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Fundraising is, without a doubt, extremely challenging work. For any of
you with experience in this line of work, you will understand what I
mean. For the rest of you, go out and volunteer your time with a local
non-profit organization. After that, I think you will understand. While
this can be a challenging profession, it continues to be quite
rewarding in many respects. This article was drafted with the new
fundraising coordinator in mind. So listen up, kids!
There are four major forms of fundraising. When one mentions
fundraising to the average person, the image of a well-meaning person
going door-to-door begging for support immediately comes to mind. While
most of us have been there at some point or other, there is a lot more
to this business than meets the eye. And yes, my friends, this is a
business. We are in the business of managing relationships;
relationships which, more often than not, are the key determining
factor for success.
The first major form of fundraising is dealing with institutional
grantors. These organizations are often the most difficult to deal
with, due to the inherent bureaucratic nature of these types of
organizations. On the other hand, grants and endowments from these
organizations can often amount to incredible sums of money. For this
reason alone, they should not be dismissed. You may have to invest a
lot of time and energy into convincing these institutional
organizations into supporting your particular cause, and this where the
business of managing relationships comes into play. A single grant from
one of these groups could secure the future of your non-profit
activities.
The next significant form of fundraising is the promotion of special
events and product sales. While this area could potentially include
thousands of ideas, there is a central theme between them all. What is
the donor getting in exchange for their donation? These types of
fundraisers are labor intensive, and require a lot of detailed
planning. In the case of event planning, spend the majority of your
time on ticket sales. While you may want to obsess over every little
event detail, it won't really matter if people do not show up.
Direct marketing is another one of the major fundraising types. This
approach includes direct mailings, telemarketing, paid advertising,
public service announcements, and door-to-door canvassing. Direct
marketing can be extremely effective, as it affords your organization
the ability to reach out to a vast number of potential donors. In this
area, it is crucially important to have a reliable donor list. There is
no point spending resources trying to ask individuals or organizations
for donations, if they are not connected with your cause in some way.
Be sure that your direct marketing efforts are highly targeted, and you
will undoubtedly achieve the desired results.
Last, but not least, we explore the idea of approaching individual
donors. This approach is very similar to that of institutional donors,
but it is geared towards well-to-do individuals. Individual donors can
contribute to your cause in a number of different ways. One area that
is common to individual donors is the planned gift. In simple terms,
this refers to the choice of an individual to leave a portion of their
estate or life insurance policy to your organization. Approaching
individual donors should be left to your more experienced team members.
As we mentioned before, fundraising is the business of managing
relationships. A mentor once told me that "80% of your money should
come from 20% of your donors". Wise words, indeed! |