This article was written by Kari Kiel, Marketing at DoJiggy.
Fundraising is an important part of any nonprofit’s business plan. But with so many different kinds of fundraising campaigns, how does your nonprofit decide which is right for your organization?
To start, take a look at your mission. What is your organization trying to accomplish? What message are you trying to communicate? This can direct you in choosing an appropriate fundraising campaign that mirrors your vision while raising money for your cause. Once you’ve examined your org’s values, it’s time to start brainstorming!
Below, we share 10 of our top fundraising ideas for nonprofits. Let us know which you decide to use in a comment below!
1. Walk-a-thon
One of our favorite nonprofit fundraisers is a walk-a-thon. With a walkathon fundraiser, each participant is tasked with bringing in donations via peer-to-peer fundraising. They create a personal fundraising page where they upload pictures, goal statements, and collect donations by sharing their site with family and friends. This type of crowdfunding fundraiser has a great potential to reach a wide audience, as you have an entire group of people raising funds for your cause!
2. Online Charity Auction
Another great event that really works for any nonprofit is an online charity auction.
Not only do charity auctions have tremendous fundraising potential, but they are relatively easy to plan, especially when using charity auction software. Easily create a charity auction website where you can list all auction items (photos, descriptions, value, etc). Bidders can easily register, place bids and even select “buy now” on certain items. They can track items they’ve bid on and easily pay for all at the close of the auction.
3. Charity Golf Tournament
Many nonprofits host charity golf tournaments as a way to raise a large amount of fundraising dollars and gain recognition in the community. A charity golf tournament can attract large sponsors if promoted properly. Bring on a celebrity golfer and offer ‘Hole in One’ contests to entice more golfers to register and gain interest from media. Charity golf tournaments can be easily managed using golf tournament software, where golfers can register for the event and administrators can schedule team pairings, manage sponsorships, and more.
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4. Online Donation Drive
Although this seems like a simple solution, it’s often a good one. Plan an online donation drive. Make it something that your employees and donors expect year after year. Get people excited about the event by tracking fundraising progress by teams or departments and offering prizes. Create an overarching company goal where if you raise a certain amount, employees get to dress casual for a week or get out of work early on Friday. Make it easy to donate by providing safe and secure credit card processing via your donation website (See Dojiggy Merchant Services). Send email blasts with a direct link to your site and be sure to share on social channels.
5. Affinity Fundraising
Build an affinity fundraising group to help you raise funds and spread awareness for your cause. An “affinity” is a group of people who have something in common with each other. These people are often passionate about your cause, and may be flattered that you have given them a leadership role to help make a difference.
Affinity groups often grow virally, with members inviting new people who share the group’s common interest to join, therefore multiplying your organizational efforts. This is not only a great way to raise funds for your current fundraiser, but also it’s an awesome way to start growing your potential database of donors and supporters.
6. Host a Community Event: i.e. Carnival
If your nonprofit has the manpower to produce a community fundraising event, this could be a great option. Just note that community fundraising events do take a great deal of planning, but the reward is often worth it. Plan an event such as a carnival or street party. Approach local businesses to sponsor the event. Offer food and beverage and merchandise for sale. Perhaps bring on game vendors – such as bouncy houses, giant slides, fun games, etc.
All sales should share a percentage of profits with your cause. Invite popular local bands to perform, helping to draw in a large audience and tap into their followers. Invite radio stations to come and broadcast live from your event.
7. Raffle Fundraising
Raffle fundraising can be a very successful way for nonprofits to raise funds. Make sure the prizes are relevant to your audience and exciting. One of the best things about raffles is that the costs are minimal, as most of the prizes will be donated. Another new idea that follows recent online fundraising trends is to host an online fundraising raffle.
Post information about the prizes and provide an easy way for people to purchase tickets online. You can direct people to your raffle website simply by sending a link in an email or posting via your social media channels. Many people prefer to purchase raffle tickets over making a straight donation as they always have a chance to win.
8. Host a Gala Fundraising Event
A gala event can be an excellent way for your nonprofit to raise money while targeting your exclusive high-level donors and VIPs. Think of a creative theme in-line with your mission, and plan an event that will create an exciting environment for your guests in addition to accomplishing your financial goals. Bringing sponsors on board can minimize costs of hosting the event.
Providing entertainment or hiring celebrities can make your gala event a VIP spectacle that people do not want to miss, and allow you to charge a high ticket price. To make registrations and donations easy, create a fundraising website where you can share information about the charity, details of the event, and easily allow people to register or make online donations.
9. Hire a Professional Speaker
Bring in a well-known speaker that will draw a crowd while educating people about the importance of your cause. You can charge an admission fee, or offer a free event and then choose to raise money by selling raffle tickets, asking for donations at the event, etc. Not only will this fundraiser help educate people about your cause, but it gives your organization a lot of credibility for partnering with an expert.
10. Educational Fundraising
If your nonprofit’s mission supports education, then perhaps an educational fundraiser is the perfect fit for you. Partner with a school and create a meaningful fundraiser such as a Grade-A-Thon, where students pledge “grades” for support. Donors agree to pay a certain amount for each “A” grade they earn. If children raise a certain amount of funds they are awarded with a prize) Perhaps the proceeds could be split between the nonprofit and the school (as schools are always interested in raising money to help fund their programs). This gives students an incentive to do well in school, while raising money for your charity and the school.
In Summary:
Regardless of the chosen fundraiser, remember that causes take off when you go online. By using fundraising software like DoJiggy, you are able to spread more awareness for your cause and offer a safe and easy way for people to make online donations. And don’t ignore the importance of crowdfunding! By encouraging employees, supporters, and partners to help you spread the word by tapping into their personal networks you are able to tap into a much larger pool of potential supporters.
I’ve put together a new GUIDE that’s packed with science-backed nonprofit fundraising methods, resources, strategies, and killer marketing methods.
You should check it out if you want to get more donations and you want to fast-track the entire process.
This is a guest post by: Kari Kiel, Marketing at DoJiggy.
Kari manages marketing and partner relations for DoJiggy, provider of affordable, easy to use online fundraising software solutions for non-profit and community organizations.
She has more than fifteen years’ experience in event management (including nonprofit fundraising events) and integrated online marketing campaigns.
