Successful fundraising ideas for nonprofits is what helps charities achieve their goals and missions. Through fundraising, charitable organizations ask individuals, companies and other foundations, mostly for financial aid, to support a variety of causes. Without these fundraising events and other avenues where nonprofits generate funds, it would be difficult for an organization to fulfill their projects and cases.
How do fundraisers make money?
There are three types of groups nonprofits generate their funds from through fundraising – individual, companies and foundations.
Individuals are mainly the main source of donations for nonprofits. They are either part of the local community where the nonprofit is based on people who help organizations with advocacies and missions they believe in. Charities reach out to these individuals through online donations, text donations, peer-to-peer fundraising, recurring donations, and pledge fundraising to name a few.
Nonprofit organizations reach out to companies and businesses for sponsorships, corporate grants and in-kind donations for their missions. However, most companies reach out to nonprofits, instead of the other way around. They offer pledges, matching gifts and volunteer grands as a part of their corporate giving activities.
Charitable institutions also seek aid from foundations for financial help for their missions. There are two types of foundation grants where nonprofits can submit their applications to – community foundation grants and private foundation grants. Community grants are grants that are distributed by local, state or national foundations such as Federal grants. Meanwhile, private grants are grants sponsored by families or by private foundations. A few private foundation grants in the United States include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, United Way, and Candid to name a few.
What is a successful fundraiser idea?
Fundraisers help organizations seek financial aid, mostly from individuals and companies. Although grants offer a substantial amount of help for such charities, the process of application and assessment takes time and requires effort and documentation that startup charitable institutions may not be able to comply with. Thus, to fund their missions, charities go for fundraising ideas to support their causes.
Charities raise money through different kinds of events like concerts, bake sales, parties, galas, and sport events. There are plenty of fundraising ideas to choose from, but for some, successful fundraising events are on a case to case basis. Among the most popular and successful fundraising ideas for nonprofits include fun runs, walkathon, competitions, bingo and keynote speaker events. Bigger charitable organizations host galas, auctions and concerts and could generate enough or even more for their missions, through these fundraising ideas.
To be considered as a successful fundraising idea, an event should be able to cover the cost of the event as well as generate a targeted amount for a nonprofit organization.
What are some successful fundraising ideas for nonprofits?
Here are some of the common and successful fundraising ideas that help organizations raise money for their missions.
Peer-to-peer fundraising
Peer-to-peer fundraising is one of the most common and successful fundraising ideas for nonprofits because it uses the power of networking in helping others, connecting to more people, and potential donors. Marathons, bike races, and fun runs are some of the examples of peer-to-peer fundraisers. In such events, participants are encouraged to reach out to family and friends to engage a larger audience.
Auctions
Auctions are also considered as very profitable when it comes to helping charities raise funds for their causes. The key is to find amazing items on the line. Ask for donations in kind that can be auctioned for your events. The more interesting the items are, the most likely donors will contribute to your cause. Although this type of charity event requires more planning compared to other events, it is still worth the investment and effort, especially for larger and more established organizations.
Online Donations
One of the most accessible and pandemic proof ways to raise funds for a nonprofit is through online donations. Online donations are accessible anytime of the day, before, on, during and after an event. This makes it possible to increase the amount raised for a cause, compared to face-to-face events.
Nowadays people do not carry cash as much as they used to. They prefer the convenience of debit, credit cards and online mobile transactions. Giving your donors a more convenient way to help charities increase the potential of improving the fundraising performance of your events.
Crowdfunding
Another fundraising idea that can potentially tap into a larger audience, thus larger donations potentials is crowdfunding. What’s great about crowdfunding is that it allows donors to donate smaller amounts. Crowdfunding events are ideally paired with annual fundraising events.
If nonprofits are seeking an inexpensive way to raise donations, crowdfunding is the way to go. They can be marketed simply through social sharing and have higher potentials of going viral, thus raising more money for an organization.
How often should I hold fundraisers for my organization?
It is a fact that nonprofit organizations are powered by donations. Thus, one of the most common questions you may think of is how often a charity should be hosting fundraising events to raise money for the organization.
Most nonprofits feature a donation page on their websites. However, they do not rely on these landing pages for generating donations.
Ideally four appeals for donations via direct email is recommended for nonprofits. For newsletters, once a month is considered to be a standard. Daily posts on social media asking for donations is also acceptable.
Communicating with donors is ideal to be able to cultivate a relationship with your supporters. On top of asking for donations, it is also best to update your donors with your current projects and achievements as an organization at least once a month. The general idea is to reach out just enough so your donors would not end up forgetting about you.
Another pro-tip when communications with donors is to have several communication lines available to reach out to them. A monthly email might end up on their spam list or a postal mail might be covered with other mail correspondences that they receive. Communicate alternately and through several mediums to increase the chances of connecting with your donors in at least one of these channels.
How do you host successful fundraising ideas for nonprofits?
Planning is one of the most crucial steps to be able to host successful fundraising events for nonprofits. Here is where intents and targets are formulated. The planning stage also involves establishments of budget, agendas, donation options and the promotion of the event.
To be able to host successful fundraising ideas for nonprofits, it is ideal to set enough time before the actual event. This is especially advisable to startup nonprofits who are not yet familiar and experienced in hosting charitable events. The more time you spend on planning gives you more time to adjust and improve your choices, leading to better results during the actual implementation of the campaigns.
The success of a fundraising idea is not about the idea itself alone but the effort that nonprofits invest into it. For some it can be a big challenge, for others a regular activity that they are used to hosting. Whether a non-profit is big or small, an old established one or a startup, the success of all its efforts depends on the people and purpose behind the charitable organization.
