If you organization needs certain major contribution from a specific local business, then the best way to approach this is to write a proposal. Here are some tips on how to write a practical but attractive fundraising proposal:

1. Briefly introduce your organization and what it does to benefit the community. Focus on the nature and significance of your initiatives and achievements in recent years.
2. Clearly state what kind of contribution you are seeking from the local business. This can be a specific amount of financial assistance, a particular type of technology-oriented or knowledge-based help, discounts in purchasing goods and services from the local business, or donations of prizes to your forthcoming fundraising events (such as trivia nights).
3. Explain the benefits such contribution will produce for your organization. What will your orgnaization achieve in general with the valuable support from this local business? And what specific tasks do you intend to complete, using the money or other kinds of assistance received from the business?
4. Explain the benefits such contribution will produce for the local business. Start by mentioning how wonderful it is to be able to contribute to the community. Then specifically emphasize on the benefits your organization is able to offer this business in terms of profile.

In your proposal, you can include public relations materials such as pamphlets, newsletters and website links. Remember, being creative is crucial, as local businesses often receive lots of requests for assistance from all kinds of community organizations.

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.

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

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

First off, be direct, Herrity says. Don’t shy away from asking for a donation in the subject line. Subscribers to a nonprofit’s email newsletter expect this.

Herrity tested subject lines for a client’s appeal:
- The direct subject line said “Donate to Feed a Child Today.”
- The indirect subject line said “Learn About this Organization.”

The indirect subject line had a 21% open rate, but only a 4% response rate. The direct subject line had an 18% open rate and an 18% response rate.

“If your goal of this email is to get money, put it in the subject line. You’re going to get a little bit lower [open rate], but you’re going to get more donations,” Herrity says. “Don’t try to be all clever with your wording knowing that someone is going to feel kind of bait and switched or guilty once they realize they’ve opened an email and it’s a hungry kid staring at them.”

-> Tip #2. Keep the email copy short

“Copy length always played a factor in [response]. With fundraising copy, you don’t want a 10-page email that someone has to read. That’s fine when you’re sending somebody a letter at home that they’re going to sit down and read, but on email it’s really got to be two or three paragraphs,” Herrity says.

Herrity has tested copy length and found that the longer copy got an 18% response rate while the shorter copy got a 30% response rate. “Shorter copy always won. I mean, we’re talking two paragraphs, a couple of links and a P.S.”

-> Tip #3. Keep the copy simple

With only a few paragraphs to work with, it’s important to keep the email’s copy simple.

A possible layout:
o Header – Company banner
o Paragraph 1 – State the problem your organization fights
o Link to provide a donation
o Paragraph 2 – State what your organization does to fight the problem
o Paragraph 3 – Examples of where the money will go, such as short testimonials.
o Link to provide a donation
o Closing statement and signature
o P.S. with final statement and another link to donate
o Footer with navigation links and a button to donate

Check the hotlinks below for one of Herrity’s appeal emails.

-> Tip #4. Keep links separate, simple

The first donation link in the email’s text should stand alone in its own paragraph. It should not be embedded in the copy. When done this way, Herrity says, the first link usually generates the highest number of clickthroughs and donations.

“Every time I’ve done [a] stand-alone link, it works better than a graphic or even that ‘Donate Now’ button. In this one email, what I call ‘text-link one’ had 33 donations, whereas the actual donate button only had 18.” The email had 129 total donations.

The second best performing link for Herrity was a stand-alone text link at the bottom of the email, which received 22 donations. The link’s text should be simple and direct:
o “Please make an online donation today here”
o “Please help today”

With a direct subject line, “you know that people are opening the email with the intention to give, so just ask them for it,” says Herrity.

-> Tip #5. Follow-up email with a new subject line

“You’re going to get the majority of your responses in the first couple days. I think in the case of nonprofits, you’ve got about a five-day window of where you’re going to see responses,” Herrity says.

After your initial responses have tapered off, send a follow-up email with a different subject line to those who did not open it the first time. You can also target those who opened the email but did not donate by testing layout, length, copy and other components.

The Landing Page

-> Tip #1. Don’t clutter landing page

By opening an email and clicking through, a member has expressed interest in making a donation. Don’t clutter up the landing page with copy. Further convincing is probably unnecessary at this point.

To continue the simpleness of the landing page, place the donation form directly on the page. It should maintain a look and feel that’s similar to the email.

-> Tip #2. Keep landing page copy short

You don’t need to clutter up the landing page with extra copy. “Thank you for making your donation to help Henry eat for a week,” is enough, Herrity says.

“We tested landing pages that were just longer versions of the email. And we also tested just sending [members] directly to a donation page that had a little bit of copy that just kind of summarized what the email was for. Generally, the landing page — in the case of donations and fundraising — is really just a barrier to getting a higher conversion rate.”

Thanking Your Donors

-> Tip #1. Use thank-you emails

Donors are the lifeblood of a nonprofit organization. Show them your appreciation and you’re more likely to make a one-time donor a long-term member. One way to do this is by sending a series of thank-you emails.

“Some organizations I work with, they’ll do it once a month. It’s kind of a cultivational program. Every month, we send out a ‘thank you’ to someone who had donated online and it’s [based on a specific appeal]. So, they’re more used to seeing emails that aren’t always ‘give us money.’ You’re making them a more loyal customer just by thanking [them] and letting them know what their money has done,” says Herrity.

-> Tip #2. Keep the thank-you email simple

Like your appeal, follow similar guidelines with the thank-you email and keep it simple.

“‘Dear Adam, thank you for your recent gift of $50. We just wanted to thank you and wanted to let you know that your money is going to help put food on little Henry’s table for the next three months. Thank you again for your support.’ That’s all it has to be,” Herrity says. “It’s closing the loop, as opposed to where people just think, ‘Oh, well, that autoresponder that the donation processing system kicks out is fine.’ Well, it’s not. It’s a receipt. Do you go home and study your receipts when you go shopping? No.”

Another point: say thank you in the subject line. The open rates for these were always 70%, he says.

-> Tip #3. Use standard ‘make a donation’ link in the footer

Some organizations have a standard header and footer for all emails sent to members. When the footer included a “make a donation” link, Herrity noticed that thank-you emails generated even more donations.

“It was never our intent. We’d see in that footer, which was a standard footer, we would see a second gift. Not a huge percentage, but 10%, 15% of people who received the thank you would give again,” Herrity says.
Useful links related to this article

Parts of a nonprofit email described:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/nonprofitemail/study.
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Past Sherpa article – New Data: 6 Actions to Lift Open, Clickthrough Rates:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30169

Redboots Digital Marketing:
http://www.redbootsconsulting.com

Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30272

You have to give if you want to get

No one gives away money without getting something in return.
With the exception of small premiums like address stickers, donors don’t get anything
they can hold in their hands to show where their money went. But they do get something back or they wouldn’t donate. What they get is emotional, and sometimes it’s something they can’t even name. A host of emotions come into play when a person writes a check to a charity. They include guilt, pride, fear, love, and gratitude – to name just a few. As a writer, it’s your job to tap into those emotions and give your donors the satisfaction they crave.

Here are just a few of the reasons someone might choose to support your particular cause:

• To be recognized for their generosity
• To feel important
• To be associated with someone important
• To get back at the corrupt or unjust
• To support or oppose a political viewpoint
• To validate their own moral or ethical values
• To fulfill a sense of duty
• To share their love (for animals, children, nature, the elderly, etc.)
• To ease their guilt over a past transgression – or over being successful.
• Most people will mention the tax benefits, and yes, giving to a registered non-profit does carry benefits. But remember there are plenty of causes to choose from. They won’t choose YOUR particular cause for that reason.

Let your donors feel like they’re part of the solution

Everyone has their own reason, but I believe that one of the strongest reasons why people give is to feel as if they’re a vital part of the good work being done. They may not have the time to do hands-on help, but by offering financial aid they participate. Thus the message for you is a writer is to make sure that you let your donors know that they make the work possible. And if there’s any way for you to show them the positive
results of that work, DO IT!

Show your good results

Letters about doom and gloom make people feel depressed. Avoid them. Instead write letters showing that there was a bad situation, but because of their kind support, you were able to bring about a happy ending. Paint a verbal picture so that your donors can “see” what you’ve done and what you will do in the future. Then remind them that many more happy endings are needed and that their continued support will ensure that they happen. (And it doesn’t matter if they’ve supported you before … write as if they have.) Take the time to dig out a success story and show that their dollars make a difference.

Don’t just say you need support… show them what you will DO with their support. Be specific, even if you only touch on a small segment of your work. The next thing I’ll tell you may be difficult for you… but do it anyway.

ASK for the money.

Did you know that some people give only because they were asked? Psychology is a strange thing. You would think that if you wrote a long letter about your work and how much money it takes to carry on, people would know that they need to help. Not so… if you don’t ask, most won’t give.

So, swallow your pride and your reluctance to “beg.” Remember that the money isn’t for you… it’s for the good work that you’re doing. I know how difficult this is, because when it comes to asking in person I am the world’s worst fund raiser. I always feel like I’m asking for myself, because I only work for causes I support wholeheartedly. That’s why I restrict my asking to the written word.

Don’t beat around the bush or hint that you need their help. Come right out and say “Please send your donation of $25 (or $5 – or $100) today so that we can continue to ….”

Don’t let people off the hook by failing to ask.

People even need you to suggest giving amounts. You should include a reply device with a “giving string” showing a small number up to a larger number. (The numbers will depend upon your audience and your cause.) Let them know that even a small donation matters, but they need to send something.

If you have a special need at the moment, say so. Say “Please send your donation today so that we can **** by ****.” Create a bit of urgency by letting them know that the money is desperately needed by a certain date in order to meet a specific need. Lastly, include a return envelope. You don’t need to add postage… in fact you shouldn’t…but do include the envelope and a reply device (a device that re-states their reason for
giving.) People are busy… if you don’t make it easy to respond they’ll lay your letter aside for later and probably never get back to it.

Remember… Americans are a generous lot. They love to give… they feel good when they give… and it’s your job to help them feel good by supporting your favorite cause. Go for it!