Last month I did a question on “Fundraising Ethics” and I got such great feedback that I thought I’d try it again (This question was submitted by reader Sarah Kaiser).
Question: What are some new event & fundraising ideas you’ve given volunteers or heard volunteers using?
Everyday we hear about another auction, luncheon, or gala dinner. I’ve attended countless golf tournaments and house parties. Those of you that work with schools have probably had more than your fair share of bake sale cookies. How many of you that work with businesses have received proceeds from a jeans day?
I know that sometimes I get tired of how repetitive some of these events can feel and I imagine that our donors occasionally feel the same way. So what can we do? Have you tried any new ideas that went really well? Have you run a creative event that had a number of new people? Tell us about it.
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Hi –
I suggest to anyone raising funds/or trying to raise funds to visit http://www.2Clickfundraising.com. It is a great site that gives you savings at hundreds of online stores and GIVES MONEY BACK TO YOUR CHARITY EVERYTIME YOU BUY! What? YES, that’s how it works. Check it out. http://www.2Clickfundraising.com. peace
Well, I may be a bit biased, but for the cost (FREE!), I’d spend at least 15 min. a day discovering what fundraising professionals world-wide have done and are currently doing by visiting SOFII- The Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration.
http://www.sofii.org/active%20site/What_is_SOFII.html
FirstGiving.com/ is a great resource for setting up personal fundraising pages. You can inspire your evangelicals to set up an event of their choosing (ie. bike ride, walk, video-game-a-thon etc. and then they have a personal page where friend, family and supporters can either join their event or donate to their cause of choice). This is still a new idea that we are milling around at United Cerebral Palsy, but it may be something that really gives the end user control to creatively raise awareness and funds for your organization.
They also have webinars quite often as well that discuss different tactics from mobilizing Web 2.0 to your evangelicals to fundraise for your cause.
I was looking on the net to find some new ideas for succesful fundraising? But i see no great ideas? Why? Is everyone scared in the US. In the Netherlands we are open about howe we do it, fact and figgers, response and roi. Look at http://www.sqzi.nl/voorbeelden/fondsenwerving/index.html Sorry it’s in Dutch but you get the felling of the idea
Eco friendly fundraisers are something a little different that seem to work really well. There are quite a few groups doing flower bulb fundraisers and reusable shopping bag fundraisers.
I think the way to start thinking up great ideas is to flip the process: think of something that your target audience is actually interested in and then find a way to raise funds from it. (Hint: the answer to this will never be “more pizza kits”)
Things I’ve seen: tons of creative sponsored events, “Skills Day”, parties with a twist (like “bring your dog to a black-tie ball”)
Bottomline, though: it depends on your audience