Goods, Gifts and Giveaways: Keeping the Fun in Community Fundraising

For most nonprofits, fundraising is one of the major ways to generate new donations. But, fundraisers can get to feel a little stale. Here’s how to keep the “fun” in fundraising.

Sell The Cause

Most organizations don’t look at themselves as a for-profit business, and most of the time, that’s a good idea. But, when it comes to raising money, you do have to adopt the mentality that you are selling something – your cause.

You have to pitch your cause to donors, and get them to “buy into it.” Otherwise, you won’t get the funds you need to carry on.

Some organizations decide to use Ad Magic, for example, to ride round the obvious problem of selling something at a profit. By using giveaway or promotional items that are incidental to the organization’s cash inflows, you can offer something that people actually want, while still raising money as a charitable foundation or nonprofit organization.

Tell your story, tell another person’s story, and then use the fundraiser as a sales pitch of sorts to get the funds you need.

Use a Raffle

Raffles aren’t a new idea, but they’re still a great way to generate interest and monetary support for your organization and, more importantly, your cause. And, they come with a built-in incentive.

People are buying a chance to win prizes. On the surface of it, there’s not much difference between a raffle and a lottery – except that the former is legal for nonprofits to do.

Use a Facebook album or Pinterest board to advertise the prizes people can win by entering. This makes it easy to update, share, and build momentum for your fundraiser.

Let everyone who donates know that they will be entered in the raffle. You can set your entries at specific donation levels too, to encourage higher donations. For example, you might advertise one chance for every $5 donated, or maybe one chance to win for every $10 donated.

This way, everyone who donates gets an opportunity.

To make sure your raffle doesn’t run afoul of the law, price your prizes accordingly and make sure that the drawing truly is random and in compliance with your state’s laws.

Spread Into Retail Establishments

Do you know any retail establishments that might benefit from having a small “honor box” in the establishment? Not something that would take away profits from the company, but something that would become an additional source of funds for the organization and improve the retail establishment’s reputation.

For example, could you put promotional items in a business and allow people to donate money in exchange for the prizes? Not many people are going to steal from a charity, and it would be a very low-cost, low maintenance, way to get extra funds for your cause.

Use Incentives Within Your Organization

You could, within limits, also give your volunteers incentives for getting more donations. Think of this as an opportunity to run a sort of in-house raffle system, rewarding those who bring in the highest donations from the community. Sometimes, you don’t have to look outward for more money. Sometimes, the best strategy is the one that utilizes existing talent in-house.

Jake Townsend has worked in fundraising for many years. He always appreciates the opportunity to share his thoughts and ideas online. His insights can be found across a number of websites.