5 Fundraising Ideas for Non-Profit Organizations

Starting a new non-profit organization is exciting! But trying to find the best fundraising ideas for non profit organizations can be a difficult task.

The thing is, you are full of ideas on how to help change the world around you and make it a better place. You think about it night and day, and finally you put the wheels in motion and start out!

After filing the paperwork, finding board members, getting approved by the IRS, applying for tax exemption status, and everything else that you have to account for, you are left with a question….

Where do I get money?

There are a number of ways to raise donation money – but not every strategy works for every business!  Here are some of NPO Promote’s favorite methods:

1. Individual Contribution

Individual contributions to your business can be a fantastic benefit, and for many organizations it is the primary source of funding.  Whether you know someone and pitch them your organizations ideals or you call up people and ask them for donations, there are many benefits of getting individuals to contribute.

Benefits

• Per donation amount is usually very large.  Endowments and grants can potentially fund your organization for years!
• It’s hard to say no to someone one-on-one – especially the owner!  If you start doing the fundraising yourself you will find out that a higher percentage of people will contribute large amounts to you than people you employ (remember that when you higher professional fundraisers later)!
• Ask the contributor if they know anyone else that may be interested in helping.  Many times they will be happy to send you contacts that will also contribute, increasing your organization’s visibility and donation amounts.

Opportunities

• This is the most time consuming of all approaches.  You may spend weeks or months contacting leads, which may or may not donate.
• This requires true sales ability, and if you have a fear of rejection you will struggle in the beginning (it does get easier with practice though!)
• You need to be very prepared, including your sales pitch, information and pamphlets about your organization, and sometimes even your corporate structure and contacts to your board of directors (depending on the size of the donation).

Individual contribution can be a great strategy, but due to the time intensive nature, unless you get a very large donation immediately it’s important to diversify your donation strategy and use a few of the other methods listed here.

If you use professional fundraisers to drive your individual contributions, prepare to pay anywhere from 50-75% of the donation in commission if the individual is not a salaried part of your organization.  For average pay information on fundraising professionals, you can get great information here: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Industry=Fundraising/Salary

2. Special Events

Special events can include anything from bake sales and walks to marathons or car shows (and many, many more)!  There are many event co-ordinators out there that make raising donations with events their specialty.  There’s a lot that goes into these events, but there are lot of great benefits!

Benefits

• Special events include a large number of people and, if done right, will be a great memory for everyone involved
• They are a great way for your organization to put your logo on everything, raising awareness of your cause quickly!
• They pull people together, creating a feeling of community around your organization

Opportunities

• Event planning takes talented and committed individuals to make it successful
• The money raised also has to cover any costs incurred by the event
• The event many times depends on a number of factors, including weather, your message getting across, or even other events that may be held the same day

Special events can be an enormous success for businesses, but it is a gamble.  Even if you do everything just right, if no one attends you may have just spent a lot of money for nothing!  Average pay for event co-ordinators can be found here: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Event_Coordinator/Salary

3. Earned Income

One of the most interesting ways to earn additional funds is earned income, which is essentially making your business a brand that you can sell.  This can be anything from t-shirts and mugs to life-coaching seminars or any other business venture!  The sky is the limit on this, although it does come with a lot of risk! It’s not quite the same as other fundraising ideas for non-profit organizations.

Here are the benefits and opportunities:

Benefits

• You control the money coming in – if you find a great venture your organization can profit from it for years!
• The brand of your organization can be put on everything you sell, meaning that you’re not only selling, but you will get a percentage of people coming back year after year to donate!
• A great earned income venture will be more effective than any other donation method because of the double benefit!

Opportunities:

• You will be running a business, which requires a lot of work, time, and money.
• You could lose all of your money if the wrong venture is taken.
• Your tax-exempt status may be questioned if you grow your earned income too much, meaning that there’s a limit.

Earned income is a strategy for non-profit fundraising that cannot be overlooked.  Due to the complexities and many variations of businesses, the cost to start up this portion can range from hundreds to millions.

4. Online Advertising

There are a number of strategies to try for online advertising.  Before you begin with online advertising, there are few things you must have in order:

1. Your website be clearly laid out and friendly to visitors.

2. You have to decide your online advertising strategy (search engine optimization, online advertising, Google Adwords, Facebook advertising space)

3. Do market research on effective keywords that will drive traffic to your site and get your ads seen

4. Obtain the marketing

Online advertising has revolutionized fundraising – allowing small organizations to grow quickly based social media and ad space.

Benefits

• Millions of potential views of your advertisement
• If done correctly, your website traffic could be your primary source of donations
• This also helps you streamline your organizations goals, forcing you to choose the most effective way to get traffic to your site will help you be more efficient in asking for donations

Opportunities

• Can be time intensive and costly depending on your method
• No guarantee of return if ad space is purchased in advance
• May take months before you get recurring traffic

There are a number of resources online regarding online marketing.

For information on how to set up a Google AdWords campaign, click here: http://google.com/adwords

For more information on SEO, read this great article by Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/url-competition-seo/

For information on starting a Facebook advertising campaign, click here: http://www.facebook.com/advertising/

5. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing programs offer referral bonuses to internet marketers who refer traffic to you.  There are a number of ways to set up an effective affiliate marketing programs, including signing up for NPO Promote services.  Affiliate programs combine online marketing and the referral portion of individual contributions.

Benefits

• Internet marketers work for you, and can have readers in the thousands or millions of people
• You don’t pay for advertising unless you get a donation!
• Your ads get seen on a number of different sites very quickly, spreading the word about your organization quickly

Opportunities

• Setting up your own network requires a lot of work and maintenance
• Paying out your affiliates on time requires precise technical work and a reliable bank (known as a merchant account)
• You have to market to internet marketers

By working with NPO Promote, you will get all the benefits of an established affiliate network that you don’t have to set up, maintain, or attract internet marketers to!  We take care of all of this for you – and not for thousands, or even hundreds, of dollars!

You can get your non-profit listed for free in our marketplace.

We simply collect 6% of the donations we generate for you. There’s really nothing at all to lose (especially when you consider that most professional fundraisers charge 33%!)…

If you have any questions simply call us @ (414) – 939 – 4676.

Or if you’re interested in signing up with NPO Promote (for free!) right away, you can click below to apply:

Hopefully this post about fundraising ideas for non-profit organizations has opened your eyes to new ways of collecting donations.

We look forward to being a part of your new non profit fundraising and donation efforts!

- Tyler Colby, Co-Founder of NPO Promote