Easy Ways to Fundraise for Your Not For Profit Group or Club

Over the years we’ve worked with lots of small Not For Profit Charity groups and clubs, and almost all of them have the same problem; They don’t have a fundraising strategy, and they want easy ways to fund their group or club.

Without a Fundraising Strategy your organisation will fall into the trap of chasing the cash, which involves designing your programs and services around what you can get funding for, instead of delivering the programs and services your mission is purposed to do.

Fear drives this process. Making decisions from a position of fear doesn’t grow a sustainable or enjoyable organisation and burns you out.

A funding strategy isn’t as complicated as it sounds. It is a process of identifying all of your services/products and who will benefit from those activities, and then defining who/what type of businesses, foundations, donors and grant providers would be interested in supporting programs/services that support those beneficiaries.

It’s important to remember that very few granting bodies or sponsors fund your whole organisation. They are more interested in funding or supporting a project/program within your organisation. So breaking all your activities into programs and projects within those programs is essential.

You can learn about grant writing by doing our Grants Writing Basics Course.

There are a million ways to do fundraising for your Not For Profit Group or Club.

Here are some to consider as part of your plan 2020:

Grants – There are hundreds of small and large grants available, but you need to take applying for these seriously. As part of grant approval panels I’ve seen many grant applications that are so badly written that it seems like the person applying hasn’t even read the basic terms of the funding being offered. Learn how to  write good grants. You don’t need to pay professional grant writers thousands of dollars to write your grants, but you do need to know how to read and write a grant.

“Friends Of” program/ Membership drive – If you have a membership, charging membership fees is a good way to cover your basic running costs. But if you have a simple membership structure with just your board committee as your members then you can use a non-voting membership model, called Friends Of. This program provides supporters of your organisation with specific benefits for a donation fee, monthly or usually annually, and it’s a way for them to support your work, without changing your voting membership model.

Donations – There’s lots of ways you can raise money through donations, but the concept to have in mind is that everything you do should include an opportunity and process for asking for donations. This can include an option when people book tickets to your events to donate above the ticket price. Add a section on your website, newsletter, emails, and bucket at your activities to collect donations.

Events/Activities – Running simple to deliver activities where you can charge a fee to participate and attract sponsors is a great way to grow your organisation. Things like Golf Days, Charity Dinners/Lunches, and Fairs are popular. But beware of big events and fundraising dinners. They can be very resource intensive and costly to run, and the actual profit can be quite small for the amount of manpower and hours it takes to deliver. BBQ fundraisers can be great, as they give lots of people an opportunity to volunteer, but count the cost first of materials to run it and the work required to put together a roster of volunteers.

“Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving” – Hank Rosso

Sponsorship – Sponsors need to get a return on their investment. So when you design a sponsorship offer it should be attached to a project with a start and end date. Event sponsorship is an example of this. Before approaching potential sponsors you need to be able to answer a question for them: “What’s In It for Them”. The warm fuzzy feeling of having helped others isn’t enough of a reason for them to choose your activity to sponsor. How can they get promotion through your charity to the people or other businesses they want to get to?

Before setting the sponsoring fee, carefully add up what it will cost you to deliver the promised benefits and then how much actual profit you’ll make from each sponsor. This is a key area where NFP groups make a mistake.

Selling Merchandise – Whether you’re selling chocolates, t-shirts or other merchandise, make sure you do your numbers first. Buying in bulk will save money, but it’s a big upfront outlay and you need to work out how you’re going to be able to sell all of the stock before you embark on this process. Think about how people are going to buy/order and receive the merchandise. Will they pay freight? Who’s going to receive, store, pack and send the items? Is sizing a problem? Returns process?

Lots of clubs think that by handling all of this inhouse they can make more money. But if you add up the time it takes to manage the process, versus running through the distributors own process, often it’s more trouble then its worth to DIY it.

Charity Auctions – You can do these in person or online, but sourcing prizes can be a challenge. Most local retailers haven’t got stock to give away, and they are asked for prizes every other day. So get a bit more creative and ask your supporters to donate goods and services, and tap into their networks to help you source prizes.

“That’s the secret. Convince yourself that your startup is worth investing in, and then when you explain this to investors they’ll believe you.” Paul Graham

Crowd Funding – Crowdfunding campaigns are a great way to engage a large population of small dollar donors. They work well when paired with annual fundraising events. Best of all, they’re inexpensive to create and rely on social sharing. Crowdfunding campaigns have the potential to go viral and raise a lot of money.

Raffles – Selling tickets to win a set of prizes is a populate way to raise funds. The better the prize the better the fundraising. There are strict rules and laws that govern raffles so make sure you are familiar with these before running a raffle or prize draw.

Want More Ideas?

Fundraising Laws

Make sure your organisation is aware and compliant with your state and federal fundraising laws, before you commence ANY collection of money.

The truth is there are no easy ways to fundraise for your not for profit group or club

All fundraising activities require careful thought and lots of work to be achievable. That’s why having a funding strategy that defines the best and easiest way for your organisation to raise money is the key to success.

Need some help developing your Funding Strategy 2020? Contact us to talk about your Not For Profit group or club.