FastTrack Fundraising Tips and Articles

Financial trouble with Varsity Gold Fundraising causes office lock-out and change from chapter 11 filing to chapter 7 filing. 

Employees confirm that the office is no longer operating and reps are officially out of work after being on unpaid vacation. According to posts at the PTO Today website, court filings were changed from chapter 11 (re-organization) to chapter 7 (liquidation) and the office was locked down (confirmed by Tim Sullivan founder, PTO Today link). 

Court documents show heavy debts that will remain unpaid to vendors and reps but the cause of the bankruptcy was leveraging Varsity Gold to invest in failed business opportunities. From their website they explain “The reason we are in (bankruptcy) has nothing to do with our fundamental business; rather, it was the result of investments in businesses unrelated to Varsity Gold.”

(Complete article @ http://believejay.blogspot.com/)

FastTrack Fundraising would like to offer it’s discount card fundraiser to any affected groups and sales reps.  Please contact us, and we will help to the best of our ability.

Having planned ahead your fundraising initiatives and aims, found the volunteers you need and prepared all your team members for the forthcoming events, it is now time to take concrete action to achieve your collective goal. Some people think that saying is one thing while doing is another. However, this writer would argue that when doing, one should never forget what has been said.

As Joel Barker, the famous “paradigm man”, suggests: “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” Here are some tips on how you can match actions with original plans:

• Trust your team members. As you have allocated various tasks to those who can handle them and arranged to have one’s weakness compensated by another’s strength, it is now time for them to do their work. Give them some personal and professional space. Help them when necessary, but do not hassle them.
• Focus on the present. When facing one task, do it well, without worrying too much about what has been and will be done. Do not hesitate to ask for help. If mistakes occur, correct them as soon as possible and move on. As Dale Carnegie stresses: “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage.”
• Count your milestones. Depending on how long your fundraising campaign goes, meet with your team members weekly or monthly to discuss your progress. Setting up key dates is a great way to review what has been completed. Reward all efforts and inspire your team members for what still needs to be done.

Because fundraising as a public event requires input from everyone in your team, keep in mind that both vision and action need to be shared. Take one step at a time.

Package your sunflowers into a Sunflower gram for extra value! Mothers will love that personal touch.

Things You’ll Need:

• Vase (optional)
• Mother’s day card or note
• 3-4 sunflowers for a bouquet, 1 sunflower for a single gram

Instructions

Step 1:

After ordering and receiving your sunflower fundraiser, select sunflowers that are able to hold their heads up with ease. Sunflowers have very heavy blooms, and older flowers will begin to droop on the stalk. You want to find those that stand tall and firm on their stems.

Step 2:

For  a single gram, take one flower and tie with a ribbon near the head of the flower, to create an impressive and cheery Mother’s Day gift.

For a bouquet, simply use three or four flowers.

Step 3 (optional):

Choose a tall, slim vase in which to package your gift of sunflowers if you would rather not sell them in a hand-held bouquet. Sunflowers are very top heavy, so make sure any vases you buy can hold the flowers steady (the water in the vase will help to stabilize it somewhat).

Step 4:

Attach a card that mentions the sunfloewrs with a ribbon to the stem on the bottom of the bouquet or the flower head. You can create a variety of card messages that supporters can choose from.  Sell each sunflower gram for $4.00 or a bouquet for $10.00.

Please remember that for Calendar year 501 tax-exempt organizations, the due date to file the following returns/reports is May 15!

990, 990PF, 990EZ and 990 Postcard
RRF-1
Annual Statements

Like all public affairs, fundraising events require careful and thorough planning. From deciding on specific fundraisers to finding volunteers, from collecting and distributing the products to managing excessive stock, a wide range of issues should be considered. Each and every one of them needs to be discussed and approved by the majority, if not all, of committee members, before relevant actions can be successfully taken.

Simply put, planning ahead enables us to complete our tasks quickly and effectively. Here are some suggestions on how to conduct good planning:

• Start early. Plan ahead by gathering resources and categorizing them according to your needs, identifying channels through which you can find volunteers, and helping your team members know each other.
• No idea is bad idea. It is always useful for everyone to sit down and brainstorm. Because each of your team members has his or her unique views, experiences and contacts, together you can do great wonders.
• Always have the end in mind. Establish achievable goals and concrete plans to achieve them. Keep everyone informed of all steps completed and yet to be taken. The more specific you are about your goals, the more focused you tend to be.
• Know your limits. Stay calm and positive even when problems occur. Understand that no matter how capable each of your team members is, he or she is not Superman or Wonder Woman. People do and often make mistakes.
• Put fun back into fundraising. Include a kick-off gathering at the beginning of your plan and a celebration party in the end. Make sure that everybody is invited and all efforts are rewarded.

Remember, planning ahead does not mean that you should have everything done beforehand. It simply means that you need to prepare your team for whatever is coming.

In the previous article are some tips on how to be a good leader for your fundraising committee. Indeed, the ultimate reason for any leader to exist is to encourage teamwork and mutual respect among his or her team members, so that the whole team can function as one. A leader should inspire and unite, not to do all the work.

For each and every member of your fundraising committee, here are some suggestions on how to enhance teamwork:

• Know your staff and stuff. Set an achievable goal for your upcoming fundraising event and explain to everybody the steps required to achieve it. Specify the tasks involved and allocate responsibilities to those who can handle them. Compensate one’s weakness with another’s strength.
• Set and make known your priorities. Thoroughly discuss with your team members the resources your organization already possesses and what extras need to be gained through the fundraising event. The majority, if not all, of your team members should agree on how to manage the event.
• Uphold honesty and transparency. Establish the consensus that no information should be withheld from any and all of your team members, and that all procedures and results need to be assessed by the whole fundraising committee. Any conflict is to be handled quickly and without favoritism.
• Share duties and credits. Within a team, no one should clearly stand out to take all the glory or be the scapegoat. While the leader has, and should have, a representative voice in public, he or she needs to always recognize and support the collective efforts of all fundraising committee members.

Remember, for any fundraising committee to succeed, teamwork is as important as, if not more critical than, leadership. Only a united, balanced and hardworking team is capable of achieving its goal.

This is the first of a series of six articles that explore the significance of fundraising committee management. In any organization, setting up a fundraising committee is the key to raising funds effectively. There is nothing more inspiring and rewarding than working with a group of like-minded people to achieve your goal.

For your committee to succeed in organizing a wide range of fundraising activities, leadership is of ultimate importance. Here are some tips on how to be an excellent committee leader:

• Be communicative. Print out the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of your committee members, and distribute a copy to everybody. Keep your team informed with all progress. Ensure that you are always available for people’s inquiries and requests for help.
• Be open-minded. Avoid favoring some people over the others. Know the capacities of your committee members and strive to put their strengths and talents to good use. When conflicts arise, listen carefully to all sides before making a decision. Solve any problem as soon as possible.
• Be transparent. Make available all fundraising plans, results and previously learned lessons and encourage brainstorming among your committee members. Discuss with your team before setting priorities. Review your planning documents often and ensure that all inputs are well considered.
• Be part of your team. Put first the interests of your team. Work as hard as – if not harder than – your committee members. Be a role model by maintaining a good balance between work and life. Share with your team all successful and not-so-successful fundraising outcomes.

The secret of being a good leader is to listen and share, and to give the others what you would like them to give you. By operating your fundraising committee well, you are already halfway there to achieving successful fundraising results.

In the previous article are some tips on how to organize a successful trivia night. In this article, some basic issues are explained in order to help you get everything under control:

• Venue: The venue chosen for your trivia night as a special fundraising event should be easily accessible for most people, with sufficient parking and located near public transport. The venue should have music facilities, microphones, and plenty of tables, chairs and stationary. A tally board is a great idea for everyone to see how the participating teams are doing.
• Food and drink: Finger foods such as wedges, sandwiches and spring rolls are ideal for a trivia night. Light alcohol and soft drink can be supplied by the venue, while participants can bring their own wine.
• Prizes: Try to have these donated by local businesses, both to establish good relationships with members of your local community and to maximize the profits gathered from the trivia night. The prizes do not have to be extravagant.
• Mastermind and Quiz Master: The Mastermind is the person who prepares the questions, while the Quiz Master as the host or hostess of the night is responsible for reading the questions, adding up the scores and keeping the crowds entertained. Previous experience is not required for either position. However, the Mastermind should be able to present both general and novelty questions, while the Quiz Master needs to have plenty of energy, quick wit and friendly banter.
• Judge: To ease the burden of the Quiz Master, there can be a Judge who is responsible for determining the best answers, keeping the scores and displaying them on the tally board.

In short, getting the basics right helps you organize a successful trivia night. Why not put some serious fun back into fundraising?

A trivia night is great as a special fundraising event. As people are inquisitive and competitive by nature, the winner of the night is awarded the title “Master of the Trivia”. Meanwhile, all the participants get to have hours of fun in a relaxing yet exciting environment.

Here are some tips on how to organize a successful trivia night:

• Invite people to participate. You will need between five and ten groups, each with four to ten people. Publicize the location, time frame and entry fees of the trivia night, as well as the kinds of food and drink that either will be provided or need to be brought along by the participants. As individuals generally work better with people they know, it is recommended that participants register as a group.
• For a trivia night that lasts up to four hours, you need six to seven rounds of ten questions. Each round can have a well-liked theme such as popular music, famous movies, general history, superheros or sports stars. Within each round, try to mix up general and novelty questions. Alternatively, you can have six rounds of general questions and a final round of novelty ones.
• Between rounds, arrange some games or physical activities for teams to win extra points. For example, each team can send a representative to compete in Karaoke, Twister or Music Chair. Games are fun and can produce a lot of laughter, and a bottle of champagne can be given to the winner.

Whether you are raising funds for your school, church, charity or community group, a trivia night is a great opportunity for individuals from all backgrounds to join each other in a friendly test of general knowledge. More tips on how to organize a trivia night are provided in the next article.

The foundation of successful fundraising events is frequent and direct communications among all members of your organization’s fundraising team. The better connected and informed you are, the better it is for your fundraising initiatives in the long term.

Traditionally we have used meetings in person and telephone calls to communicate with each other. While these remain effective ways to exchange news, launch discussions and debates and provide feedback, people in their busy lives now prefer receiving and digesting information in their own time. This is why certain networking technologies have become extremely popular.

SMS text messaging via mobile phones is perhaps the most popular and convenient way of staying in touch with your fundraising team members. Questions and comments are quickly typed out and sent, and replies are instantly given. As most people carry their mobile phones but only answer incoming calls at their earliest convenient time, it is a non-intrusive way to keep constant contact with your team members.

Email is another handy way in which not only messages but also relevant documents may be sent to your fundraising team members. All you need to do is to set up an email list so that one message can be instantly dispatched to many accounts via a click of the mouse.

Finally, many social networking websites are free for all to use. They allow you to create individual groups and invite other members to join. Within each group, participants can upload photos and post messages to share ideas and opinions.

In short, the key to operating a happy and motivated fundraising team is to keep all team members well informed. By utilizing networking technologies such as mobile phone, email and social networking website, everyone can remain updated with relevant fundraising information on their own terms and at their own paces.