Whenever you are about to embark on a project, there are many concerns, especially for small businesses. One such concerns is how to raise funds. When this happens, one of the options that are available to you is fundraising.

Many a time, people confuse crowdfunding and fundraising, this is exactly why you should have a look at this, where we’ll differentiate between crowdfunding and fundraising. Let’s get into it.

• Fundraising Meaning
• Fundraising Activities
• Fundraising Ideas
• Fundraiser
• Fundraiser Responsibilities
• How do I Start a Fundraiser?
• Fundraising Ideas for Non-profits
• Fundraising for Schools
• Fundraising Events
• Fundraising Popcorn
• Fundraising Thermometer
• Fundraising Online
• Fundraising for Charity
• Church Fundraising Ideas
• Fundraising Websites
• How Fundraising Works
• 4 Main Categories of Fundraising
• Why is Fundraising Important?
• How Much do Fundraisers Make?
• Why Fundraising is Important for Schools?
• Fundraising Companies
• Fundraising and Crowdfunding
• Fundraising Letters
• Fundraising Ideas for Sport Teams
• Fundraising Ideas for Kids
• Fundraising Ideas for Clubs
• Fundraising Ideas for College
• Fundraising Ideas for Individuals
• How to Raise Money in a Fundraiser
• Fundraising Center Buena Park
• Fundraising Sites With no Fees
• Fundraising Sites for Business
• Fundraising Sites for Students
• Fundraising Sites in India
• Fundraising Events Examples
• Fundraising Events for College Clubs
• 5 Different Types of Fundraising Methods
• How to Raise Money for a Personal Cause
• Fundraiser Job Description
• Managing Fund Raising Risk
• What Are the Most Profitable Fundraisers?
• How Can I Fundraise Without Selling Anything?
• Best Online Fundraising Platforms for Charities
• Fundraising Crash Course
• Virtual Fundraising Ideas
• Cheap Fundraising Ideas
• Crack the Funding Code
• 4 Ways to Improve Your Fundraising Efforts

Fundraising Meaning

Fundraising is the process of collecting money as donations, for a cause from individuals and businesses. A person who raises money from them is known as a fundraiser. 

Read Also: Business Line of Credit

It was usually used to gather money for non-profit organizations, but, over the years fundraising has evolved a lot and it is now used to fund various important causes. 

These causes may include anything, from helping the underprivileged to raising funds for one’s education. Traditional fundraising happens offline whereas the modern-day crowdfunding happens online. 

Fundraising Activities

1. Art Show

Tap on students’ creative talents to advance your worthy cause and strengthen your nonprofit’s sense of community.  Ask each artist to pay a nominal registration fee to showcase their work, then set a flat ticket price for attendees to browse the collection. Consider asking local artists to get involved as well.

2. Car Wash

Car washes are often overlooked, but they can be a great way to take a task off someone’s to-do list while simultaneously converting them into a supporter of your cause. Host the event at a location that’s easily visible and accessible from high-traffic areas. You’ll also want to make sure you have plenty of space to wash, dry, and collect money from customers.

Strategize how you plan to promote your upcoming car wash so donors can bake it into their busy schedules. Social media and email are great places to start, but word of mouth can be just as impactful.

3. Spelling Bee

Spelling bees are not only fun to watch, but also present a great opportunity for younger supporters to show their skills. Advertise your spelling bee event at local schools, gyms, churches, and restaurants, and take your marketing efforts online with a series of social media posts leading up to the event.

Charge a flat rate for tickets, and consider adding a peer-to-peer fundraising element to bring in donations from a wider audience. Participants can create their own fundraising pages and ask for support leading up to the competition to reach their goals. Plus, people can show their support throughout the event by sending donations to friends or family members competing in each round.

4. Bake Sale

Get ready for some sweet aromas with this classic fundraising idea. To make this fan-favorite event a little more interesting, invite participants to compete to bake the most delectable treat. People can donate for the chance to taste test and vote for their favorites, or scrap the competition idea and simply charge a flat rate for each baked good someone purchases. Just be sure to review all food serving laws before setting up your table on campus. ​​

5. Dance Marathon

Challenge participants to join a 24-hour dance marathon to raise money for your mission. Have dancers launch peer-to-peer campaigns with a minimum goal for participation and encourage attendees to create teams to see which group can raise the most.

This fun fundraising event keeps participants moving and creates ample opportunities for in-person connection. You could also invite supporters to request their favorite songs for $5 to raise additional revenue.  

Northwestern University Dance Marathon (NUDM) has raised more than $22 million for over 30 charitable organizations that benefit the Chicago Youth Programs and The Evanston Community Foundation. This proves the potential fundraising power of a dance marathon and reaffirms the impact of peer-to-peer fundraising. 

6. Treadmill Relay Race

Partner with a local gym to get this fundraising event idea up and running (pun intended). Ask supporters and community members to sign up for a time slot (minimum of 15 minutes) and collect pledges of specific gift amounts per mile that their team completes.

This event can also be completed virtually for anyone with access to a treadmill at home. Ask fundraisers to rally support from their networks to pledge money for each mile they log or each time-based benchmark they hit (e.g., pledge to donate $50 dollars for every five miles).

7. Dodgeball Tournament

This timeless game is the perfect way to spin up competition at a local school or university. Ask each team to fundraise a certain amount to participate, or give donors the option to join for a set registration fee. Whichever they choose, encourage attendees to spread the word and recruit their friends to come to watch for some serious laughs.

Fundraising Ideas

Raising money as a business or in your department is a great way of getting everyone in your work community involved in doing good.

• Choose an Annual Charity – Get people throughout your office or organisation involved in choosing which cause you will raise money for each year. You can hold an annual voting event, during which people can give talks on the benefits of supporting their nominated charity. Making employees part of the decision will help galvanise continued support.
• Dress Down Days – Whether you go for casual clothing or make it a fancy dress event, dress down days always go down well in the office. You can charge a small fee for allowing people to wear non-work clothes and charge people a fine if they forget.
  Top Tip – Turn this idea into a regular earner by charging employees a small fee to wear jeans each Friday.

• Donate Your Coffee Money – People love their speciality coffees and spend a lot each month on their favourite caffeine fix. Ask people to forego their daily coffee just once and donate the money they would have spent to your chosen cause instead.
• Cycle to Work – Why not do your health and the environment a favour and cycle to work? You can turn it into a charitable challenge by donating the money saved on fuel or travel fares to your chosen cause. Many workplaces offer bike-to-work scheme or provide employees with help to purchase their own bikes via salary sacrifice arrangements.
• Lunchtime Quizzes – Host a lunchtime quiz and charge a donation for each team entry. You can download quizzes online, and if you can’t get everyone together, you can use Zoom or Microsoft Teams to run it as a virtual quiz instead.
• Collect Plastic Milk Bottle Tops – A really simple way to raise money and reduce the amount of plastic waste going to landfill is to collect plastic milk bottle tops. You can make £60 per tonne, which may seem like a lot of lids, but if you ask the canteen to keep theirs, encourage colleagues to bring them in from home and even ask your favorite local coffee shop to save theirs for you, it’ll soon add up.
  Top Tip – Check whether your chosen charity has any information on its website regarding other ways you can get involved in recycling to benefit their cause.
• Matched Donations – Does your company have a matched donation scheme? Many organizations will match what you raise up to a certain amount, so make sure you let HR or your community representative know about your fundraising efforts. Your chosen charity can help when it comes to letting you know how your employer can send any matched funds over to them.
• Duvet Days – Who wouldn’t pay good money to enter a raffle for a chance to win a duvet day? Whether it’s a standalone prize or part of a bigger raffle with other smaller prizes, this one always sells tickets. Make sure you check with line managers or HR before offering it as a prize though!
• Silent Auction – Source donations of auction items from colleagues, suppliers and local businesses and hold a silent auction via your intranet. Hold the auction over a set time period, maybe a couple of days early in the week, and announce the winners on Friday.
• Singles Night – Why not host an event for your single friends, family and work colleagues? Encourage more attendees by making it free to come along and raising funds through raffles and games and by selling food and drinks throughout the evening. There are lots of online resources to help your singles night go smoothly and get people in the mood to find love!
• Ugly Jumper Competition – An alternative to Christmas jumper day that works at any time of year. Offer prizes for the ugliest or funniest jumper worn and post the entries on your intranet or message board to allow colleagues to vote for the worst.
  Top Tip – If you work for a large company, offer individual prizes for departmental winners and a grand prize for the worst knitwear offence in the company.
• Karaoke Night – Many of us have a secret favorite karaoke song and are just waiting for the chance to unleash our inner diva and belt it out for charity.
  Top Tip – Make a night of it and include food and drinks to maximize your fundraising efforts.
• Payroll Giving – Speak with your HR team to find out how employees can give via the monthly payroll. It is often possible to give to more than one charity and some employers will match what you give up to a certain amount.
• Business Travel – Remember to use easyfundraising to book your business travel and raise donations at the same time. Travel retailers give some of the highest donations, so it’s an effective way to raise money, by making arrangements you’ll need to make anyway.
• Swear Box – Keep it traditional and charge a fine for all bad language used in the office, or get people to pay up for using management speak. Anyone caught encouraging colleagues to ‘think outside the box’ or ‘get all their ducks in a row’ owes you a charity donation.
• Busking – If you have a high traffic entrance way to your office, you could arrange to sing or play music to entertain colleagues and visitors as they come and go. Ask for more money to do requests or serenade people on their lunch break.
  Top Tip – This only works if you are genuinely musically gifted, otherwise you may have to get people to pay you to stop.
• Recipe Book – If many of the people in your office seem to enjoy cooking, ask colleagues to contribute recipes that you can collate into a printed charity cookbook. You could even sell an e-book version to reduce printing costs. People will love seeing their family name in print, and you might find a new dish that becomes your family favorite.
• 24 Hour Dance-a-thon – Challenge the staff of your office to dance for 24 hours straight. This works best if you organize everyone into teams, with each team taking a stint of a few hours before resting and refuelling ready for the next dance session.
  Top Tip – Stream it live on Facebook so your colleagues and friends can follow you throughout the day (and night).
• Sponsored Silence – Take the opportunity not to speak to anyone all day with a sponsored silence. This may not work if your job relies on a phone, but there are lots of lines of work that could accept the challenge of communicating entirely via the written word all day.
• Car Share – Pool your resources and share cars with colleagues to travel to and from work. Not only is this fantastic for the environment, but you can save a small fortune in fuel and parking costs. Plus, you can give a proportion of what you save to your favorite cause or charity.

Fundraiser

A fundraiser will raise money for an organization or cause by organizing campaigns and events. They oversee and plan these campaigns and increase awareness for an organization’s cause. Fundraisers typically work for nonprofit organizations with causes that range from education, health care research, social services, and political campaigns.

Fundraisers would require a bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, English, business, or journalism, but degrees in other subjects may be acceptable as well. Employers also look for strong communication skills.

Holding a master’s degree in fundraising or philanthropic studies would be advantageous. In order to be accepted into these programs you typically require work or volunteer experience at a grant-making foundation or nonprofit organization.

To gain experience you should volunteer at local charities or student-led organizations. Previous work experience and internships are usually necessary to gain a paid position as a fundraiser. Certification for a fundraiser is not required, however, it may demonstrate your professional competency and is offered by the Certified Fund Raising Executive International (CFRE international) designation for fundraisers.

Fundraiser Responsibilities

Fundraisers identify and research prospective donors and contact them to raise money for an organization. They need to create an appealing, strong message for fundraising and make use of online platforms, like crowdsourcing to raise donations. Fundraisers ensure a campaign is properly organized to raise money and maintain records of all donor information for future reference.

A fundraiser also would determine the success of past fundraising events and ensure that any legal requirements required during an event or campaign are met. At that event, they might also train volunteers that are helping out. A fundraiser should have strong communication and organizational skills, be detail-oriented, and have leadership qualities.

Fundraisers typically do the following:

• Research prospective donors
• Create a strong fundraising message that appeals to potential donors
• Identify and contact potential donors
• Use online platforms to raise donations
• Organize campaigns or events to solicit donations
• Maintain records of donor information
• Evaluate the success of previous fundraising events
• Train volunteers in fundraising procedures and practices
• Ensure that all legal reporting requirements are satisfied

Fundraisers plan and oversee campaigns and events to raise money and other kinds of donations for an organization. They ensure that campaigns are effective by researching potential donors and examining records of those who have given in the past.

Fundraisers who work for political campaigns must be knowledgeable about campaign finance laws, such as the contribution limits of an individual giving to a specific candidate.

How do I Start a Fundraiser?

If you’ve never raised funds online before, the process may seem overwhelming. But if you follow this guide of five simple steps you’ll have everything you need to raise money online for yourself, a loved one, or your favorite cause.

1. Define your goal

Start by determining how much money you need to raise. This is very important because it helps your potential donors understand how much money you need to raise for your specific cause. People are more likely to give money to a cause that is clearly defined, so calculate your fundraising goal based on your total cost breakdown.

For example, if you’re raising money for a medical procedure, don’t list just the big-ticket price of the procedure itself, but also related expenses such as lost income, rehab, medications, and medical devices.

2. Choose an online fundraising platform

When picking a platform for fundraising online you should look for:

• The lowest fees (both platform fees and payment processing fees)
• Ease of use and website design
• Customer support options
• Safe and quick access to your funds
• Fundraiser sharing capabilities

3. Tell your story honestly

We, as humans, are hardwired to respond to powerful stories. Personal fundraising stories help facilitate an emotional connection between the reader and the beneficiary, which can ultimately lead to more donations. This is why it’s important to be as honest as you can about your situation.

We understand that asking for help can be scary, but you don’t have to do it alone. To help, we came up with a few questions you can ask yourself when writing your story:

• What will the funds be used for?
• How are you connected to the cause?
• How will the donations raised aid you or help others?
• Why does the recipient need this donation?

Make sure you answer basic “Who, What, Where, When, Why, How” questions to increase the likelihood of donation. Remember, when it comes to fundraising, the why is particularly important.

• Write a captivating title to match your story

Come up with a strong title after you’ve written your personal fundraising story. It will help you summarize your story in one standout phrase. Titles are very important because you’re giving the audience a glimpse into what your fundraiser is about. Make sure it reflects what your fundraiser is for in a clear way so that people click through and donate.

4. Share your fundraiser with your friends and family

Once you’ve posted your fundraiser, get feedback on it from trusted friends and family. Use any good suggestions to refine your story such as adding powerful images, videos, etc. Then, ask your inner circle for donations. Why? If potential donors see that some funds have already been raised, people are more likely to donate. Once your inner circle has donated, share your fundraiser with everyone everywhere.

• Sharing on social media

A couple of common questions we see asked are “how to get my GoFundMe noticed?” and “how to raise money on GoFundMe?” The more visible your fundraiser is, the more donations you’ll receive. An effective way to expand your reach is to connect social media and fundraising.

If you create a Facebook page for your fundraiser, consider paying to boost posts if the costs will be outweighed by donations. If you want to promote your fundraiser on Twitter, try creating custom links to add to your tweets. If you want to use email, try using one of our email fundraising templates to help simplify the process.

Sharing without social media

While social media is a great way to connect potential donors with your fundraiser, there are other ways to share. Want to know how to raise money online without using social media?

5. Show appreciation towards your donors

When a person makes a donation to your fundraiser, it’s because they believe in your cause. This is why thank-yous are so important—they serve as a way for donors to remain part of your story. Simple, personalized donation thank you letters are an easy way to show your appreciation and strengthen relationships with donors.

Fundraising Ideas for Non-profits

We’ve got some of the best fundraiser ideas for nonprofits.

Celebrity Doodles

If you’re looking for unique auction items, you’re in the right place! Reach out to celebrities, agents, and PR agencies with a piece of letterhead, a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and a request for a doodle and autograph.

You’ll need to start this one far ahead of time, but once it’s started, you can keep up the momentum by sending one request a month, for example, and by the time your annual Celebrity Doodles Auction comes around next year, you’ll have a brand-new batch of doodles at your disposal.

Friendraising

“It’s so hard to make friends as an adult!” All of the adults we know say this really dramatically while we’re hanging out—like, what are we, chopped liver?

What we are is part of the solution: we suggest hosting a speed-friending event where donors sit and chat with many potential friends for 30 seconds each. This is one of the best ideas for fundraising because they’ll all have something in common already—your organization!

Bowling Night

This is family-friendly fundraising at its best and one of the best fundraising events for nonprofits. Get donors to build teams, sign up for a lane, and show up to bowl while you take in the dough.

Cookie Sale

Everyone loves cookies. Especially when they’re benefitting a great cause. Double especially when they’re sold by adorable kiddos. Put ‘em all together, and you’ve got one amazing fundraiser.

Yogel Contest

Ok, hear us out: A stress-busting contest where competitors yodel while in yoga positions. Talk about dramatizing downward dog. Entrants donate, winners take home cash or a prize. Not interested in judging …yoglers? Turn it into a per-donation class instead. Reduced stress, increased lung capacity, and loads of donations.

Art sale

Selling kid-created art is a rock solid way to raise funds for your school—for the low, low cost of art supplies. Get your art teacher to coordinate the setup with each class; then, host an open house displaying all the art in the gymnasium. This is one fundraiser that’s sure to sell out… After all, parents have to buy their children’s art now—or they’ll be paying therapy bills for years.

Fundraising for Schools

If you want to give your school a funding boost to be able to provide more resources and better education for students, a fundraiser is an effective way to get everyone involved. A well-organized school fundraising campaign or event engages students, teachers, parents, and volunteers, making a positive impact on your school as everyone comes together to reach the goal.

However, fundraising with the same old ideas year after year can get boring! You’ll raise more with interesting, unique school fundraising ideas that catch people’s attention. We’ve got plenty of ideas for outside-the-box fundraisers that will produce greater results for your school.

1. Online donations

Your supporters need a place to give money quickly and effortlessly, and your school needs a way to accept those donations. Therefore, your online donation page is the foundation for all school fundraising initiatives.

Encourage sharing among donors’ friends, families, and social networks. Your school’s online giving pages have the potential to go viral—probably not globally, but among the grandparents, aunts, and uncles within your community!

2.  Text-to-give

Students, parents, faculty, and staff— almost everyone at your school has a phone they’re practically glued to. Take advantage of the cell phone epidemic with text-to-give fundraising.

Donors simply text a keyword (like “give”) to your school’s text-to-give phone number and confirm the amount. First-time donors will be directed to a brief online form, while repeat donors can complete a donation with only two clicks of a button. It’s a super-easy way for individuals to contribute to the school!

3. Matching gifts + volunteer grants

If you’re interested in increasing your fundraising success without having to find more supporters or ask them to donate more of their own money to you, tapping into corporate philanthropy is the way to go. 

The two most common types of corporate philanthropy programs are matching gifts and volunteer grants.

• Matching gifts: An employee makes a donation to a nonprofit, and then their employer matches their gift to the nonprofit. 
• Volunteer grants: An employee gives a certain amount of their time to a nonprofit, and then the employer makes a financial donation. 

Reach out to the parents and other supporters of your school and find out if they work for a company with a corporate philanthropy program. If you’re eligible to receive matched donations, provide your supporters with the information that they need to complete their match or grant and double their donation!

4. Cookie dough fundraiser

Everyone loves the taste of a warm, freshly-baked cookie. But not everyone — especially busy families! — has time to make cookies from scratch. 

You can solve this problem for your school’s supporters by hosting a cookie dough fundraiser! 

To get started with a cookie dough fundraiser, you simply need to find a dedicated product fundraising company to partner with, like ABC Fundraising. They can set you up to sell all sorts of cookie dough — from classic flavors like chocolate chip to fun new options like caramel pecan chocolate chip. 

From there, you can sell cookie dough for your school in person with customized catalogs, or take your sale online with a custom-designed fundraising web store. Either way, all the heavy lifting will be done for you. 
With a cookie dough fundraiser, your students, families, and community supporters will be enjoying their delicious cookies in no time, and you’ll raise more money for your school! 

5. Pledge fundraiser

Pledge fundraisers are one of our favorite types of school fundraisers thanks to their ease of planning and universal appeal. To get started, first plan a fun and engaging event that students want to participate in. A walk-a-thon is one of the most common, although you can mix things up with a dance-a-thon, hit-a-thon, or even a read-a-thon.

Then, you equip each participant with their own fundraising page to share with family and friends. These supporters then pledge a certain amount (either a flat fee or per activity completed) that will be collected upon the conclusion of the event. This way, kids get to partake in an exciting event that also raises money for their school— it’s a win-win!

6. Silent auction

We’ve seen how remarkable silent auctions can be when it comes to inspiring generosity. Schools, in particular, are the perfect match for auction fundraisers because they offer an opportunity to showcase local businesses and engage members of the wider community in your fundraising efforts.

Discover what your community has to give. You never know—someone may be willing to auction off their vacation house for a weekend getaway, or a local business owner may be able to offer irresistible goods or services.

7. Social media

Spotlight your school’s educational initiatives on your social media pages and let followers know how to get involved. When it comes to soliciting donations, social media is tough to beat— it is currently cited as the most inspiring factor behind donations from both Millennials and Generation X.

Feature your school’s online donation page and text-to-give number front and center on your social media pages. Once supporters make donations, encourage them to use your social media sharing buttons to tell their friends.

8. Email campaign

Email is a quick and classic way to keep in touch with students and their families. By including links to your campaign (that drive traffic to your online donation page) in monthly e-newsletters and dedicated fundraising emails, you can spread the word about your fundraising opportunities.

9. Crowdfunding

For a crowdfunding campaign, your school sets up an online fundraising page where anyone can donate and see real-time updates on your progress. The most successful crowdfunding campaigns are fueled by social media, so make sure parents and students are actively sharing your page— and leaving encouraging comments!

10. T-shirt sale

Everyone loves well-designed t-shirts, so why not use them to raise funds for your school? T-shirt fundraising platforms let you create a custom t-shirt design, then sell your shirts to raise money during a scheduled time-frame. Look for a platform that doesn’t require payment upfront, like Bonfire.

With a t-shirt campaign, you can wear your school pride on your sleeve. T-shirts are also great places to feature your text-to-give number in a fun, artsy way.

Fundraising Events

A fundraising event is an event designed to raise awareness and support for an organization’s mission. All events can be turned into fundraising events, or an opportunity to raise money. This can include concerts, silent auctions, half marathons, neighborhood cookouts, and more.

Nonprofits use fundraising events to raise money to fuel their missions. Events give donors and other community members the opportunity to engage with nonprofits in an active way, as opposed to simply giving a donation. Getting facetime with donors also gives organizations the chance to reiterate their mission and discuss ways people can get more involved in their work.

Here are some examples

• Galas
  A gala is a social gathering, typically featuring food, drinks, and entertainment, that is used as an opportunity to raise money for a nonprofit. Gala guests often purchase a ticket or a table in order to attend the event, which is how the nonprofit raises money. Galas may also include other activities, such as a silent auction.
• Donor Appreciation Event
  Donor appreciation events are completely free to the donors attending. Nonprofits do not sell tickets or ask for donations. Instead, they use the event to express their gratitude to donors, reiterate their mission, and offer suggestions of ways donors can continue to engage with the organization. When you take a non-fundraising approach and don’t ask for money, you can focus solely on creating connections with your supporters and building on relationships. Essentially, events, where you don’t ask for funds, ensure the focus of the event is entirely on your supporters themselves, not their wallets.

• Live or Online Auctions
  An auction is a sale at which goods are sold to the highest bidder. Nonprofits hosting an auction seek out donated items from local businesses and then sell them to the highest bidder.
• Silent Auctions
  Silent auctions follow the same concept as an auction, but instead of an auctioneer announcing and describing each item, items are laid out for attendees to survey and make bids on “silently” by writing their bid on a bid sheet in front of the item. Mystery boxes, grab bags, and punch walls are a few great fundraising ideas to help you sell some of the less expensive auction items that you have received for your fundraiser.

• Virtual Fundraising Event
  A virtual fundraising event is a nonprofit event that is online or has an online component with the intent of soliciting funds or other donations. In times when in-person gatherings are not feasible, virtual fundraising events are a viable alternative to in-person events. Even when in-person gatherings are possible, nonprofits can continue to use them to provide another form of engagement.
• Hybrid Fundraising Event
  Hybrid fundraising events are set up to include both an in-person and virtual element to them. They simultaneously or asynchronously combine offline and online experiences. Simply live-streaming your in-person event technically qualifies, but a stellar hybrid experience is one that is multi-channel and interactive. These events allow the hosting organization to appeal to and engage audiences both at a physical venue and online. Moving into a post-pandemic life, we can expect to see more hybrid events in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. These events allow organizations to make the most of the tools at their disposal.

Fundraising Popcorn

Popcorn fundraisers are some of the tastiest treats you and your supporters will ever eat! They offer all 3 different popcorn brochures. Poppin Popcorn is the newest program and offers 9 delicious flavors at as low as $12 per bag.

Another is the Sweet Chaos Gourmet Popcorn which offers a combination of 8 traditional and newly trending popcorn flavors, all at only $12 each. The third popcorn fundraiser offers 6 mouth-watering caramel corn flavors, in a larger format, all priced at $17.

Firstly, figure out if a $12 or $17 price point is best for your area. If you live in a more affluent area, we would recommend the $17 popcorn. Another big factor is the weather. The $17 popcorn can only be shipped in weather that’s 65 F or less, so it’s definitely a Fall, Winter, and early Spring fundraiser depending on where you live.

The $12 Gourmet Popcorn program which has many fudge flavors, can be shipped in weather up to 85 F. Once your weather goes above 85 F, your only choice will be the year-Round Popcorn Fundraiser. So price-point and weather are 2 important considerations.

Fundraising Thermometer

A fundraising thermometer helps campaigners track incoming funds – and keeps fundraising teams, donors and volunteers motivated.

A visual representation of fast-growing funds is helpful to get people to donate since they’re more likely to respond to a clear goal, and they believe their contribution can help you reach it. Donations thermometers can be used internally, added to your website, or printed for live events.

We respond to images far better than we do to long lines of text. You may have a compelling argument for why someone should give to your campaign, but a well-designed fundraising thermometer (like ours!) can give undecided donors a nudge in the right direction.

If that didn’t convince you, here are the top 3 reasons why you definitely want to use a fundraising thermometer in your next campaign:

1. They’re visual: Donations thermometers allow potential donors to see what you’ve raised, how fast you’re getting there, and how significant their contribution has been
2. They help build momentum: Regularly updating your fundraiser thermometer can also encourage the team to notice when donations are coming in (and if they’re not) and keeps them going during the middle weeks of a campaign when things tend to get sluggish.
3. They’re simple: Whether you decide to embed one on your website or print out this free fundraising thermometer template, creating a fundraising thermometer is so easy, that there’s no reason why you shouldn’t!

Fundraising Online

There has been an explosion in the number of dedicated online fundraising platforms for fundraising, letting charities and their supporters quickly and effectively raise funds. But not all of them are free to use, or as cost-effective for charities.

JustGiving was one of the first online fundraising platforms, having collected more than £4 billion for charities since its launch in 2001. As of March 2019, the company waived its 5% platform fee in favor of donors making voluntary contribution in support of the platform’s operations.

There are plenty of other platforms on the market, all of which offer different functionalities at different prices. The important thing for charities is to do the research and pick the best option for them. We hope the below helps. 

BOPP

Launched in early 2021, BOPP is all about making it as easy as possible for charities to receive payments instantly, with no chargebacks and no card fees. 

There is no app required to use BOPP – all charities need to do is sign up on a monthly or Pay As You Go Basis, create their QR codes, and stick them in easily scannable places for their supporters, such as on buckets, posters, and t-shirts. All supporters need to do is scan the QR code with their smart device, authorize the payment, and the process is complete. 

Charities using BOPP can create as many QR codes as they like, in lots of different shapes and sizes (no square box necessary!) and there is also the option of sending out a remote payment link to supporters via email and messenger which they can click on to donate. 

BOPP is easy to set up, and most importantly, affordable. If purchased through Charity Digital, organizations can receive a 10% discount on BOPP’s monthly Value Bundle, making it £9 a month with no fees on the first £5000 raised.

After that charities are charged 0.5% per transaction, up to a maximum of 50p, consistent with BOPP’s Pay As You Go rate. All prices exclude VAT.

CAF Donate

Built by the registered charity, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), CAF Donate is an online fundraising tool helping over 8,000 small-to-medium sized UK charities raise £44m in 2020 alone.

CAF Donate allows you to build online donation forms and buttons which embed into your website, so donors are able to complete their donation without being redirected to a third-party platform.

You can also set up regular giving options through direct debit, process donations received over the phone, and through the post, and choose CAF to claim Gift Aid on your behalf.

You’ll first need to sign up for CAF’s free reporting tool, CAF Charity Dashboard, before getting access to in-depth reports about your campaigns, donors and donations.

They offer a slightly-different fee structure to other platforms, with no monthly charges. Instead, they levy a staggering donation fee depending on the type of donation.

The 3.6% processing fee is for one-off donations only. The processing fee is reduced to 2% for regular donations (plus £1 set-up fee for each new direct debit and £1.50 for paper direct debits)

Crowdfunder

Crowdfunder has raised over £200m for 267,000 projects. The platform has dedicated coaches to help fundraisers maximize the money they raise, and zero platform fees to charities. Gift aid is included as standard, so charities can receive a top-up of up to 25% of their totals.

Fundraisers and charities can offer rewards to encourage donations and access a range of match-funding opportunities through Crowdfunder’s network of trusts and public bodies.

Crowdfunder’s charity credentials have blossomed in the past year as they strive to support organizations of all types working to help the world recover post-pandemic. This includes their VaccinAid partnership with UNICEF UK to deliver COVID-19 vaccines globally, and their upcoming partnership Nectar Donate, which will let Nectar customers spend their points with charities for the first time.

Fundraising for Charity

Whoever you’re raising money for, having a clear idea of how to achieve your target is crucial. A fundraising plan will provide clarity and a good understanding of both your short and long-term goals. It’ll help you make the most of your time and understand exactly how much effort you’ll need to put in. This will help you to stay motivated and on-track with your fundraising objectives.

Before you can map out your plan, ask yourself these five questions:

1. Which cause do I want to raise funds for?
2. Why do I want to raise funds for this charity?
3. How much do I want to raise?
4. Who do I want to ask for support?
5. What’s my timescale for fundraising?

Your plan should include a range of ideas so as many people as possible have a chance to support you. You can divide it into short-term and longer term ideas, depending on how long you have to reach your target.

To help you reach your fundraising target, we’ve come up with some great ideas to get you started:

• Take part in a sponsored run or bike race; check your favorite charity’s website to see whether they’re looking for people to raise funds
• Get colleagues involved; have a cake sale or get together to agree on some ideas for charity fundraising in the workplace
• Ask for donations or clothes, toys, and other bric-a-brac and have a car boot sale.
• Organize fun nights in – or out – such as karaoke, talent contests and a fancy dress day.
• Run a raffle – ask friends and family to donate prizes.
• Organize a charity car wash at work, or at home.

Church Fundraising Ideas

Fundraising ideas aren’t exactly hard to come by, as fundraising has been done pretty much since the dawn of time. However, it’s important to distinguish between those fundraising ideas that are good in theory but aren’t actually all that effective.

Below, you’ll find tried-and-tested fundraising ideas, as well as newer innovative virtual fundraising ideas. Each idea offers a viable solution to earn funds for your church and increase community outreach. However, the best fundraising idea, one that’s effective, will be the one that best suits your church, community, and congregation.

Here are the top 10 fundraising ideas for churches.

1. Basket Raffle

Basket raffles largely rely on the kindness and generosity of the small businesses in your community. These businesses typically donate items to be arranged in a basket and raffled off by the church. The key to a successful basket raffle is to build as many baskets as possible and ensure that the baskets cater to a variety of interests.

2. Church Yard Sale

Everyone has items in their homes that are no longer in use, collecting dust, or simply have no more purpose. Those are the items you want to ask your congregation to donate to your church’s yard sale. Place signs up around town and advertises on social media to draw a crowd. Any leftover items can be stored until the next sale or donated to help the less fortunate. 

3. Host a Community Event

Whether you host a block party or create a winter wonderland, hosting a themed event for community members is a surefire way to earn. Simply charge for admission and connect with local vendors to collect donations to help you pull the event off. This is partially a virtual fundraising idea, as it should be advertised online. You can post about the event on your church’s social media pages and ask followers to spread the word.

4. Conduct a Bottle and Can Drive

Bottle and can drives are typically low-effort fundraising options, but they can yield a high reward, especially if done consistently. You may set up a can donation station on your church’s premises, advertise it to your congregation (ask them to spread the word around town!), and routinely recycle the cans for cash. Not only will you reap cash rewards, but you’ll also be helping the planet.

5. Host an Auction

Auctions are awesome because the vast majority of items being sold can be sourced cheaply or donated by local businesses. Additionally, large ticket items often draw large crowds, so your church may even entice non-members to participate in the auction. This is another event to advertise on social media, as it’s important to get as many people involved as possible.

6. Virtual Offering Plate

Your church may have members who can’t make it to services in person. If these members are immunocompromised they may be missing out in other areas of their lives as well. An online church service is a great way to connect with those congregation members. Setting up a virtual offering plate during your church’s online church services gives those watching at home the opportunity to give.

7. Host a Movie Night

Hosting a movie night doesn’t mean that your church must have a huge projector and sound system. You can scale down to hosting a family movie night on whatever device is available. Charge per entrant and encourage guests to bring items like pillows, lawn chairs, and blankets to make themselves comfortable during the film.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can connect with a local movie theater and ask about hosting a movie night in an empty showing room.

8. Partner with a Local Business

Partnering with a local business (or more than one!) is a great way to bring the community together and support small businesses. It’s a win-win. The business may host a sale with a portion of the proceeds going to your church or they may go as far as to dedicate a day to donate all sales proceeds to your church. 

9. Bake Sale

Yes, bake sales are among the most common fundraising ideas on the planet. However, there is a reason they are so popular — they work! Bake sales are usually low to no-cost fundraising ideas that enable church members to show off their baking skills and other talents to make money for the church. Church members may choose to pay for the cost of ingredients themselves or your church can connect with a local grocer to sponsor the event.

10. Social Media Giving Campaign

Social media is a powerful church marketing tool, even without relying on paid campaigns. Churches can launch a simple, free fundraising campaign with just a single post and hashtag. Your church may tap into the generosity demonstrated on the global Giving Tuesday initiative, where social media users may take to social media channels to showcase their donations and invite others to do the same. 

Post to your church’s social media accounts inviting followers to post a selfie of their pledge to give using the hashtag. #GivingTuesday. As this is a virtual fundraising idea, you’ll need to set up an online donation station to help people give. 

Fundraising Websites

With digital trends on the rise and technology here to stay, fundraising has grown and expanded to more online spaces than ever before. Individuals and organizations can capitalize on their online networks and effortlessly acquire a larger reach to help increase donations and support causes. 

Professional fundraisers have recognized the potential that comes with going digital. Fundraising sites can be used for personal fundraising to cover medical expenses, tuition, or other costs as well as for organizational fundraising to cover office construction, management software, projects, and more. 

To help you find the best fundraising website for you and your needs, we’ve put this list together of the best fundraising sites for any cause.

• Bonfire for t-shirt fundraisers
• Classy for nonprofits
• Fundly for crowdfunding campaigns
• Edco for school and team fundraisers
• Double the Donation for gift matching programs
• Kindful for donor management
• Fundable for business fundraisers
• Indiegogo for innovative technology
• Kickstarter for creative project fundraising
• Kiva for crowdfunding loans

How Fundraising Works

People in the UK are very generous, donating billions of pounds to charities each year. This has helped create what is almost certainly the strongest and most effective charity sector of any country in the world.

Most people give to a charity when they are prompted to in some way – whether that’s through direct contact with a charity, or through friends or family who are raising money on its behalf. Charities need to invest some of their money in fundraising in order to support this. But they get back much more than they invest.

There are a number of ways that charities fundraise with the public. Charities often try to raise money from a variety of sources so they’re protected against drops in income from any one source. Most fundraising falls into one of two main categories: donations or trading.

Donations

This includes one-off donations people make to charities, regular direct debits, sponsorship for events like marathons, and legacies – the money left to charities by people in their wills.

Trading

Some charities sell goods or services to raise money. This could be from doing things that are part of their mission, such as a theatre charity selling theatre tickets, or when you buy a National Trust membership.

Or, increasingly, many charities are running their own businesses that donate all their profits back to the charity. For example, the RSPB runs a business that sells bird food, bird boxes and binoculars. This is a way of ensuring they have a sustainable source of income for the long term.

4 Main Categories of Fundraising

There are many different types of fundraisers out there and no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Every nonprofit organization is different. We will talk about the main 4 categories.

1. Events

Fundraising through events has become increasingly popular in the nonprofit community. Whether a nonprofit is hosting a walk-a-thon, gala dinner, art exhibition, concert, silent auction, field day, or hike-a-thon, events provide an avenue by which donors and potential donors can interact in person and learn more about the organization.

Event donations are contributions that donors make during a fundraising event. Depending on the type of event, the money raised might come in different forms.

2. Door-to-Door Solicitation

Door-to-door fundraising has diminished over the years due to its resource-intensive nature. However, this type of fundraising technique is still successfully utilized by many organizations, especially political organizations. Door-to-door solicitation in general works best for campaigns or programs that directly affect the people being approached.

3. Direct Mail

Donations made by direct mail are usually made in the form of checks. Donors who use this method are usually older and prefer a more traditional giving method. It’s useful to know that there are still donors that feel more comfortable sending in a check over making an online donation. Direct mail can be used by anyone as long as you provide a self-addressed envelope.

4. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is all about many individuals each giving a (usually) small donation — $5, $10, $50, $100. It has become a popular type of fundraising with corporate organizations and nonprofits alike.

To get the most out of donation-based crowdfunding, post regular updates, use compelling images and videos, offer incentives, and share via e-mail, and on social media. Make sure to tell a story – a story is what fuels a crowdfunding campaign.

Phone Solicitations

Through the years, fundraising via the telephone has been used by many organizations with varying degrees of success. Phone solicitations are donation requests done over the phone, ranging from one employee making a couple of ‘thank you’ calls to large telemarketing campaigns.

Prioritize calls to those individuals most likely to give you a positive response. The more people know you and are already engaged or invested with you, the greater your likelihood of success.

Why is Fundraising Important?

Fundraising makes your organization stronger and eventually high functioning, in the following ways.

1. Fundraising Makes Nonprofits Plan

Nonprofits are almost always borne from good ideas from great people, and they almost always evolve organically from the availability of resources and network connections of different leaders involved. They rarely plan first, which often leads to chaotic work plans and disjointed program foci. Fundraising forces nonprofits to take a step back and think about how they are going to accomplish their projects, with what resources, and in what time frames.  

Whether it be by filling out an onerous grant application or by an investor or donor prospect asking you for your five-year plan, almost always organizations will need to have some sort of planning in place to ask for support and be successful in attaining it.

2. Fundraising Makes Nonprofits See Where They Are Vulnerable

In the process of planning and asking the question of how they are going to accomplish a project, a nonprofit will often realize that they have gaps in resources toward meeting their goals. Identifying weaknesses and vulnerabilities in organizational structure is a critical step in strengthening your organization!

3. Fundraising Makes Nonprofits Work as Teams and Align Goals

Often, nonprofit staff and volunteers are disjointed by project areas. Fundraising acts as a glue for different project areas, unifying the team and its different project goals into one holistic mission. A nonprofit will be stronger if its different components are brought together under a solid mission base.

4. Fundraising Makes Nonprofits Prioritize Projects

Prioritizing where to allocate precious resources is a constant struggle for nonprofit managers. Who wants to pick between two different programs that both help hungry children or some other disadvantaged community member? Prioritizing is a must, however, and the process of fundraising gives nonprofit managers an objective outlet to pick the most relevant projects to that holistic mission base they identified while aligning goals and planning.

5. Fundraising Makes Nonprofits Branch out and Broadcast

To be eligible for grants, and sponsorships especially, nonprofits need to prove they are reaching as many people as possible. Fundraising is often the excuse to renovate a website, create a newsletter, or design a social media strategy. That exposure benefits your nonprofit tremendously beyond fundraising by increasing your presence in your target community!

6. Fundraising Makes Nonprofits Partner

To be more attractive to grantmakers and sponsors, and more and more often as a requirement to be eligible for funding, nonprofits need to have diverse board members from all corners of the community and active partnerships with other like-minded organizations. Quite often, outreach and partnering is the first step in a good development plan as a result, and enacting that step leads to quality relationships your nonprofit wouldn’t have otherwise.

How Much do Fundraisers Make?

While it can depend on the organization, most fundraisers earn a salary. You are often a full-time employee whose job duties revolve around planning and promoting charity events or contacting potential donors. However, freelance fundraisers, also known as fundraising consultants, usually do not receive a set salary. Instead, they work for a fee for various clients. In this role, you can either charge a flat project rate or a daily fee.

Fundraisers made a median salary of $59,610 in 2020. The best-paid 25 percent made $78,990 that year, while the lowest-paid 25 percent made $45,170.

Why Fundraising is Important for Schools?

Unfortunately, schools in the U.S. are vastly underfunded. Budget cuts have hit schools hard and the trend continues. The truth is, most elementary and secondary schools today do not have enough funds to provide the educational experiences their students need. According to one study, schools are underfunded by nearly $150 billion annually! 

Schools use funds for a huge variety of things including:

• Enrichment programs: Arts and STEM programs are crucial for providing students with a well-rounded education. Unfortunately, these programs can suffer when budgets shrink. School fundraising helps make these programs a reality, providing invaluable enrichment to students’ academic experiences.
• Extracurricular activities: Extracurricular clubs like chess and debate team need funds to participate in their activities, including funding for travel, materials, and more. Such activities are vital to students’ academic lives, social lives, and physical and mental health. School fundraising is often what makes extracurricular activities possible.
• The purchase of supplies and equipment: Funds raised by PTAs/PTOs often go toward purchasing the basic materials students need to learn, including books and new technology, such as computers.
• Upgrades to school facilities: School fundraising can support new playground equipment, renovations, beautification efforts, and more to make the school property safer and more accommodating.

Fundraising Companies

Fundraising consulting firms are chock full of valuable information and insight, and they can help your nonprofit build sustainable strategies and solutions.

Below is a list of the top fundraising consulting firms with the expertise to help your nonprofit succeed!

• Donorly – Donor Research
• Greater Mission – Community Engagement
• Loop – Branding and Design
• GivingMail – Direct Mail Design Consultant
• Aly Sterling Philanthropy – Sustainable Solutions
• Labyrinth – State Charity Registration
• Meyer Partners – Multichannel Marketing Consultant
• DNL OmniMedia – Technology Consulting
• Artisan E-Learning – E-Learning Content Development
• Cornershop Creative – Digital Fundraising
• Grants Plus – Grants Consulting
• Averill Fundraising Solutions – Campaign Planning
• Getting Attention – Google Grant Management
• Bristol Strategy Group – Board Development
• Swaim Strategies – Fundraising Events
• Brian Lacy and Associates – Annual Giving
• J.F. Smith Group – Campaign Management
• Alexander Haas – Development Assessments
• Ter Molen Watkins & Brandt – Post-Campaign Assessment
• Jeffrey Byrne & Associates – Feasibility Studies

Fundraising and Crowdfunding

In easier terms, crowdfunding is the process of funding your project by accumulating money from various individuals. Whereas, fundraising is seeking financial support for various causes or charity. 

Traditional fundraising is mostly done offline. From marketing to branding and conducting the campaign, It’s all done offline. Whereas the modern-day crowdfunding, thanks to the influence of the west, it’s done online. 

Crowdfunding in India used to be difficult in the early stages, as, at the beginning of the 2000s there were no proper online platforms you could use to create a campaign and attract the crowd towards your campaign. In 2017, crowdfunding is as easy as ABC. Anyone who has a basic knowledge about internet can leverage crowdfunding sites like Milaap and get funding for their cause.

Do keep in mind that any fundraising campaign, online or offline requires proper planning and skillful execution. 
Crowdfunding can be used for almost anything, to fund your business or a startup. Crowdfunding is also used to raise money for a personal cause and to clear off your college debt.

The difference between crowdfunding and traditional fundraising:
Most often, people get confused between the concepts of crowdfunding and fundraising; Unless you spend your time like us, browsing about fundraising all day, here’s the difference.

Crowdfunding is a type of fundraising. Fundraising can happen from any source; you can raise funds from a bank, a corporate or particularly a VC for your startup. But, crowdfunding comes from various individuals who believe in your cause. 

Initially, traditional fundraising was and remains the best offline way to raise funds. With the arrival of crowdfunding as an option, this has created a new technology-based avenue to appeal for donations.

The biggest difference is that crowdfunding knows no boundaries. Traditional fundraising for an event is generally geographically restricted. With crowdfunding, you have a global opportunity to attract interest in your cause and hopefully convert the webpage visitors to donate.

While traditional fundraising for nonprofits will remain a constant, crowdfunding can be used for both profit and nonprofit organizations. When entering into a crowdfunded webpage to make a donation, be sure to verify if the funds are going to the nonprofit’s cause directly or whether a percentage of the donation will be forwarded to the nonprofit listed.

Fundraising Letters

Fundraising letters are typed (or handwritten!) correspondences that are used to ask for standard donations, in-kind contributions, volunteer time, sponsorships, auction items, and more. Fundraising letters are important because they let you spell out your financial needs, give donors a way to get involved, and help create an emotional bond with your donors through true, powerful messaging.

General fundraising letters are what most people think of when they think about written fundraising appeals. They’re a standard way to ask individuals for donations. These letters are typically one page, but never longer than two pages.

General fundraising letters detail your organization’s needs, let the donor know how they can help, and thank the donor for any previous involvement they may have with your organization.

Fundraising letters for general donations can be sent at any time of year, but they are particularly effective during end-of-year fundraising. They allow your nonprofit to spell out your needs and speak directly to donors about how they can help.

You can also send fundraising letters out as part of your annual campaign. Send out several letters a year, but don’t stuff your donors’ mailboxes! Space out your mailings over several months.

Here are some tip:

Use the Donor’s Preferred Name
If your donor’s name is William, but you know that he prefers “Bill,” use Bill in your greeting. Using a donor’s preferred name establishes trust right off the bat. And never start a letter with “Dear Donor.”

Focus on the Donor
Fundraising letters are not the time to brag about your nonprofit. They’re meant to show donors how they can get involved and help your organization achieve your mission and goals. Make it about your donors!

Sign the Letter
Have a leader in your organization sign the letter to connect with more donors. This may seem like a minor point, but it’s critically important for making your letters personalized and genuine.

Introduce Matching Gift Opportunities
Many of your donors are likely eligible for matching gifts and don’t know it! Educate your supporters about how they can tap into corporate philanthropy programs in order to support their favorite causes and make their own donation go further, without using more of their own money.

Offer Other Engagement Opportunities
If you just ask for money, your nonprofit might come across as greedy and impersonal. Instead of just making a fundraising appeal, offer your recipients other ways to get involved, such as volunteer opportunities or other events.

Fundraising Ideas for Sport Teams

Sports programs cost money. Between costs of traveling to tournaments and purchasing uniforms and equipment, the expenses can add up very quickly. And whether you’re an athlete, a school, a community sports team, a parent, or a coach, you’re likely no stranger to this reality.

When the money is a little tight, that’s exactly where fundraising comes in! Effective fundraising is an invaluable skill that can really make or break your sports team.

1. Partner with local businesses

Look to your community and find small, local businesses to sponsor you or your team. Partnering with a local business is a win-win situation! You raise funds for yourself or your team, and the local business gets involved with the community and gains some good PR.

Furthermore, business partnerships have a multi-channel potential.

For example, if your club has a decent following on Instagram, you can harness that. For example, you can partner with a business by giving them regular shout-outs on Instagram as part of their sponsorship.

Plus, partnerships don’t always have to be about cash. Business partners and sponsors could donate in-kind products or services that they would usually charge for.

2. Field day

You can rarely go wrong with a field day fundraiser, especially on a nice summer day. Invite your community members for a day of games, good food, and a lot of fun!

Think of a variety of games that you know your audience will enjoy. Some examples include like dodgeball, tug-of-war, obstacle courses, and treasure hunts.

Charge an entry fee to raise money for your team. To earn some extra cash, sell concessions! Lemonade, chilled watermelon, and ice cream are sure to be a hit on a hot summer day.

Pro tip: Consider offering prizes to top performers. Healthy competition is a great motivator for participation!

3. Coach challenge

The coach challenge can be a very effective fundraiser for sports teams of all sizes. First, set an ambitious, yet achievable fundraising goal. If this goal is met, the coach agrees to do some outrageous activity.

Maybe that’s doing the chicken dance, shaving their head, dressing like an alien — there are plenty of possibilities. 

The more outrageous and fun the challenge, the more motivated supporters will be to donate and reach the fundraising goal!

4. Sponsor a sportsperson

A widely known principle in fundraising identifies the likelihood that we feel greater empathy, and an urge to help, in situations where tragedies are about a specific, identifiable individual, compared to situations where the victims are a larger, vaguer group of people (also known as identifiable victim effect).

Seek donors to sponsor a single sportsperson on the team instead of the whole team. It’s often easier for donors to relate to a single individual than a group.

5. Reach out to alumni

If you’re fundraising for a sports team, chances are you have worked with many athletes throughout the years.

Consider reaching out to these individuals via phone or email asking for financial support. Team sports often foster a strong sense of community and belonging, which means your alumni might be very keen to give back to the team that has given so much to them when they were younger.

Pro tip: Organize a wine and dine event with the alumni before a big game. Find a way to recognize your alumni. This will foster strong relationships and increase the chances that your alumni will choose to give. 

6. Game day car wash

A simple and popular fundraiser, car washes are used by individuals and groups alike to raise funds for their cause. You can organize a car wash as a stand alone event any time of the year. All you need are keen volunteers (your team members maybe), sponges, soap, water, and some good promotion!

Another option is to organize a car wash during a game day. The advantage of this is that you’ll already have a large audience coming to watch the game. All you need to do is set up signs around the car park and have volunteers collect small fees from those wanting their car washed.

Your volunteers will wash all the participating cars as their owners are watching the game. When the game is done, the owners will return to fresh and sparkly cars!

Fundraising Ideas for Kids

Planning fundraisers for kids comes with its own set of unique challenges. Coming up with a fundraiser that kids will be excited to participate in without placing any additional burdens on pandemic-exhausted parents can be a tricky balancing act. Turning a fundraiser into a positive educational opportunity for young ones can also be a difficult task. 

If you’re struggling to come up with fresh and unique fundraising ideas for your next youth fundraiser, we’re here to help.

1. Car wash 

Hosting a car wash is a classic fundraising event that’ll keep your community’s cars sparkling clean. The young ones will love the opportunity to splash around with their friends in the hot summer months, and as a bonus, they’ll learn a skill they can take home to their own family’s cars. To make things easier for your supporters, set up an online registration form where they can pay ahead of time.

Then, ask them to bring their digital confirmation receipt to receive a car wash instead of making them carry cash to your fundraiser. For a fun twist the kids are sure to appreciate, turn your car wash into a dog wash for the furry friends in your community! Just don’t forget to have parents sign a waiver before having their kids participate in any fundraising activities. 

2. Christmas tree/wreath sales 

When the holidays roll around, many people will be in search of the perfect Christmas tree or holiday wreaths to adorn their homes. To meet this demand, consider partnering with a local tree farm or nursery to host a Christmas tree or Christmas wreath fundraiser.

One option for your fundraiser is to find a lot to rent out where you can display your selection of trees and wreaths for potential buyers to pick from. Have your kids get in on the festivities by decorating the lot and a few trees with colorful holiday lights and ornaments to attract buyers. 

If you aren’t able to find a lot to sell from, put together an online store so your supporters can purchase trees and wreaths from their home. Offer a one-day pick-up event or a delivery service to get your holiday greenery to their new homes. If you partner with a tree farm or nursery, they may be able to arrange some delivery or pick-up services, so your job will mainly be marketing and selling trees. 

3. Shoe drive fundraiser 

You know those old shoes lying around your house? The sneakers your kids have grown out of or the boots that have been collecting dust at the back of your closet for years? With a shoe drive fundraiser, you can help your gently used, never worn shoes find new, loving homes while raising money for your cause.  

Simply promote your fundraiser in your community and place cardboard boxes in high-traffic areas to collect shoes. Once your boxes have been filled, collect the shoes and mail them off to a shoe drive fundraising organization where they’ll weigh and process the shoes you’ve collected, distribute them to micro-businesses around the world, and write your organization a check according to the number of shoes you sent in. 

4. Balloon raffle 

Take your average raffle fundraiser up a notch with a balloon raffle fundraiser. As you prepare for your fundraiser, canvas your local businesses and donors for items, coupons, or vouchers.

Grab your balloons and start stuffing them with slips of paper your supporters can redeem for the prizes you’ve collected before filling them with helium. Sell the balloons at your event, and towards the end of the night, have people pop them at the same time to see what they’ve won. 

5. Straw Draw 

Similar to a balloon raffle, this fundraiser is an effective way to raise money for your organization. Attach slips of paper with prizes on them to a bunch of straws, and have your supporters pay a small fee to draw a straw during your event to see what they’ve won. To make your event more eco-friendly, charge more and purchase reusable straws people can take home with them and use over and over again. 

6. Candygrams 

Selling candygrams is a fun way for kids to send their friends a sweet treat while also raising money for your organization or school. Purchase some small cards and inexpensive, simple candies in bulk, like boxes of conversation hearts for Valentine’s Day or candy canes around the winter holidays.  

Then, advertise your event with fliers and handouts. Set up a table where people can stop by and pay to send a candygram to their friends. Have them write a short message on your candygram cards, and then your team of kids will deliver the candygrams to their destinations on a specific day. 

Keep a list of students or your group members on hand to make sure everyone gets a candygram, and add a sign to your table giving people an option to order extra candygrams to cover the cost.

Fundraising Ideas for Clubs

Fundraising inspires creativity and fosters an entrepreneurial mindset. It brings together like-minded people who want to work together for a good cause. Many well-executed fundraisers can result in a new network of fans, friends, followers, and supporters. The result is the advancement of your club or organizations cause through referrals and word of mouth.

A successful fundraising event can also bring in new press and media from your local area. The more positive press you can get for your club or organization – the more people will hear about you.

Whether you’re creating your yearly strategy or you’re simply getting through a mid-year hump, here’s a list of unique list fundraising ideas for clubs, that are sure to get you started – or spark a new idea of your own.

• Obstacle Course
• Cultural Theme Days
• School Lock-in
• Community Service
• Morning Dance Party
• Dare Me
• The Voice
• Guided Hike
• Custom Water Bottles
• 10,000 Steps Challenge
• Healthy Eating Class
• Family Fun-day
• Face Painting
• Spelling Bee
• Pets Party
• Stuff for Bucks

Fundraising Ideas for College

With these creative fundraising ideas categorized from low to high effort levels, you’ll save your group time and look like a genius!

1. Candy Crush-a-Thon.  Pull an all-nighter playing Candy Crush or the latest game craze.  Charge an entry fee, make it high energy with music, and sell candy to boost funds.  The player who outlasts everyone wins a gift card to the local coffee shop.  The players at the highest level get a glittery phone case or silly prize.  Use SignUpGenius for RSVP’s or to sell sponsorships or tickets.
2. Episode Marathon Night.  Pick a favorite show and host a marathon night with another group.  Charge a small entry fee.  Vote on your favorite character, episode, or jump-the-shark moment.  Ask trivia questions or play bingo with popular one-liners, and remember to have cheapie prizes on hand.
3. Family Recipe Cook Off.  A new spin on the chili cook off:  have everyone cook their favorite family recipe.  Charge an entry fee and give prizes to the winners. Make sure participants bring a copy of the recipe.  Consider adding this to an existing party or event.  Gather supplies and coordinate participants with a sign up!
4. Blind Bowling or Costume Putt-Putt Night.  Work with a local bowling alley or putt-putt golf course to receive a percentage of ticket and concession sales. Make sure to select a unique place that has a festive atmosphere with private event facilities and fun/live music. Put a twist on it with blindfolds for a couple of the rounds, or playing the game in costumes.  Buy a tacky prize or trophy that can be passed around year after year.  You can also turn this into a tournament that includes lunch or dinner to boost sales.
5. Bid on the Best Room or Parking Space.  If your organization owns a convenient parking space or much-sought-after room in the organization’s building, don’t just give it to the President!  Ask members to email a bid for the room or space.  Highest bidder wins.
6. Serve-it-Up Night.  Negotiate with a local restaurant, ice cream parlor, or grocery store to donate a percentage of proceeds to your organization on a particular night.  Work with a venue that will let members scoop, serve, or check out!

Fundraising Ideas for Individuals

As an individual or small team, you’re not working with a $5 million budget, and every penny counts. So you should also look for a platform where there’s an option for donors to cover your payment processing fees. (Anyone who accepts credit cards and bank transfers like Venmo has to pay these fees. They’re issued by Visa, Mastercard, and other payment networks.) That way, you get 100% of every donation.

To help you raise the most money, we’ve adapted the nonprofit fundraising playbook to work for your small but mighty team.

1. Crowdfunding campaign

Crowdfunding is the quintessential fundraising idea for individuals, partners, and teams on a mission. Put simply, you meet your goal by earning small amounts of money from a large number of people. This is a popular method to win support for a cause, so you’ll need to stand out.

2. Sporting event watch party

Build off the passion, energy, and commitment of sports fans for your next fundraising campaign. Rent a small venue or host a game viewing party at your home with plenty of snacks and drinks. You can charge a small entry fee and add a capacity limit to your event to control the headcount.

Another reason this event is great for individuals is because it doesn’t have to take place in person. In a post-COVID-19 environment, many stadiums have limited seats or aren’t welcoming fans back yet. A livestreamed watch party is the perfect alternative for your “attendees.”

3. Tasty treat fundraiser

Did you know some fast food restaurants will let you buy their food at a discount if you’re fundraising? For example, Krispy Kreme and Auntie Anne’s offer their fried treats as fundraising products.

Your next step is to sell these delicious donuts and pretzels, bake sale-style. Choose an area with lots of foot traffic and set up shop. (Keep in mind that your municipality might require you to get a temporary food handlers permit.) You can also take online orders and arrange convenient delivery or pickup. Another idea is to call your local businesses and see if they’re willing to participate.

4. Sponsored marathon

You can go a couple ways with this reliable fundraising idea for individuals. First, see if a business or nonprofit will sponsor you for an endurance marathon (think walk-a-thons, 5Ks, dance marathons, etc.) Sponsorship aren’t just for top athletes anymore. Increasingly, large brands are supporting amateurs with inspiring stories and serious fundraising goals.

Alternatively, you can go a little crazy for your cause. Podcaster Jesse Carey raised $30,953 for charity: water by livestreaming himself watching Nicolas Cage movies for 24 hours straight. His supporters loved it, and he gave “marathon” a new meaning.

5. Scratch card fundraiser

New school, meet old school. Scratch-and-donate is a classic and easy fundraising idea for individuals. It’s like playing the lottery for a good cause.

First, buy a bulk batch of scratch cards from a wholesaler. Each circle hides a dollar amount, usually ranging from 50 cents to several dollars. Then, have participants scratch off as many sections as they’d like. The total amount is how much they’ll donate. Collect donations offline or accept virtual payment (credit card, Venmo, etc.) through your donation page. If you like this idea, you can also sell coupon books or discount cards.

6. Corporate matching gift

You don’t need a big team or budget to double or even triple your fundraising goal. Take advantage of corporate matching gift programs.

It’s not the kind of gift with wrapping paper. With this fundraising campaign, you make a donation to a nonprofit and then request that your employer matches your gift. Some companies do a straight 1:1 to match, but others take it to the next level, offering a 2:1 or 3:1 commitment.

A simple way to multiply your impact is to draw on elements of peer-to-peer fundraising. Get your co-workers on board, set up individual fundraising pages, and then request a corporate match for your collective donations.

How to Raise Money in a Fundraiser

Learning how to raise money for a nonprofit organization can sometimes feel intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Many people are eager to support your organization’s amazing work, for all kinds of reasons.

Your role is to create opportunities for donors to give in ways that feel easy, secure, and appreciated.

If you’re new to the world of nonprofit fundraising – or if you’re a seasoned pro seeking fundraising best practices – look no further!

• Create a donation page
• Offer the text-giving option
• Send out fundraising letters
• Launch a crowdfunding campaign
• Host a fundraising event
• Try peer-to-peer fundraising
• Enable recurring donations
• Ask for sponsorships
• Launch a phone-a-thon
• Start a membership program
• Apply for a grant

Fundraising Center Buena Park

You can benefit from Buena Park volunteer organizations in cause areas like advocacy, health and medicine, seniors, veterans, and more. Whether your causes are animal shelters, food banks, or breast cancer groups, you’ll find real nonprofit opportunities.

Millions of nonprofit clients, donors, and volunteers have shared their candid reviews of charities, nonprofits, and social enterprises.

Fundraising Sites With no Fees

There are not free fundraising websites. When a platform says its free, it typically means it is free to start, as in there is no signup or subscription fee.

Crowdfunding platforms have to make money, and in order to do so, they build in a percentage-based fee structure. Despite the fees, crowdfunding is still an extremely cost-effective option for fundraising.

What Do the Top Free Fundraising Websites Cost?

Platform	Subscription Fee	Platform Fee	Suggested Donor Fee	Processor Fee	Total	Our Pick
Bonfire	$0	$0	0%	8% per additional donation (reduced to 3.5% for nonprofits)	8% per additional donation (3.5% for nonprofits)
Fundly	$0	4.9%	0%	2.9% + $.30 per gift	7.8% + $.30 per gift
DonateKindly	$0	0%	4.9%	2.9% + $.30 per gift	7.8% + $.30 per gift
Givebutter	$0	$0	0%	2.9% + $.30 per gift	2.9% + $.30 per gift
GoFundMe	$0	5%	15%	2.9% + $.30 per gift	17.9% + $.30 per gift
Kickstarter	$0	5%	0%	3% + $.20 per gift	8% + $.20 per gift
Indiegogo	$0	5%	0%	3% + $.30 per gift	8% + $.30 per gift

Fundraising Sites for Business

There are a plethora of options at your disposal today for crowdfunding options. However, only a few of these platforms are effective in raising money. Based on the reputation they enjoy and the volume of projects they’ve helped fund, the following are some of the best crowdfunding websites:

• Indiegogo
• Kickstarter
• SeedInvest
• Patreon
• Crowd Supply

Name	Best For	Price
Indiegogo	Integration with Google and Meta	5% Platform fee with additional 3-5% third-party processing fee on funds raised.
Kickstarter	Artists and Creators	5% Platform fee on top of 3-5% processing fee per transaction.
SeedInvest	Start-up funding	5% placement fee and 5%equity fee.
Patreon	Independent Creators	Lite plan – 5% platform fee, Pro plan – 8% platform fee, Premium Plan – 12% fee plus. Processing fees of 2.9% also apply.
Crowd Supply	Funding and Selling Hardware projects	Standard Plan – 5% of gross sales, Custom plan ranging 6-15% of gross sales.

Fundraising Sites for Students

Planning to set up a crowdfunding campaign? These are the most commonly used sites for students crowdfunding their degrees:

1. GoFundMe: Loads of students opt for GoFundMe as their crowdfunding platform. It’s more focused on individuals and their personal stories than projects. This site would be a good choice if you have an interesting story to tell, such as about overcoming a particular struggle to get to university. Just be aware that there is a transaction fee that will reduce your donations slightly. Check GoFundMe’s website to find out about their current fees.  
2. Crowdfunder: Crowdfunder is a more creative and community-focused platform. So, it’s good for those interested in socially-conscious studies, environmental arts, and similar subjects. They place an emphasis on fundraising campaigns for charities and personal causes. Make sure you focus your crowdfunding page on how you can help others, not just yourself. Like GoFundMe, Crowdfunder charges fees. Have a look at their website to find out how much these currently are.

Fundraising Sites in India

Here are the top 5 crowdfunding platforms in India for your start-up.

Kickstarter

We can’t have a list of crowdfunding companies without including Kickstarter, one of the most popular players in the game. From watches, video games, and consoles to jackets, online music players and fidget cubes, Kickstarter has a crowd for every product. With over 213,000 fully funded projects, Kickstarter boasts over $6.29 billion funded from 20.5 million backers as of 2021.

Indiegogo

Indiegogo can be called the lovechild of Amazon and Kickstarter. Raising funds is the first step on Indiegogo as after the project is successfully funded, campaigners can sell the products on the same platform. This is especially beneficial since if someone likes your product enough to fund it, why wouldn’t they buy it? But this comes as a downside to many startups as Indiegogo focuses more on physical products over services.

Ketto

Ketto is a Made in India platform for crowdfunding. The Mumbai-based website has a broad range of campaigns ranging from healthcare, education to sports, animal welfare, and personal care. Ketto also has an ‘Urgently Fund Required’ section which provides the backers with tax benefits.

NGOs have been using Ketto since its inception in 2012. Another added bonus is that the platform does not require the project to be 100% funded for the creator to get the amount already funded.

FuelADream

Namma Bengaluru-based fundraising platform has been focused on reward-based projects since its inception in 2016. FuelADream has two plans, an All or Nothing plan, and a Keep What You Get Plan. If the project founder chooses the former plan, the project won’t get funded until the full amount requested is funded.

In that case, the backers get their money back. FuelADream is more focused on quality over quantity as they only have 20 active projects a month. One of their most notable projects includes a canal to irrigate village farmland.

Catapooolt

Catapooolt is a unique platform as it can be used to fund personal or business projects. This offers the backers the opportunity to partner up with the pre-existing investors, therefore creating an ecosystem for the company.

Catapooolt was founded in 2013 and has since funded over 40 projects for a total of $150,000 from over 2,000 backers. They also provide a reward system to the backers as it provides access to 300,000 retail outlets with walk-in customer access.

Fundraising Events Examples

No matter what you’re looking for, you’ll find something spectacular in this list of charity event ideas.

1. Donkey basketball

This one’s a little out there! But yes, we’re talking about actual donkeys. And playing basketball. While riding donkeys.

It’s one of the more unique items on this charity event ideas list, but it’s a staple activity for nonprofits like Turkey Day. Their annual game brings together community members for highly entertaining shenanigans. No advanced training is needed, as all Donkey Basketball companies guide players and their furry partners through the process step-by-step.

If you’re interested in hosting a sports-themed charity event, but dread the thought of riding barn yard animals, you’re in luck. Donkey Basketball is just one of many ways to put a new spin on an old classic. You can just as easily add a unique twist to any sporting event.

Have your players dress up in their best themed costumes. Play with teams of adults versus kids. Or even have a donors team versus a host team.

2. Online flash fundraiser

Quick and cost effective, a limited time only digital fundraiser is a great way to raise funds on any budget. Create a sense of urgency by limiting contributions to a single 24-hour window. You can even align this fundraiser with a related holiday.

For example, The Adventure Project hosted a flash fundraiser to promote their well water mechanics program. To help spread the word, they posted the day-long charity event page on World Water Day. Anyone searching for events or news related to the environmental holiday were sure to find this related charity.

Even if digital fundraising isn’t your top choice, you can still create a sense of urgency in any of your other charity event ideas. For example, you can limit VIP gala ticket sales. Or offer to match the contributions of early bird event registrars for a short period of time.

3. Bowling for a cause

Bowling tournaments have been a charity event idea staple for decades. And for good reason.

Bowling is cost effective, family friendly, and highly accessible. Even the most rural of communities has at least one bowling lane within a reasonable distance. Plus, bowling is indoors, so weather won’t be an issue like with most other sports related charity events.

4. Cupcake contest

A riff on the normal bake off theme, a cupcake contest is sure to be a hit for anyone with a sweet tooth. Which includes most people. According to Mobile Cause, you’ll need the following to make your cupcake contest a hit:

• Several teams of bakers
• A panel of judges (we recommend using event sponsors)
• An event ticketing platform
• A venue with kitchen space

You can even get the audience involved by offering them the chance to vote. If you don’t have enough cupcakes to go around, make sure to include other concession options for guests. You can even auction off the winning recipe to the highest bidder!

5. Themed pub crawl

The great thing about themed pub crawls is that they can involve any theme, activity, or location that you want. To pull it all together, pick a theme related to your charity, choose a starting point, then map out the event. Groups of 10 or more adults can sign up for bonus activities like mini golf or buy fun extras like event t-shirts and raffle tickets.

Themed pub crawls give you lots of opportunities to be creative. If you’re interested in the concept of a pub crawl but don’t want to limit your attendance to adults only, you still have options.

For example, if you’re raising money for a wellness brand, why not host a beauty crawl in an area filled with nail salons, blowout bars, and juice shops? Participants can receive complimentary services like mini hair styling sessions or an event-themed smoothie.

Fundraising Events for College Clubs

Are you looking for some fun, yet cheap, ideas your college group might use for a fundraiser? While you can try all the typical ideas like calling or texting people to ask for funs or doing a drive, there are additional ways that you might try to raise money for a cause.

Carnival Games

Games like ring toss, balloon pop, and ping pong ball shoots are fun for all ages. They can also be a cheap way to make money. All you need is a small space and a few small prizes, and you can get some fun carnival games going. Post some flyers and social media announcements about your games and wait for them to earn you some money. It’s a fun and cheap way for you to draw in people and get some cash for the cause.

Bike for Bucks

Having people sponsor you to do something is a great way to earn some much-needed funds for a charity or cause. While walking or running events are all over the board, you can try biking for bucks. You can make it even more challenging by having people sponsor you to bike across states or other fun challenges.

Love Rocks

You’ve probably heard of paper hearts, but what about having people donate money for love rocks. You might decorate a bunch of love rocks they can get for a donation or create a love rock garden. Allow people to donate to decorate the rocks and put them into the garden. Not only is it a great way to earn cash, but an art piece as well. This can be a great event around holidays like Christmas or Valentine’s Day.

Envelope Auction

Envelope auctions are going to take a bit of leg work. Why? Because you need to find items that you can auction off that fit in an envelope, so it’s great to ask local businesses around you to provide vouchers and such for your fundraiser. You can also make it interesting by having one wanted envelope item and all the others filled with decorated hearts or original art. It becomes a contest as people start to bid on the different envelopes.

Karaoke Night

People love a party. Therefore, you can typically get college students to pay a small donation for a karaoke night. All you need for this event is a karaoke machine and people ready to have a good time. You can even add a competitive edge to your fundraiser by making it a singing contest. The winner can get a small prize which only adds to the fun.

Dodgeball Tournament

For this fundraiser, all you need is a ball and an open area. To earn money, you can either charge an entry fee or have each player try to get sponsorships for their team. Then it’s all about a little bit of dodgeball fun!

Costume Party

Costume galas are big for fundraisers. And they earn a lot of money. However, you don’t have to have the typical black-tie event. Instead, you can have a superhero costume party or anime party. A comic party could also be a big hit, especially if you add fun extras like a costume contest. While parties can get pricey, you can charge a small fee and have people bring a dish to pass or get vendors to donate for your event.

5 Different Types of Fundraising Methods

There are many ways to raise money to support charitable efforts, but there is also a lot of competition for donor dollars. Choosing the right methods and strategies is an important key to effectively raising money.

1. Grant Writing

Grants are a major source of funding for nonprofit organizations. Securing grant funding involves identifying opportunities through grant giving foundations and other organization, then writing and submitting effective grant proposals.

There are many types of grants, including programs for rural nonprofits, the arts, educational initiatives, environmental protection, and much more. Review examples of successful grant proposals to help you get started.

2. Product Sales

Many organizations require on product sale fundraisers to raise money. This method involves identifying products that can be sold at a profit, with the proceeds going to the organization. Selected items are sold by members, volunteers, or the organization itself.

Ideas include food items like baked goods or doughnuts, coupon books, stadium seats, holiday decor like Christmas tree ornaments or wreaths, apparel, and many other options available through fundraising companies.

3. Corporate Partnerships

Establishing corporate partnerships can be a major source of fundraising for nonprofit organizations. With so many organizations emphasizing social responsibility, you may find that companies are willing to sponsor or underwrite your organization’s programs or events, especially if your group’s efforts align with the company’s mission or values.

Corporate partnerships also often include matching gift arrangements, with the company matching any dollars donated by their employees with an equivalent donation. Corporations that partner with nonprofits also sometimes lend their employees or executives to nonprofits to help raise money or serve as volunteers.

4. Special Events

Special events can be a major source of funds for nonprofit organizations. The events themselves bring in money, and can also attract the attention of individuals who many donate additional funds or volunteer their time and talents to the organization.

There are many kinds of special events, including galas, cook-offs, sporting events, charity auctions, and more. There are many ideas for special event fundraising. It’s important to choose an event that will attract attendees and follow best practices for marketing a charity event.

5. Website/App Donation Page

Every nonprofit should have a donation page on their website and mobile app that provides an easy way for prospective donors to contribute online. When people visit your website or app, chances are that they have an interest in your organization and the cause(s) that it supports.

Having a “click to donate” link on each page that goes directly to a page where people can contribute makes it easy for website visitors to chip in while your organization is on their mind. Of course, your website and app should also have information about your organization’s services and mission and information on how to get involved as a volunteer.

How to Raise Money for a Personal Cause

Often, the most effective method to raise funds quickly is to ask for help from the community. First, figure out a way to accept gifts, either at a bank, credit union, or a website like PayPal.

Then, spread the word about the person’s or family’s need. Start with their own networks of relatives, co-workers, neighbors, and other acquaintances. People are more likely to give if they have some form of relationship with the people in need.

You’ve probably heard or seen news reports, articles, or webpages that ask for donations to help pay a person’s medical bills or to help a family recover after a disaster. Likewise, write a letter or press release and ask local media if they will share it with their audiences.

If you use social media sites, ask your friends to support and then share your request for help with their own networks.

Perhaps you could organize a fundraiser or a collection drive for essential goods, like food, clothing, diapers and food for babies, etc.

You could also help them find local charities and agencies. In the U.S., dialing 211 will connect you to a free directory and referral service in most areas to find human/social service organizations near you, some of which may be able to provide temporary financial and other forms of assistance.

A community’s collective response can provide powerful and immediate support to people in need while they search for, apply, and wait for other benefits or forms of aid. These types of fundraisers usually happen without any kind of connection to a nonprofit or charity; thus, the gifts are not tax-deductible for the donors.

Fundraiser Job Description

Fundraisers coordinate functions for the purpose of raising funds for organizations. They organize events, design marketing, and promotional materials, and recruit sponsors.

The fundraiser’s responsibilities include developing fundraising programs, recruiting sponsors and volunteers, and encouraging support through promotional activities. You should also develop and maintain professional relationships.

To be successful as a fundraiser, you should demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills, plus strong leadership qualities. Ultimately, a top-notch fundraiser should be able to perform under pressure, possessing exceptional organizational and presentation skills.

Fundraiser Responsibilities:

• Researching potential sponsors.
• Writing funding proposals and sending these to potential sponsors.
• Creating marketing and promotional activities.
• Developing fundraising events.
• Maintaining records of sponsors.
• Organizing campaigns that will lead to donations.
• Training volunteers.

Managing Fund Raising Risk

Fundraising can be a risky business and so it is important for fundraisers and trustees to be aware of these and take action to mitigate them. So what are the key risks and what can be done about them?

1. Lack of a fundraising strategy – (so that fundraising is conducted ad hoc with no real targeting of investment in the most promising areas). The answer here is to develop a costed fundraising strategy, linked to your organizational business plan.

2. Over reliance on a few income sources – (such as too much funding from statutory sources). The answer to this is diversification, which can take time but is usually possible and make your organization more sustainable.

3. High staff turnover – This can be very damaging for your income, as new staff take time to learn about the organization and possibly to develop their skills. Departing staff can also take their contacts with them. If your organization is affected, find out why people are leaving and seek to win greater loyalty – it will pay for itself in the long run. If you have an effective fundraiser, try to keep them at all costs.

4. Compliance issues – In recent years especially, data protection has been a major hygiene factor for fundraising charities, so it is imperative to have someone who understands your obligations in handling personal data. GDPR is here to say, regardless of Brexit.

5. Data loss – If you rely on a database of donors and funders, is this regularly backed up and have you tested retrieving it recently? How would you cope if you lost all your data? Would your organization survive? Don’t take risks with your data!

6. Accounting problems – If your accounts show a recent deficit or high reserves, this can limit your support from institutional funders, such as trusts, the National Lottery and statutory funders. If there are such issues in your accounts, have you explained and justified them? It may well be possible to overcome them, if you get it right.

7. High fundraising costs – Are you aware of the benchmark ratios of return for the different fundraising techniques? If so, how does your charity compare? If you have unusually high costs, some funders and donors will spot this and you will miss out. It may be worth having this reviewed by an expert, so talk to us if you are concerned.

8. Bad publicity – Not directly a fundraising issue, but it will hit your income if your image is tarnished in the media (think Oxfam and its sexual abuse scandal). So is your organization prepared for the worst and able to react quickly to deal with bad news?

9. Growing competition – There is not much you can do about competitor risk except to make sure you are staying ahead of the game. E.g. are you up to speed with new developments in digital fundraising?

10. Lack of a fundraising culture – Some charities miss out on valuable income because the management and trustees take no interest in fundraising and delegate it all to the fundraising staff. This attitude risks missing out on opportunities, particularly in corporate, trust and major donor fundraising. So try to foster a climate where everyone takes responsibility for representing your organization externally and for helping bring in the funds. This takes support from the top, so try to make friends with your trustees if you can and engage them in fundraising.

What Are the Most Profitable Fundraisers?

The most successful nonprofit organizations get creative when it comes to fundraising. Today, more and more nonprofits are looking for creative fundraising campaigns to keep people engaged with their organization to raise awareness and money.

Here are some of the most profitable.

1. T-shirt fundraising

T-shirt fundraisers are a great option for nonprofits because of all the benefits and flexibility they offer you compared to other options. Planning and organizing a fundraising event can take up your time, especially if you’re planning a large event.

It can take time away from other tasks you’re responsible for, and it may or may not raise the money you need. Why take that kind of risk and time investment when there’s a safer and easier fundraising option that can have a huge return in profits for you?

Launching a t-shirt fundraiser on Bonfire solves all these problems. You can set up and launch a fundraising campaign in just 5 minutes, and it’s easy to share and promote your campaign page with your supporters through social media.

Plus, they send all of your supporters their shirts for you, and they’ll send you all of the profits. What really makes t-shirt fundraisers great for nonprofits is that it’s totally free to use Bonfire to host your fundraiser.  And, people are more likely to donate when they receive something tangible in return.

2. Scavenger hunt

The scavenger hunt is a classic fundraising idea for nonprofits. It creates a fun and engaging day of running around town to find everything on your pre-determined list. You can do the traditional method of having participants find and collect each item. Or, you could put a modern twist on your scavenger hunt and have your participants take a picture on their phones with each item.

3. Willy Wonka golden ticket

Don’t worry if you don’t have a connection to your local chocolate factory, anyone can find success with the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket fundraising idea.

First, find a spectacular prize to offer the winner – a paid vacation, cruise, VIP concert tickets, weekend getaway are all great ideas that will catch peoples attention. See if any local businesses will help sponsor this gift.

Next, sell chocolate bars or some sort of candies. One of these candies will contain the golden ticket hidden inside. If you choose to have two or three prizes,  make sure the tickets are carefully spread out among all of the candy bars you’re selling so one person doesn’t get two golden tickets. Plus, making it harder to find the ticket will help increase sales of the candy bars.

Promote the golden ticket fundraiser all over social media. Let people know how many are left, or even hint that this specific picture of candy bars you just posted on Facebook contains a ticket. People will flock to you to buy those candy bars faster than you can hand them out.

4. Shave-a-thon

A shave-a-thon is a creative way to get participants to raise money for your nonprofit by pledging to shave their heads, or, over-grown facial hair.

5. Host a dance marathon

This creative peer-to-peer fundraising idea challenges participants to dance as long they can. The more people donate money for a specific person, the longer they have to dance. If a dancer starts to feel tired, they can stop by making a donation to your nonprofit.

How Can I Fundraise Without Selling Anything?

1. Crowdfunding

One of the most popular fundraising methods today is crowdfunding, thanks to the power of the internet. Crowdfunding is when you simply ask for financial contributions for a specific project or cause on the internet, normally through crowdfunding websites like GoFundMe and JustGiving.

This is a popular and successful tactic because the internet allows us to reach thousands of people quickly and efficiently, and it’s even possible for us to target people who might specifically be interested in the cause we’re fundraising for.

Crowdfunding is therefore a great way to make a large amount of money, and fast. If several thousand people just give a pound or two, you already have a sizeable donation. The key with this method is to write a convincing and informative page explaining what the fundraiser is for, and how it’s going to be beneficial.

You can learn more about this fundraising method in our open step by the University of York, Crowdfunding and community, where they discuss the different kinds of crowdfunding and what it can be used for.

2. Host a fundraising event

This is a popular fundraising tactic and can be effective for many different purposes, including personal and community projects. This is because people can enjoy a fundraising event even if they’re not specifically involved or interested in your cause.

You will need some money, volunteers and great organizational skills to pull off hosting an event, but it can be incredibly fun and rewarding. It can also leave you with plenty of donation money for your chosen cause.

There are so many options for hosting a fundraiser. If you know several musicians or bands, a fundraising concert could be a great idea, or a booksale could be effective if you have lots of old books and want to keep the costs down more.

If you want to get even more creative, you might consider setting up an art show, where people in your community can donate a piece of their art. You could sell tickets to the art show, and even sell the art pieces and donate the profits. Or, you could hold a local food festival, where volunteers or restaurants cook dishes and sell them to attendees. 

As you might imagine, events like these can be a great fundraising tactic and a perfect way to bring your community together.

3. Community classes

This idea relies on finding some empathetic and talented volunteers to help you out, but if your cause is a good one, it might not be too difficult! Especially if you have any friends or family who could get involved.

Essentially, you get people from your community to volunteer and teach something that they’re an expert in. This could include anything including dance, painting, coding and gardening. If they’re a professional, this could even be a good way for them to advertise their business, but if they’re not, it could still be a fun opportunity. 

People attending the classes will pay a fee, but this fee will go into the fundraising pot and end up being donated to your chosen cause or project. Often, people are more willing to invest in themselves and learn something new rather than invest in a product that they may not use.

4. Build an email campaign or write letters

If you’re not so interested in event organising but you’re good with words, you might be interested in trying your hand at building an email campaign. This may not work so well if your purpose is to fund a personal project, but it has a good chance of raising money for a charity or something similar. 

If you like the idea of approaching people through your writing, but you don’t have time or the necessity to set up a full email campaign, why not try writing letters? This could work well if you’re approaching a smaller amount of people in the community. Additionally, the more personal touch could work in your favour and help you achieve more donations.

5. Hold a discussion

If you feel really passionate about the cause you’re raising money for, holding a discussion can not only be a great way to encourage donations but a way to encourage empathy and understanding. You can even host a panel discussion, where you can contact some local experts or educators who want to get involved.

This is a fairly low-cost event, and the main thing you need to do is find an event space (a library or community hall could work), inform the local community that it’s taking place, and prepare for the discussion. 

Best Online Fundraising Platforms for Charities

Online fundraising platforms offer a convenient way to collect gifts and support meaningful projects. But, these days, there are so many fundraising sites to choose from. It can be challenging to know which one will provide the best functionality for your needs – and the best experience for your donors. Below are the best platforms:

• Donorbox
• Gofundme
• OneCause
• Handbid
• Bonfire
• Fundly
• Soapbox Engage
• 99Pledges
• Mightycause

Fundraising Crash Course

While the exact details of every nonprofit’s fundraising plans will be different, this crash course will explore a few strategies that can apply to almost every situation. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Reflect on last year’s fundraising plan

If you had a fundraising plan last year, begin by assessing how well you followed it. Gather data from your fundraising software and other available sources, such as donor feedback surveys, past budgets, or even interviews with staff members.

By analyzing your past fundraising plan, you can identify where you succeeded and what could be improved on. When looking at your data, ask yourself these questions:

• How much did you raise last year? List your fundraising activities and their outcomes.
• What were your biggest successes? Look at where you made an impact and the accomplishments you’re proud of. 
• What were your biggest challenges? Reflect on what didn’t go as planned or where you want to focus more attention, time, or resources. This could be specific improvements to ongoing initiatives, like meeting with prospective major donors more frequently, or entirely new goals, such as launching a recurring giving program.

By reflecting on your past fundraising plan, you’ll be able to build on your old strategies and create targeted goals for this year.

Step 2: Identify existing resources.

What do you have now that can help your fundraising? Be realistic about resources in terms of availability and limitations.  Most organizations will start this process by taking a look at their:

• Budget. How much does your nonprofit have to spend on fundraising? Are there restrictions you have to consider, such as grant stipulations, bequests, and donations given to specific campaigns? 
• Staff. Consider your staff’s time and expertise when planning your fundraising strategy. If you want to launch a new fundraising program, do you have the staff on hand to run it? Will you need to recruit volunteers or invest in training opportunities? 
• Technology. What technology does your nonprofit currently have and are you in need of an upgrade? Assess if your current platforms are still scaling with your efforts or if it’s time to invest in a new software solution. 

By taking inventory of your current resources, you’ll be able to build a fundraising plan based on tangible assests and constraints. This will make your goals more realistic and ensure all of your resources are leveraged to maximum effect. 

Step 3: List activities to attract, renew, and upgrade donors.

Make a list of activities that will help grow your individual giving programs. Think about activities that will help with: 

• Donor acquisition. To expand, your nonprofit will need to recruit new donors. To attract new donors, try launching a new marketing strategy, expanding to different marketing channels, hosting a peer-to-peer campaign, partnering with other organizations, and hosting events that are open to your local community. 
• Donor retention. It’s far more cost effective to retain your current donors than replace them with new ones. You can retain your donors through activities such as personalizing communication, collecting and implementing donor feedback, and suggesting options to make recurring giving easy.
• Upgrading current donors. Each of your donors will increase in value over time, but only if you ask them to consider increasing their donation amount. Activities that can help you upgrade your current donors include creating a membership program, starting a planned giving program, conducting prospect research, and generally improving the donor experience.  

While you may focus more heavily on one of these aspects to align with your current goals, ensure you account for all three in your fundraising plan. After all, new donors are far more worthwhile if you retain them, and retained donors are at their most valuable when you take steps to upgrade them. 

Step 4: Create goals for each fundraising plan activity.

After analyzing where your nonprofit currently is fundraising-wise, it’s time to establish some solid goals. Here are a few components to consider when setting new goals:

• Dollars raised. What is your total annual fundraising? Base this year’s goal on your total raised last year. 
• New donors. How many total donors do you have? Compared to last year, how many do you think you can practically attain this year?
• Recurring gifts. Has your nonprofit developed a recurring gift program? What can you do to get more donors enrolled in it?
• Board participation. How much has your board contributed to hitting your donation and supporter acquisition goals? What can you do to encourage them to do more?

The great thing about this process is that it gets everyone on the same page about your priorities and ensures they understand potential impacts if you change course or don’t reach a goal.

Step 5: Identify fundraising plan focus areas.

After establishing your goals, determine what specific activities you can take to accomplish them. When implementing any new activity or program, consider how it fits into your overarching strategy.

For example, if you want to recruit new donors, you may decide to expand your online outreach. This goal can be broken down even further into specific online activities.  You might focus on launching a peer-to-peer campaign or participating in #GivingTuesday. If you’re just getting started in online giving, making your donation pages mobile-friendly and branded should definitely top your list.

Step 6: Put your fundraising plan on the calendar.

A fundraising plan feels a lot more doable when you map out the work over time. Set deadlines—think of them as mileposts where you can gauge your success. Use whatever tool works best for you: paper calendar, Excel spreadsheet, an online tool that syncs with other things, or a downloadable template.

Start with existing commitments—events, board meetings, grant deadlines, staff vacations—and put them in the calendar. Knowing you want to get something done that you can share at the July board meeting can be a great motivator. Or, if you see that the end of April is crazy, you’ll be able to balance your schedule ahead of time.

Write in your monthly and seasonal focus areas. Maybe March is when you target new monthly donors, and fall is busy with #GivingTuesday and year-end planning. While this calendar may change as new challenges and opportunities arrive, having a roadmap will keep you on track all year long. 

Step 7: Set yourself up for success.

Identify what helped you do well in the past. By reviewing last year’s fundraising plan, you should understand what strategies and practices work best for your nonprofit. Even with new goals, many of these strategies will likely still appeal to your supporters, help keep your team motivated, and ensure your resources are being used wisely. 

Here are a few strategies nonprofits often implement to ensure they stay on track and fulfill their fundraising plan:

• Create an accountability system. To ensure everyone follows through with their tasks, determine how you will assign specific projects and check in on them. For example, you may partner up team members or use your project management tool to assign each task to a specific person. 
• Block out time for high priority tasks. Determine your highest priority tasks and set aside time to see them through to completion. For example, you might create a specific time dedicated to calling donors and checking in with major giving prospects. 
• Hold regular team check-ins. Meeting with staff will provide opportunities to ensure everyone is on track, share information, and make plans to unblock anyone who may be stuck on a project. 

When your team does succeed, make sure to let them know and celebrate. If your team falls short, take the time to assess what could have been done better and make a concrete plan for how you’ll approach that goal in the future. 

Virtual Fundraising Ideas

While fundraising in the nonprofit sector has been shifting toward the virtual realm for a long time, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social distancing regulations drastically sped up the process of moving engagement online. Nonprofits, therefore, had to adjust their strategies incredibly quickly to adhere to these changes.

Below are few ideas you can explore.

eCards

Card fundraisers are a great way to engage supporters to give to your organization. Between an attractive photo or design and a thoughtful message, cards help supporters feel connected to your nonprofit, especially if they’re sent by someone they know and love. Plus, supporters are more likely to hold on to particularly beautiful cards than regular fundraising letters, which will remind them of your organization. 

However, traditional cards and mail are slow processes, and printing physical cards can quickly become expensive. With eCards, you can send creative, artfully designed virtual cards straight to your supporters. Encourage your supporters to buy cards to send to their family and friends for holidays, birthdays, or to spread the word about your fundraiser. 

T-Shirt Fundraising

While many nonprofits consider t-shirt fundraising to be a primarily in-person fundraising activity, it can be an incredibly effective online fundraising strategy as well. Using a t-shirt fundraising website, you can easily design and sell your custom t-shirts to your supporters for any special occasion or awareness campaign.

At the end of the campaign, you collect the profits, and your supporters get their new custom shirts! Plus, you can pair your online t-shirt campaign with other virtual fundraising ideas like virtual 5Ks and peer-to-peer events.

If you’re unfamiliar with t-shirt fundraising for nonprofits, we recommend using a platform that has low donation fees, no upfront costs, and lets you keep 100% of the profits from your t-shirt sales. This way, your organization takes on zero risks when you launch a campaign!

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a completely virtual fundraising idea that leverages the connections your supporters have with their friends and family in order to raise funds. Here’s how it works:

1. You create the main fundraising page explaining the campaign.
2. Supporters also create their own personalized fundraising pages to raise funds on behalf of your organization.
3. You can coach supporters through fundraising, teaching them how to best reach out to friends, family, and new supporters.
4. New supporters donate to the fundraiser.
5. Your organization follows up with the new supporters, offering additional ways for them to continue getting involved.

This is another virtual fundraising campaign that can be easily combined with other opportunities, usually leading up to events.

Virtual 5K

Nonprofits have been hosting 5K events for years. However, traditional events don’t allow for much social distancing. Therefore, many organizations have started hosting virtual alternatives, allowing supporters to run their own course, record their time and submit it to the host organization.

When you host this virtual fundraising event, you have several opportunities to raise funds. The first is that you can collect registration fees from your attendees. You can also sell race merchandise and other promotional goodies, or include the swag as a part of the registration fee.

Make sure to provide specific instructions for supporters to record and submit their times. If they need a specific app or technology to track their pace, make sure the process for obtaining and using the software is clear.

Matching Gifts

Matching gifts are donations contributed by companies in support of their employees’ gifts to a charitable cause. For instance, a company may agree to match any donation over $25 that one of their employees makes to an eligible nonprofit.

These gifts provide an often untapped fundraising potential for nonprofits. While many individuals are eligible for these gifts, they’re often unaware of that eligibility, leaving the additional funds on the table.

Promote matching gift opportunities to your supporters and encourage them to research their eligibility for the programs.

Cheap Fundraising Ideas

1. Change drive to drive change

Every penny counts, so start collecting those coins with a change drive. Gather volunteers to decorate donation jars; then, distribute them at local businesses, asking shop owners to encourage customers to donate their change. You’d be surprised how quickly a few quarters can add up!

2. Spend-nothing challenge

This fundraiser saves you money and doesn’t cost your supporters an extra cent—technically speaking. Ask your supporters to spend no money for one whole day. That means no grande soy lattes, no grocery runs, and no artisanal bath salts (it’s hard, we know). Instead, ask them to give whatever they would have spent to your organization. Gamify the experience by issuing a double-or-nothing challenge: if they do spend money, they donate double that amount to your cause!

3. Pet rock adoption

Once, they were all the rage. Now, they’ve been forgotten. Well, no more! Gather a bunch of rocks. Write up a little adoption card for each one with their name and interests. Hold an adoption event. If any rocks don’t get adopted, please, please don’t send them to a farm upstate.

4. Li’l Sebastian impersonator

Remember the Harvest Festival in Parks and Rec? Yeah, those were the days. Hosting your own Harvest Fest would cost a pretty penny, but you can capture the magic by hiring a tiny horse to woo your donors. If he’s lucky enough to look like Pawnee’s prized pony, Li’l Sebastian, your investment will pay off big.

5. Puppy kissing booth

For a donation, lucky folks get to smear some organic PB on their face and let adorable doggos lick them. You can include a kitten cameo, but make sure everyone signs a waiver first—sometimes, a scratch is a lot like love. 

6. Singles swap

Though technically setting singles up makes for cheap and easy fundraisers. We meant a clothing swap, but everyone only brings their single pieces of clothing—a lonely sock, a solitary boot, or a solo glove. “Why?” you ask. The right question is “Why not?”

7. Chick naming contest

Adopt some chicks (you can get the boys for free, and if you don’t know why, we’re not explaining it to you #childhoodtrauma) and host a fundraising contest to name them. Winners get to take home their li’l Chicken McBuckfaces. 

Crack the Funding Code

Crack the Funding Code demystifies the world of angel investing, venture capital, and corporate funding and lays out a strategic pathway for any entrepreneur to secure funding fast.

Lack of funding is one of the biggest reasons small businesses fail. In 2016 in the United States alone, more than 31 percent of small business owners reported that they could not access adequate capital, and the lack of capital prevented them from growing the business/expanding operations, increasing inventory, or financing increased sales.

Most business owners believe that their only feasible funding options are (1) savings or personal credit, (2) friends and family or (3) bank loans. They may have heard about venture capitalists or angel investors, but they don’t have enough information about what these investors do, what they can provide for a business, and on what terms. What’s worse, entrepreneurs often don’t know how to access the people who are looking to put their money into young companies with potential.

Finally, business owners don’t have enough expertise to navigate the treacherous waters of outside funding. Many small companies don’t believe they are the type of company that gets funded. Even when business owners are brave enough to look for the right outside investors, they don’t know how to create the compelling pitches or how to structure the deals that will get them the funding to expand and grow.

Crack the Funding Code will show readers how to find the money, create pitches that attract investors, and then structure fair, ethical deals that will bring them new sources of outside capital and invaluable professional advice. It will give readers the broader perspective—how funding works, how investors think, and what they need to hear to put their money where your mouth is.

Every entrepreneur who reads this book will get easy-to-follow deal checklists, a roadmap of where and how to locate the best funding resources and top business mentors for their particular industry and/or geographical location, and a step-by-step process to create pitches that make their idea or business irresistible.

4 Ways to Improve Your Fundraising Efforts

Plan well in advance: Planning is the key and that’s why do not wait till your project comes to an end. Start planning at least a year in advance, so that you have enough time to submit application to various donors. As different donors have a funding cycle, you will not want to miss any opportunity and therefore keep enough time.

Read Also: Dropshipping

You can engage team members in the fundraising exercise and allocate responsibilities for taking up different roles for example; some one can conduct donor research, while the other can develop proposals. Planning ensures that you don’t miss any deadline and all correspondence with the donor is done on a timely and proficient manner.

Diversify your donors: Well if you are still stuck with traditional donors, it high time you diversify your donors. There are several new donor mechanisms in place viz. virtual funding platforms, crowd funding, CSR, individuals etc. Keep an eye on such funding windows as there is a huge potential to get funds from them. This will surely help you in engaging with multiple donors thereby enhancing your chances of funding.

Share your success and impact stories with donors: Donors like to know how you have utilized their money, therefore share with them impact stories. Sharing information motivates them to support your cause in the long run. You can let the donors know that their money is being used to improve lives and with their continued support can bring about a positive change in the society.

With the growing use of internet globally, you should also strengthen your online fundraising efforts. Here are a few quick tips that can enhance online donations for your work.

Go mobile: As more and more people use smart phones, the use of laptops and desktops will reduce considerably for internet search. In such a scenario it is advisable that you make your website mobile friendly. This way you can reach that group of donors who are active on their mobile phones all day long. Besides Google search is also configured to prefer mobile friendly pages and apps.

Make sure to have a donate button visible all across the website: When you start online fundraising it is important that you add a donate button and place it appropriately on the page. You should make it visible to the people who visit your webpage so that they can easily locate it and donate an amount towards your cause. Make sure that button stands out this can be done by either making it bright, colorful or bold.

Some organizations also integrate the donate button on all pages of the website, this is done so that the visitor can hit the donate button anytime while navigating through your website. Develop a page that has a strong story/ case which would compel the donors to support your cause.

Share your impact stories on your webpage and monthly newsletter: You can attract more donors by regularly updating your website. Many organizations also send monthly updates to all their donors stating the new events and activities undertaken for a particular cause. This helps you to stay connected with your donors.

Provide donors options: While making your donation page, make sure to provide donors with multiple options to support your cause. These options can be in the form of ways to support your cause like: in kind donation, volunteer support etc.. or you can provide giving amount options example : 5$, 10$, 50$ etc..

This would ensure that interested donors not only provide money but also get associated with your organization for a long period. Research also reveals that giving amount options leads to improved donation.