FastTrack Fundraising Tips and Articles

5 Tips for Successful Fundraising

Whether you are a private business, entrepreneurial individual or more importantly a non for profit organization, chances are you have come across a dilemma where you need to raise cash. Typically referred to as fundraising, this involves some clever and usually foolproof methods of raising the money you need to either supplement a weak cash flow or come up with a set amount of money needed for a worthy cause.

So, providing you have found yourself in a situation where you need to raise funds or simply want to try it out casually, definitely consider fundraising. If you are in this type of situation, here are five tips to get you started:

- Write out a plan mapping out exactly what you need to raise funds for, how much, and think of a reasonable time table in which you can raise the money without struggle. Without these three basic points, your fundraising event will likely be unorganized and you may come out with unwanted results. As part of this, also put into effect a plan to vigorously monitor and record what funds you do raise during the event.

- At this point, decide what type of fundraising you want to do. Some people will sell candy like chocolate as this is a very popular treat and sells well, which translates into great fundraising. There are also other ways to raise cash easily so do some research on the internet for example and see what others are doing.

- Do some more research and see if it is legal to publicly solicit donations or sales in the manner in which you have chosen. You do not want to risk getting fined as this will counteract your fundraising efforts!

- Once you have figured out all of the previous specifics, think about how feasible it will be to do the fundraising yourself. There are actually organizations and businesses out there, as well as individuals who make it their business to provide a professional fundraising service for you. In other words, they do the work and you get the funds. Just make sure that you can afford these services while still being able to raise sufficient funds.

- Providing all of these steps are followed carefully and you or your professional fundraising aide have come up with a fool proof plan, your fundraiser should also be fool proof and provide you with the needed funds as required. Always be sure to thank customers or donors along the way as this may even result in them contributing to your effort even further, like a repeat customer might do in a welcoming retail setting.

In conclusion, practically anything that deals with raising money can have difficulties associated with it. The level of professionalism and creativity that you and or your hired help bring to the fundraising table will decide whether the event is successful or not. By staying positive and upbeat, this will also help and give you a better chance of having a successful fundraising event.

Do you have a cause for which you need to raise funds? While some solicit donations, have auctions, or sell goods to raise funds, one excellent and popular way to do this is to sell chocolate. There are companies who sell chocolate specifically prepared for these kinds of sales. Sometimes you can even have special wrappers printed up advertising your cause which will remind the customer or donor of the good deed they’ve done by donating. If you think about it, selling chocolate is perhaps one of the easiest ways of raising money and for obvious reasons. Without further adieu, here are some steps for fundraising with chocolate:

1. Seek out a company that sells chocolate for fundraising. Try searching online or asking around, especially people who work in schools or other not for profit institutions should have experience with fundraising and possibly selling chocolate.

2. Figure out what amount of time is needed to raise a set amount of funds. Order a logical amount, say 500 chocolate bars to sell in one month for example.

3. First, ask your family and friends to buy chocolate from you, this is almost always a source for quick and easy sales.

4. Research if it is legal to sell items such as chocolate for fundraising in public places in your location. Being fined for breaking any such law will only hurt your fundraising.

5. Research and look for good public locations with lots of foot or stopped car traffic in which you can sell large amounts of the chocolate. There is always power in numbers!

6. Also check with local store owners to see if they will let you sell in front of their shops because these are high traffic areas.

7. Always tell customers or donors that you highly appreciate their support and to tell their family and friends about your cause. This could mean more sales!

8. After your family and friends have finished their first chocolate bars, ask them to buy more!

9. Keep careful track of how much money you are raising and in what timeframe.

10. Providing you have sold most or all of the chocolate within the time frame of when you need to raise funds, consider your efforts successful and your customers happy not only for donating to your cause, but also for having bought enjoyable chocolate!

By all means conceivable, the beautiful thing about chocolate is that it is a popular treat and people buy it all the time. If they know they can buy chocolate while supporting a worthwhile cause, this not only diverts them from purchasing store bought chocolate but may also make them feel more generous and wind up buying more chocolate from you than they normally would. Also, chocolate is quickly eaten and this is a perfect scenario for you to sell to repeat customers, often more than twice in some cases. If you follow the above steps and plan carefully, successful fundraising by selling chocolate is almost always attainable. There are rarely any reasons not to employ this method of fundraising.

If you are in need of raising money for a cause or other worthwhile endeavor, there are many methods you can pursue to do this. Some raise funds by having sales, others solicit donations. Most of these methods can be classified as fundraising, the common term for any way in which someone raises money for a cause. Those who contribute to your cause can do so in several ways, usually according to how you have set up your way of fundraising. For instance, if you are specifically asking for donations, you will have to rely on individuals, businesses, or other organizations seeing it worthy to give you either an amount of money you establish as an appropriate donation or an amount that they see fit.

Fundraising is most commonly pursued by non profit organizations looking to raise money so that they can keep operating on the basis put forth in their mission statement or to simply keep on doing what they have promised to do in their own sector. Non profit organizations may also be charities, such as promoting humanitarian concerns, disaster relief, educational awards and scholarships, and so on and so forth. For an entity such as a non profit organization, it always helps if your fundraising campaign is concise in what you are asking people to donate money for, in other words, the simpler your mission is, the easier it may be for the general public to sympathize and contribute to your cause.

Not only non profit organizations practice fundraising. Capital and for profit enterprises sometimes use this term to refer to solicitation of investors and prospective customers who in one way or another will “raise funds” by patronizing a for profit enterprise. While this is true, as previously explained, fundraising is most commonly related to the operations of non profit organizations.

Either way, whether you are a non profit organization or a capital enterprise, it is quite obvious that your fundraising campaign be presented to the public or your target demographics of donors or investors so that you can be successful in raising funds. As said, your campaign will need to be simple and understandable, this is what reaches the most individuals, businesses, and other types of organizations.

In order to achieve successful fundraising, both types of entities may not rely on themselves to organize fundraisers. In fact, there are individuals and businesses out there that offer professional fundraising services. These services can vary by your needs and your type of organization, however in most cases, the fundraising services available can wholly encompass the full responsibilities behind organizing a fundraiser. Simply put, professional fundraisers can organize a fundraiser from beginning to end without you having to worry about doing it right, or worrying at all. As in any industry, professionals who are well received by the public are surely going to come out with acceptable if not astonishing results.

Indeed, if you are in need of raising money for a worthwhile cause, consider professional fundraising and you may reach your goal easily.

It may seem like you need to ask a gazillion people to donate to raise $1,000, but when you break it down, it really isn’t too bad.

1. Personally contribute $50 to your fund.  You should lead the way!
2. Ask two family members to each contribute $50.
3. Ask 10 friends to each contribute $20.
4. Ask five neighbors to each contribute $20.
5. Ask five co-workers to each contribute $20.
6. Ask 10 people from your faith-based organization to each contribute $10.
7. Ask your boss for a company contribution of $50 (better yet, find out if your company will match what you raise!).
8. Ask four businesses or companies that you deal with through work to contribute $50 per company.
9. Ask four businesses you frequent to personally contribute $25 (this is an easy one — ask your barber/hair stylist, dry cleaner or restaurant where you eat lunch every day).
10. You’re done!  Total Donations: $1,000!  Now remember to write personalized thank-you notes so that next time you ask for a donation, they remember the appreciation.

Asking for donations can always be daunting, but FastTrack Fundraising offers some easy and innovative ways to ask for donations.  You can check them out here: http://www.fasttrackfundraising.com/donation-fundraising.php