FastTrack Fundraising Tips and Articles

You have found yourself in a scenario where you or your organization is holding a fundraiser to solicit donations so that your operations can be kept afloat or a special goal needs to be met. In this situation you will have to be creative and dedicated as to how you approach fundraising and that eventually translates into failure or success in the end. How about we use a sample such as soliciting monetary donations in your fundraiser. This asks potential donors to give either small or large sums of money to help you cause. Either way, the event has to be attractive and appear worthwhile to donors. Here are some tips to achieve an attractive and successful fundraiser.

-Be extremely organized as to what your fundraiser is aiming for and how you aim to achieve a specific goal. Share this information with potential donors as it familiarizes them better with your cause and how they can help, providing they agree that your cause is worthwhile.

-In the case of accepting money donations, figure out if you want to only accept set amounts or allow donors to choose what amount to give. Both scenarios have their advantages and disadvantages, some of which may be obvious.

-Consider hiring a professional fundraising service to run your event. Services can be had that are well organized by experts and possibly more successful than fundraisers held by those who are inexperienced in the field. You will need to decide whether or not you can factor in the cost of hiring a professional service will cut into your funds too much, or if even at a risk, it could result in a more successful fundraiser.

-Advertise as much as possible. Get the word out about your event to all of your contacts and ask them to pass along the word to theirs as well. Write up a press release designed to have reporters mention your event on the news and internet.

-Always be extremely courteous, understanding, and gratuitous with donors. Do not force them into them or make them uncomfortable in any way, and thank them for their time even if they decide against donating. Making a good impression is always going to work in your favor in the long run.

As you can see, there are several ways to approach fundraising. By following these tips you just may find that fundraising is fun, easy and the best bet in having your goals reached.

When you run a not for profit organization or other type of firm that needs funds raised by methods other than retail sales or other types of financial transactions, chances are you will be involved in the world of fundraising. A fundraiser is often time a fun event and one that is very important for you because it provides potential donors with a specific moment and cause for which to donate funds to you. Also, when it comes to money, you need to be highly organized and make sure that the event does not become too difficult for you to handle and that the funds being raised surpasses the cost of the event itself. For this, you need good book keeping and below are four tips to help you achieve in this area.

-Unless you are soliciting donations of which the amount is freely chosen by the donor, come up with a specific donation amount that people can give. In this scenario your book keeping can be largely uniform and easy to comprehend. Also, inviting the opportunity for donors to choose their own amount can cause time wasted if they are giving too little and your costs are not met. The only downside to discouraging these types of donations is you might not receive a very large and generous sum that a person might otherwise give to your cause.

-Make sure that all necessary personal information is recorded from the person giving you a donation. Should their donation be ill conceived, a check they write bounce or another problem arise, you need to know exactly who is giving you what and how to be able to keep track of them should a legal problem arise. Lack of information and documentation could spell disaster in some cases like this.

-Monitor your donations and costs being invested into the event very often, such as once a day or two times a week. Staying on top of the cash flow can alert you to any problems that arise such as costs not being met, funds being lost if you are renting a space or paying for professional fundraisers in a situation where you are not getting sufficient donations. These types of situations going unchecked can not only fail your fundraising efforts but also put you into financial ruin which should never be the outcome of a fundraising effort.

-Use good computer software to do the book keeping for you. While some information input will always be required from you or an employee, the computer software can do much of the mathematical work behind book keeping that we might sometimes make a mistake on or otherwise skew without realizing it. Also make sure book keeping information is backed up onto a remote hard drive in case your computer system goes down and the initial information is lost. You can also print out reports just to be safe.

So you see, good book keeping is key when having a fundraiser. Never risk your funds raised by an accident resulting from bad record keeping!

If you run a not for profit organization or a type of business or other firm that could use some funds raised, then you need to consider fundraising. This is a fun and sometimes highly successful way of raising funds while often time also offering something beneficial to those who donate to your cause. Here are ten tips for getting the word out on your fundraising event.

-Get the word out early. The more people you reach and earlier you do it, but not too early, the better chance you will have of getting a better amount of donations.

-Be specific in your publicity. Tell potential donors what it is you stand for, what it is you need and how they would benefit from donating to your cause.

-Consider writing up a news release. This is a formal letter explaining your event that reporters can cover on television, the radio, in print publications or on news websites.

-Word of mouth is very important. Tell as many people as you can verbally about your fundraising event and also ask that they tell as many of their friends and family members as possible. If your fundraising event seems worthy to them, chances are you can get a very promising turn out this way.

-Type up and print a flyer advertising your event. Bring a copy to your local photo copy center and have several hundred printed up. This is a largely inexpensive way for you to manually post and pass out these notices in your local community.

-Form a mailing campaign. Take your photo copy flyer idea and mail them to local home owners, businesses and other recipients who you feel would be interested in your event. Make sure you can afford to budget this in to your fundraising project.

-Start an email campaign. Instead of the costly method of sending flyers via snail mail, you can also email all of your internet contacts with a copy of the flyer. In this case also ask recipients to forward the email to their contacts and thousands of people can be reached this way.

-Appear in public. If you are running the event, check with local authorities first and then set up a table in public so you can inform local passers by about your event before it happens.

-Hire someone else to appear in public or another person who is helping out with the event.

-Create a funny or silly slogan advertising your cause. It will get people talking and possibly even lead them to information on your fundraising efforts.

Clearly there are many different ways in which you can inform potential donors about your fundraising event. If you approach it with a little creativity and lots of energy, you have the potential of reaching thousands of people and translating that into thousands of dollars of donated funds. If you need the funds, why not try all of the above methods to see which if not all work for you? There is not much to lose by trying.

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.

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

The purpose of these notes is to serve as a guide to anyone planning a casino party fundraiser event. There are certain points listed that might not be applicable to your event. However, we have attempted to address the typical scenarios an organizer will likely encounter.

Table of Contents
1. Goal
2. Revenues
3. Expenses
4. Determining Ticket Price
5. It will be all right on the night if…

1. Goal

Generally when asked the question, “How much money would you like to raise at this event?” most hosts realize that they haven’t given it enough thought. Having a realistic goal of how much money you would like to raise is the key starting point. It should determine the price of your entrance fee and the limit of your expenses.

Decide how much money you would like to make from this event.
Draft a statement of your proposed Revenue and Expenses.

Obviously the key is to maximize your revenue and minimize your expenses. As fundamental as this concept is, most organizations disregard it when running one of these events.
Continue Reading…

We asked an expert for his top 10 tips on the nuances of email marketing for nonprofits and ways to increase conversion rates. One simple change he made lifted response 66%. Nonprofit organizations have different relationships with their members than businesses do with their customers. Those differences need to carry over into their email programs.“Part of the whole overall fundraising program is realizing that your newsletter that’s keeping people aware of your activities is really fundraising. Nobody will consider it that, but it really is the cultivation side of a fundraising program, not just asking for money once a month,” says Jeff Herrity, Internet fundraising professional.

When your list is ready for an appeal — or a donation request — Herrity follows a long list of best practices he has developed over the years for clients, including Amnesty International and the American Red Cross.

Here are his top 10 tips for putting together an email fundraising campaign:

The Email Itself

-> Tip #1. Put your request in the subject line

Continue Reading…

The face of fundraising has changed drastically since its conception. During the late 19^th/early 20^th century, the fundraising process required organizations, even widely recognized ones such as the YMCA and United Way, to rely on prosperous business leaders within the neighborhood to help support their cause. When fundraising, individuals representing these organizations were left with no other choice but to meet with respectable members of the community and ask for donations, a very straight forward method that is no longer considered an acceptable procedure as it once was. Continue Reading…

When people think about fundraising ideas, they tend to think in dollar amounts. Most fundraisers focus on earning money for the short term and completely disregard the long term. This is where the idea of donor loyalty comes in. Any non profit organization or charitable cause depends on their donations to fund their efforts. Donor loyalty can play a key factor in this. Continue Reading…

Fundraising is an essential process for any organization that wishes to promote their worthwhile cause to the general public. By fundraising, not only are you making others aware of the goals you are trying to accomplish; you are also increasing your chances of attracting potential donors who share your sentiments and want nothing more than to support you in your efforts. One, however, must be realistic throughout this entire process and acknowledge the fact that although some individuals will gladly offer donations, there are many more who are not willing to do so. Continue Reading…