How to Fundraise and Have Fun at the Same Time
The question of how to fundraise for your non-profit comes up as soon as your neighborhood association or community organization decides that it needs money. Fundraising (fund raising before we started combining words) may reflect an urgent need, such as hiring a consultant or attorney within a short timeframe. Other groups gradually slide toward the need for money, as they develop the desire to offer prizes at their annual parade or to advertise events in a small newspaper.
You may be able to meet your financial needs through imposing dues. This solves the question of how to fundraise mainly where people are of fairly uniform income levels and where people have more money than is needed for survival. If it works for you, great. It's the simplest, fairest, and most direct answer to how to fundraise. Don't be afraid to set dues high enough to carry out a meaningful program. If, however, people resist dues, income levels differ substantially causing dues to be perceived as unfair, or members resent community members who will not join or pay dues, you will need other suggestions about how to fundraise. Our suggestion is to prefer the simple over the complex, at least at first. Exceptions to this rule of thumb will be noted later. First, here are some ideas on relatively simple fundraisers: 1. Sponsor a concert or other entertainment event in which essentially you hire someone that your constituency will really like to perform. It is even possible to ask a theatre group or regularly recurring musical show to put on an extra show just for your group at a time and day when they ordinarily would not perform. See if the entertainer will contribute all or part of their usual fee or expenses, and in any event, of course charge more than you need to pay them. If you have to pay the performers, though, learn well the first lesson of how to fundraise, which is: Dont Lose Money. The most likely small-scale money maker in this arena would be asking a local musical group with at least one tie to the neighborhood to perform free; then you know that you will make at least some money. 2. Ask a local restaurant to contribute 20% of their income from a certain evening or day to your group, in return for your publicity and asking your members to dine there. A restaurant is particularly likely to participate if you choose a time when normally their customer base is low, typically a Monday or Tuesday night. Sometimes a restaurant that is normally closed on Monday will open just for your group, and you can perhaps even arrange a higher percentage than 20% if you are in the neighborhood. See why we think fundraising could be fun? 3. Hold a raffle if legal in your location and if you have something to offer that will really draw attention. That means it is a fairly big item that will attract people from beyond your territory. Make it something unique and exciting. A weekend at a condo 100 miles away will not draw the level of interest you need, if the raffle is a stand-alone event. If you have acquired a house, raffle it. If you can offer a week in an apartment in Paris, and you have a ready supply of people who can afford transportation, offer that. Pay attention to the income tax implications for the winner, however. Sell tickets by asking people to e-mail or call one person, if your organization does not have an office. If another organization in your neighborhood is willing to take the calls or e-mails, so much the better. Establishing a PayPal account is so easy that you should be able to hold a raffle without having to handle cashThe record of who bought tickets also can be electronic, and no paper ticket would be required. 4. Hold a barbecue featuring the best-known barbecue artist in your area. In many communities someone has a portable set-up and can bring it to your neighborhood. The smell of burning smoky meat wafting over the neighborhood will catch the attention of even those who did not read their newsletter. If you can, have your members make and contribute the side dishes, including the baked beans, the collard greens, the goat cheese salad, or whatever your neighborhood's style. Drive as hard a bargain with the barbecue pit owner as you can, but of course be respectful and fair if the person is trying to make a living in this manner. Charge enough to make sure you have a profit, and publicize the event widely. If you can manage a little extra pizzazz for the event, by making the venue unique, offering entertainment, or having your members do face painting with the kids, so much the better. 5. Find a business in your area that is paying for a service that your group could perform. To meet our criterion for how to fundraise without burning out your members, this should be a once-a-year or twice-a-year job. For instance, you might be able to rake the leaves or help them convert from summer to winter, or from winter to summer. Or maybe you have a business that badly needs painting, so you achieve more than one objective by offering to paint it for an amount that is less than a contractor would charge, but would represent a solid contribution to your treasury. These examples are enough to show the key principles of how to fundraise without sidetracking your nonprofit from its main mission: Find a project that is done once and therefore does not require continuous recruitment of volunteers. In a variation, find a group of people who stay close to home and will commit to a schedule of repetitions requiring only one preparation. Find a task that an expert already is doing and engage them to do it another time for the benefit of your group. Find something that a local business is paying others to do that your group can provide on an occasional basis. Find an effort that is already organized by others, and your job as an organization is to publicize and bring in customers for a known commodity. Another important point in deciding how to fundraise is that where possible, you want to combine fundraising with increasing awareness of your major issues. In this category you would find work-intensive but very worthwhile fund raisers such as neighborhood tours, fairs, and so forth. If you have interesting architecture, organize a house tour or tour of a museum, historic place, or university. If you have great restaurants, have a progressive dinner. If you are rural but your group is concerned that the rural way of life is being ruined by intrusive development, hold a pig roast, barn dance, or other event that highlights the agricultural heritage. If you have lots of kids and a park but not much else to brag about, have the kids do a really amazing show in the park every Saturday afternoon all summer, followed by homemade ice cream. But if your neighborhood is in trouble, consider carefully whether you want visitors to know that. If you do, bring people in to see how bad conditions are and to try to shame City Hall into giving you more attention. If you don't, then hold your fundraiser outside of the neighborhood. But get to work on a feasible and fun idea for how to fundraise. Return from How to Fundraise to Community Organizations
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