one or two golf courses. You have loads of people helping you. There are transportation issues with all the gifts. You have expenses in everything. You feed them a nice breakfast, lunch and dinner. And, you come out with to K. Well, these guys from Kingdom Partners have created a new way to do it and it works tremendously. I actually used them and we raised ,000 clear in one day with very little work. 

The concept Kingdom Partners uses is that you recruit a maximum of 28 players. Now you want people that love golf and have a nice rolodex. Because the principal is the players play for free but they use their contacts to raise money for you and your event. They write to their contacts and ask them to pledge to per hole. Oh, did I mention that you play 100 holes. It’s an all day event. You start with registration and breakfast. You hit the course by 8:30 right after a group photo. You actually play 50 holes with two balls. There are many ways to use those two balls to lower your score but it is really a fun day. I had two guys that raised more than ,000 in pledges. They bring most of them with them. All of the tools are there to make it a great success. One of the guys with Kingdom Partners is a Golf Pro. He plays during the day with each player and gives him advice on his game. He then gives them a written tool to help them remember what he has taught them during the day. There is a video of the day and then everyone goes home with nice prizes and a photo of the group with the amount of money raised printed on it. It’s in a frame and is generally placed in their office and becomes a recruiting tool for the next year.

I thought this was one of the most ingenious methods of raising money I had seen in a long time and for what little work we had in it we generated a great return. We did have a fairly large investment in the tournament but clearing ,000 made up for it. Our return on investment was almost 4/1. Their average amount raised is ,500. They have had much, much larger amounts. Their website is www.Kingdom-Partners.net.  Tell them I told you to check into it.

Second, I found a tool that not only generates money today but generates a residual income for the non-profit for weeks, months and years to come. It’s a product offered by a direct marketing/network marketing company called MyNet Universe and the product is a FREE software that pays the organization to give it away. It is an out of the box thinking approach but worth considering.

These are just two ways of making money that are out of the ordinary. There are many others I am sure but hopefully these two will stimulate your thinking and help you to find ways to sustain your work that is so valuable to our economy and our culture. Thanks for what you do.

More Non-Profit Fundraising Articles

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , , ,

Maximize Fundraising Profits with the Right Fundraiser

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When it comes to running a non-profit organization, it doesn’t matter if the economy is good or bad the fundraising must go on.

For nearly nine years I volunteered with a youth sports organization in New Jersey. Five of those years I spent as president and it wasn’t until I took that role over that I truly understood the value of fundraising.

Although our particular organization charged a registration fee, that fee (along with a subsidy by the township government) only went so far. So in order to make up for the shortfalls you had to do fundraising.

We did them all from selling candy, to hosting sports tournaments to selling raffle tickets, you name it. But the most successful fundraiser we had was the pancake breakfast buffet. It was so successful that it became a yearly event for our organization.

The way it worked was you would sell business card sized ads for twenty-five dollars each that would be printed on the placemat that would go under everyone’s plate at the breakfast. On a side note the ads that worked the best were the ones that were coupons.

We brought a local printer on board to cover the printing charges and in return he received advertising on every placemat as a border ad and five free tickets to the event. Well worth the trade if you ask me. There was no limit on the number of ads you could sell, we would just create more placemats and have our printer produce what we needed.

The tickets to the event were five dollars for adults, three dollars for students and seniors and kids under twelve were free. With the help of a local church we were able to use their recreation hall to do our cooking and serving of the customers.

The food was simple. We served pancakes, sausage, coffee, tea, orange juice and water. That is it. Anymore and we mind as well be called an IHOP. We set it up buffet style so the customers would serve themselves and they could eat as much as they wanted.

The food was all donated by members of our league so we had no costs there. Of course we did all of the labor, the cooking, cleaning, and so on, so we didn’t have to pay anyone for that either.

By the time we had tallied our final receipts we had made a little more than five thousand dollars, which may not sound like a lot to larger organizations, but for our small non-profit group it was money that paid for everything we needed.

Before you get into selling candy or magazines or whatever, consider a pancake breakfast buffet. If organized correctly to reduce your costs and get everyone in your organization involved, you can far exceed the dollar amount we earned, regardless of what economic conditions your area is in.

Would you like to make some extra money writing about your fundraising experience? You can join Bukisa today and start earning residual income on every article that you write about fundraising.

Filed Under: Non-Profit Fundraising Tagged With: , , , ,
Newer Posts »