We will update this post from time to time to add other new and useful resources as they pop up. Enjoy!

Feel free to add your own favorite non-profit resources in the comments below.

In no particular order:

Non-profit marketing resources

* Amy Neumann offers marketing and PR services at Good Plus Tech, contributes on Forbes and The Huffington Post and is author of “Uplifting Quotes on Gratitude and Goodness to Show Appreciation.” Follow her at CharityIdeas on Twitter for inspirations and practical tips.

* For non-profit marketing training, consulting and a whole lot of free information, click over to Kivi Leroux Miller’s NonprofitMarketingGuide.com and check out all the free e-books and webinars offered. You need to register for a free account to receive them.

* Top fundraiser and non-profit consultant Mazarine Treys is the author of several books for non-profits, including “Wild Woman Fundraising.” Sign up for her emails at WildWomanFundraising.com and learn from someone who’s been there and done that! If you’ve been thinking about a career in fundraising, this blog is for you.

* Joe Waters at SelfishGiving.com describes cause marketing as a partnership between a nonprofit and a for-profit for mutual profit. “He gives small nonprofits and businesses the tools and skills they need to execute win-win partnerships to help good causes and boost the bottom-line.”

* Katya Andresen at NonprofitMarketingBlog.com is the chief operating officer at Network for Good and author of “Robin Hood Marketing.” With her experience in marketing and the the non-profit world you can expect well rounded information from current events, social media and marketing tips to reviews of individual campaigns and more.

* Katya is also the co-founder of recently launched Characters Magazine, a print magazine with stories of and by the non profit sector. “It’s both a call to tell your story and celebration of good storytelling by people who are seeking to change the world.”

* Another fantastic marketing blog focused on social media marketing is JohnHaydon.com. He is the author of “Facebook Marketing For Dummies” and his blog deals with topics like how to optimize your site for Pinterest, Facebook graphs and optimizing, optimizing CTAs in your blog posts and so on.

* For a relentless stream of social media marketing tips and marketing strategies, like optimizing YouTube videos and integrating socila media with your other channels, click over to NonprofitOrgs.Wordpress.com.

* Beth Kanter, author of “The Networked Nonprofit” analyzes numbers and graphs related to social media strategies all about the non-profit world. She is a speaker and consultant and you can sign up for regular updates on her blog BethKanter.org.

Need help with non-profit copywriting?

* If you’re at a loss for words when composing your newsletters, donation request letters or simply want better website copy, click over to Karen Zapp’s blog at PKScribe.com. You’ll learn about non-profit storytelling, how to develop your brand in your writing and how to Not bore your readers!

Non-profit Guides and Q & A

* No matter what question about fundraising you’re stuck with, Joanne Fritz’ at nonprofit.about.com will have an answer for you. Anything related to how to start a non-profit, forms, taxes, selling fundraising products and more. You can ask your questions here.

* Have a pressing question about your non-profit’s legal issue? Visit NonprofitIssues.com where lawyer Don Kramer hosts a Q & A section.

A typical question would be:

“A major charity has received a lot of bad comments in social media because it told a church that it couldn’t accept donations from the church because it is a religious entity. Is there a legal reason for refusing the gift?”

* For a great resource about anything grant related, visit the Foundation Center’s GrantSpace.org. Besides offering free and paid learning resources, there is also a knowledge base covering all the basics free to use.

Get software and equipment for your non-profit

* A staple in the no-profit world and a non-profit themselves Techsoup.org helps nonprofits acquire free of charge or at discounted prices software and hardware equipment, plus the learning resources needed to make informed decisions about technology. Their free learning resources are available to all users. You need to register and have your non-profit approved in order to access donated and discounted products and services. More than 180,000 organizations have received hardware and software donations from TechSoup’s donor partners.

Looking for a steady source of available grants?

* Click over to Grantgopher and sign up with them to get a steady flow of grant opportunities in your email box. Some service are free, some for pay only. Their service alerts you to available grants while they are open for application which is a great help to organizations who need to stay on top of these opportunities.

Solicit reviews about your non-profit

* You probably already know about Guidestar, the database for non-profits in the US. They recently posted a video showing people in the Bay area who can’t name even one local charity and have no idea that there are actually over 70,000!

Does your community even know you exist? Test: can you name at least a few non-profits in your community? How many did you come up with? If you’d ask another member of your community, how many do you think they could name? Would they name yours?

Having reviews online is just another tool to spread the word about your cause. You can solicit reviews on Guidestar from your donors, clients or volunteers. The reviews from Guidestar will also appear on Great Nonprofits.

* You can also create your non-profit’s page in Yelp’s Business section and solicit reviews there. Yelp reviews can be a great resource for honest feedback – positive and negative. For tips on how to deal with and make the best of negative reviews, watch this video.

Keep an eye on non-profit trends

* The Blackbaud Index shows year over year comparisons of about $10 billion in US-based charitable giving for online and traditional fundraising split for different sized non-profits in different sectors. Blackbaud offers technical solutions, including website email and bookkeeping tools to non-profits.

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We know there are many more excellent non-profit resources out there, but if you’re just starting out, or if you need some inspiration for your current group, give these a whirl!

If you know of any other great resources, please add them in the comments!

The post 17 Great Non-profit Resources appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

But as complicated as it may seem at times, the bottom line still remains the same: you have to deliver your cause’s message to the broad public and you have to get it to your current supporters.

While the younger generations are online and on social media more often than the elder generations, the elder generations are still very comfortable with the media they grew up with like print, radio and TV. But in the end every generation uses every channel just in different amounts.

Once you start promoting your cause and collecting donations and you’ve tracked your efforts for a while you will find out all the details like giving habits, size of gifts and how you’ve gotten them about your own particular supporter group. You will then have your own statistics to work with without having to rely solely on third-party data.

1. Promoting your cause: hit the ground running or take it slow:

Depending on the number and expertise of people who will help you promote your cause you can either get started promoting your cause through many media channels at the same time or, you’ll pick just one or two channels you feel comfortable with and get started slowly.

Either one has its advantages and disadvantages and you will have to decide what’s right for you:

Hitting all channels at the same time (social media, radio, local TV etc.) will guarantee that your message will get out quickly to as many people as possible. But ask yourself: can you sustain the amount of work this will take and keep it going? What if this strategy will gain you thousands of Facebook followers? Do you have a designated social media person to keep this channel going? How will you track your actions, failures and successes? How will you pay for it? Do you have the time and full-time partners to pull this through?

On the other hand, starting things more slowly and controlled will take a while to get the word out about your cause, but the slow approach allows you to adjust as you go along and grow slowly with a lower requirement for man-power and funding. If one channel turns out to be a dud you can then easily switch all your focus to a channel that’s more popular and grow from there.

2. Develop a social media strategy:

Millions of Americans are online. Even if your cause isn’t one of the most popular ones online right now, that doesn’t mean it won’t gain popularity in the future. It looks like social media is here to stay for a while and it is constantly changing and morphing and uncovering new opportunities. Jump into the stream and make your waves!

Start with what you’re already doing or are good at: sharing pictures and videos, sharing stories, promoting your events, sharing info about who is supporting your cause and so on. When planning for promoting your cause make social media a priority by including it in all marketing plans. More about creating a social media strategy.

3. Set up your social media accounts:

- Create a Facebook page: If you have a hard time believing that social media like Facebook should be a priority, just think: even if you don’t like being on Facebook, that doesn’t mean millions of others don’t. People want the opportunity to show which cause they support by ‘liking’ a Facebook page. On top of that, anytime you add an update to your group’s Facebook page, it will show on all the people’s newsfeeds who ‘liked’ it. Get with it and make Facebook a priority and use it to post updates about your activities and respond to comments; but don’t abuse it and constantly ask for donations. If you have your own personal Facebook page you already know: anyone who posts too much or constantly asks for stuff gets ‘unliked’ or blocked. More about creating a Facebook page.

- Having a Twitter account is important too, even though Twitter followers might not always be interested in your cause. That’s because many individuals and businesses seem to care much more about the number of followers they get – and thus randomly following others – than actually be interested in your cause.

However, it is still important to have a Twitter account, because nowhere will news spread as fast, and will connections be made as quickly as through Twitter. This is one reason why Twitter is often used by news sources to monitor real time events (wars, terrorist attacks). So even though Twitter might be ‘messier’ in general and the number of followers might be deceiving, it is a great tool through which to spread your message.

- Google+ is also becoming more important, because Google is still the #1 company to serve search results and is promoting causes and non-profits with a Google+ page as a part of their own business strategy.

- LinkedIn should also be at the top of your social media lists. It offers a wealth of background information because the site is used to create and promote individuals’ professional profiles as opposed to Facebook’s focus on personal profiles.

- The younger generation is using YouTube (also owned by Google) like a search engine: if it’s not on YouTube, it might as well not even exist! They even forgo TV in order to watch videos instead. Videos that capture your cause’s spirit and appeal to a young crowd will raise awareness and close the demographics circle.

- There are lots of other popular social media sites out there and it doesn’t hurt to experiment: try Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr if you like to share images, Foursquare and Yelp for location based sharing.

Just because Facebook and Twitter are überpopular right now doesn’t mean they will be next year: anyone remember MySpace?

As you’re setting up your social media accounts, don’t forget to like, +1, favorite, list, follow, repin and comment on others’ accounts, like your supporters, partners or similar groups. Take the time to do this from the very beginning and every time you’re posting on your own account. Don’t wait until the last minute, it takes time to build a following and a presence.

- If you don’t have a blog yet, you should set one up. It will serve as your ‘home’ for any and all information that might not fit or not be appropriate for your social media channels. Invest in a good domain or URL (your web address) that people can remember and sign up with a host (we use Hostgator) that let’s you use your own domain.

If you plan on having your blog custom designed, be sure that it’s designed in a way so it can easily be read on different size screens, like a smart phone or pad. ‘Responsive’ design will automatically adjust your blog to the size of the screen it’s being viewed on whether it’s a 4″ smart phone or a 24″ desktop monitor. If you’re setting up the blog yourself, there are free plug-ins available that will reformat your blog to be easily legible on smaller screens.

If you’re not quite convinced that designing for mobile is important, consider this: “According to eBay, the total value of mobile donations processed by PayPal [owned by eBay] grew 242 percent from 2011 to 2012. And on Giving Tuesday alone, individual donations made via mobile soared 487 percent higher than the previous year’s number.” (on Huffpost.com)

- When you’re using social media accounts, take advantage of the analytics programs some sites offer, or search for a third party analytics tool. Make yourself familiar with reading and evaluating the data before you have an event to promote. Some social media sites offer designated programs just for non-profits – be sure to sign up and reap the benefits!

4. Ask for money:

That seems obvious, but try browsing through medium and small sized non-profits’ websites (some larger ones are guilty as well) and see how long it takes you to find a ‘donate’ button or a page through which to make a donation. Some don’t have one at all, some only list a mailing address and some of them ‘hide’ a tiny button somewhere on the site.

How long would you scan through a page and click on links to chase after a “Donate Now” button before giving yourself an excuse to not donate? Five seconds, ten seconds?

If your supporters have to click over to your website and then have to click on a Donate button only to be taken to another page that tells them all about your cause and then have to scroll only to find another Donate button or a link that takes them to a third party website that makes them create an account first before they can add their credit card number, you’ve pretty much lost them.

Don’t take the chance and make your potential supporters jump through hoops in order to donate. Have an easily visible donate button on your pages and experiment with color to see which one will bring in the most funds.

The same is true for sending emails. Not every email needs to explicitly ask for money; you’re also sending emails to keep your supporters updated with success stories and news. But if someone is ready to make a donation, how hard is it for them to do so? If it takes longer than a few seconds they might change their minds and move on. Harness that instance that makes them want to give, don’t waste that moment!

Another tip for emails: make sure you design your emails so they are easy to read on mobile phones. That means, getting rid of clutter, using larger fonts and donation buttons. Test your emails on your own and others’ cell phones before sending them out to the masses.

5. Fundraising letters:

Print is not dead! This fact is apparent in all of us getting solicitations in our mailboxes on a weekly basis. Some people like shorter letters, and get spooked by seeing six pages of print; some folks (often mature generations) like to read stories and appreciate a fundraising letter that looks like a magazine article with lots of pictures. Try both at various times and check the response: which one yielded more or larger donations from what age group?

6. Local TV, radio and print ads:

If you have connections, or have it in your budget to announce your event on TV, radio or the local newspaper, by all means go for it! The reason these channels have lost popularity is because the disadvantage to using them is that you’ll be unable to exactly measure how many people have seen or heard your message at what time.

You can measure all these things when you post online and send info through email. But that doesn’t mean that these channels aren’t effective. When announcing an event, you could resort to the tried and true method of offering a coupon or code that lets your supporters buy “2 raffle tickets for the price of 1″ for example, so you’ll have some sort of feedback as to how effective your message was.

7. Keep an eye on the future:

The world changes constantly, supporters come and go, where you spend donation dollars might shift, and one thing we all know for sure is that five years from now things will be different than today. As you’re working in today’s world don’t forget to keep an eye on the future and how things might be: your donor base might be a different demographic, gifts might change from fewer larger gifts to many smaller gifts. In other words, experiment, try new things here and there and don’t get stuck.

Finally, when working on any of the above, be sure to refer the different channels to one another: on your Twitter account post your Facebook link and blog and vice versa, in your emails link to your social media accounts, blog and also add a physical address, in a print ad list your social media channels and so on. Network all your channels together so you’ll never lose a supporter or a donation because they couldn’t find an easy way to connect with you!

More about connecting marketing efforts.

The post 7 Points to Consider Before Promoting your Cause appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

With a product fundraiser you can also engage a young sales force and supporter force which might be impossible to harness through online channels.

And let’s be honest, who doesn’t yearn – at least occasionally – for the simplicity of selling products, especially products that we know for sure everyone will like and can be sold with minimal effort?

Thanks to our sponsor Fundraising.com we have some great fundraising products to give away today! Maybe you could use them for your spring fundraiser, as an add-on to a larger fundraising event, or your last school fundraiser for the year.

>> To enter, let us know in the comments below which product you’d like to win and why. We will announce the winners on Thursday, April 18th by 6pm Pacific – so make sure you get in your entries before then! Good luck to everyone! You must be 18 years or older and reside in the US to enter. Full giveaway rules can be found here.

We’re giving away:

• a box of 72 Funky Fruit Pops
• a box of 72 Mega Rounds
• a bucket of 50 Smencils!
• and one (1) “Fundraising: It’s what’s up” t-shirt, size L
• and we also have a $20 Ultimate Gift Card code to give away to you! The code is redeemable for 650+ items, like popular magazines, delicious cookie dough, exclusive jewelry, Restaurant.com eCertificates + more!

All these items normally yield a 45% to 50% profit, t-shirts usually even more. Of course, if you win one of these items your profit on them will be 100%

If you have any questions about any of these products, click over to Fundraising.com for live help!

The lollipops come in this handy dandy box that you can convert to a box with convenient carrying handles. It also comes with an order envelope:

You could win either the yummy Funky Fruit Pops:

Or the Mega Rounds:

Not interested in lollipops? No problem! How about these ‘smelly’ pencils named Smencils made from newspapers?

They have no sugar , don’t melt, are good for the environment and are an excellent example for recycling! The tubes that the pencils come in (to preserve the smells) are also biodegradable. So this is truly a green fundraiser! The Smencils we’re giving away are the colored Smencils, but they also come in other varieties.

This t-shirt is made from 100% pre-shrunk medium weight cotton:

And finally, here is the $20 Ultimate Gift Card! For the purpose of this giveaway you might not receive the card, but an e-code that you can redeem online.

Let us know in the comments which product you’d like to win and why and we will announce the winners tomorrow, Thursday, April 18th.

Good luck to everyone!

If you have any questions about any of these products, click over to Fundraising.com for live help!

Update: The Giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all for participating! Congratulations to the winners!
The winners are: The bucket of Smencils goes to Mel Smith, the Funky Pops go to Jane L, the Mega Pops go to S larry and the t-shirt goes to Nicki Williams. We will contact the winners asap.

The post Fundraising Product Giveaway! appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Here’s what you need to know about incorporating your non-profit.

Taxes

It’s perfectly acceptable to make income for your non-profit. You will, of course, need to use it to pay for the expenses you incur to run your organization. But the difference between you and a for-profit company is that you may not need to pay income taxes on profit, as long as it’s associated with your charitable activities.

Not paying taxes can put more money back into your non-profit to help it grow.

Additionally, if you incorporate a business as a non-profit corporation, the charitable contributions people give you can be tax deductible for them. For those looking for a tax break, this is an appealing option, and one that will attract more donors for you.

Funding

Many non-profits seek out grants or other means of funding, and most of these programs require applicants to be incorporated non-profits. You won’t even qualify for the money if you’re not incorporated. By incorporating your non-profit, you open the doors to more means of funding the causes you’re passionate about.

Protection

Just like a for-profit business, becoming a corporation provides protection of your personal assets. In the event your non-profit is sued, your directors and members cannot be held liable…if you are incorporated.

Incorporating as a Non-Profit

Convinced that incorporating is the way to go? Let’s get started. The most typical option is the 501(c)(3): the non-profit corporation with tax-exempt status. There are a few more hoops to jump through with this type of corporation, and certain requirements to meet before you’ll be approved.

First, your organization must be involved with one or more of the following causes:

Your corporation will not be allowed to pay dividends, and the funds it raises must be used to support its causes. Your organization may not be permitted to perform certain activities, so if you have any questions about what is and isn’t allowed, talk to an IRS representative.

Filing as a Non-Profit Corporation

Parts of this process is similar to the one for a for-profit corporation. Start by filing your non-profit articles of incorporation (or a certificate of incorporation) with your state agency, along with payment of the required fee.

Then you need to file a separate application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. This form is more in-depth, and will require more time on your part, so plan to allocate enough time on it. It may take several weeks before your application is reviewed and processed, so make sure you’re not butting up against important deadlines, like applying for grants, while waiting to get your 501(c)(3) status approved.

As a non-profit, you have the opportunity to help people and your mission. Protect your organization and realize tax-saving benefits by incorporating it from the start.

Nellie Akalp is a passionate entrepreneur, small business advocate and mother of four. As CEO of CorpNet, a legal document filing service, Nellie helps entrepreneurs start a business, incorporate, form an LLC or set up Sole Proprietorships (DBAs) for a new or existing business.

The post Everything You Need to Know to Incorporate as a Non-Profit appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Essentially, a used books fundraiser brings together those who are cleaning out their book shelves with those who like a good (printed) read for a bargain price.

You’ll need to answer a few questions to get your used book fundraiser off the ground: How do you acquire books to sell? Do you have a place for your event that is large enough to display the books and accommodate a good crowd of people? Do you have enough volunteers to collect the books, stage the event and help market and sell the books?

1. Where do you get books for your used books fundraiser?

- Start by asking everyone you know: your family, friends, work colleagues, fellow volunteers, your boss. Don’t forget to search your own premisses for books: do you have some books boxed up in storage somewhere that no one has looked at in years? Besides these rather obvious sources for books, also consider:

- Community, college and school libraries: often libraries will have books to give away for free. You might not want the ones that are all worn, but there might still be plenty that are worthy of your fundraiser

- Used books stores: they might have too much inventory, remodeling, moving, you name it. In any case they might have books for you

- Set up collection boxes: partner with local grocery stores, coffee shops and any business that has a lot of foot traffic. Add signs that will ask for ‘gently used books’ and at the same time announce your actual fundraiser. You might not have the exact date yet, but you could give some basic details.

Find a venue for your used books fundraiser

If you’re putting this on as a school fundraiser, you’ll already have a gymnasium, cafeteria or other hall for your event. A school cafeteria with built in tables is actually quite perfect for this type event. If you’re not raising funds for a school, you might start by asking schools if they rent out space for this kind of event. Schools are limited to what kind of events they can rent their facilities for, but if it is somehow related to children, you might have an easy in.

Other possible venues: first, consider what your contacts have to offer. Their companies might be able to make space available for free if it’s for a good cause. Also, try buildings that rent out temporary office and meeting space, or even libraries themselves and plan your fundraiser as a joint venture. Other venues, like hotels, also rent space, but might be too expensive for you to make any sizable profit. But who knows, maybe you do have a connection that leads to free space.

The main idea is that you’ll get the space you need either for free or for the lowest possible fee.

Do you have enough volunteers?

Depending on how many books you’ll receive or how large your venue will be, you’ll need to plan for the following jobs:

• Collect and sort through the books
• Some folks might want help with cleaning out their books from storage, basements, shelves
• Create posters, signs, fliers and other promotional materials
• Put up signs and posters in designated spots around town
• Create signs and tags for prices
• Set up the venue, decorate, organize books
• If you offer refreshments, you’ll need an area where volunteers can set up to sell drinks, cookies etc.
• Help visitors find books they might like
• Update your blog and social media accounts
• Clean up at the end of the day

Some points to remember when marketing your fundraiser

• You could ask local authors to appear at your used books fundraiser. They might do a book reading and signing and promote literacy in some other way
• Tie in a bake sale or other money maker
• Approach local businesses
• Don’t forget to promote your event through email and social media and update your blog
• Showcase the best reasons to support your cause
• You’re selling books at a low cost
• By making low-price books available you’re promoting literacy in your area
• You provide an easy way to relieve people of books that they don’t want anymore
• It’s a fun event that brings family and community together
• It’s a ‘green fundraiser‘

Reasons to buy printed books

In this day and age there are many skeptics and cynics who don’t see why anyone would still want to buy printed books. Here are a few ideas on how to convince them otherwise:

• To hold a book in your hand and flip pages feels great
• Who doesn’t love the smell of the printed book?
• There is no need for a battery or power to read a book
• No one will tell you to turn off your book on an airplane
• When you ‘buy’ an e-book, you’re actually only buying a license to read it. You don’t own the book.
• Not everyone can afford an e-reader or iPad
• It’s hard to pass along a book in electronic form
• You can’t inscribe an e-book for someone to find 20 years later
• Books look great on a bookshelf!
• To have a personal library evokes feelings of security
• Books have sentiments and feelings attached

If these reasons aren’t enough, here are a few more:

• Displaying books on your bookshelf makes you look smart
• When you get mad you can throw a book, but you probably won’t throw an e-reader
• You can’t fix a wobbly chair leg with an e-reader
• It’s too expensive to burn e-readers in protest
• Can’t use an e-book as a make shift step ladder or booster seat

In holding a used book fundraiser for a worthy cause you’ll be surprised at the amount of support that you and your cause will receive. What to do with the leftover books that didn’t sell? You can donate them, sell the more valuable ones on Ebay, or sell them ‘by the pound’ for non-literacy uses such as furniture, decorative items, jewelry and more!

Image: iStockphoto/McIninch

The post How to Run a Used Books Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Years ago it used to be very simple when you hired a photographer: you chose the best image or images from a selection the photographer presented to you, ordered prints and then handed them out to friends and family.

Nowadays not only school portrait photographers offer different packages of print and digital copies, with or without copyrights. Before you make a selection as to which package (or photographer) to choose, you should be aware of what the different choices mean for your supporters who buy the images.

Copyright options for your school portrait fundraiser:

If you hire a professional photographer for your event, he or she may want to either retain the copyrights to the photos, or sell the rights along with any images ordered. Make sure you understand from the start exactly what you’re getting and what you’re offering to your supporters.

1. If the photographer retains copyrights:

A photographer who retains all his or her copyrights will often not allow to have any copies (incl. digital) made of the portraits he takes and may even go so far as to only sell portraits on heavily textured paper that’s hard to scan. This option is not ideal, because people love to upload their images on the web and share with friends and family.

If a photographer wants to retain copyrights, ask him or her to offer digital versions of the photos on a memory stick or disc so your supporters will at least have good copies for web use. This option is usually accompanied by a note giving you rights to either print or share the photos online or both, but doesn’t give you the actual copyrights. If digital files are offered in this way, you will get files that lend themselves to print (usually limited to small sizes, so larger sizes still need to be ordered through the photographer), or for web sharing.

For most people getting a printed portrait and some options to make their own prints and share their new pictures on the web is usually enough. The photographer gets to keep his or her copyrights of the images which basically means ownership of the images. (To read more about copyrights from a photographer’s point of view, click over to Elizabeth Halford’s blog)

2. If the photographer includes copyrights:

Many school photographers and studios nowadays will offer an option that includes all copyrights, since they know once they hand out their work it’s hard to control what people do with it anyway. They will typically charge more for this option, but any concerns or issues about copyrights will be eliminated for both parties.

Amateur and beginner photographers might be more willing to hand over copyrights along with print copies, but the quality of the images might not be as high as images from a professional photographer.

The main idea of a school portrait fundraiser is that your supporters receive high quality photographs to share with their families and friends (print and/or digital) at a good price that still allows you to make money. Ask for a portfolio and sample copies of printed photos and digital photos so you can compare the quality of work.

When choosing a photographer for your school portrait fundraiser, don’t forget to ask for his or her policy in writing, not just for your own file keeping, but also to hand out to the ones who will have their picture taken. The policy should be short and written in a friendly tone. The last thing you want is for your supporters to feel bogged down by legal jargon.

Even if your photographer is donating his or her services, work with him or her to find a way to increase the potential for earnings and future clients and you will already have a photographer lined up for your next fundraising event.

The post School Portrait Fundraiser – Consider Copyrights appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Which one is the right one for you? First, make a list of what kind of services you need: online payments and tracking, online auctions, volunteer management, marketing, e-mail campaigns, website design and hosting? Anything else?

Then – remember that each of these online fundraising sites is in business to make money from the groups that sign up with them – compare services and fees of three to five of the fundraising services listed. Fees to consider are one-time setup fees, any monthly fees and per transaction fees. Some fees might be higher or lower depending on how much you collect in donation dollars.

Each of the websites below provides a variety of services, some which might be useful for your group, some won’t. Be sure you don’t pay for services you don’t need and that the customer support offered is sufficient for you. Of course, make sure the website itself appeals to you and is easy to use! (Tip: Raising funds online may present new legal considerations for your group. It may be best to consult your legal adviser before raising funds online.)

Finally, in order to raise funds online through one of these companies, your group usually has to be an officially registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Are you ready to apply for non-profit status?

So here we go, the 15 (or so) most popular online fundraising sites – not in any particular order:
(We occasionally update this list.)

Our list of online fundraising sites:

GoFundMe.com allows charitable, business and personal fundraising.

NetworkForGood.org. This company is also the nonprofit processing partner for Causes on Facebook

DonorsChoose.org This one is for teachers only.

IndieGogo.com. This company offers a platform for fundraising for commercial projects as well as for fundraising for charitable causes.

VirginMoneyGiving.com (UK only.)

ChipIn.com Micro-funding site – supporters can give as little as 25 cents. Collect your funds via PayPal. This site is set up for individuals to raise funds on behalf of others.

Crowdrise.com. Donations processed by NetworkForGood.org.

ThePoint.com (by the creators of Groupon). The Point isn’t only for activists and philanthropists. You can raise money for other purposes as well.

FirstGiving.com (JustGiving.com in the UK)

JustGive.org

Fundly.com

Razoo.com

HopeMob

GoGetFunding.com

GivenGain.com

If you need online fundraising management software:

Convio.com

DonorTools.com

BlackBaud.com

eTapestry.com

ServiceU.com

CharityAdvantage.com

BlueStateDigital.com

ClickAndPledge.com

DonorPerfect.com

After comparing some of these services, ask yourself, if the money you’re going to spend in the form of fees – which reduces your donation dollars – is really worth the service you’re getting.

Maybe recruiting more volunteers, or putting more effort into marketing your fundraiser would be sufficient for your group.

The post 15 Most Popular Online Fundraising Sites appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Advertise your new way of accepting donations

A car donation drive needs to be advertised like any other fundraising effort, but unlike a one-time fundraising event, you need to continuously keep the idea fresh in the minds of your potential donors. After all, not everyone you’re asking will have a car to donate the first time you advertise, but may have one a few months or years down the road.

Once you decide to take car donations (more about vehicle donations), creating an advertising plan and schedule from the onset will help get the ball rolling and keep it rolling.

Do you have a favorite print or online publication that you already advertise in? Create different sized versions of your ad and place it every week, two weeks or monthly, depending on your needs and what your budget allows. Don’t think of advertising your new program as a chore, but as another opportunity to let people know about the great things you do for your community.

Create posters, flyers and printables to to hand out and place a permanent ‘ad’ on your website and social media pages. As your message spreads, people will eventually think of your charity first when it comes to getting rid of an old car.

Don’t forget to ask local car dealerships or car rental companies for car donations. If they’re already contracted with a nationwide charity make your point to have them donate to a local charity instead.

Taking car donations is a “green” fundraiser!

Instilling trust in your supporters

How can you instill trust in a potential donor, so he or she won’t feel like their car donation ends up in a black hole and nothing of substance comes of it? Let them know what their car is worth in terms of the tax write-off and in terms of value to your group and the community you’re serving.

- What is the tax write-off?

The value of the write-off a donor will receive depends on what your group does with the car after you’ve received it: will you be using it in your operations as a non-profit? Will you sell it and use the proceeds to fund your operations? Or will you engage a third party with turning donations into cash? Each one of these will trigger a different amount of tax write-off for your donor. (For more on how much can be written off, read vehicle donations.)

For example, let’s say you will sell the vehicle you’ve received. As current tax laws stand the donor will be able to write off the amount that you’ve sold the car for. Since you won’t be able to give an exact answer to the value of the car at the time of donation, let the donor know exactly when they will know about the final value of their car and when they can expect to receive notification from you. Consider giving an estimate by consulting a service like KBB.com. Above all, assure your donors that you will make it simple for them.

- What kind of cars are you accepting and how will they be picked up?

Will you accept working cars only? Or working and non-working? Is it easy for the donor to get the car to you, or will you pick it up? Don’t leave any of these details up in the air. Be crystal clear about what kind of cars you’re accepting and how they will be transferred, how and who will schedule any appointment or pick-up and so on. If any of these items aren’t addressed or are too time consuming or complicated, potential donors may be turned off.

- Set yourself apart from ‘middlemen’

As soon as there is a third party involved to handle your donations, your profits will be smaller per car (See vehicle donations). If you have a commercial company involved, potential supporters might bail because much of the value of their car will go to them and not your cause, or they might not be able to get a tax write-off. You can still have a lucrative fundraiser, but you’ll need more car donations to make up for the smaller profit per car. If you set up your program to either use the donated cars yourself, or sell the donated cars yourself your profit or value per car will be much higher.

- What is the value to your group?

Potential donors should know exactly what the money their car brings in will be used for. They might be wary about donating their car because they do not know how it will help exactly. Paint a picture for them so they know exactly what good they will be doing. You might even go so far as to earmarking proceeds from car donations for a specific project.

Acknowledge that it is a big deal

Donating a car is a big deal, there is no use in pretending it’s not. For many people buying a car is one of the largest purchases they’ll ever make in their lives. So giving away a car can have a lot of emotions attached to it. Emphasize that a donation of this size can help make a big difference in your charity’s effort to improve your community.

Help donors move from the perspective of giving up a lot of money or losing something valuable to looking at it as their chance to make a difference in the world and help others in a big way.

Follow up a donation with a final receipt (if applicable) and a thank-you note. If possible, offer to include donors’ names on any lists you might have, commemoration plaques for new projects or other ways that honor your supporters.

A car donation drive is a big undertaking but can pay off in a big way. Let people know what it will help you achieve and why you’re doing it.

(Image: istockphoto/EduardHarkonen)

The post How to Ask for Car Donations appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

But the term ‘landing page’ can also be used for the pages created on an online fundraising platform, like giveforward.com or indiegogo.com. In fact, often a charity will use an online fundraising service’s landing page instead of their own website to solicit donations and promote a specific fundraising event. If promoted well that landing page might show up in search engines even more prominently than the cause’s own web pages.

Creating an effective landing page helps tap into the wealth of resources and supporters that the internet has to offer. Following are some tips for creating a landing page as focused and effective as possible:

Make your landing pages visually appealing

Long gone are the days of lengthy mission statements and static pages without images or video. Visitors expect images, video and links to social sites. Get to the point quickly and promote your event with attractive videos and photos of volunteers and beneficiaries. (Be sure you have permission from any persons appearing in the images.)

You’ll be limited to the number of videos or photos you can use on an online fundraising service, so it’s even more important to scrutinize any potential photo or video prior to posting. Be sure to get input from others on what media to add to your page.

If you’re working or volunteering for an organization, add your logo to all your pages appearing on the web, whether your own blog, or pages from third party websites, like an online fundraising service. It doesn’t have to be overly prominently displayed, but its presence, even if only subconsciously noted, will serve to deepen brand awareness.

Limit information on your landing page

Your landing page doesn’t have to contain every little detail about your organization. In fact, it shouldn’t. Stick to writing with razor sharp focus to promote the event you’ve created it for. Instead of drafting a long narrative about your organization, make a concise point about your specific event to grab the reader’s attention and aim for a donation.

If you’re creating a landing page on an online fundraising service, it’s even more important to keep your message as focused as possible to your specific fundraising purpose at hand. You don’t want the potential supporter to get distracted by information and links that are not 100% relevant to your displayed fundraiser. Plan to get your donation on the viewer’s first visit.

Use concise titles and wording

In order to harness the power of search engines, it helps to be concise and clear in your writing. It all starts with a good title. Which title do you think would be more effective: “Time is Running out – please donate!” Or “Fundraiser for Jane Smith” or “Fundraiser for New Air Conditioner for Anytown School”? Yes, the last two are definitely preferable to the first one. Why? Because the first one is very generic, and if the rest of the writing on the page is somewhat generic as well, it will be very hard for the search engines to direct interested parties to that page.

Apply the same principle to the remainder of the text on the page: include location and important names in the copy of your appeal, so search engines have something relevant to index and display in the search results.

Include a “Call to Action”

You know that no piece of material, whether it be digital or in print, should go out without a clear “Call to Action.” That includes landing pages.

It’s great to enlighten readers to your cause and convince them to help, but relevant statistics and other information are empty without a concise call to the reader to make an impact for the cause they care about.

Include clear steps for the reader to take, such as calls to sign up for your emails, or direct links to donate, depending on your goal for a particular page. When designing a “donate” button, experiment with different sizes, colors and wording to see which version gives you the best results.

While financial contributions are always great, you can include other calls to action on your landing page as well, like making in-kind donations and opportunities to volunteer. Is your organization’s mission to feed the hungry or replenish the forests? Link to resources on how to hold a food drive or organize a tree-planting event.

If you’re creating your own landing page on one of the online fundraising sites, it’s best to keep all the calls to action focused on donating cash, since that is the main purpose of having a campaign on these sites. Also, you won’t have a choice in donation buttons, but you can assume that the company who runs the site has done all the homework for you and designed a button that’s been tested to result in the most donations.

If you’re able to customize the ‘Thank you’ page that pops up after a person has donated, or the ‘Thank you’ email to your supporter, be sure to include more calls to action, like social media buttons, prompts to sign up for your newsletter and so on.

Are you unsure if you’re using enough or effective calls to action? Why not go through the process yourself and donate some money through one of your own landing pages? As you’re noting how you are led through the process you might find some room for improvements.

Blog posts can be effective landing pages

If you keep a blog about your work and activities as a charitable group, your posts may in fact already be serving as landing pages for specific fundraising drives, events etc.

In order to make them effective landing pages, don’t assume that someone reading a specific post on your blog knows anything at all about your group. By avoiding too many pronouns and instead using actual nouns and people’s names more often, even someone who has never heard of your organization will understand what you’re talking about. In other words, make each blog post a standalone article instead of writing in a way that assumes your visitors are all regular readers.

Are you currently running an online fundraiser? Or have you spotted an excellent example of an effective landing page? Please share with us and add links in the comments!

(Image: istockphoto/IvelinRadkov)

The post Designing an Effective Landing Page for your Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

We all know how a raffle works, you sell tickets and draw a winner, but how does a reverse raffle work? The tickets for a reverse raffle are sold just the same, but the difference is that you are going to draw all of the losing tickets first, and then the winners at the very end.

For example, say you sold 100 tickets for your raffle. The first 90 tickets that you drew would not win anything. The remaining 10 tickets would stay in the container and each one of the 10 will win a prize. Of the 10 prize winners, the first 9 tickets that were drawn would win runner-up prizes. The final ticket left in the container is the grand prize winner.

How to stage a reverse raffle

The reverse raffle will need to be held in a place large enough to hold as many people as you sold tickets to, but you can’t legally require winners to be present (more on raffle laws below). A reverse raffle isn’t as much fun if the winners aren’t there to sit through the tension of the losing tickets being drawn.

A great way to keep track is of who is there, so you don’t get all the way to the end only to find out that the grand prize winner isn’t present, is to have people put their tickets in the drawing container as they arrive at the raffle. You can verify ticket holders that are drawn by either having them put their names on the back of the ticket, or having them hold on to another part of the ticket that has the same number on it as the ticket that was put in the container.

Break up the monotony of a larger raffle

If you end up selling a lot of reverse raffle tickets, the drawing is going to take a bit to get through. To keep people from getting bored you might want to think about having other things going on at the same time.

For example, schools can stage their reverse raffles during a sporting event. At each break or halftime a certain number of tickets are drawn. At the end of the game, the 10 prize winners are drawn.

You could also have a silent auction going on at the same time, with the raffle tickets being drawn every ten minutes. Selling food or serving a dinner during a reverse raffle is also a good idea, as not only can you raise money from the food sales, but eating will give the raffle participants something to do while the drawing is going on.

About: A to Z Discount Printing specializes in fundraising advice for those interested in having a raffle to raise money for their group. You can find additional tips and videos on how to put a successful raffle or other fundraiser together on their blog at RaffleTicket.com.

Please note: Laws governing raffles are determined state-by-state. Some states, have deemed them illegal as part of gambling, while other states allow a raffle fundraiser for just about anything. (For a list of each state’s raffle rules, visit nals.org). In addition, some cities and even counties in the U.S. require a separate application for a charity raffle. Be sure to find out well in advance what’s required to hold a raffle, and get any applications submitted in time. In fact, because rules can be pretty complicated, it’s probably best to get legal advice before starting a raffle of any kind.

The post Fundraising Idea: How to Run a Reverse Raffle Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Properly operated, such a program can benefit both the charity and the donors, not to mention the obvious environmental benefits from removing old and/or inoperable vehicles which may be leaking oil or fuel. But, if the program is not operated according to Internal Revenue Service rules and state laws, negative consequences may occur to both the charity and the donor.

Four ways to accept vehicle donations

Generally there are four types of vehicle donation programs:

1. The charity may use the vehicle itself if it is operable or may give the donated vehicle to one of its intended beneficiaries


2. The charity may sell the vehicle and use the money to support its programs.


3. The charity may engage the services of a for-profit company under a written contract to act as its agent to sell the vehicles. (Shop around to get the best deal!)


4. The charity may allow a for-profit company to advertise for donations of used vehicles, with no written agreement, for which the for-profit company pays the charity a percentage of the sales price. Or, in a slight variant of the fourth program, a for-profit company may simply advertise that it will accept vehicle donations that will be tax deductible contributions to a charity.

This last variant simply misleads the donors. Under IRS regulations, the first three programs will allow the donor to deduct the value of the donated vehicle and the charity will maintain its §501(c)(3) status. There are some obvious fairness limitations, such as selling the donated vehicle at a favorable price to a board member of the charity, or paying the sales agent an exorbitant fee to sell the car.

If the charity stays within general business ethics, however, the charity and the donor will both receive the expected benefits—cash for the charity and a tax deduction for the donor. It is important that the charity give the donor a written or electronic acknowledgement of receipt of the vehicle if it worth more than $250. There are no negative consequences to the charity for failing to acknowledge receipt but the donor will not be able to deduct the donation from his/her taxes thus a charity should have a written receipt procedure in place.

Vehicles donated under the fourth program, however, are not considered charitable donations because there is no “agency” relationship between the for-profit company that receives the vehicles and the charity because there is no written contract between them. In other words, a charity is not allowed to let a for-profit company simply use its tax-exempt status unless the charity establishes an agency relationship with the for-profit vehicle sale company that will be recognized under the law of the state where the donations take place. If there is no recognized agency relationship, the donor cannot deduct the value of the donation and the charity may lose its non-profit status.

Forms to file for a vehicle donation

When a donor gives a vehicle to a charity, the donor must file a Form 8283, “Noncash Charitable Contributions,” if the total of the donor’s contributions for that tax year exceed $500. The charity must also sign the donor’s Form 8283. For donations valued at more than $5,000, the donor must also get an appraisal from a qualified appraiser. The appraiser will also sign Section B of Form 8283. The donor must give the charity a copy of Section B.

The charity that received the donated vehicle must file a Form 8282, “Donee Information Return,” if it sells the vehicle within two years after it received the vehicle. Form 8282 must be filed within 125 days after the vehicle was sold. Form 8282 identifies the donor, states that the vehicle was sold in an “arm’s length” transaction and the date of the sale, and states the amount of money the charity received for the vehicle. The charity has to give a copy of Form 8282 to the donor.

“Hmm, is this where they take car donations?”

Got an idea for a caption? Post it in the comments

Other considerations

There is one last consideration for the charity when it adopts a program of accepting vehicle donations: title to the vehicle. The charity must follow the law of the state where the donation is made. Usually the charity can request that title to the vehicle be transferred into the charity’s name. Some states allow the sales agent to hold an “open title” or the sales agent can put its own name on the title. Charities should remove the license plates unless state law requires otherwise.

For your state’s titling requirements visit your State Charity Official’s website nasconet.org. The Internal Revenue Service can also help. Its services, and the Forms mentioned above, are available online at IRS.gov.

From the donor’s perspective

- Donors can only deduct charitable contributions to a 501(c)(3) if they itemize their deductions on Schedule A of Form 1040 (their tax return).

- The donor’s charitable deduction cannot exceed 50% of his/her adjusted gross income.

- Generally the deduction will be the same amount as the the amount the charity sold the vehicle for, but there are exceptions. Donors may be able to deduct the fair market value of the vehicle on the date of donation if the charity uses the vehicle for a period of time before selling it, if the charity makes a significant improvement to the vehicle before selling it, or if the charity simply gives the donated vehicle or sells it at a reduced price to a needy person in furtherance of the charity’s purpose of relieving poverty.

- Donor should sign over the registration to the charity him or herself to make sure they’re relieved of any liability for the car or responsibility for fees.

- If the vehicle was sold for $500 or less, the donor may deduct the lesser of the vehicle’s fair market value on the date of the donation or $500.

- Donors must attach a copy of the charity’s acknowledgement of receipt to their tax returns if they are deducting more than $500.

- Donors may ask to see any agreement you have with a for-profit company that sells your car on your behalf. Be prepared to show it.

- Donors can look up your tax-filings at guidestar.org

Note: This article is not meant to be legal advice. Please consult a legal professional for more details and the most current laws about vehicle donations.

Image © Marita Braun

The post Are you Considering Vehicle Donations? appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Don’t forget:
* To maximize your income, get as many materials, rentals and prizes as possible donated, including space to hold your event and flyer printing
* consider inviting special guests, like principals, local business leaders and celebrities who will draw more current and potential supporters
* include smaller fundraisers like selling snacks and seasonal items along with your larger events!

Tip: To find a specific fundraising product or services, please use the search box above.

Here we go: 100 + fundraising ideas:

- Choose your plight: donors pay a dollar each to vote on what the principal, leader or other volunteer will have to endure: shave head, dye hair, duct tape to the wall, wear a silly costume etc.

- Photography contest: charge entrance fee, assign a theme

- Snow or sand sculpture fundraiser: for teams or individuals, charge entrance fee, hire a professional to show how it’s done and to increase your draw

- Variety show/talent show: charge entrance fee, admission, sell snacks

- Walk-a-thon

- Flocking flamingos: only try this on people in the know or who got fair warning: place a flock of flamingos (the kind you get at a party store) into someone’s front yard, only to be removed for a donation

- Duck Race! Donors ‘sponsor’ ducks which will then ‘race’ down an actual river or a ‘lazy river’ at a water park, the winning duck’s sponsor gets a prize

- Movember: men grow mustaches during November to help promote awareness and increase donations to fight prostate cancer

- Class competition: whichever class raises the most money will receive a prize, like a pizza party

- Bachelor/bachelorette auction: tacky but might be lucrative if the ones auctioned off are popular

- Haunted House: charge entrance fee, best costumes competition

- Easter Bunny Hop: sell snacks, have ‘dance instruction, raffles

- Magazine fundraiser

- Gift wrap service around the holidays

- Calendar fundraiser

- Halloween fundraiser

- Sell coupon books

- Prominent volunteer like principal commits to have head shaved when a specific fundraising goal is reached

- Bingo: charge admission, get prizes donated

Food and candy fundraisers:

- Cheesecake fundraiser

- Lollipop fundraiser

- Pancake breakfast

- Cook-off: choose a category like vegetarian, or a specific food like pasta or chilli, offer kids activities

- Food truck fundraiser

- Benefit dinner: charge admission, silent auction

- Wine tasting

- Dining out: sell vouchers to local pizza shops or hamburger restaurants; or restaurants donate part of profits during a specific time slot

- Coffee fundraiser

- Popcorn fundraiser

- Sell snacks and candy

- Cookbook fundraiser: charge for having a personal recipe added (can be dedicated to special people), then sell the cookbooks

- Food and groceries fundraisers

- Healthy bake sale fundraiser: offer organic breads, not-so-sweet dessert, fruit tarts

- Pizza fundraiser

- Funny beauty pageant

- Selling awareness ribbons, silicone bracelets or bumper stickers

- Dog show: dogs race or do tricks, charge entrance fee, sell food and t-shirts, have donated prizes

- Carnival games: bean bag toss, balloon darts, marbles, miniature bowling

- Flower bulb fundraising

- Green fundraiser

- Polar bear plunge: a local pool will do!

- Car wash fundraiser

- Dog wash fundraiser

- Comedian event

- Free fundraisers

- Quilt fundraiser: ask quilting club to donate their services for one special quilt to auction or raffle

- Craft corner: volunteers make home decor or ornaments, paintings

- Student art exhibit: ask for donations, sell reprints of the art in form of note cards, note pads, mugs, t-shirts

- Portrait fundraiser

- Grade pledges: students collect pledges for A’s at the beginning of the semester and collect when they get their report cards

- Duct tape fundraiser

- Ink cartridge fundraiser: collect ink cartridges and sell them for cash to a recycling service

- Parents’ Night Out: Designate a school gym or community room and charge per child (siblings and pay extra); kids will play games, do crafts, eat and then watch a movie; offer a few hours or all night; get lots of volunteers to keep the kids busy

- Birthday pledge: donors ask for donations instead of birthday gifts

- Note card fundraiser

- Poker fundraiser

- Scratch cards

- Mini fundraiser

- Wii game night: play sports games such as bowling or baseball and charge admission, winner of the night wins a prize

- Guess how many coins/candy in the jar: have donors estimate how much is in the jar for a dollar, the winner will receive a prize

- Silly costume challenge: if a certain amount is raised, teachers will wear silly costumes for a day

- School yard sale: include donated items, gently used and new items

- Family Movie Night: get space in a gym or community room, charge admission, sell snacks

Auctions:

- Date or dance with principal, your organization’s leader, or a celebrity is auctioned off through silent auction

- Themed baskets: like “movie night” or “Backyard BBQ” or “Kids Outdoor Toys” or “Made in the US Toys”. Get donations from local businesses to add to the baskets, like gift cards, lessons, coupons etc.

- Silent Auction: Supporters donate miscellaneous things new, used and handmade to be auctioned off. Furniture, event tickets, printer etc.

- Gorgeous cakes and desserts for different occasions are provided by supporters and volunteers

- Performances: Ask local artists to donate a performance to be auctioned off

- Services like music lessons, mowing lawn, shoveling snow, any computer services, cleaning are solicited from supporters and volunteers, then auctioned off at a silent auction

- Art, event tickets, or higher value items can be auctioned off online through Ebay or online auction service

- Gift card fundraiser

- Reverse raffle: potential donors get raffle ticket and sell them back for $10 to avoid getting their name drawn and having to do something embarrassing

- Cow pie fundraiser also works with other animals: divide field into squares and sell squares to donors. The square where the animal ‘goes’ wins.

- Half marathon and 5K run

- Bowling

- Spell-a-thon: donors pledge for correctly spelled words

- T-shirt fundraiser

- Christmas wreath fundraiser

- Shopping bag fundraiser: consider adding advertising from local merchants to increase your profit

- Electronic waste fundraiser

- Casino Game Night: charge entrance fee, silent auction

- Raffle off gift certificates/cards to local stores, restaurants

- Craft fair

- Catalog fundraiser, or order taking fundraiser

- Flea market: charge per table

- River/beach/neighborhood trash cleanup: get local sponsors, set goal, sell t-shirts, group which collects most trash wins prize

- Tombola: sell tickets, draw winning ticket

- Spaghetti dinner fundraiser

- Mardi Gras fundraiser

- Tuition raffle: sell a minimum amount of tickets to cover tuition for the winner for a semester.

- Golf fundraiser

- Minigolf tournament

- Car donation

- First aid kit fundraiser

- Coupon book fundraiser

- Scratch card fundraiser

- Book fundraiser

- Recycle bottles and cans

- Pie-in-the-face fundraiser aka wet-sponge-in-the-face-fundraiser: most fun with a celebrity ‘victim’

- Paper airplane race: set up table where donors can make paper airplanes, the one that flies the farthest wins a prize

- Karaoke fundraiser

- Lip Sync fundraiser: no karaoke set-up needed!

- Cell phone donations: cell phone can be sold to sites like gazelle.com or auctioned off on ebay.com

- Fashion show

- Boxtop fundraiser

- 50/50 raffle: half the proceeds will be used for prizes so there will be lots of opportunity to win

- Open mic night, concert

- Donation match: find a sponsor who will match donations you’ll get from your fundraiser

- Organize an art show for local talent: photographers, painters, sculptors; get percentage of each sale, sell refreshments

- Gold Rush: ask for old jewelry and sell it a cash-for-gold place

- Collect pledges for read-a-thons for reading a certain amount of books, picking up certain amount of trash at beach clean up

- ‘Simply ask for money’ fundraiser: Send request on a custom notecard designed by students with return envelope

- Raise cash through an online fundraising service

- Text donations: Appropriate for larger fundraising campaigns

Did you count? There are actually quite a few more than 100 fundraising ideas. Please keep this list going and add your own fundraising ideas in the comments!

Happy fundraising!

All images © iStockphoto

The post 100 + Fundraising Ideas! appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

For even more fundraising ideas and information around anything fundraising and causes related (and some fun stuff, too), visit our new Pinterest page!

Online fundraising is still increasing this year

According to Philanthropy.com, online giving accounted for about 10% of the donations charities received last year. But experts predict that it will grow to 15% over the next 5 years. The total number of groups raising money online also grew by 20 percent this year. Even though the total number of online gifts was down, the total amount given in the second and third quarters of this year compared to the second and third quarter last year was larger.

The highest amounts given occurred during the first half of the week, while Thursday through Saturday attracted the largest average gift size.

Giving generally spikes during the month of December and large-scale disasters. During disasters, donors are now more likely to consider new online giving options, while in December, they’re more likely to give based on their relationships with the charities.

A third of all online giving occurs in December, and 22% of annual giving happens in the last two days of the year.

Online giving (in dollars) on December 31 is concentrated between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in each time zone. (Hint: sent out a last email asking for donations!)

This information was derived from reports by the three big online donation processors Blackbaud, Network for Good, and PayPal and from an analysis of a fixed group of organizations by Philanthropy.com.

For more statistics on online giving, visit Philanthropy.com.

What does all this mean to you?

- If you haven’t yet, consider updating your website to make it easier to use on a mobile device, taking into account that some of your supporters will be ready to donate through your mobile website.
- Offer the option to donate online through any of your other existing channels, like Facebook, and display your online donation options alongside your traditional donation options.
- Pick an online donation platform and set up an online campaign that you can use alongside your next ‘traditional’ fundraising campaign.

In other words, don’t leave any options on the table, but make sure you’re always able to maintain an overview and the ability to track diverse fundraising efforts and that they have a unified message and theme.

Has your group raised funds online yet? If yes, how did you do it? Please leave your comments below.

We wish you great success with your upcoming fundraiser and a wonderful and exciting New Year 2013!

Your FundraisingIP.com Editorial Team

—

Some of our most read posts this year:

Volunteers: Unpaid but Priceless

Tips for Running a Marathon Fundraiser

How to Ask for a Donation from a Large Company

How to Encourage People to Donate to your Cause

And not surprisingly, more and more of you resort to getting information online: Almost 9% of you visited our site through a mobile device. This includes visits through a browser (like Firefox, Safari, Chrome or IE) and visits through our mobile app.

Are you getting ready for your first fundraiser of 2013?

Consider the wares and services our sponsors are offering:

Visit Fundraising.com for all your ‘traditional’ fundraising products like lollipops, magazines and candy and now also t-shirts!

For any kind of branded products, like water bottles or reusable shopping bags, blankies and other products with your group’s logo or message printed on them, visit InkHead.com.

For year-round fundraising with recycling ink-cartridges and cell-phones, visit FundingFactory.com.

Are you planning on getting a website for your group, but have a hard time finding a service that lets you stay within your budget? Try Hostgator, the same company we use for FundraisingIP.com! Get your website hosted for only a few dollars a month (not just teaser rates) and a one-click WordPress blog install option!

The post 2012 Recap: Online Fundraising Steadily Increasing appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

While the winter holidays is the time of giving, it is also the time of many religious holidays which has to be considered in your communications.

According to a 2007 report by the Pew Research Center, 16.1% of the US population are not affiliated with any religion; Americans who are members of any Protestant denomination make up 51%. Fewer than 25% of the US population describes themselves as Catholic; Jews made up 1.7%; Buddhists 0.7%; Muslims 0.6%; other religions and unknown made up less than 5%.

Including other religions

While you may have your own religious preference, the recipients of your fundraising communications may not share that preference. One way to include everyone in your winter fundraising efforts is to give other religions equal mention while also acknowledging those who do not celebrate religious holidays. Without this inclusiveness, it is easy for a topic such as religion to come between people.

Sure, not everyone may care about if their religion isn’t represented, but if it were, there might be more of a willingness to give – or give more.

Your goal is to further your cause, and including other religions allows you to make everyone feel welcome to give. This concept of inclusion can carry over into any fundraising events where you might have holiday decorations as part of your decor, which means you’d have to make sure that other religions are also represented.

Foregoing religious symbols

If your group caters to a very diverse population, or the mere thought of trying to include other religions in a dignified way makes you nervous, you do have another choice.

You can avoid the topic of religion altogether and go for a more general mention of the winter holidays or even just the year’s end. For your communications and for any events you can stick to winter themed words and decorations without clear religious significance.

This is an easy way to make everyone feel comfortable. At times, a mention of several religious holidays or the presence of an assortment of decorations representing different religions can feel forced. Your group needs to decide what approach would work best for your specific situation.

Combining different approaches in your winter fundraising efforts

You don’t have to go for an all or nothing approach either and differentiate your approach by media type or event: You could go for a non-religious strategy in your mailings, but acknowledge other religious holidays as they come up on your Facebook page for example. Social media is the perfect tool to reach out to others of any demographic or religion.

Also, some religious symbols are slowly making their way into the mainstream: decorated trees and candy canes seem to become less and less a symbol of just Christmas, but more of a symbol for the winter holidays in general – as long as they’re not exclusively decorated in red and green.

The importance of inclusion

Religion is paramount in the lives of many. For some, so is their lack of an association with organized religion. While sharing your faith during the holiday season may seem innocent, some may not take it as such.

Your fundraising efforts are an attempt to bring people together to support a common cause. Fundraising during winter holidays can be tricky if you do not take everyone’s feelings and beliefs into account. This is a time of giving for everyone and your job is to give everyone a chance to support your cause by making each and every person feel that they, and their beliefs, are welcome to be a part of your fundraiser.

Image: iStockphoto/akaplummer

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It is a great way to connect with supporters, give credit to volunteers and employees and to highlight all the great work your organization has accomplished over the past year.

While it may seem a daunting task to combine a year’s worth of work into a single document, with a little planning and foresight the task can seem much more manageable.

Before you start writing your report: Layout the task at hand

Don’t forgo this step: getting all your information ready before you start writing will help you plan the specific pieces of your report and create a guideline to follow for creating the document.

It will assure that you don’t forget to include anything and, best of all, it will help you set up the method to the madness of summarizing an entire year’s worth of work into one report.

Take a step back and think about the purpose of the report as well as the content you want to possibly include:

- Who is the audience for your report? Assuming this report will be published not just internally, it should be written in a tone that’s inclusive of everyone involved or interested: donors, potential donors, volunteers, employees, readers of your website, readers of a local newspaper and so on. The writing should be neutral, but friendly, informative, but not stiff.

- What specific goals do you want the report to achieve? You obviously want to inform your audience about the work your non-profit has accomplished and what has been happening throughout the year. But even though some practical details are important to mention, the main idea should be to highlight what’s been accomplished to satisfy the mission of your group. In other words, focus on the big picture, the reason why your group exists in the first place.

- Did your organization hold any major events? Include information about the events and what you have accomplished by holding them. Do you have any images from your events, or accomplishments? If you decide to include personal pictures, make sure you get a signed release from each person portrayed (and their parents if minors) before adding them – unless the events took place in a public setting, then a release isn’t necessary.

For more decorative purposes you could also buy stock images on the internet, but just try to imagine if you were the reader: would you rather see an image of people who are actually involved, or a stock image of a model just looking good? There might be a purpose for both, but whatever image you decide on, make sure you scrutinize it well.

Also consider that some people will mostly look at the images without reading any or much of the report. What impression will they get looking at the images and the captions?

- How will you thank donors and volunteers? Make a list and check it twice! You don’t want to forget a major donor, spell their name wrong, or forget about volunteers who have gone the extra mile to make your non-profit a success. You also need to decide how you will publish a complete donor list.

If the list is much too long for the report you’ll have to make a decision on how to best do this so you don’t anger or disappoint anyone. Usually the larger donors get a spot in the report, while the smaller ones can be mentioned online. Adding a donor list to your website with special thanks and highlighting will go a long way to include everyone and make them feel like you’re appreciating them.

And don’t forget to use your social media accounts to make a fuzz about your supporters and volunteers!

- How much do you want to highlight financials? You’re not required to disclose anything in this report, so maybe a brief section about your financials would be sufficient. Again, the focus should be on all the good work you’ve been doing, not on the business aspect. Having said that, add enough about the business of fundraising (strategy, cost saving) so your reader will feel confident that any donations will be used efficiently.

Adding information about major awards and grants you’ve won can be used to showcase that others believe strongly in your cause and are willing to recognize your accomplishments and donate to your cause.

- Don’t forget to include information on how people can send donations or otherwise support your group. Add information for people who’d like to donate by mail, online, with their cell phones, or who’d like to donate their time.

As you’re taking notes on all the information you’d like to include in your report, don’t censor yourself. Just keep writing down all the things that come to mind that you think should be added.

Writing the year in review report

At this point you will have an idea of at least some of the content to feature in the body of the review. Break down the report into three parts: an introduction, the body and a conclusion. Plan for one to three pages (incl. photos) for each of the three sections. The body is the substance of the report and can run a little longer but remember that you do not want to create a huge report that no one will want to read. (If you have a swipe file, now is the perfect time to use it.)

Use the introductory section to outline the rest of the report for the reader. This is an ideal place to feature a message from the director or another executive at the organization. The message from the director brings a personal feel to the report and makes the document seem more like a magazine and less like “regular” report.

The body section is the meat and potatoes of the year in review report. This section is where you feature any of the awards, events or achievements your organization has accomplished in the past 12 months. Spruce up your report by including any images or pictures from the events to make it easier on the eyes.

Just like a term paper or essay, the final section should neatly wrap up the year in review while providing a glimpse towards the future. This is a good place to briefly summarize the various achievements and highlight any growth for the organization.

By the time the reader gets to this end of the report they should have a good idea of all the awesome things you organization has accomplished, so now is the best time for including a call to action of some sort, whether it be asking for a donation, to join an email list or to host a food drive.

Once you’ve finished creating the document, take a couple of minutes to proofread it to avoid any embarrassing spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.

Creating an excellent year in review report will take some time to accomplish, but will be well worth your efforts! It will showcase for everyone in your organization, your donors, potential donors and anyone else who is interested, what has been accomplished for the year. It offers a big picture view of all the great work your doing and will also help with planning for the upcoming year.

Tip: Now that you’ve got your Year In Review created its time to publish the report and make it available for everyone to see. The best format for a document of this nature is .PDF, so it can be easily viewed by most computer systems, emailed and cannot be altered.

If you’ve created your document in Microsoft Word, click “File” and choose the “Save As” option. In the format menu, click the “.PDF” option and click “Save.” For design software like Adobe Photoshop or InDesign, click the “File” option and choose “Export.” Click the “Adobe .PDF” option in the “Format” menu and click “Save” to publish the report. Make sure you remember where you choose to save the file.

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1. Build a Board of Directors

First, you will need to identify who you would like to have on your Board of Directors in addition to those who signed as incorporators. Initially, consideration should be given to prospective members’ business experience, access to donors and funding sources, and available time. As your non-profit matures, you will identify other reasons to solicit potential Board members but, up front, those are the three most important considerations.

At your first organizational meeting of the Board of Directors you will have to approve your bylaws:

2. Write your Bylaws

Bylaws are the rules that govern an organization. If you’ve incorporated using an online service (like Legalzoom), you will have received bylaws in your incorporation packet. If you’ve incorporated by yourself, you will need to write your own bylaws.

You could look at the bylaws of some other non-profits for ideas, but you must also make yourself familiar with the paragraphs in the bylaws. (Great list of sample bylaws at grantspace.com)

Regardless of whether you’ve received pre-drafted bylaws or are writing your own there are several points to pay particular attention to:

• Number of Directors: It is fine to authorize a fairly large number of Directors in the Bylaws but not fill their seats immediately.

• Don’t forget to also include in the bylaws: what happens should there be a conflict of interest, how a board member can be removed and how to limit personal liability for board members.

In addition to approving your bylaws, at the first organizational meeting of the Board of Directors will also have to:

3. Elect officers, approve a bank account, schedule board meetings

• Elect Officers, especially a Secretary to write the minutes of the meeting.
• Approve the establishment of a bank account
• Authorize the Treasurer to sign on the bank account
• Establish the date of the annual meeting and set up a regular schedule of interim board meetings. If you change the location of a meeting, however, you will have to follow the notice procedure in the bylaws.

The above is just a simple list of necessary items; every non-profit will have additional matters to cover that are specific to them. While it seems complicated, once you have established your officers and committees, you will be ready to do business.

Note: This article is not meant to be legal advice. When it comes to legal matters, we suggest you consult a legal adviser.

The post What To Do After You Have Incorporated Your Non-Profit appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

It can be a very effective tool however, creating buzz around your fundraising events. It is used to send information about your event to members of the media which will help create interest in your event so people will be enticed to attend.

It is related to a press release, is supposed to be much shorter (one page), yet it is a great tool in getting media attention for your organization’s events. In fact, traditionally, a media alert is supposed to be sent before your event and a press release afterwards.

Even if you’re not a public relations pro, you can still draft an effective media alert and put it into action!

Create an interesting headline for your media alert

The first step of the media alert is to create a headline that evokes curiosity. Similar to any other media related piece, the title should quickly grab the reader’s attention while providing a brief description to what the media alert is about. An editor or reporter receiving the media alert should immediately be able to figure out the central information for the release.

Who, what, when, where, why?

The next section should include all the basic details for your event. The layout of your media alert will help present your information in a clear and simple way. One of the most effective ways to do this is to utilize the simple who, what, when, where and why format.

There are basically two ways you can go about this:

- Write a single sentence to answer each question and then provide a bit more detail in an additional paragraph that will convince the reader why the event is noteworthy. Keep it short – remember that this is not a press release.

- Write a short paragraph to answer each question that includes all pertinent information. In any case, only feature the most important information and leave some room to foster curiosity about your event.

Layout example:
(click on template to download)

Tip: Before sending your media alert, have two or three members of your group check all the information for accuracy.

Now that you’ve got your media alert composed it is time to put it into action! If you haven’t done so yet, make a list of the emails and phone numbers of local media contacts in your area that might be interested in covering the event. Be sure to get information on how and when to submit media alerts. That way you’ll give the editors enough time to go over the alert and fit coverage of the event into their publication schedule.

Using media alerts before noteworthy events is a great way to help spread the word and at the same time build a good relationship with local media outlets.

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Local media outlets can be an invaluable friend to non-profit organizations, exposing your cause to thousands of people who may otherwise not hear about it. Following are a few tips to develop solid relations with local newspapers, TV stations and radio stations.

1. Get information

Sure, you can just jump in and start making calls, but why not get some information first? Pick a handful of local media outlets and sign up for their publications, emails, newsletters, follow them on Twitter, like their Facebook pages, read their blogs and so on.

You’ll get a feel for their communication style and their audience and you might also be able to identify the right reporter or news editor to contact that way. You can take care of this first step of getting information long before you’re ready to announce your event.

2. Reach out

Unless the news outlet already has plans to run a story on your cause, they probably aren’t going to come knocking on your door. Take the first step and introduce yourself and your organization to a local newspaper or TV station. All it takes is a simple email to a reporter or news editor explaining your cause and mission. Be sure to find out about their submission schedule, so you’ll know how far in advance you’re supposed to send info about events.

3. Create a strategy for events, awards, and other newsworthy items

If you want to get covered, you will need an organized approach. Build a media list to keep track of who at the news outlet you want to contact, as well as any appropriate information like their title, phone number, email.

4. Send media alert or press release

If you have an upcoming event, create and send a media alert to the appropriate contacts according to their schedule (usually about seven to ten days) in advance of the event to give the outlet enough time to fit your event into their coverage schedule.

If the event or award already happened, send a press release to the appropriate contacts in your media list. It’s always a good idea to include a one or two sentence summary of the press release so the recipient has an idea of what they are going to read.

5. Follow up

Wait a few days after sending your alert or release to follow up with each of the contacts you reached out to. A simple phone call can mean the difference between getting your story covered or having it buried under the number of releases the editor reads on a daily basis.

Remember that everyone is very busy, but also that your local news media likes to be able to keep their readers, listeners or viewers informed about what’s happening in their neighborhood. Even if the news outlet doesn’t plan to cover your event or award, you’ve taken the first steps to building a relationship with that organization which can go a long way for future events.

6. Keep a record of your interactions

Take notes of which news outlets you’ve reached out to, which ones actually covered the story and any reporters or editors you’ve spoken with. These notes will be especially useful when reaching out to the news outlet for future coverage.

7. Save a “clipping” or copy of any news stories that get covered

Save clippings of any stories by newspapers, TV stations, magazines or radio stations. In most cases, news outlets save copies of every story and can easily provide you with a copy.

If you follow these simple steps, you’ll soon build a solid relationship with your local media which will be mutually beneficial: you will aid them in providing relevant local news and your organization will benefit from the extra publicity.

The post Getting The Word Out: Building Local Media Relations For Your Organization appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

We chose the peace sign because of its popularity, but, as with any other type of sign or symbol, it can mean different things to different people. So we recommend you get lots of input before deciding on a specific sign for your fundraiser.

Whichever sign you choose, with these simple instructions you’ll be able to assemble your own custom designed decorative pieces that have great earnings potential and that are special to you and your supporters!

Light up peace sign!

Getting your supplies:

Even if you had to buy all the supplies for this fundraiser, you can get a pretty good deal if you caught a sale at a local party supply shop, or went online. But before you do that, why not take a look at your garage? Do you have hula hoops that haven’t been used much? What about some extra holiday string lights? Between you and your volunteers you might already have enough of these supplies to get your fundraising project started!

For the peace sign in the picture you’ll need a 30″ hoop and six 50-light light strings. You can of course use three 100-light strings as well, but it’s a lot easier to wrap a string that has 50 lights than one that has more. The light strings can get heavy.

- Hula hoops: It works best if the hula hoops are sturdy; if they feel very flimsy (and bend easily) they might not hold up well under the weight of the lights when hung. If you have a choice, get the darker colors, or a color that matches the lights or theme you’re trying to create. It’s hard to see the color of the hoops at night when the lights are on, but the signs will look better (and thus will be easier to sell) if the color of the hoops blends in more with the lights and theme.

We’ve used a 30″ hoop, but they’re available in different sizes. The larger the hoop, the more lights you’ll need to cover it and the heavier it will be.

If you need to buy hula hoops: we’ve bought a box of “Pull Bouy Inc Deluxe Hoops Diameter (Dozen)” on Amazon to try them out. They were lightweight, yet sturdy enough to wrap with lights, and the price was very reasonable.

- Holiday light strings, Christmas light strings: Many stores sell decorative light strings during the summer to college students who love to decorate their dorm rooms with them. Also, home improvement stores sell string lights for backyard decoration and often display their leftover holiday wares from the previous year at a steep discount for quick sale before the new merchandise arrives.

It’s best to buy lights that stay on when one bulb burns out. Some stores still sell the cheap ones that won’t work at all when just one bulb goes out.

- You’ll also need duct tape and some wire to make a hanger with, or to construct lines through the hula hoop circle if you’re planning on more complicated designs including letters and such.

How to make peace signs out of hula hoops and holiday light strings

Make sure each light strand works before using it. Plug each one in and jiggle it a little bit to make sure the lights stay on.

1. First, mark the 4 points of where the lines within the peace-sign hit the circle with a sharpie, so you’ll have a bit of a guideline.

2. Wrap the seam of the hoop with some duct tape for extra stability.

3. Take a light string and wrap a quarter of the circle, avoiding wrapping the male end of the plug which will be used to plug in the peace-sign when it’s done. Plug a second string into the first (test it again to make sure it works) and wrap the next quarter of the circle.

Repeat with a third and fourth string until the whole hoop is wrapped. This is not an exact science, just try to get the lights kind of spaced evenly. For these instructions, place the lose end of the first light string at the bottom of the hoop. You can then plug in an extension cord into this end to light the sign.

4. Take the fifth string of lights, plug it into the last (fourth) string, wrap the leader cable (the part that has no lights) a few times around the very top of the hoop and then straight down the center (cutting the circle in half), wrapping the light string a couple of times around the hoop on the other end. Use duct tape to fasten these lights into position if needed.

Go back and fourth like this to tie the whole string of lights through the center of the hoop maybe about four or five times (depending on the length of the string), each time wrapping the string around the hoop and around the center strings themselves for stability. End near the middle of the circle.

5. Take the last string, plug it into the fifth string you just used, wrap it a couple of times around the center divider string for stability, and then start wrapping it from the center to the left, then back to the center, then to the right to create the lines in the center of the peace-sign. Each time wrapping it around the hoop and the center line of lights for stability.

6. Place a wire loop for hanging at the very top of the hoop.

Periodically test the sign by plugging it in to make sure all the lights work. Once you’re done assembling it, test it by hanging it up and plugging it in – beautiful!

Finished peace sign

How can you make money with a peace-sign fundraiser?

- Consider auctioning them off at one of your Fall fundraising events, or even selling them on eBay.

- Make special signs that have been sponsored by a local business: use specific colored lights or create themed versions in different sizes, colors and designs.

- Raffle them off at one of your fundraising events

This is a perfect fundraiser if you have a few volunteers who are willing to spend some time putting together these wonderful and versatile signs for the holidays!

The post Fundraising Idea: Peace Sign Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

The decision to incorporate as a non-profit corporation may be triggered by a number of events. If your charitable activities have generated a profit, non-profit incorporation is a great way to ensure that the extra money is not taxed. Incorporation also limits any personal liability of the directors, officers, and employees when they are working for the non-profit corporation. All corporations have a perpetual lifespan thus the corporation may continue its operations even if its directors have passed away if they have been replaced by new directors.

Incorporation is not mandatory in order to apply for tax exempt status. If your fundraising activities are short-term and poses no personal risk, it may be simpler to remain a “non-profit association.” If you decide to remain a non-profit association, however, you will forego the advantages of a non-profit corporation discussed above.

Steps to non-profit incorporation

Non-profit incorporation is a relatively simple process governed by state law. First you choose a name for your non-profit corporation which cannot be the same as any other corporation. Next you appoint directors. It is perfectly acceptable to have only one director but many organizations prefer a larger board of directors. These may be friends of yours, business associates, or anyone you believe will be helpful to the corporation. Frequently, initial directors are asked to provide the seed money to get the non-profit corporation established.

The actual non-profit incorporation process begins by filing Articles of Incorporation with the proper state agency and paying the filing fee. Frequently, that state agency will provide a simple form to fill out that will become your Articles of Incorporation. Many choose to incorporate in Delaware because of its relatively relaxed corporate and tax laws but, if you do so, you will have to register as a “foreign corporation” in the state where you actually do business.

Your Articles of Incorporation must state that your purpose is either charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sport competition, or preventing cruelty to children or animals, whichever is appropriate to your activities.

The Internal Revenue Service defines “charitable” to include:

• relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged;
• advancement of religion, advancement of education or science;
• erecting or maintaining public buildings, monuments, or works;
• lessening the burdens of governments;
• lessening neighborhood tensions;
• eliminating prejudice and discrimination;
• defending human and civil rights secured by law; and
• combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.

After filing your Articles on Incorporation, you will need to create your “bylaws” to establish your non-profit corporation’s operating procedures such as meeting notices, election of officers and directors, company policies, and other internal matters. Sample Bylaws are available online. You may also want to pay one of the many online companies that will perform all the non-profit incorporation tasks for you, e.g. Legal Zoom. Most likely you will also need a local business license.

Apply for §501(c)(3) tax-exempt status

Once you have completed the non-profit incorporation process, the next step is to decide whether to apply for tax exempt status non-profit status with the Internal Revenue Service under §501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code by filing Form 1023. If you decide to pursue tax exempt status, you must file Form 1023 by the end of the 15th month after incorporation. Your completed Form 1023 will be available for public inspection. The IRS will also require you to obtain an Employer Identification Number or “EIN” by filing Form SS-4.

Your tax exempt status will not be official until you have received a letter from the IRS approving your application. While you are waiting to receive the IRS determination letter, you may operate as if your tax exempt status had been approved, including accepting donations, but you must inform donors that your status is “pending.”

Advantages of tax-exempt status

There are a number of advantages to tax exempt status.

- The most frequently cited advantage is that non-profit corporations are eligible for many public and private grants from which private individuals and for-profit corporations are excluded.

- Donors to a non-profit corporation may deduct their contributions from their personal income on their federal and state tax returns.

• Income from the non-profit corporation’s charitable activities will not be taxed at the corporate level.

• Non-profit corporations are exempt from state and local income taxes and may also be exempt from state and local property taxes.

• The US Post Office provides special reduced postage rates to non-profit corporations.

• Free or reduced fee advertising may be available in the form of “public service announcements.”

Should you apply for tax-exempt status?

There are a handful of limitations which bear discussing as part of the decision whether to apply for tax exempt status:

• All of the assets of the non-profit corporation must be used for its charitable purposes.
• Non-profit corporate income must be derived from charitable activities. Any income derived from non-charitable activities may be subject to a special excise tax.
• Certainly you are allowed to pay reasonable salaries but no corporate assets or profits may be distributed to individuals.
• If you dissolve the corporation at some future date, you must pledge that all of the assets will be transferred to another non-profit corporation.
• Non-profit corporations may not participate in political campaigns and may devote only an insubstantial portion of their assets to lobbying activities.
• Non-profit corporations must file an annual Form 990 detailing their activities and finances. Form 990s are publicly available online.

The main advantage to non-profit incorporation is that the tax exempt status allows you to accept donations and apply for grants which are frequently the only sources of funding for charitable activities. While the record keeping seems to be daunting, the same sort of financial information is maintained by every legitimate business. In other words, don’t let the amount of paperwork deter you: as your organization is growing so will your paperwork, regardless of your tax status.

More about Steps to Starting a Successful Non-Profit.

Note: This article is not meant to be legal advice. When it comes to legal matters, we suggest you consult a legal adviser.

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Make sure you pick a date during a week that’s not already busy with other events. Also consider organizing a race shorter than the traditional marathon, like a 5-K or 10-K race, or a half-marathon (13.1.miles) which, according to Runner’s World magazine, is the fastest growing distance within the sport of running.

In conjunction with your marathon you might also plan for a “fun run” for children. Keep it relatively short – one mile or less – and offer trophies for the girl and boy who cross the finish line first – or have the best costume! You might also want to offer small prizes for all of the young runners who participate in the race.

1. First things first: your marathon planning committee

The committee’s functions include coming up with a budget, a mission statement and slogan, communicating with the media, grant proposal writing, and determination of your overall goals.

Since planning for a marathon fundraiser will affect local roads, businesses and residents, it makes sense to put together a planning committee that includes members that represent affected residents and local businesses as well as civic leaders and influential people sympathetic to your charity or cause. If you don’t have a lawyer on your committee, consider hiring one to help navigate through upcoming legalities.

2. Pick a date and location for your marathon fundraiser

When deciding on a date, not only do you have to consider volunteers’ and sponsors’ availability, but make sure there aren’t any other major local events planned. And don’t forget to check the TV schedule: You don’t want to miss out on potential participants because there is a popular sports event on TV!

Pick your location based on what you’ll get permits for and areas with no or only minor safety concerns. The locale will also dictate the length of the race: is there space for a marathon, a half marathon, a 5-K, 10-K? (Use a GPS device, mobile app or online maps to determine the length of the path you choose.)

It might be a road race, or a trail race or possibly a combination thereof, if the difference in surfaces doesn’t require a change of shoes. Depending on ability of your participants, a half-marathon of 13.1 miles will take between two to three hours to complete. More, if participants walk the whole way.

Another point about locale to keep in mind is the number of people expected from out of town. Is the race location easy to access – easy in and easy out? How about public transportation and parking? Will you offer rides? Are there plenty of nearby hotel rooms available?

When approaching local authorities for permits, liability insurance, police agreements etc., include your written plan which includes a description of the event and the affected area, expectation of the number of runners and possibly a preliminary budget.

3. Marathon fundraiser budgeting tips

You can get an estimate for your expenses from previous fundraisers, or by researching other marathon fundraisers. Larger fundraisers like this one are usually financed with a mix of cash and in-kind donations, cash at hand and possibly a loan.

Besides sticking to essentials and trimming unnecessary fat from your expenses, asking businesses for cash donations, or donations of needed items will further reduce cash outlay for your group. (More on in-kind donations.)

In exchange, you can offer sponsorship benefits like ads on your blog, mentions on your social media accounts or signs at the refreshment stands etc. Offer sponsorships to previous sponsors first before approaching new potential sponsors. (Asking for donations.)

The following items lend themselves perfectly for sponsorship and/or adding sponsorship messages:

• Advertising
• T-shirts for participants and spectators, kids and baby shirts, hats
• Runner’ race bibs (number tags)
• Finish line
• Trophies, ribbons, prizes, etc.
• Water bottles, plastic cups, etc.
• Decorations, balloons
• Refreshments
• Entertainment
• Rental fees for equipment
• Tickets printing
• Drink and aid stations
• Trash cans/removal
• Portable toilets

Other expenses: permits and fees, timing equipment, liability insurance, first aid staff, security and safety, power generators, lighting, canopies, music and entertainment.

Approach different branches of businesses for sponsorship and other charitable groups for partnership. Examples would be grocery stores, hotels and businesses catering to tourism, hardware and rental stores, athletic stores, printing businesses, local police or medical groups, non-profits with a different supporter demographic.

Partnerships with other charitable groups may not reduce your expenses, but may be helpful in increasing the number of participants in your marathon fundraiser. (I.e. “green” or recycling organization, children’s charity, food bank.)

4. Safety and health care

Depending on the size of your event, you might have to ask for help from your local law enforcement. Each city will have different rules when it comes to safety and security, that’s why it’s beneficial to have someone with a connection to City Hall on your committee to help with these details.

Plan on having volunteers along the race path to hand out water to participants. Set up tents with staff to help with minor ailments and first aid. Have an ambulance ready to go. It may seem that if you’re only planning a small event these things might not be necessary, but regardless of the size of the event, you have to be prepared to deal with health issues. (You might find volunteer help at your local community college.).

5. Choose a name for your event

Choose a name that’s easy to remember (possibly with an element of fun) and actually says what it’s about. An artsy or abstract name may sound exciting, but will be counter productive when it comes to marketing the event.

List a few possible choices and try them out on others: do they know right away what it is about? Does the name imply something else unintentionally? How does it abbreviate? Does the name already come up in an online search? Does it sound too similar to another event?

6. Marathon fundraiser ideas

The possibilities are endless! Make sure you keep a tight handle on your budget so you’re not leaking money on one end while you’re trying to bring in funds on the other. Some ideas for your marathon fundraiser:

- Runner participation fees (offer different levels)
- T-shirts for participants and non-participants (family members, spectators)
- Sponsored runner donations; runners may be sponsored by friends, family, businesses and donations are announced after the race. Post all donations and offer special recognition to highest ones.
- Offer a discount to runners who sign up before a particular cut-off date. This may help to increase the number of participants
- Souvenirs like water bottles, buttons, stickers
- Refreshments
- Advertising and mentions for flyers, posters, newsletters, website, social media
- Add-on fundraisers like selling refreshments, food, bake sale, cell phone recycling, face painting

If you anticipate a lot of first time runners, consider offering a “Marathon for Beginners” class a few months before the event. Besides preparing people for your marathon, these gatherings are a lot of fun, create buzz and add some extra income to your fundraiser! (Click over to Runner’s World’s tips for beginners.)

7. Volunteers

You’ll need volunteers to help with all parts of administering and running the marathon: registering participants, collecting entrance fees, handing out t-shirts, selling refreshments, keeping social media accounts and websites up-to-date and cleaning up at the end of the event.

You’ll also need race monitors along the path who hand out water and who deal with any unforeseen safety hazards and someone to run a timing system. Unless your marathon is a very small event, plan on renting timing equipment where each runner receives a chip to attach to the shoelace or race bib which will automatically record their time as they cross the finish line.

Plan for plenty of volunteers and back-up volunteers and create and post a central plan for everyone involved that shows jobs, times, break times etc. and hand out a final copy on race day.

8. Managing your marathon

You’ll have to keep track of participants, sponsors, funds, marketing products, social media accounts, your blog, volunteers etc. How do you keep it all organized? First of all, you need to delegate different jobs, but you can also take advantage of technology to automate some of these jobs.

Search the web for “marathon registration software” or “race registration software” and you’ll find online services that will take care of the participant registration process for a fee. You can also search for “race management” to find companies who offer other kinds of services that may help your race. Of course you’ll have to weigh the price against how much value you’ll derive from these services.

(See our list of 15 most popular online fundraising services and also check sites like ConstantContact and Eventbrite.com for help with promoting your event and registering participants.)

If you’re planning your first marathon, the amount of work and time commitment involved and the learning curve might be a good reason to start with a smaller event. You can always make next year’s event bigger!

(For help with staying organized, our checklists might help.)

9. Marketing your marathon fundraiser

There are many ways to publicize your marathon. Use creativity in your campaign to spread the word in advance.

• The “old fashioned” newspaper and other print advertisements
• Flyers
• Town banners
• Use your social media accounts, blog or website and other current marketing channels
• Contact related blogs to let them know about your event
• Search online for “promote event” to find services that will help with marketing, registration and other event related jobs
• Local TV and radio announcements
• Word of mouth: train your volunteers on how to talk about your event and what and who to mention (or not to mention)

(More about marketing your fundraiser.)

Even though a marathon fundraiser can be a lot of work, it brings communities together in a common act of generosity that’s memorable and pays off in so many ways. As always after a fundraising event, don’t forget to thank everyone involved, including participants, vendors, volunteers and sponsors.

The post Fundraising Idea: Marathon Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

What is our goal? Does my group need monetary sponsorship or in-kind donations, or both?

There are two main types of support, monetary (a company or person writing a check or offering cash) or an in-kind donation (a donated product or service). Both are obviously helpful but if you accept an in-kind donation in lieu of monetary, be sure it is something you really need and is useful to you or can easily be turned into cash.

Examples of an in-kind donation are food or beverages provided at a conference luncheon, office volunteers or airline travel miles. The key, however, is that your organization would otherwise have to purchase these items if they were not donated.

(More on in-kind donations.)

What do we have to offer our sponsors?

Understandably, many (maybe most) companies want to know what they are going to “get” in exchange for their support. It is vital to have a well thought-out list of benefits prior to making that first call or having that first face-to-face meeting.

For instance, will you advertise the sponsoring companies on your web site, promote them through your social media accounts, in conference materials, or printed news letters? Will you place sponsoring company logos on your marketing materials or other collateral material? Perhaps it is exhibit space at your fundraising event. You may have different levels of sponsorship and therefore different benefits.

Whatever the benefits of sponsorship may be, the list should be specific and presented in an attractive manner. Your list can include just a handful of options, or be as detailed as the sponsorship benefits list of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. A simple web search of “sponsorship benefits” returns many examples of sponsor benefit sheets; another example would be the sponsor benefits list of the Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference.

Who should we ask?

Start by making a list of companies or people who already support your organization in some fashion. Past donors, conference attendees if applicable, or other organizations with like-minded goals or missions. (Depending on your supporter base it might also make sense to include sponsorship information with your donation requests.)

Make a list of these companies and a person at each organization to approach. That contact doesn’t need to be the most senior person but someone who knows your organization and appreciates the value of being associated with it. Even if he or she isn’t the final decision maker, they can open doors for you within the company.

When a sponsorship agreement is in place, quickly send a letter thanking the company or person for the support and again outlining what recognition or benefits will be received for the donation. This should be signed by the senior ranking position in your company. If you have a Board of Governors or Directors, it is a nice touch to have the Chairperson sign the letter as well.

(Click over to writing fundraising letters for some examples of thank you letters.)

Recognition – sing their praises!

Because you have already promised the sponsor a certain amount of exposure, you must deliver! Whether it is placing an advertisement on your web page, displaying thank you banners at conferences or a personal thank you from the CEO of your organization in front of a group, if you don’t provide the promised exposure, you won’t have repeat sponsors.

At the end of the year, send a wrap-up letter again thanking the sponsor for their support and recognizing that the year’s success was made possible, in large part, by their sponsorship.

With some advance planning and organization, obtaining sponsorship is not a difficult task. Recognizing the supporter before, during and after the sponsorship period will go a long way in generating repeat business and/or support. Good luck and happy asking!

The post How to Prepare When Asking for Donations and Support appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

With a Karaoke fundraiser, there a few things to watch for to make sure it’s a success:

Audience, venue and Karaoke equipment

The most important factor to consider is your audience: will they be mostly high-school kids? College students? Will there be no kids allowed? The answer to these questions will affect where you hold the fundraiser. Will it be appropriate to have this event in your school’s multi-purpose hall, outdoors, or at a club?

Depending on the demographic and how many people you expect for your Karaoke fundraiser, you’ll have to decide whether to use a simple home Karaoke machine setup (small crowd) or go with a high-quality system which would be more appropriate for larger rooms and larger crowds.

You can rent commercial machines for a reasonable price, and these will be loaded with a large number of song selections. However, you may also be able to borrow a home Karaoke machine from someone in your organization to save money. Just keep in mind that home machines don’t have the same sound quality as commercial machines (important if you’re performing in a large venue) and may not have a very wide song selection. Be sure to test any equipment beforehand.

Get a good MC

A main factor that can mean the difference between a successful fun event and a dud is making sure you have a good master of ceremonies! You may have volunteers who offer to do it for free, but do they really have what it takes to get a crowd going? Are they able to walk the fine line between obnoxious and boring?

Such a person can be hard to find, but the right MC will keep things exciting during those moments when no one feels like singing, and help keep the momentum going when everyone wants to. Try to find someone who has experience and get recommendations. Often the place that will rent you a Karaoke machine will also have a recommendation for an MC.

What about judges?

You may choose to have a Karaoke night that’s simply all about having fun and somewhat unstructured, or you may want to throw a little competition into the mix, perhaps “a la American Idol”. Judges and prizes can make the evening more exciting, as long as it’s handled in a fun and lighthearted way.

How to make money with a Karaoke fundraiser

- You can start by charging an entrance fee, but you’ll have to weigh this carefully as it may turn people away from your event. You might consider holding a raffle for free movie tickets or other lower cost item or event and might sell more tickets this way.

- Performers can sign up on a list and pay an extra fee. This might generate extra income, but it might be easier to roll the chance to sing in with the entrance fee. Some people will jump at the chance to sing, while others may be quite apprehensive.

- Encourage “tips” for performers with the tips going to your group as a donation.

- You can also get more people to participate and donate if you have the MC announce that they’re taking donations to hear the school principal or the football team sing!

- Sell snacks (or meals depending on your venue and time of day) and refreshments. Options could be a coffee or juice bar and an ice cream stand. A Karaoke fundraiser makes an excellent add-on fundraiser to other events that may already be offering food and refreshments. (Like a food truck fundraiser.)

- Another factor to consider is whether to sell alcohol at your event. If you expect an underage crowd, you can’t serve alcohol; but if the venue is a bar or concert hall, chances are you will have the option. Serving alcohol brings with it all kinds of legal considerations, make sure the extra income from selling alcoholic beverages is worth the extra risk.

- Sell CD’s of the night’s recordings. Many Karaoke systems have a built in function that lets you record the performances – why not take advantage of this feature and offer CDs to your participants as soon as they’re done with their performance!

Keeping people motivated to sing is easy with a good MC and by offering some attractive prizes, preferably donated. If you’re unable to get donations, it’s probably still worth your time and money to invest in a few good prizes to keep people baited during the night: “Don’t miss your last chance to win this brand new ___! Come up and take your best shot at Bruce Springsteen!”

With a little bit of creativity and a large fun factor, your event will be a success and your organization will be talking about their Karaoke night for months to come!

The post Fundraising Idea: Guaranteed Fun – Hold a Karaoke Fundraiser! appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

1. Before you start promoting your fundraiser

As with any larger event, the better you prepare for your fundraising event, including promoting it, the smoother it will run and the higher the chances that you’ll have a positive outcome.

- Identify a budget for potential expenses like online fundraising services, online press releases, printing costs etc. Having a budget in place – even if it is very small – before you get into serious planning will greatly help when defining your promotional strategy for your fundraiser and help you focus on the most effective promotion channels.

- Identify available volunteers. You should have a basic idea of how many volunteers you’ll be able to count on for your event. Once you have potential dates for your event nailed down, try to get a commitment from volunteers for these dates. Be sure to keep your volunteers updated of changes to your event schedule.

- Identify your target group. Look at your current supporters’ and your social media demographics. How do you best reach them (email, website, etc.) and where do you see an opportunity to potentially get more supporters on board? (social media channels, your website, partner with a business etc.)

- List your current marketing channels and decide which ones to promote your fundraiser through and how. Different channels may require a different strategy. (Do you have a social media strategy?)

- Arrange to be on a local radio or TV station to promote your event. Appearing in public is another great way to promote your event. Not only will you have the chance to show your enthusiasm for your event, but you may also be able to answer questions and possibly recruit more volunteers.

- Create promotional copy for press releases, flyers, emails and speeches as needed and train your volunteers on how to speak about your event. Writing down what you would like to say about your cause and event will help you narrow your focus on the most important aspects and keep your message clear. Practice with your volunteers ahead of time what to say when talking about your event to participants, donors and sponsors and how to word information on social media channels.

You might even try to come up with a fun slogan, but be careful. Even though a slogan can do wonders for promoting your event, if there is the slightest chance it could be misread, it’s better to have no slogan at all. Before you decide on a slogan, run it by several people within your group to see if it may work and Google it to see how else it is being used.

- Make sure that your website is fully functional and up to date, especially if you haven’t added much new information lately. Go over any ‘About’ information, financials posted and also scrutinize your mission statement: maybe it needs to be tweaked a bit. Don’t forget to add testimonials if appropriate.

Once you start promoting your event, lots of people will visit your website and see all the information. Make sure it’s correct and the website functions well and you have a sign up box for people to sign up to your emails. Also make sure you have links to any social media accounts, press releases, or any other information about your cause on the web.

- Identify potential partnerships for your fundraiser. Even if your partner can only help with marketing (as opposed to writing a check), your fundraising event may greatly benefit from it. A business’ marketing power and reach could mean thousands more dollars for your cause. When considering a partnership with a business, make sure you scrutinize every aspect of it to make sure it’s a good fit for your cause. The slightest conflict of interest, negative news, or even negative connotation might hurt your group’s trustworthiness.

If you’re partnering with another non-profit, it is most important that you make it easy for your supporters to help. Consider splitting any monetary donations equally or in another simple, fair and easy to grasp way. If supporters have to think about whom to give to first, or have to do any kind of math, your fundraising event will probably take in less in donations.

It is also important that your partnership is reflected in all your marketing copy, on your website, flyers and so on. The same should be done by the other group. Decide together about how to best word your fundraiser, use colors and logos and style marketing materials. The end results need to portray that you’re working together and are united to support your cause or causes.

- Start a list of everyone involved with your fundraiser: volunteers, donors, sponsors and other supporters. This will greatly facilitate your thanking everyone once your event is over.

2. Decide on when to start promoting your fundraiser

- How much time do you have before your event starts? If you start promoting your event too far ahead, people may become impatient, or it may soon seem irrelevant, because it’s so far off. On the other hand, waiting too long to promote your event may prevent people from attending because they may have made other plans.

For a larger event, or an annually recurring event, consider starting your promotional activities at least three months ahead of of time. For smaller events, two weeks to up to a month might be sufficient. It’s ok to announce your event even if you don’t know the exact dates yet, but the actual act of promoting your event should be well thought through and follow a plan.

- Don’t forget to promote your event as it is happening! Unless it is a private event, don’t stop trying to get visitors and potential donors on the day of your event. Volunteers handing out flyers nearby or at shopping malls (get permission first), placing large signs near the event, getting local radio and TV coverage, and so on can all be used to promote your event as it is taking place.

3. Promoting your fundraising event through different media channels and word of mouth

- Start by updating your social media channels and website and then sending out your news release. Send out emails to your list of subscribers and inform them about the event, link to information on your website or social media channels and so on. If you don’t have an email list yet, this is a great opportunity to start one!

To avoid having to manually input email addresses, provide a sign-up box on your website and a website address in your printed newsletter where your supporters can sign up. Be sure to keep the emails safe and let your subscribers know exactly what you will do or not do with their emails: you will only use it for the purpose intended, you won’t sell the email list or rent it, you will keep their information safe etc.

- Call your media contacts, send them your information and set up interviews. Don’t forget to also send your message directly to individuals who might be interested in your cause including mom bloggers, fundraising bloggers, specific Twitterers, your family members and friends and so on.

- Update your internet channels continuously starting just before the event and throughout the day of the event and don’t stop until you have thanked all your supporters. Don’t just thank your donors, but also your volunteers, businesses who have helped you market the event, individuals and so on.

- Hand out flyers at places and venues you believe would reach your desired demographic. Handing out information at a shopping mall or near a grocery or school store may be effective. Be sure to ask for permission first before you do this. Asking for permission is a great opportunity to talk about your event and build a friendly rapport with the business owner or manager as opposed to being just another pesky solicitor.

- More about connecting your online and traditional marketing efforts.

- Word-of-mouth promotion may seem like it won’t reach as many people as social media, but it will strengthen your message and puts a face to your cause and event. Train your volunteers on how to best talk about your event. (See 1. above)

4. Wrapping up your event

Your event may be over, but your work isn’t done yet. Be sure to thank everyone involved as soon as possible after the event. If you have an opportunity during the event, you could take advantage of it and thank sponsors and volunteers right then and there. Have you made a list of everyone involved? Then not forgetting anyone will be that much easier.

Thanking everyone who is supporting you and your cause isn’t only the right thing to do, it will make people feel appreciated and help them remember how great they felt when you come asking for their help or donation for your next event!

Tip: Don’t forget to take notes about the event for your swipe file. That way you’ll have all pertinent information for your next fundraising event handy which will likely save you some money and time. Write down the names of vendors you’ve used, their pros and cons, contact information for rental and permit information, and so on.

Promoting your fundraiser might seem like a chore to some, but consider that it’s also a great way to showcase your cause and let the public know how passionate you are about it. It’s worth putting in extra effort to make sure as many potential supporters as possible will know about and attend your event. Promoting your fundraising event in a professional manner shows any current and potential supporter that you’re serious about your cause and makes it more pleasant for everyone involved to support you.

(Image: iStockphoto/sorendls)

The post How to Promote Your Fundraising Event appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

(More fundraising letters.)

Dear ______

Thank you.

You may remember our request for a donation for our school science fair. I’m sorry that you were unable to attend, but I’m happy to report that your generous donation helped make our very first science fair at [school] a great success!

Because of the generosity of donors like you, our students at [school] were able to push their science projects one step further, deepen their knowledge, and proudly present their work to their families and the public. The self-esteem boost that this science fair has given our students is priceless! It’s through events like the science fair that our students get to experience learning in a different format and the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in a creative and practical way.

I’ve enclosed a DVD detailing some of the students’ projects and the different events that took place on that day. We want you to know how much we appreciate your giving, and we hope that the footage on this DVD will confirm that [company] is making a big difference in the lives of the children in our community.

I have one question for you. Do you think some of the students from [school] could visit [company] as part of a field trip? Our programming and physics teachers would just love to take their students to one of your [company] campuses. Being able to connect what our students are learning in the classroom to real life application would make their education come full circle and offer a glimpse into a possible future for them.

If you believe it’s feasible to let one or two of our classes visit the [company] campus, please contact me at your convenience so we can make arrangements. It would certainly mean a lot to us and the students, and perhaps it would give some of the employees at your company a chance to see the good their company is doing in the surrounding community.

In any case, please know that we are so very grateful to you and [company] for your generous donation. You have made a huge difference to our students and [school] and have been a part of a wonderful experience that all of us at [school] will never forget.

Sincerely,

————–
(Signature of principal or head of parent organization.)

The post Thank You For Donation Letter – To a Company appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

If you’re interested in harnessing mobile donations for your future fundraising campaigns, without the disadvantages of text donations, keep an eye on the new mobile payment services springing up.

(Maybe we will finally see dedicated donations apps in the iTunes store.)

What’s different about these ‘mobile wallet’ services is that payments aren’t collected by the cell phone service provider (like SMS payments), but through a credit card or bank account.

Even though it hasn’t been explicitly mentioned that these new services will be tailored for donations, we assume that because they’re all based on using consumers’ existing accounts for payment, like any other online payment service, they will also be available and optimized for collecting donations.

Advantages of mobile donations vs. giving via a PC

So what’s the big deal about being able to donate via mobile phones and other mobile devices? Considering, that more people are now accessing the internet via mobile device than desktop computer, and that more people than ever are accessing their banking information from a mobile device, it only makes sense to collect donations through mobile devices as well.

Another advantage is that you can harness the spontaneity of your supporters: let’s say you’re sending an email which your supporter then receives on his or her cell phone; or potential supporters see your information in a newspaper or on TV.

Instead of having to click over to a website to fill out a standard form that requires name, address, phone number, pulling out a credit card and so on, your supporter will be able to simply enter a password to complete his or her donation.

If your supporter had to fill out the form, they may have just given up right there. Have you ever tried to fill out a form on the small screen on your smart phone? It’s cumbersome to say the least. Or you may have decided to wait to get home to fill it out on your computer screen, but chances are, by the time you got home you have forgotten about the donation, or simply lost motivation.

Disadvantages of mobile payment services

The main disadvantage of any of the mobile wallet services is that each party using it has to have an account in order to streamline the payment process. This means that if a person isn’t signed up for the payment service you’re using, they’ll still have to go through the laborious process of setting up an account first, or filling out a regular form.

The solution may be to sign up with more than one of these services, but are we really ready and willing to add yet more additional accounts to our current line up of financial services?

Another issue may be that apparently many retailers are working on providing their own mobile wallet services. If you have dozens of new services flooding the market place it may be impossible for anyone to conduct any campaign efficiently, because consumers may be confused and will then sign up with few services or not at all.

Mobile payments can be somewhat compared with credit cards: there are cards from many banks branded with the main services like Visa, Mastercard and American Express and then there are all the store cards. Most people now have at least one of the main credit cards and some store credit cards.

Maybe it will work out similar for mobile payments where many people will eventually be signed up with at least one of the large credit card companies.

Worst case scenario could be that all the mobile services create so much confusion among consumers, or apathy because they’re expected to keep track of yet another account, that they will simply forgo or at least postpone signing up for any mobile payment service. Also, if there are any major security issues, consumers will stick with the payment and donation solutions already available to them.

Options for mobile donations

Any online or app based payment services can be used for mobile payments (provided retailers are set up for mobile payments), but it’s the services that are the easiest to use that will eventually win out and result in completed mobile transactions and mobile donations. Note that all services offer peer-to-peer (P2P) payments for free or a very low fee.

Mobile payment services already available or becoming available soon:

- PayPal. If you’re group is already using PayPal, you may like the fact they provide an express checkout service that can be optimized for mobile devices. All your supporters have to do is click on the ‘PayPal’ button on your mobile site or app, log in, review the details and click ‘pay.’ Since PayPal is a popular payment service, a lot of people will already have an account. PayPal offers their P2P service on Facebook.

Until recently PayPal had information about a dedicated mobile checkout service on their website, but the information has since disappeared and interested parties are encouraged to contact PayPal’s customer service, or search for “mobile checkout” on their website. Their new digital wallet service which promises more features than other digital wallet services, incl. a grace period that lets you change how and when you pay for something, and paying with loyalty points and airline miles, is supposed to go live in May of 2012.

Paying with loyalty points and frequent flier miles? How great would this be if you could ask your supporters to simply donate airline miles which would automatically convert into $$ for your group! Can you tell we’re excited about these new options!

Dwolla – Another payment option similar to PayPal. Dwolla calls themselves a ‘cash based payment network’ that allows payment through major credit cards like Visa and Mastercard, and also peer-to-peer payments like the other services.

Their fees are lower than PayPal’s and you can pay your followers or friends through social media accounts like Twitter or Facebook. Like some other payment services, you don’t need to connect your account to a bank account, unless you want to add money to your own account to pay others.

- American Express Serve. Serve is another digital wallet platform for sending and receiving money, plus they offer a widget for accepting and tracking donations. Serve can also be used for making payments via email or their app. In order to send or receive payments, each user must have a registered Serve account.

- Google Wallet – For in-store and online checkout is currently available only on Android phones sold by Sprint and you have to have a PayPass MasterCard or Google PrePaid card to use it. MasterCard has been partnering with other companies around the world to develop and expand their mobile payments options.

The Google Wallet mobile app stores your payment information and you can use it to check out at online or brick and mortar merchants who accept Google Wallet. Online you have to sign in to your account, at a physical location you can simply tap your phone to a terminal to make a payment with over-the-air technology.

- V.me – Visa’s new payment solution V.me will include optimized options for mobile payments, which are expected to become available in 2012. It will allow customers to fund their account with any major credit card or their bank account and make peer-to-peer payments. Much like PayPal, customers will also use a single account to checkout at any place that accepts V.me.

Mobile point-of-sale services

Gone are the days when you had to lug around a credit card terminal that needs internet access and had to be connected to a PC: you can now simply swipe credit cards through a reader that’s connected to your smart phone. If your fundraising activities include direct sales, one of these new devices may be incredibly useful to you. Not only do people spend more when they pay per credit card, but you will be able to sell to more supporters that way.

Popular mobile credit card readers are Square and GoPayment reader by Intuit which lets you keep and receive funds on a prepaid credit card; bank account optional. The readers are available for the most popular smart phones like iPhone and Android. There is also one service that simply lets you scan a credit card without any additional hardware, Card.io. The apps for the services are free and you only pay a fee per transaction (similar to PayPal).

Mobile Safety

To learn more about mobile phone safety, click over to SaferMobile.com, a project of MobileActive.org, the non-profit that provides “resources on the use of mobile technologies for social impact.” You can read up on such topics as Are Your Apps Trustworthy, how to lock your phone and other topics related to learning about and using your mobile device.

Learn more about mobile payments services

Confused about all the options and possibilities? You’re not alone. With new mobile services being offered every month and new technology being created at a break-neck speed it’s no wonder we’re all scrambling to wrap our heads around them. But mobile payments are here to stay and the good news about this is that mobile donations will be more affordable for non-profits and more streamlined.

The best way to learn about the new mobile services is to embrace them and try them out:

- When your bank or credit card company sends info about their mobile payment service: sign up and try it out. Make a payment, ask for payment from someone you know who signed up for the same service and you’ll see how it really works and if it would make sense to integrate it into your fundraising campaigns.

- Shop at a store that uses mobile payment technologies: many brick and mortar stores are using the new mobile card readers instead of terminals. (We’ve seen them in Apple stores and coffee shops.) Ask questions and make a purchase.

- Sign up for retailers’ mobile payment services: Do you have a Starbucks card? You can download their free app, pay with your mobile phone in their stores and leave your card at home. View how the new Starbucks Card mobile app works at mFoundry.com, a popular mobile payment platform for banks and companies.

- Watch for political fundraising campaigns: There is currently no information on how much political campaigns are taking in through mobile donations. But considering that the trend of using cell phones for checking email and browsing the web is still going up, you bet that political campaign fundraisers will always be looking for the newest and best technology to harness their supporters’ giving power.

Since text donations are currently not allowed for political campaigns – it’s impossible to adhere to federal disclosure laws – they have great motivation to be creative in using other mobile payment technology.

(Update: After much bipartisan lobbying, text donations are now legal for political campaigns.)

What are your experiences with mobile payment and donation services? Please share in the comments if and what mobile payment services you’ve tried and how they worked for you!

(Image: iStockphoto/mipan)

The post New Options for Mobile Donations appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

But even large companies may have to lower their cash donations during tough economic times and will often resort to making up at least some of the difference through in-kind donations or giving their employees paid time off to volunteer. In any case, show how supporting your cause will ultimately also benefit the company by considering sponsorship benefits.

How you ask can make the difference between getting a donation or not.

Following are a few points to consider when approaching a company for donations:

1. Do your homework before sending your donation request

Large companies usually have dedicated departments that work with charitable groups. Check the company’s website and make some calls to make sure you’re directing your request to the right department and the right person. Don’t simply send a letter to a catch-all address; it may take too long to get to the right person, or worse, never get there.

Besides, who wants to receive a letter that starts with ‘dear sir’ or ‘to whom it may concern’? How serious would you think this person is about his or her request? Remember that you are going to deal with real people, not the ‘company’.

2. Learn about donation request procedures and follow them

Each company will have their own set of rules, forms and procedures about how to apply for a donation. Some will ask detailed information, down to exact demographics of your beneficiaries, while others may ask for specific forms to be filled out. Be ready to provide a lot of information if you’d like to be considered for the ‘charity of the year’ or a donation match program.

In any case, do a thorough research and ask questions beforehand, so when you send in your donation request package it contains all the pertinent information. Also, be prepared to make your request in person. If a company is willing to make a large donation, they might invite you to make a presentation.

3. Briefly introduce your cause

In your request letter, make it clear right from the beginning who you are. Briefly describe your charity, your mission and goals. This shouldn’t take more than a paragraph or two. Remember that no one has time to read long letters, and you don’t want them to have to do research on something you could have easily mentioned. Be specific and concise and include information on your charity’s rating if applicable.

Tip: Google your cause with and without quotation marks; your own web pages and social media accounts should be among the first search results on the page. Make sure that anyone who searches for your cause can easily find pertinent information on your pages and that this information matches up with the info you’re sending out in your donation request.

4. Describe your group’s struggles and what you’d like to achieve

This is the part about why you’re asking for help and why you’re asking now. Make your case and let your passion for your work shine through. This is where persuasive writing skills will come in handy. (See writing fundraising letters.)

Don’t be shy about asking for support for your charity. It’s your job as the representative of your cause to generate as much money as you can for your group, so write with no inhibitions, remembering what you are trying to achieve.

5. Let them know how you’d like to be supported

If you’re sending a donation request, be specific. Tell them you need x amount of money which will support x amount of kids through month or year x. As mentioned before, many companies also offer in-kind donations and paid time off for their employees to volunteer. If these forms of help are useful to you, include these in your request as well.

6. Express your gratitude to your sponsor

Regardless how much they donate to you, send a personalized thank you letter. They didn’t have to donate to you, but thought your cause was worthy of their consideration. A thank you letter will show your appreciation and may even be publicly displayed. It’ll also help pave the way for an ongoing relationship that might possibly result in another donation the following year.

7. Send updates

Your sponsor may request that you send regular updates, but if they don’t, send them anyway. You may already be posting your updates on a blog, or Facebook, but you should also make it a point to occasionally send a letter (possibly with pictures) that describes your progress to your sponsor. Your letter may be posted somewhere for all to see and will remind everyone of the good they are doing.

Even if you didn’t get chosen for a donation one year, be aware of the impression you leave behind. If you’ve represented your cause in a positive light and dealt with everyone in a respectful and friendly manner, chances are they will remember you the following year – when you apply again.

The post How To Ask For Donations From A Large Company appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Unlike a traditional ice cream truck, or the hot dog and taco wagons at a downtown street corner, these new gourmet food trucks are modern kitchens on wheels.

Sure, you could raise funds with the old fashioned food trucks as well, but the diverse cuisines of the new gourmet food trucks will get people curious and surely attract a large crowd. Besides, who can resist a fundraiser that you can leave with dinner already taken care of?

How do you raise funds with food trucks?

1. First, decide on how you would like to make money with food trucks: you could charge a flat fee; you could ask for a percentage of sales; you could pre-sell food tickets; or decide on a combination of all these. But the easiest way to make money is to ask the owners of the food trucks for a flat fee or a donation amount of their own choosing. If you opt for the voluntary donation, be ready to name a suggested minimum.

2. To find food trucks that do business in your area, keep an eye on your local news sources, or go online and search for “food trucks” and “food stands”. You can also check sites like FoodTrucksMap.com, RoamingHunger.com, or Yelp.com and Zagat.com for more information. Yes, even Zagat, the well known restaurant review service has reviewed gourmet food trucks in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco!

Since food trucks usually tweet about their current locations, you can also try Twitter by searching for #foodtruck or #foodtrucks and see what comes up. Many food trucks will have the city as part of their username.

Talk to the owners of the food trucks and find out if they’d be interested in taking part in your event. If there is a lot of interest in your event, you’ll have to decide how many food trucks you’d like to host, which largely depends on how many people you think you’ll be able to attract to your event. To get a great deal of excitement going, plan for an event with at least five or six food trucks with different cuisines, possibly including a vegetarian/vegan choice and dessert. Pick trucks that offer a diverse selection of foods, so you’ll have something for everyone.

3. Decide who to invite to your fundraising event: is it only a specific group (like students and their families), or the general public? This may depend on how large and what kind of place you’ll be able to reserve and how many food trucks vendors have showed interest.

4. Before you book the food trucks, you’ll have to pick a place for the trucks to set up. It could be a school parking lot, in or alongside a park, or any other open space that has parking nearby and/or heavy foot traffic. Once you’ve picked a couple of potential spots, see what the availability is for these places for a few specific times.

Getting these permits and locking in specific dates with food trucks has to happen simultaneously: You don’t want to be stuck with a space that you can’t get the trucks to and you don’t want to reserve the food trucks for a date that you can’t guarantee a place for. Make a spreadsheet that lists potential locations, dates and food trucks so you can stay organized. Also consider drawing up a map that shows exactly where the trucks will set up, and where the trash cans and any seating arrangements can be placed.

5. Volunteers: Make sure you have at least one person available to direct the trucks on where to set up exactly and to answer any questions. This person should be available to the vendors throughout the whole event. You’ll also need volunteers who keep the place clean and keep an eye on the trash bins and empty them as needed, and volunteers who will stay after the event and will help clean up, and wrap up any business with the vendors.

6. Some food trucks will provide their own seating or standing tables, but some of them won’t. You don’t always have to eat sitting down, but it’s nice to have a place to put your drink. You could ask people to bring their own lawn chairs, or set up in an area that already has some seating options. You could arrange for small standing tables that can be rented from an event company.

In any case, you probably don’t have to plan for seating for everyone; many will buy their dinner and then leave, others won’t mind eating standing up, or sitting on a grassy area. However, do make sure your event is wheelchair accessible and you do have at least some seating available.

7. Arrange for trash disposal. Some foods may be wrapped only in a piece of paper, while others may be sold in a styrofoam box. You may also have to plan for lots of recyclables like bottles and cans (Recycle Bottles and Cans to Raise Funds). You may want to consider the amount of trash a food truck will generate before you make your final selection. Some owners will supply a trash can near their truck that they will service.

8. Time to announce your fundraiser! If you’d like to get a feel for how much interest your supporters would have, you could talk about your plans for your fundraiser on your blog or social media accounts right from the beginning of the planning phase. You may get more ideas for your event and be able to better gage potential interest in such a fundraising event.

If you’d rather wait to announce your event until you have all the details planned and then announce your event, that’s fine too. In any case, take full advantage of your social media accounts, blog, email list and any other marketing tools, like a printed newsletter and flyers. Note: Having lots of followers and “likes” in your social media accounts will help convince the owners of the food trucks that they’ll be able to sell lots of food at your event.

9. At the start of your event, have your volunteers in place (see above), set up signs, or use balloons or any other decorations to direct people to your event and to attract passerby traffic. You could also arrange for add-on fundraisers like a raffle to maximize your return on this event.

Are you excited about this kind of fundraiser? You’re not the only one! Even large organizations like the Make-A-Wish foundation and Toys For Tots have successfully raised funds using food truck fundraisers. And if your event is well visited, you could make a food truck fundraiser a regular event and plan for a “food truck night” every month, like some schools in the Los Angeles area.

(Image credit: iStockphoto/wdstock)

The post Fundraising Idea: Food Truck Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

A Valentine’s Day fundraiser offers the advantages of

• Opportunity for entertaining event-based fundraisers

Every type of Valentine’s Day fundraiser offers a variety of ways to make money. Some, event-based fundraisers especially, can bring in profits in more ways than one.

(More about raising funds with food items, Valentine’s flower fundraiser.)

>> Tip: Use search box above and try “candy fundraiser” or “chocolate fundraiser”.

Or click over to our sponsor Fundraising.com for the best and most popular chocolate, candy and Smencils fundraisers!

Product sales:

When planning for a Valentine’s Day fundraiser, consider selling not just flowers and candy, but also items that don’t spoil like knick knacks, or accessories like hats, scarves etc. Remember that Valentine’s Day isn’t just for couples: grandparents may buy for their grand kids, dads for their daughters etc.

Depending on your demographic, offer items in different price ranges to capture sales from a range of your supporters. If you decide on selling flowers for example, along with bouquets of flowers, also offer single flower stems. Among students, single stem roses adorned with a simple ribbon may be a hot seller. If you decide to hold a brochure catalog fundraiser, choose a trusted company that can guarantee on-time delivery.

Events:

If you have access to many participants, an admission fee for a Valentine’s Day event like a school dance can be enough by itself to raise much needed funds. Your group may choose to sell tickets ahead of time, at the door, or both. At the event you can sell anything from food and refreshments to flowers, candy and gift items to boost your fundraising.

On-hand sales:

Cash and carry sales are a great way to reach out to a lot of buyers. Better still, unlike with catalog fundraisers you won’t have to worry about distribution and delivery of product at a later date, and the profits are instantly available. For best results, set up at a location where there is lots of foot-traffic.

Vendors:

If you have a well-attended Valentine’s Day event, and you do not plan to offer cash and carry sales and/or food, drink, and refreshment yourself, invite vendors to rent space at your event. Either charge a flat rate for a space and/or agree upon a percentage of the profits.

Sponsorships:

Many area businesses are happy to sponsor Valentine’s Day events for deserving community groups. They will enjoy increased exposure through advertising, social media mention or banner ads, and you will be able to increase much needed cash donations or in-kind donations. Make sure that you promptly deliver on all the advertising and exposure you’ve promised, so your sponsors will receive the benefits of their generosity and possibly sponsor next year’s event as well.

Any of these Valentine’s Day fundraising methods can be used alone or in combination to bring in excellent Valentine’s Day fundraiser profits. If you have enough volunteers, why not plan a Valentine’s Day event that utilizes all methods listed here to maximize your profits!

The post Fundraising Idea: Make Money With a Valentine’s Day Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Why do your volunteers work for you?

It helps to find out what motivates volunteers to work for your group in the first place. Do they strongly believe in your cause? Do they appreciate their work environment? Even if you have student volunteers who are ‘only’ collecting volunteer hours for their college application, they probably chose your group for reasons other than just convenience or opportunity.

Who are your volunteers?

Also, do you know who your volunteers are? What are their interest and priorities and what other obligations do they have? Your volunteers may be working for more than one group, have family to take care off, have a paying job, go to college etc. In other words, they have plenty of other tasks besides their volunteer work and it’s your job to take that into consideration:

- Non-profit supermoms and dads: may be volunteering not just for your group, but other groups as well and are always on the lookout to help. Have super high energy and may be well versed in social media practices and may direct people to other causes they like. If you have a volunteer like this, resist trying to limit them! Even if you can’t have them all to yourself, make it clear that you appreciate their work and support them.

- Friends and family members of the founder of a non-profit will usually work because they truly believe in the cause, but they may also feel obligated. It’s important to keep in mind, that a volunteer who is very motivated to help, may burn out faster, even if he or she has a personal connection to the charity. And people who feel like they’re obligated to help may not perform very well, unless they have work they really like and feel comfortable with.

- If you have professionals (accountant, bookkeeper) donating their services, be sure to deal with them in a professional manner and keep track of their services for future reference and also to possibly put a dollar value on it for any accounting purposes. Check in with them periodically to see if they need any kind of information, so they don’t have to spend time chasing after your last year’s tax return for example. They may be motivated to help out because they really believe in your work, or they help out a different group every year, and they will appreciate any perks you offer, such as free advertising in your newsletter perhaps.

- Retiree volunteers are often volunteering not just to give back to the community, but to get out of the house and be with others. The social aspect of their volunteer job is very important and should be taken seriously. Some retirees may have had to take early retirement, but aren’t really ready for a life of leisure. They like to be able to apply their skills and prefer a mental challenge to casual work. In any case, often retirees are looking for that balance in their lives through volunteer work and if a group is able to provide that, will not only attract highly skilled workers, but also retain them for years to come.

- Volunteers who don’t seem to be very committed: It may be as simple as switching their jobs, or having a little chat with them about how you can make it more attractive for them to volunteer. Maybe you need to backtrack by finding out what brought them to your group to begin with. Or maybe a volunteer is overworked and needs a break or do a different job.

- Student volunteers and out-of-work volunteers: If you have volunteers who are out of work or in school, consider starting a program that details and advertises specific skills a volunteer will learn within a given time frame. This may allow you to attract and hold more volunteers for a specific time frame. Learning goals will depend on what you can easily offer to others without much extra effort. Examples could be marketing, social media, email campaigns, bookkeeping etc. Put the skills that a volunteer will learn in writing and use this list or description as a tool to attract and recruit volunteers.

Start with a small, simple program that includes maybe just one goal that you can easily fulfill and then build on that. A program like this gives volunteers the opportunity to add real skills to their resume while they’re looking or preparing for a paying job. A nice side benefit of such a program will be that your group will become even more organized!

- Volunteers by default, e.g. parents: if you have volunteer parents for a sports team for example, you may have to deal with many different and sometimes clashing opinions on a regular basis. Emotions run high, especially when an important win is at stake. You may actually receive more help than you need or want at times, but in order to keep things running smoothly, firm ground rules need to be set at the beginning of each season that detail the responsibilities of each person, who is in charge, and possibly rules for voting on certain issues.

Handing everyone a written ‘contract’ at the beginning of each season will keep your group running more smoothly and with less friction. Also, work out a plan with your volunteers on how to deal with the aftermath of team losses when people tend to blame each other, and never miss out on celebrating a win!

- If volunteers are beneficiaries of your services: volunteer job descriptions are always a good idea, but especially when you have beneficiaries as volunteers, so everyone knows exactly what’s expected of them. Some beneficiaries may believe it’s never enough what they give back to your group, some may feel they are overworked. A well written and concise volunteer job description will ease tensions about expectations.

Unpaid but definitely not unappreciated

Even though volunteers aren’t paid, they need to be appreciated in other ways. Every group can afford a simple thank you in person, in the form of a note, or in public at an appreciation event. Thank you letters aren’t just for donors! Express your gratitude to your volunteers as well. Not only do they save you money by performing the many tasks they do for you for free, but they also root for your group and take pride in their work. In any case, take the time to communicate with each of your volunteers to ensure that they feel appreciated. Even if you think a volunteer isn’t doing that great a job, a sincere thanks is in order. They didn’t have to come volunteer for you but chose to give their precious time for your cause.

Give credit to your volunteers

When giving credit to your volunteers, check twice to be sure that you’re giving the right credit and the appropriate amount of credit to the correct person. Check with a group leader and the volunteer to make sure everything is accurate before publication. If the volunteer is a minor be sure to receive permission from the parents before publishing any information.

Priceless

You can’t put a price on the time and passion volunteers put into your project. Especially when economic times are tough it may be a challenge to hold on to your volunteer force, because some volunteer may have to get regular paying jobs, or spend their time helping out family. But if you can provide an environment that’s not only task oriented, but also provides real community and room for growth, you’re more likely to hold on to your volunteers through good times and bad.

(Image: iStockphoto/asiseeit)

The post Volunteers: Unpaid but Priceless appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

What does this mean for you? It’ll be important to keep focusing on diversifying your donor pool to capture potentially large one time grants while at the same time consistently going after small donations from individuals online and in person.

This also means to keep working on a strategy that specifically addresses potential donors from different generations, including the Millenials who grew up with the internet in their homes. You might say that you’ve been doing this all along, but what is now more important than ever is the ‘continued diversification‘ part, gaining supporters and collecting donations from different generations through different channels on and offline and with new technologies.

It is up to each group to figure out which demographic is easiest to reach through specific mediums or channels. Some groups will do great harnessing supporters through Facebook for example, while others will be much better in getting the word out through their website or through direct mail campaigns. And reaching potential donors is only the first step as you know; another challenge lies in understanding your donors and ‘connecting’ them with your beneficiaries which will ultimately result in donations.

The choices you offer to your donors when they’re willing and ready to make a donation is very important as well: if it’s too clumsy to make a donation through a smart phone for example, you’ll lose out because transactions may not be completed. But with online, mobile and in person payment technologies becoming more advanced and flexible, making payments through other channels beside a donation button on your website are getting easier.

Why worry about donations from smart phones when you can ask through your website you wonder? Because some sources have predicted that the mobile internet will overtake desktop internet access by 2013, while others have stated that mobile app use has already overtaken desktop web access! We’ll have more information on how to take advantage of this trend, including information on micro donations and mobile giving (including new digital wallets services) coming up soon!

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Our iPod Touch Giveaway!

Once again congratulations to Lisamaria Martinez, the winner of our iPod Touch Giveaway! She works for The Lighthouse in San Francisco, an organization for the blind and visually impaired. We asked her how she will use the iPod Touch and she sent the following:

“A little about iDevices in general …

iPods, or any iDevice for that matter, are wonderful for people who are blind or low vision. The best part is that they come with built-in-accessability, meaning, I do not have to purchase a device and then go shopping for software to install that usually costs a few hundred extra in order to make the device accessible.

The many apps available to all of us, sighted or blind, help keep our lives organized. For a blind person, being able to carry around an accessible weather app, calculator, address book, calendar, reminders, alarm clock, etc, etc all in one device has lightened our backpacks and purses.

If all of the aforementioned apps weren’t cool enough, the camera in the newest iDevices is extremely accessible to the blind. If VoiceOver is turned on – VoiceOver is the talking feature on Apple products that allow products to be used by the blind – the camera will recognize and announce whether you have one or two faces in the viewfinder. It’ll say something like, “One small face in center.” So as a new mom, I can take decent pictures of my son and know whether his face is even in the frame and if it is toward the top, bottom, left, right, or center.

The downside to all of the cool apps: App creators do not always take into consideration accessibility. It would be great if accessibility were mandatory. My blind friends and I could then play those crazy games we always hear about like Angry Birds. “

It’s truly amazing how technology can make our lives easier. And we agree, it’s time to update Angry Birds for more accessibility!

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Following are our most popular posts this year:

- Keys to a Successful Wine Tasting Fundraising Event

- A Halloween Pumpkin Fundraiser

- Bowling for Dollars: A Bowling Fundraiser

- The Power of a Press Release

- Cookbook Fundraiser

- Recognizing Fundraising Volunteers

Generally, our fundraising letters category has been very popular. Look for more samples and how-to info next year!

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As you may already know, most donations are made near the end of the year. So if you’d like to harness some of these funds, be sure to add one more post on your blog about the benefits of a donation to your group and about how to make last minute donations that can potentially be tax deductible.

We wish you a wonderful and exciting New Year 2012!

Your FundraisingIP.com Editorial Team

The post 2011 Recap: Diversification Important for Fundraisers appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Especially during the winter holidays, people get lots of gift cards for presents. Sure, you will most likely want to go shopping and spend them yourself, but what about gift cards you receive that are for stores you don’t care much about, or that are partially spent and are adding up in your wallet?

Chances are you have a gift card in your wallet right now with just a few dollars on it (or that’s for a store you never get to) that you’ve had for over a year. You’d like to use it somehow, or get rid of it, but you certainly don’t want to throw it away. If you saw a box where you could simply drop it and have it be for a good cause – you might just donate it, wouldn’t you?

With this fundraiser you simply collect gift cards, new or partially spent, through a drop box or jar that’s easily accessible to your potential donor. You would set this up similar to how you would set up a jar asking for people’s change as a donation. Secure the box or jar to a counter for example, add a sign, and you’re ready to go.

As with any fundraiser, be sure to announce it on your website and Facebook page or any newsletter you’re sending out. This fundraiser also works well as an add-on fundraiser; think Walkathon, crafts, sales at a game etc.

The perfect time to start this fundraiser may be at the end of a year or beginning of a new year, when people are flush with gift cards for presents.

What can you do with donated gift cards?

You can sell your gift cards at websites like PlasticJungle.com or GiftCardGranny.com, which will pay up to 92% of the gift card’s value. You can choose from receiving a cashier’s check, an Amazon gift card, or a PayPal payment into your account.

They will also buy partially spent gift cards, or cards with store credit. You can find out the value of a gift card by calling the number on the back of the card.

For other sites that buy gift cards, search get cash for gift card.

If you receive gift cards of a very small value, instead of trading them in, it may make more sense to hold on to them and use them yourself. For example, if you receive cards for office supply or wholesale stores you could buy your office supplies there, items for a booth fundraiser etc.

In any case, gift cards are almost like cash, so make sure you keep any donated gift cards under lock and key until they can be traded in.

(Image: iStockPhoto/alexsl)

The post Fundraising Idea: Gift Cards appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

But please do take a moment out of your busy day and enter our first Giveaway!

All you have to do is link to your favorite charity and you could win an iPod Touch!

You can enter via this blog post or via Twitter and promote your own group or your favorite charity at the same time! (see instructions below)

But hurry, you can only enter until Thursday, December 15th 2011!

The Prize:

Two ways to enter:

- Either: Leave a comment below telling us about your favorite charity, your own group or fundraising campaign and include a link to its website, blog, Facebook or Twitter page etc. (Please keep it under 100 words.)

- Or: Go to Twitter.com and tweet about your favorite charity, your own group or fundraising campaign and include a link to its website, blog, Facebook or Twitter page etc. In order for us to find your entry, add the hashtag #ilovefundraising and @FundraisingIP to your tweet. If you haven’t already, make sure you follow us on our Twitter page, so we can communicate with you should you be the winner.

Rules:

- Odds of winning are based on the number of entries we receive
- Open to US Residents 18 and older
- No purchase necessary
- This Giveaway ends Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at midnight 12:00am and we will announce the winner asap!
- For full rules of this Giveaway, click here

Please note that this is not a contest about which charity gets the most ‘votes,’ but an opportunity for you, our readers, to let us all know about your own group or non-profit, or other favorite charity and of course an opportunity to win a cool gadget!

Good luck to everyone!!

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Update: We have a winner!! Congratulations to Lisamaria Martinez!! Her favorite charity is the Lighthouse of the Blind for San Francisco.

The post Quick FundraisingIP.com Giveaway: Win an iPod Touch 32 GB! appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Groupon Grassroots is a new way for non-profits to raise funds locally for a specific cause. An example (from their site) would be “If we collectively raise $1,000, a local bike cooperative will fix up 100 broken, used bikes, and donate them to disadvantaged youth in your city.”

What makes this service different from your other online fundraising services, is that you’re able to raise funds locally which makes it ideal for smaller fundraising drives that wouldn’t make sense for a nationwide campaign.

You also have to put a specific dollar amount on the campaign at which it is deemed successful and you’ll be able to reach your specific goal (like being able to fix up those 100 bikes). Only if your campaign reaches this tipping point will users’ accounts be charged and your campaign will receive the money.

Their current campaign (which is nationwide) is for asking donations for Feeding America.

When you sign up for Groupon’s Daily Deal, you select to only get information about deals in your area and not from across the country. This is how the G-Team will distribute information about your local fundraising drive as well.

Currently this service is available in the following cities:

Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver Area, Detroit, Toronto, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Madison, WI, Miami Area, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (Oregon), Raleigh Durham, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa Bay Area, Vancouver, Washington, D.C.

As you can imagine, they already get inundated with requests. According to the site the key is to have an easily measurable and very specific fundraising drive (see example above). Don’t generalize. Surely, an aspect of fun in your application wouldn’t hurt either. Besides contact information be prepared to enter your social media accounts, your group’s mission and your “top three reasons you love your organization.”

From their site:

“Keep in mind, G-Team campaigns typically…

- benefit the local communities of our subscribers
- run for a limited period of time
- support causes that resonate with our subscribers
- aid specific projects, as opposed to broad fundraising efforts
- only succeed if they reach a “tipping point”
- are creatively organized around a compelling story”

The link to apply can be found on this page.

Note: As the internet evolves, more and more neighborhood services are becoming available. A new service for connecting with your neighbors through the internet is NextDoor.com. Even though this site has nothing to do with fundraising, it may be beneficial for finding out about needs within your community, or for drumming up help for local fundraisers.

The post Raise Funds in your Neighborhood with Groupon Grassroots appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Thank you to everyone who participated! Your answers give us valuable insight and will help us shape the information you find on our site and better tailor it to your needs.

Question 1: “If more than one option applies to you, please check the option(s) that you spend the most time on. Are you a “

More than one answer was possible and “Other” responses included a homecoming candidate, board members and nonprofit consultants.

Question 2: “Do you raise funds for more than one group?”

Even though there are a lot of you who are dedicated to raising funds for one specific group, over 45% are raising funds for more than one cause!

Question 3: “What has been your favorite fundraising product, service or fundraising campaign?”

Some of you don’t have any favorites or are just starting out. Most of you like raffles, candy sales, t-shirt sales and other simple fundraising ideas. Following is a list of some of the ‘raw’ results of what other fundraisers and campaigns our readers like:

bulb sale

planned giving

Grateful Patient Programs

A Cookbook with people’s recipes and pet photos

fundraiser for animal shelter, underwriters pay $30 a month for a year to cover the cost of the kennel’s occupant’s food, shots, grooming – and – a sign in the shape of a dog bone has their name painted on it and it is hung on the kennel door.

extreme couponing class

Can food drive that was successful in obtaining the Guinness Book of World Record Largest Free-standing can food structure. It was in honor of the Vietnam Veterans.

Annual OKC Shriners Circus

Dinner & Silent Auction

Girl Scout cookies when I was younger

EmptyBowls.org

Social networking

Grant writing

Spring and Fall Gun Raffel

Indiegogo.com

end child labour

carnival

Specialty items, recycling cell phones……NO COOKIE DOUGH or FOOD RELATED ITEMS

Canine Assistants

The Pasta Shoppe – pasta fundraising

Events and grants research

ArchitectInTheHouse.org

Sage fundraising software

poker ride and a wine makers dinner

iPad fundraiser for adults with disabilities

garage sale at work

Jar game

Trivia night

Building a “Wall Against Hunger*

annual penny sales

capital finance for a new juvenile hall facility

copper drive, book sale

Flower Show

Kool for Katz band

art auction

Question 4: “How many small or large fundraising campaigns (online or offline) have you participated in since August 2011, or the beginning of the Fall fundraising season?”

Most of our readers held at least one fundraising campaign between August and October, the typical beginning of the Fall fundraising season.

Question 5: “What feature or information on FundraisingIP.com do you find most helpful?”

Most of you like FundraisingIP.com for getting different fundraising ideas! You like the tips and ideas presented on how to get the most out of your fundraiser and what to look for as you’re planning your next campaign.

You also like the fundraisers that don’t require buying products and several of you liked the information on making a mobile app for your blog. Other aspects of the site, like the fundraising checklists and the fundraising letters also got a few ‘likes.’

Question 6: “What feature or information on FundraisingIP.com would like to see improved or added?”

Most of you would like to see more fundraising ideas that can be implemented on a very low or no budget, including fundraisers that don’t require selling products. You’d like to see information for small groups who rely completely on volunteers and don’t have much of a budget.

It looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us! From the results of this survey it looks like many of you do like product fundraisers, but are in need of fundraising ideas that don’t involve a cash outlay as well. We’ll try and uncover more low cost or no cost, non-product fundraising ideas that are easy to implement. If you have already run a fundraiser that meets these specs, please share it with us in the comments.

Some of you would also like information on grants available. Sites like GrantGopher.com for example, specialize in grants and you can sign up for their emails to receive grant opportunities in your mailbox. They also offer paid services. Or click over to this list of grant sources, compiled by Joanne Fritz at about.com.

We’ve had a few responses that mentioned that they’d like our newsletter articles to link directly to the site. The articles should already link to the site: the titles of the articles should always be clickable, even in the newsletter that only displays excerpts. If you have a problem with any email you receive from us, please contact us through our contact page.

Question 7: Do you use social networking accounts or blogs to help with marketing and fundraising efforts? If yes, which ones:

Looks like Facebook wins when it comes to using social media for your marketing and fundraising efforts! More than one answer was possible and a few of you are also using LinkedIn.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this survey! If you have some tips for other readers please add them in the comments.

The post Fundraising Survey – 7 Questions – Results appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

- You may feel like you want to jump right into helping out a veteran in your neighborhood, but what you think this person needs may be quite different from what they actually need most desperately. Try to speak to the family directly before you start drumming up help.

- Raising funds for veterans and troops requires extra care and sensitivity. Keep in mind that not everybody likes to have their name mentioned publicly and that many veterans have health issues. (Read Maintaining Respect And Compassion When Fundraising For An Individual)

- The U.S. Postal Service used to accept packages and letters to “Any Service Member” or “Any Wounded Service Member,” but stopped doing so. Consider supporting one of the nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping our veterans and troops and their families.

- Are you planning on creating your own non-profit (search for creating a non-profit) for helping out veterans and troops? There may already be a charity or a local group out there doing exactly what you’re planning on doing. The advantage of helping out or partnering with an established group is that they will already have a well oiled system in place to get help and support to veterans and troops quickly.

- Charities that support veterans and troops:

HomesForOurTroops.org – builds homes for severely injured veterans.

GuardianAngelsForSoldiersPet.org – takes care of a wounded veteran’s pet.

ModestNeeds.org – search for keywords like ‘veteran’ or ‘military family’ and send a donation directly through the site.

DVDs4Vets.org – donates DVDs to veterans.

SoldierPackages.org – sends a care package to hospitalized veterans and troops.

OperationGratitude.org – this organizations helps out troops and veterans in many different ways.

CellPhonesForSoldiers.com – provides calling cards for free talk time for troops overseas.

OperationGratitude.org – donate your leftover Halloween candy for care packages. Note: They take donations of toothbrushes as well.

MilServe.org – volunteer your professional expertise.

For a larger list of organizations that help out and support our veterans and troops, visit Military.com.

OurMilitary.mil – this list of organizations supporting our veterans and troops only shows non-profits that have been screened.

Get more information about a specific non-profit at CharityNavigator.org.

Finally, if you’re planning on raising funds for a veteran in your neighborhood, consider helping in some very simple, basic and personal ways as well: you could offer to help out with driving (or feeding) the kids, taking care of pets or repairing things. An invitation to share a meal may be a welcome distraction for a veteran and an opportunity to share stories about his or her experiences. Being able to talk about one’s experiences (good and bad) can be the best gift of all.

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1. Look at a donation in terms of how it will benefit the donor

This is always a good idea, but especially in a recession. When the chips are down and money is tight, it helps when approaching businesses to show them the benefits of investing (read: donating) in your organization. Can you offer publicity? How about free advertising? Their name on a banner, website or t-shirt? Are you asking for donations for a large event? Could you find a way to work their name into the event right from the beginning of the promotional stage?

Wise organizations capitalize on these opportunities by offering sponsors increasing benefits for increasing sponsorship amounts — say $100 gets your name into the program, while $500 gets you a large advertising block with graphic in the program and your name on a banner during the event. And be sure to mention that donations to your organization may be tax deductible, assuming your organization has 501(c)(3) status. (More about offering sponsorship benefits.)

2. Relationship, relationship, relationship

In real estate the most important thing is location. In the non-profit industry, the most important thing is still relationship. Did someone donate to your cause last year? If they’re not able to do so this year, don’t make them feel guilty; keep in touch with them throughout the year and ask them if it’s alright if you contact them about donating again next year – they will probably say yes. Don’t forget that the way you handle yourself and treat others during tough times will have a lasting impression on your relationships with your donors for years to come.

Also think about creating new relationships, like collaborations with businesses that would have a tangible benefit from a relationship with your organization. For example, an organization dedicated to fighting diabetes and the local grocery store – eating a diet that includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables helps decrease your chances of diabetes.

3. Ask professionals for their time

During a slow economy, there will likely also be plenty of skilled, competent people out of work or not fully employed. Suggest to professionals who aren’t able to give financially that they can also help the cause by donating their time and expertise. You’ll be able to put their skills to use, they’ll be able to expand their resume, and you will meet a need in the community at the same time.

For example, an unemployed grant writer might be worth more money to your organization than a donation by helping you apply for a grant. Or, how about a web designer? Chances are your website could use a some sprucing up. Be sure to help out as well by writing letters of recommendation when asked, and adding mentions in your on- and offline publications.

4. Ask for in-kind donations

This may apply more to businesses than to individuals, but store closures, manufacturers’ surplus and restaurant leftovers (for food banks) are all realistic sources for valuable in-kind donations for charitable groups. Getting in-kind donations takes more time to process, sort or sell, but may be just the ticket to take you through tough times. More ideas for getting in-kind donations.

5. Change your expectations

No, you’re not giving up, but there comes a point when you have to be realistic about what you can expect during a recession. This will be different from group to group and from person to person (paid and volunteer). And maybe you just have to lower your expectation from a particular way of raising funds and fill in the gaps with some new, or long forgotten ways of raising funds?

For example, maybe you have to lower your expectation for simple cash donations for a while and try to fill in the gaps with other fundraising drives, like recycling electronics for cash, or pushing your spent ink jet cartridges fundraising more than before. Don’t forget, people still like to help, but they just may not have the extra cash that they’ve been able to give freely before.

6. Use your resources for a new project

Assuming your fundraising activities have been slow and you have plenty of time and volunteer resources available; what can you do with these unused or underused assets? Depending on your resources, you could start a creative project on a site like Kickstarter.com or IndieGoGo.com, that could make good use of your current time (and your volunteers’ time) and greatly help in supporting your cause in the long run by creating an income source. What are Kickstarter.com and IndieGoGo.com? In short, these sites let you raise funds for all kinds of creative projects. IndieGoGo.com also lets you raise funds for charitable purposes, but Kickstarter doesn’t.

(If you believe a straight online donation request campaign could help, click over to 15 most popular online donation websites.)

People go on Kickstarter and IndieGoGo to fund an art project, a new gadget, a new game, a music album, a documentary etc. View the currently most popular projects on Kickstarter here and see just how much money people are donating to help these projects come to fruition – even during a recession!

Are your creative juices flowing yet?

The key to getting projects funded on either of these sites is to have a project that has wide appeal, a well organized campaign, a good video and/or description explaining your project and possibly some perks.

7. Remain confident and don’t take shortcuts

This means you still have to stay on top of all your paperwork and filings and maintain your level of charitable work. Now is not the time to slow down. In fact, maybe you can take the time to analyze the way you’re doing things currently and work on making them more efficient. If you are in fact able to run certain aspects more efficiently and save money for your group, be sure to report this fact on your blog.

Also, refrain from sounding too desperate. That may sound to others like you’re truly worried about your group surviving. Remain confident in your cause and keep up your sound marketing practices as much as you’re able to.

Finally, look at it this way: Your group is still alive. Others may have already given up. And sometimes, it’s enough just to make it through another day, always remembering that it won’t always be like this. Recessions do end and there will come a time when you will look back, and say “Remember when…” Until then, hang in there, don’t give up, and don’t lose heart!

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Why buy fundraising products made in the USA? Why not make an effort and seek out US companies that sell fundraising products made in the US? Especially during tough economic times, buying ‘local’ makes a lot of sense.

To help promote fundraising products made in the US, we’ve decided to give fundraising companies that sell products “Made in the USA” some extra attention and give them free ‘advertising’ by mentioning them on our website!

We hope you will click over to these companies’ websites and take a look to see if their fundraising products may be appropriate for your next fundraiser.

>> For more USA made products, including clothes and toys, click over to our Pinterest “Made in the USA” group board!

If you’d like to contribute to our board, please contact us.

If you own a company that sells fundraising products “Made in the USA,” (or if you know of such a company) please contact us and we will add your company to our next “Fundraising Products Made in the USA” post – for free! In order to be considered, your company must have a website with a privacy policy easily accessible from the homepage.

Depending on how many requests we get, we may not be able to list all companies, but we will try!

Most of our readers are based in the US, but if you’re reading this from another country, you can start focusing on fundraising products made in your own country just as well!

Please note: we did not actually visit these companies to prove with absolute certainty that their products are made 100% in the USA, but we think we got honest information and we hope that this will be a start to get all of us thinking about how we can support more companies that sell “Made in the USA” fundraising products. We do not endorse any fundraising companies listed on our site.

Fundraising products made in the US:

To start, take a look at the following three companies that sell fundraising products made in the USA:

ArtfulVisions

ArtfulVision is an online gallery of American Made creative gifts that donates 20% of every purchase to a participating non-profit. You can find more information about their products and their fundraising program here.

My Custom Gift Shop

“MyCustomGiftShop.com is a Colorado-based company that strives to offer quality personalized gifts that are made in America. We strongly desire to keep manufacturing in America and maintain American jobs.

In addition to the products we manufacture ourselves, we also work with a number of other USA manufacturers and artisans to bring you a wider variety of personalized products and keepsakes.

Low-overhead and small production runs allows us to create affordable gift items that can be used for fundraising and purchased from us in low quantities at large discounts. Ask us about how we can create custom gifts with your logo as promotional or fundraising items!”

For pet related fundraising products, visit their partner site at CritterGiftShop.com.

“Critter Gift Shop is dedicated to helping Animal Rescues in their fundraising efforts. With a wide variety of products and designs, there is a lot to choose from to make the perfect fundraiser. We have no minimum order requirements and large discounts start at only 10 affordable items. Most items are customizable with your rescue’s name at no additional cost. We are also able to add logos to most products.”

Kim’s Key Lime Cookies

KimsKeylimeCookies.com is an Indianapolis, IN based company that makes delicious, melt-in-your-mouth key lime cookies dusted in refreshing powdered sugar or dipped in sweet white chocolate.

Besides selling their famous cookies wholesale for fundraising purposes, they also sell to gift shops, department stores and individuals. Cookies come packaged in custom designed gift tins and have a 6 month shelf life.”

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Do you have a question you would like to ask other visitors to this site? Then please leave it in the comments below and we’ll consider adding it to another fundraising survey.

Don’t worry, we’re not planning on posting a lot of these, but we thought it may be interesting to run a short survey once in a while.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! We wish you great success with your current fundraiser!

If you’re unable to see or work with the survey below, please click this link to take you to the survey website surveymonkey.com

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When you show your customers that you are selling something that is truly helpful and needed in their homes and their lives, like first aid kits and safety products, you grab their attention and their orders.

First aid kits and other safety products as fundraisers are hard for consumers to say no to because these are items we all use, or stock for emergency purposes in our homes and our cars.

We bring first aid kits along on trips, store fire extinguishers near our kitchens and in RVs and stock first aid supplies in offices and schools.

Ideas for first aid and safety products fundraisers:

* First aid kits for home and auto
* Boating and water sports first aid kits
* Automotive emergency kits
* Life hammers
* Kitchen and safety fire extinguishers
* Reflectors and roadside emergency kits
* Emergency lights
* Child proofing safety items such as outlet covers
* Earthquake kits

First aid kits are very useful and need to be replenished periodically which makes them an easy sale. They can be sold through a brochure catalog, or you can buy larger quantities through a wholesaler and also sell them as add-on fundraisers. Smaller items lend themselves well to year round fundraising items, like bike reflectors, life hammers and purse size band aid kits.

First aid kits are also perfect for some customization: you can easily ‘decorate’ them with stickers with your group’s information and marketing message on it.

Search for first aid kits, safety products, fire extinguishers, life hammers.

Promote safety when selling first aid and safety products:

Your supporters will surely understand when you promote ‘staying safe’ while raising funds. In fact, with this kind of fundraiser it can be the perfect message conveyed to your supporters when raising funds for a school for example.

As you’re promoting your first aid and safety fundraiser, you can include messages on how to stay safe on the way to school, going on field trips and to football games etc.

Organizing a first aid and safety product fundraiser is also the ideal opportunity to review safe selling and fundraising practices – keeping sellers safe is of the utmost importance during any fundraising campaign.

If you organize door-to-door fundraiser, review the following safe selling practices with all participants:

- No sellers should sell alone; always partner with a friend and use the ‘buddy-system.’

- Never go inside the home of a potential buyer, no matter how friendly they seem (this also includes time of product delivery).

- Do not carry large amounts of cash; ask buyers to pay by check when possible.

- Try to fulfill selling goals by selling to family and friends first.

- Be polite and courteous.

By reinforcing these selling safety tips, all first aid fundraiser participants can have a positive and safe fundraising experience. And by supplying family, friends, and neighbors with the safety products they need, you’re also providing a valuable service.

(Image: ©iStockPhoto/Lusoimages)

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Why a cookbook fundraiser?

• This kind of fundraiser becomes a “community” group project that brings everyone together

• Group members and volunteers can participate without having to spend money (making this a fundraiser for all income levels!)

Create custom cookbooks at Lulu.com

So what’s the downside? There is quite a bit of organizational work to be done, but overall it is comparable to that of many fundraisers. Also, a cookbook fundraiser generally requires an up-front expenditure for either printing supplies or wholesale purchase from a fundraising company, or local printer and that cost can be difficult for cash-poor groups to manage. The other disadvantage is that there is no guarantee the cookbook will sell at the desired quantity, so there is the potential for loss or low profits – unless you use an on-demand printing service (see below).

Options for cookbook Fundraisers:

1) Use an online cookbook fundraiser company

Online cookbook fundraiser companies offer support, online resources, programs and downloads. Basically, your group collects the recipes, turns them over to the company, and they do the rest. Some provide software that you use to enter recipes and then the company will organize and print the cookbook. Additionally, some companies offer both services (you do the typing and entry or they will), but also offer a discount if your group does the entry work.

Some cookbook fundraiser services also give you the choice of either using only your own recipes or choosing from a selection of stock recipes to add to your cookbook.

2) Use cookbook fundraiser software and you print the book yourself

Providers of cookbook fundraiser software offer a program similar to that used by the online companies with entry fields that automatically format recipes; but you do not have to be online to use it (similarly, some online programs can be downloaded for use offline and then the data can be uploaded later). After the information is entered and proofed, your group handles the printing and binding.

The downside to a software cookbook fundraiser is that your group is responsible for all the work, and the cost of printing, ink, papers, and binders may be higher than ordering through a dedicated cookbook fundraiser company. The upside, though is that there is never a minimum order because you control the process.

3) Use an on-demand book printing service

If your group has access to someone with graphic design experience and software programs, you might want to try an on-demand book printing service. Once you upload your book files to the service’s site, you can then link to your book from your group’s website and your supporters can order directly online, or you can order any amount of books yourself to sell at any of your fundraising events.

There is no downside here if you have someone who can format the pages and upload them to the site. You can buy as many books as you like whenever you like, and you can also easily sell single copies through your website.

4) Collect and organize recipes and hire a local printer to make the books

Requirements for hiring a printer will depend on the printer your group chooses. Be sure to get samples of other books they’ve printed and decide together with the members of your group if quality and pricing are acceptable for your project.

A cookbook fundraiser is a fun community project that, with good organization and a strong sales-effort, can turn in some very good profits while providing a keepsake for group supporters. It’s a great way to create a lasting impression of your fundraising organization.

(Image: iStockphoto/dkapp12)

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“Switching” causes, or adding a new one to their list means extra work for potential supporters when they do their due diligence to see if your cause is worthy, and it may also mean having to scrape out a bit more from their budget.

Anticipating your donors’ thought processes and integrating potential solutions to them into your fundraising strategy is vital when trying to encourage people to donate to your cause.

Use the following tips to help you encourage people to diversify in their charitable giving, and present even reluctant donors with a reason to support your cause:

Make your cause personal to make it relevant

When you ask people which charity they donate to, many will happily give you the name, and explain what it means to them. We all tend to help charities which have some personal relevance to our own lives. Ask yourself how your cause is personally relevant to your potential supporter. Does your work affect them directly? Or their family or professional or ethnic group etc.?

It may not be obvious right away, but many causes that seemingly have nothing to do with our lives can make an impact if you look at the bigger picture. A great example of this is raising funds for an after school program. It doesn’t just help the kids and their families, but the whole community.

Tell a story about your charitable work

Besides explaining the connection of your cause to the greater good, it also helps to tell a real story about your work instead of simply asking for donations. A true story about how change came about because of your hard work will let your donors know more about your group and will lift their confidence in you. People like to know exactly where their donations are going and what they will achieve by giving money, so make it easy for them by being explicit about how you put their donations to work, and the good which it will do.

Leading charities use this tried and tested method in advertising, by using real case studies to describe what they do, and how funds are used within the group to make a positive difference. Take a page out of the successful marketing campaigns run nationally, and give the whole picture about your cause instead of just asking for a donation.

Erase doubt and confusion and encourage potential
supporters to say “yes!” to your cause!

Make your cause enjoyable for volunteers and donors

There’s nothing like raising a feeling of community and good spirits to get volunteers engaged and willing to participate fully in fundraising. Don’t forget that your fundraising volunteers present part of your cause’s image. Having arguments during a fundraising event, or engaging volunteers who aren’t fully prepared or informed, or not being well organized in general is bad publicity and will turn off donors. Take care in how you present your cause by being well prepared, training your volunteers and putting on a smile.

Be clear about your finances, needs and results

Just as city councils demonstrate how their budgets are spent on policing, waste collection and other initiatives, so your group should be able to show exactly how money is used to make a real difference in the lives of those it supports. Be forthcoming about your finances and let potential supporters know where they can find more information online, especially from sites like CharityNavigator.org and Guidestar.org. But if your non-profit is not included in these databases, be sure you make your finances available on your own site. If someone is seriously considering donating to you, they will do some research anyway – make it easy for them to get the right information.

Also, don’t be afraid to show your pragmatic side when it comes to financial matters. Your idealistic side can only reach so far before it gets to the point where words alone just won’t be enough. One way of achieving this is by demonstrating how a specific amount of money has turned around someone’s life for the better. It will also make it easier to encourage people to offer that specific amount, because they’ll be able to see a direct link between what they give, and what benefits they will achieve with their donation and also make it easier to budget their charity dollars.

Show professionalism

Another way of encouraging people to give to your cause is by representing your cause in a professional way. You can gain more credibility by appointing a well-spoken person to interact with the press and the public, have a well organized website, have all your printed materials, website and emails written in a concise and professional way, use letter head, possibly have ID badges or branded materials. Having said this, take care to avoid giving the impression that you’re spending too much money on marketing your cause.

Last but not least, they “thank you!”

If you’re known to be the charity that actually appreciates and thanks its supporters, it will not only encourage your current supporters to give again in the future, but it will also show potential supporters that they will be appreciated should they decide to give to your cause. (Sample fundraising letters.)

It may be tough to encourage people to start donating to your cause when they’re already giving to other causes, or if they don’t think your cause is important enough. But staying on track, accounting for every dollar and demonstrating over and over again how your cause makes a difference not only for certain people, but for your community as a whole (or another greater good) will over time build a solid base of supporters you can count on.

(Image credit: iStockphoto/bookmama)

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If you’ve done an event fundraiser before, you’ll find that planning for a golf fundraiser involves many of the same familiar tasks: finding a location willing to host the event, getting a great discount off regular fees, publicizing the event well in advance, planning for add-on fundraisers, making sure you have a capable and competent leader in charge on the day of the event etc.

To make sure that all golf players feel like the time spent playing for your cause is worth their time, take extra care to plan all the details of your fundraising event and incorporate something special, like prizes. Here are a few tips to help make sure your golf fundraiser is a success:

Offer different ways for people to participate and sponsor your golf fundraiser

Make sure you have several options available for people to support your group, even if they’re not going to play golf. Besides offering hole sponsorships, marking up greens fees (weekdays are usually priced lower), or corporate advertising sponsorships, you could offer sponsorships on your website and in your newsletter, a silent auction during the event, t-shirt and candy sales and a raffle.

In other words, offer a way for supporters of any age group to donate to your cause before, during and after your event. And don’t forget to offer food and refreshments, possibly from your own cart, or directly from the golf club with your group taking a percentage.

(Image credit: iStockphoto by ImagineGolf)

Blog about your golf fundraiser

Blog about your golf fundraiser before the event, during the event and after the event. It seems like it may be a lot of work, but one dedicated writer volunteer will be able to accomplish this task. Of course, having two writers makes things easier and gives you a back up solution should one writer not be available. If you don’t have a blog on your site, this is a great excuse to add one. (Read more about how to create a blog or other website.)

Start a new ‘category’ for the event and start by posting about your fundraising event, even if you don’t have all the details yet. If you don’t have a date yet, this is a great way to get feedback about what would be a good day for your event.

If you decide blog and get social media involved, be sure to look at considerations listed in our Social Media Strategy Checklist.

Anyone in your group who is involved in communicating with the public, directly, or through blogs and social media, should know exactly what’s expected of him or her and should play by your rules in order to assure that everyone conveys your message in a manner that’s consistent with your group’s principles and mission.

A blog is also a great way to write about your sponsors and place their advertisement as part of a sponsorship. Before you post any sponsors’ names or advertising, be sure to ask first. Some sponsors may prefer to remain anonymous or require particular wording or copyright information.

Get media involved

A golf fundraiser has the potential to not only raise a large amount of money, but to also attract a lot of attention for your group. Be prepared to create a press release, and designate a well rehearsed spokes person from your group for interviews with TV, radio and local newspapers. Create a video about the event beforehand and post it on YouTube, so news channels can link to it for more information. Also post any videos on your website.

Designate group members for each aspect of your fundraiser

To make sure things run smoothly, designate one person to coordinate volunteers, one person to oversee finances, one person to be the main contact to the golf venue etc. This way your event will be easy to oversee and remain organized. Be sure to put all your personnel choices in writing, date it and hand a copy to everyone involved. Our checklists may come in handy when creating your own ‘master planner.’

Have prizes for the winners

Getting some quality prizes donated for your event is a great way to secure extra sponsors and publicity. If you can’t get sponsored prizes for your event, consider investing in some high quality prizes that will make your players feel appreciated.

If you have a larger budget consider giving away something small to all the players with your organization’s logo on it, that they can remember you by and as a token to say “thank you.” As the saying goes, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Still not sure? Then consider giving out prizes for wacky contests, like Silliest Golf Hat or Worst Score Ever. Or, try making it more of a raffle than a prize for the winners; that way anybody who plays has a chance at a great take-home door prize. However you work it, make sure that the people know how thankful you are and how much you appreciate them taking their time to help you and your charity.

Have a meal afterwards

Depending on what time of day your event is taking place, you might want to have a lunch or dinner following your tournament with your key sponsors. You don’t have to arrange it at a fancy, expensive restaurant and you may even consider getting one or more of the ever popular food carts to park in a convenient location nearby, but you do want to take the time to eat together and let your key players know how much you appreciate them.

This will also be great opportunity for the players to meet each other and network and for you to make those connections for sponsors for your next fundraiser.

At the end of the golf tournament fundraiser, be sure to have the chairperson or another leader stand up and say a few words about your organization, thank the sponsors and volunteers, and talk briefly about how the funds raised will benefit your community. To wrap up your fundraiser follow up with individual thank you notes to your main sponsors and with thank you messages through your blog and any social media and print channels.

The post Fundraising Idea: Golf Fundraiser appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

But more electronics recycling programs have become available recently, not just for cell phones, but for many different types of electronics, including, mp3 players, digital cameras, calculators, gaming systems, Blu-Ray players, camcorders, camera Lenses, computers, laptops, digital cameras, external hard rives, GPS devices, home audio equipment, LCD monitors, movies, PDAs, projectors, satellite radios, video games, e-readers etc.

It’s best to check with each company directly, to see which items they will accept and how many items they will accept at a time.

Recycling programs

Best Buy has recently announced their buy back program and Gazelle has been paying for used electronics online for a few years now. Buy.com and MacMall also offer trade-in programs and now there are two more big players in the mix, the Amazon Trade-in Store and InstantSale eBay.

When we looked at the criteria for items to be turned in, none of these companies accepted water damaged items. But as long as an item is still in working condition, even electronics with severe scratches were OK to turn in. Other criteria, like how many items they will accept and which ones differed from company to company, so be sure to check the small print before you send anything.

It’s also very important to shop around for the best price! We’ve checked several of the online recyclers to see how much value they assessed for a MacBook Pro laptop and a desktop computer and got vastly different price offers. Make sure you have the exact model numbers of your item(s) on hand before you start your search.

Even though the number of electronics recycling programs are increasing, not all them them make sense for every fundraising group and not all of them pay cash.

All of these programs can be used for smaller fundraising efforts, but what if you’re planning a larger fundraiser with higher earnings potential?

Options for larger electronics fundraising events:

Local electronics recyclers:

Recycling programs offered through local recyclers vary greatly. An advantage of using a local electronics recycler for your fundraising event is that you will most likely get paid cash and it doesn’t matter if the electronics being turned in are in working condition or not. This saves a lot of time and volunteer power, because the individual electronics don’t have to be scrutinized.

- You can search for a local electronics recycler, either online (including your city’s website) or in your local yellow pages. Some recyclers offer tailored fundraising programs that help with promotion, collection and disposal. (Use the search box at the top and search for “recycle electronics for cash”.)

- When working with a local electronics recycler, be sure to ask what the rules and restrictions are as to what items will be accepted.

- Also, try to find out what other groups have used a local electronics recycler, then contact these groups and ask for references and tips on this fundraising opportunity.

- Companies that take non-working electronics are usually working with state recycling programs. Each state has different laws, programs and rules.

Even though these types of programs don’t require you to check each item, it may be to your advantage to separate at least the newer working laptops, computers and smart phones from the other electronics, because you’ll receive much higher value for them through the online recycling programs:

Online electronics recyclers:

Online recyclers require you to either collect the electronics and then mail them in, or allow you to set up a ‘group’ through their website; then anyone who’d like to take part in your electronics recycling event can send in their own electronics.

Currently we’ve found only Gazelle’s online electronics recycling program and Funding Factory’s recycling program to accommodate larger groups specifically for fundraising. But check with the others listed at the top as well, as this is a fairly new way to raise funds and programs are continuously changing.

Whichever program you choose, make sure you get all the details, including how you will get paid, in writing. Whereas one program may simply send you a check to cash in, another may only send you gift cards to an online store.

How to prepare electronics for recycling:

Any electronics that contain personal information, like cell phones, hard drives and computers, should have all their data erased. Cell phones should also have their SIM cards removed. Remove ink cartridges from non-working printers and recycle them separately.

How do you get paid?

Local recyclers will issue a check to cash once your items have been sent to them and weighed. Find out how to estimate the weight of donated recyclables as you’re collecting them, so you can estimate your fundraising income before the check arrives.

Online recyclers have different options when it comes to paying you, which don’t always include cash. We’ve found that currently only Gazelle and Funding Factory offer cash payments, all other online recycling programs offer gift cards or credit to their online stores.

This may not be a problem, unless you’re raising funds for building renovations or an individual’s healthcare costs for example. All trade-in programs we’ve checked that do not pay cash, issue gift cards that can be used at stores that are selling electronics equipment like computers, printers etc. If you choose to receive gift cards through Amazon’s program you’ll be able to use them to shop on Amazon.com which sells just about anything you can imagine, including books and teaching materials.

What happens to the used electronics?

Companies that take used electronics in working condition either resell them through channels like eBay, Amazon, or wholesalers, or send unusable items off to recyclers who will properly dispose of them.

If you have items that won’t be accepted by the program you’ve signed up with, you can check with Gazelle’s recycler network for places that will take them.

Local recyclers usually work together with a state recycling program. Each state has their own recycling program and not all states recycle all electronics. This also means that items that can’t be recycled will still end up in a landfill, unfortunately.

(Image credit: iStockphoto – Don Nichols)

The post Fundraising Idea: Recycle Electronics For Cash appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Accepting donations online is an excellent way to convert interest in your group from online visitors and to greatly expand the outreach of your campaign to far-off friends, family, alumni, supporters, or other individuals with a desire to help further your cause.

When accepting donations online, it’s imperative to give a donor the option to pay with a  credit card. Asking a potential donor to write and mail a check to you after they visit your web page, probably won’t result in the amount of donations you’re hoping for.

The problem for most non-profits when it comes to accepting online donations is that they don’t have the technical means to process them safely online. Obtaining the technical, security, and programming skills to manage an online donation campaign can be costly and time consuming. But with today’s internet tools, groups can safely, easily, and effectively solicit and accept donations online to either supplement a fundraising campaign or to run a campaign completely online.

There are different ways to go about accepting donations online with the help of third party companies. It can be as simple as adding a donation button to your website, or you can sign up with one of the many online fundraising services. The ideal way to take advantage of these excellent online options may  be to implement a combination of them.

Following are several ways to help you accept online donations:

Accept online donations with a donation button

- Probably the easiest and fastest way to add a payment solution to your website or blog and start accepting donations today is to sign up with PayPal. You get a snippet of code for a button for your website and  anyone who clicks on this button will be able to make a donation instantly. There are no sign-up fees or monthly fees; your donors don’t have to have a PayPal account to make a donation and you only pay a small fee per transaction. And if your group has registered for 501(c)(3) status, you’ll get discounted rates.

You’ll get reporting tools, you’ll be able to export reports to Excel, Quickbooks and Quicken, accept foreign currency. You can also accept donations with PayPal through your Facebook page.

- Google also offers a donation option through their popular Google Checkout service. Google Checkout also offers low per transaction fees, allows you to accept donations from different countries and even waives fees altogether if you’re a Google Grant recipient. In order to implement a Google Donation button, you have to identify yourself as an IRS Certified 501(c)3 organization.

Accept online donations via Facebook Causes

You can also sign up with the online platform Facebook Causes to solicit donations. If you already have a Facebook page, you can simply add a Causes Tab and start collecting donations.

Read about how to create a Facebook page for your group and how to add a Causes Tab. Cause donations are processed by Network for Good.

Accept online donations via online fundraising services

There are dozens of companies that offer services for accepting online donations. They usually also offer reporting tools and back office tools whereas some customized or additional services may be optional and will be available for a fee.

Click over to our article 15 Most Popular Online Fundraising Services or search for “accepting donations online” to find companies that help you accept online donations.

Requirements to start accepting donations online through any of these services may vary slightly, but you usually have to be registered as a 501(c)3 organization and have to have a profile in the GuideStar database.

Often the service is offered for free or for a low monthly cost and a small transaction fee for each processed payment is added. Even if the company charges a set-up fee or monthly fee, the cost is usually minimal compared to the expense of implementing and maintaining donation and accounting services on your own.

Generally you will receive a free fundraising web page for your group that you can send your supporters to, a widget or payment button to place on your website and tools to track and manage your donations and donor information.

When signing up, you’ll basically go through the following steps:

• Your group registers and provides information
• The site automatically creates a web page for your group and/or widgets and donation buttons you can add to your group’s website
• Visitors to the site use your customized page or the button/widget on your website to make an online donation
• Visitors are taken to a secure third-party site for processing of the donation and collection of account data
• Visitors are returned to the original web page once the transaction is finalized
• The funds are deposited into their account (There may be a holding period)

>> Visit easyfundraising.org.uk for further online fundraising ideas and to support a cause. (Sponsor)

Making it all work

OK, so now you’ve set up donation buttons on your website and created fundraising pages on one or more third party service’s website. Now what? You’re ready to start accepting online donations, but to actually receive donations, you’ll need visitors and then you need to convert these visitors into donors. This sounds very simple, but does require some work.

To start, make sure you have all pertinent information about your non-profit, like your financials, mission, goals etc. easily available on the web. If you have your own website, make this info easily accessible and also add links to other websites that a have information about your group, for example news sites and sites like Guidestar and Charity Navigator. That way, when you do have a potential donor on your site, he or she will be able to find all important info about your group right away and without too much work on their part. Make it easy for them to get information about your group, so they feel confident to make a donation!

Once you have all your info readily available, create social networking accounts, like a Facebook Page, connect your online and offline marketing strategies, and keep improving your website!

Note: Regardless which option you choose, we recommend you consult your legal adviser before accepting any donations online.

The post Accept Online Donations appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

You can now download our fundraising app – it’s free!

Or search for ‘fundraising ideas’ on your iPhone, iPod or iPad. Please do leave your review within the app store! If you have any questions or suggestions, please comment below.

Note: If you’ve clicked over from Apple’s website, please ask any questions in the comments below.

To read more about how we got started making this app, click over to Mobile App on a Small Budget. If you’re curious about getting your own mobile app, read Are You Considering a Mobile App for Your Non-Profit?

Our fundraising app

Since it’s a do-it-yourself service, Appmakr.com doesn’t provide endless features, but the ones it does provide are essential and are pretty good! For example, if you have a WordPress blog, or any other kind of blog, you can simply add your feeds to deliver your articles.

We’ve used our most popular feeds and added tabs for fundraising ideas, internet related articles (like this one), fundraising letters and our main feed to browse through latest articles. We’ve also added one static About page. Very simple!

As mentioned in another article about mobile apps, you don’t need an app if you want people to be able to access your site on a mobile device. If you’re running a blog, you can simply install a plug-in to format your blog for mobile access and you’re all set.

The advantage of having an app is that your website, your group and message can be marketed through a whole new channel that millions of people all over the world have access to. Another advantage is that you could add functionality to your app that your website can’t offer, like location services, push notifications etc.

Are you ready to create an app with Appmakr.com? Here is what you need to know or do to get started:

1. Learn about what a ‘feed’ is and how it works. ‘RSS’, ‘feed’, RSS feed’ etc. all stand for the same functionality. If you have a blog that uses WordPress, or you’ve signed up for a blog through Blogger or Blogspot for example, your blog already has a feed which is marked by this familiar icon

(More about feeds.)

A feed automatically broadcasts any article you post through different channels: it let’s the search engines know that you have a new post, it triggers emails to your blog subscribers if you’re signed up through a service like Feedburner, it sends your article to anyone who has signed up to your blog’s feed with a feed reader, and it also broadcasts your articles to any place that you’ve added your feed to, like this free app, and also websites that allow you to add your feed.

For example, the feed address to our articles is http://www.fundraisingip.com/fundraising/feed.

You will be asked for your feed URL when you create your app. Yours may simply look like this http://www.yourblogsURL.com/feed. You can also add feeds for different categories of your blog, which would look like this http://www.yourblogsURL.com/category/feed. Go ahead and try it out with your blog’s web address!

You can also add your photo feed from sites like Flickr, a location feed, simple static pages, or your Ning social network (for a fee).

2. If you simply want to add static pages, you have to know some HTML to format your pages. A good place to start learning for free is w3schools.com. In fact, this is a great website to learn about any web related technology for free!

3. Create graphics for your mobile app: this includes a button that will appear in the app store at 512×512 pixels, a welcome screen or splash screen at 640×960 pixels and a header graphic at 640×88 pixels.

4. Sign up for an iOS Apple Developer Account at $99 per year. This is the only expense that you can’t get around. In order to get your app into the app store you have to have this account and you have to renew it every year.

Important: Appmakr.com has a functionality in place so that you don’t necessarily need an Apple computer to create the app on their website, but to actually upload the app to the Apple store you need a Mac.

5. Within Appmakr.com you will be asked to create Developer and Distribution Certificates in your Apple Developer account and upload them to Appmakr.com. You have to make sure you follow the instructions to a ‘t’ and in the right sequence, otherwise it won’t work. We had already unsuccessfully tried a few times when a developer friend recommended to delete every certificate we had created and then simply start from scratch. Then it worked!

You can sign up with Appmakr.com to do this part for you, but it can be pricey. It still may be worth it to you to have your app out there.

Bottom line for creating your mobile app in Appmakr.com:

If you know a little bit of HTML and feeds and can get the graphics done yourself, the process is pretty simple and your only expense will be the $99. If what you just read is all new to you, you can still get your app done by hiring a graphic designer to do the simple graphics (should be fairly inexpensive) and a programmer through a site like oDesk.com to help with the process of creating the certificates (this should also be inexpensive, because you’re not asking them to program anything).

If you don’t want to deal with any of the above, you can simply hire Appmakr.com to do it all for you! (We’re Not affiliated with Appmakr.)

Whichever way you decide to go, or if you have questions, please let us know in the comments!

The post Our Fundraising Mobile App is Live! appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Raising funds in the form of in-kind donations may not be as straight forward as simply asking for cash, but can be lucrative and help your group through a slump when cash donations don’t meet expectations. However, in-kind donations are not just an alternative to cash donations, but should be considered year round as an additional way to complement your regular fundraising activities.

(Ideas on where to get in-kind donations.)

Make it easy for the donor to give to you

- The easier you make it for the donor, the more donations you will get. If you have restrictions on when you can pick up items for example, you’re already putting a strain on the donor. Don’t make your donor change his or her schedule – change your schedule to accommodate your donor’s.

- If you nit-pick through items that aren’t perfect, you may come across as not appreciative. Present yourself and your cause as being grateful for the donations you are receiving, even if they’re not perfect. Especially when you first start out, it’s important to keep an open mind and just go with the flow. In time you’ll be able to identify which companies or industries generally have the most useful items to give away.

- If you have room for storage, consider taking items that a donor would like to give you, but you don’t necessarily have any use for. You’ll be doing them a favor and you can sell the items or trade them later on. Just make sure the donor knows that you may be selling them. If you go this route, you have to also make sure you have the volunteer resources to handle and sell these items.

A great example of an organization that takes in-kind donations is Habitat for Humanity. They take just about any building material or home related item. They will happily pick up items from your home or business, store them, and, if they have no immediate need for them, resell them in their ReStores resale outlets to raise funds. If you have a ReStore location nearby, you may be able to pick up some low cost supplies or furniture you may need.

Ways to use in-kind donations

- Support your cause directly. The most popular way is probably using donated goods to help individuals directly, like collecting and donating gently used clothing or canned foods. But whatever your cause may be, you may be able to get the materials you need donated: donated roof shingles and nails to fix up a house for a returning vet; donated trash bags for a river clean-up, etc.

- Offset your operation expenses. This of course depends on what you’ll be able to get donated. But if you can tailor your search for in-kind donations that directly offset office expenses like a computer, printer, paper and other office supplies, you’ll be able to free up more donated funds that can go directly to your cause. Professional services, donated meeting space and public service announcements also usually count as in-kind donations.

- Sell donated goods to raise cash. If you’re planning on holding a silent auction for example, you may be able to solicit donated products, event tickets and so on from local businesses. New businesses may be especially eager to donate goods, gift cards or gift baskets to get their name out.

You may also have a source that can give you good quality items (whatever they may be) that you have no use for. Do not turn these items down. Assuming you have a place to store them, use these items to trade for other items (you can use your local Freecycle group), or you can sell them outright on sites like eBay, or through classifieds. Be sure you let your donor know that you may sell the items for cash or trade them in.

Advertise your need

This may be obvious, but can easily be overlooked! Start with good old fashioned networking with your personal and business contacts and make it known what items you’re looking for. Advertise in your local classifieds, your newsletter, emails, website, your social networking accounts and so forth. You may also have local mixers or meet-ups available to you that are organized by the city or private parties for the purpose of networking and exchanging information.

Simply asking for what you need may be all it takes to attract generous donors. If you run a non-profit, remind donors that their donations might be tax deductible, and that they’ll receive a mention in your newsletter.

Don’t forget to publish a “wish-list” of items that would be useful to you, but leave it open for other items as well, as you may be surprised what can turn up!

Show your appreciation

Beyond saying thank you and sending a thank you note, keep in mind that everyone loves to get something for free! So what can you offer your donors in return for their donations that’s easy for you to give? Considering offering free advertising in your print or email newsletters, your website, a shout out on your social networking accounts, fliers etc. For someone who donates consistently to you every year, consider reserving a special place for them in your newsletter, or give them more advertising space, if it’s feasible.

(Image: iStockPhoto)

Documenting in-kind donations

For each in-kind donation you receive, issue a receipt that the donor can keep with their files and keep copies of the receipts and a list of in-kind donations for your own files as well. This will make it much easier for both parties come tax time.

The receipt will act as an acknowledgement that a donation was given/received and should include the name of the person who gave you the donation, their signature, date, description of the item (and possibly a photo), location of the donation and your group’s information. The actual valuation that will be reported to the IRS by each party is up to each party. Consult a tax professional to determine the value of the donated items and expected depreciation, or read IRS publication 561. IRS Publication 526 has information on what type of donations can be deducted.

If your group is not a registered non-profit be sure to disclose this fact well in advance and before any donation takes place. If you’re honest and up front you may receive a donation anyway.

Managing donated items

Because you may be dealing with used items, or items that have been stored for a while, an important consideration for in-kind donations is safety and usability. For example, if you take furniture, opt for the non-upholstered kind, unless you know for sure an upholstered sofa was stored in a clean location and isn’t infested with bugs. You should never take any pillows or other personal items that could cause some kind of infection or infestation. It’s not recommended to take used car seats for children unless you’re sure they’ve never been in an accident. When taking a used computer, make sure all information from the previous owner has been deleted. In short, consider where the items have come from and where and how they’re going to be used.

Initially, asking for in-kind donations will take some effort and strategy, just like asking for cash donations. But in time you will have the frame work of another great way to support your cause in good times and bad. Don’t leave this opportunity to support your cause on the table! If you make looking for in-kind donations a part of your regular fundraising strategy, you will not only help your charitable group succeed, but you will also give more opportunities for people to get to know you and give to your group.

What are some in-kind donations you have received? Please share with us and leave your answer in the comments below!

The post In-Kind Donations and Low Cost Products and Services For Your Group – Part 2 appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Asking for in-kind donations isn’t as straight forward as asking for cash, but will be another way to support your cause: when funds are hard to come by, in-kind donations will be a source of support for your group; when your funds are sufficient, it takes the strain off of your budget and allows you to fund more projects.

For the sake of simplicity, we’re combining resources for in-kind donations and for very low cost products and services in this article. Generally, donated items and donated professional services count as in-kind donations.

Following are some considerations and ideas about in-kind donations and low cost products and services:

Places to find free or low-cost items

- Store closures: when stores close, and after their initial sale, the owners are often anxious to get rid of remaining inventory, clean out the space and leave. You may get a hold of free shelves, signs, cash registers, computers, desks and more. Even if you can’t get these items completely free, you can usually get them for pennies on the dollar. Be sure to be ready to pick up items on the spot, so have a truck with you and helpers to load it if you’ll be getting bulkier items.

- Manufacturers: stop by your local Chamber of Commerce, or search online and find out what is being manufactured nearby. You may be able to get products donated that directly help your cause, depending on the manufacturers in your area. (For example, supplies for your school’s music department, or flooring for your new youth center?) Even if their products aren’t directly useful for your cause, you may be able to get other materials like plastic wrap, boxes, paper, imperfects, etc. that you can use for your office operations.

- Offices: you may already know someone who works in a large office. Find out if they have any discards from presentations or proposals. Often there will be excess paper, binders, folders or other materials that are not needed anymore once a project is finished. Rather than throwing these things away, they may be happy to hand them off to you. Maybe you can make arrangements to come by once a month to pick up any of their reusable or recyclable materials.

- Copy shops: they may have paper left over from a special order, supplies that were ordered but never used, materials for signs and so on. Speak with the manager and see what you could take off their hands and use for your cause. It may save you money and give them a tax write-off.

- New Stores and businesses: if you’re planning on having a silent auction for example, local stores and businesses may be willing to donate items, event tickets and gift cards for gift baskets. This would be a great way for them to get the word out about their products or services while helping a good cause.

- ReStores resale outlets, Goodwill etc.: these stores don’t offer free items, but any store that takes donations will have incredible deals on the items on their shelves. For larger purchases they may be willing to give you an even better deal.

- Taprootfoundation.org: Taprootfoundation.org you can apply to receive pro bono professional consultation services if you’re within the Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. metro areas.

- Wholesale stores and outlets: you may find sharply marked down sale items, or get free supplies like plastic and paper bags that have been used to ship items and are not needed any more. Sometimes outlets will even discard unsold merchandise. Yes, some companies will throw away unsold merchandise (incl. clothing, food), because it may cost too much to dispose or recycle the items otherwise. Make it easy for them to donate to your group and you may make a big difference in your group’s budget.

- Other charitable groups: maybe there is another charitable group you can share resources with, even if it’s just display tables for a fundraising event.

- Your local Freecycle group: sign up for your local Freecycle group and see if you can get any items that will help your cause, or if you can trade items you don’t need. Like any other site that offers free items, be careful who you’re dealing with. The group’s manager may not scrutinize new members or not manage the group very well which can make using your local Freecycle group challenging. It may be worth a try though, especially if you need specific items on a regular basis.

- Try Listia: a website that works like eBay but without the exchange of money. List items you don’t need to receive credits which you can then use to ‘buy’ items you need. Granted, Listia offers lots of collectibles and other small items, but there are also electronics like DVD players, cameras, computers and small furniture. You currently get 450 free points for signing up.

- Individuals: one of the most popular in-kind donations are food items which are often asked for from individuals. But supporters maybe be more than happy to donate other items as well. If you advertise your need on your website, your email list or a local newspaper, someone may come forward with the item(s) you’ve been asking for.

(Image: iStockPhoto/mangostock)

You could also ask for professional services as in-kind donations. Accountants, tax professionals and consultants may be willing to donate their time and services to help you out.

- GrassRoots.org: Grassroots.org provides web services like hosting, web design and consultations to non-profits.

- Volunteer sites: You could try volunteer sites like Idealist.org or Volunteermatch.org to not just find volunteers, but also to find someone who might donate their professional services.

Other places for finding free or low-cost items: any outlet store, restaurants, local contractors and builders for residential homes, designers, auctions, public sales of abandoned storage spaces, local classifieds, paint stores.

What sort of in-kind donations you can ask for

This will depend much on what your cause is, but some items (like gift cards) are universally useful:

- Universal: coupons, gift cards (even $5), tickets/passes to events (for auctions), empty ink cartridges
- To help individuals: clothing new and gently used, school supplies, furniture, tools and supplies for home repair, toys, housewares, pet food, professional services
- For your office: paper, pens, pencils, trash bags, computer, printer, paint, professional services

There may be items for in-kind donations that you haven’t thought of yet: Find out what kind of manufacturers are nearby, browse a Freecycle group, or post an ‘open’ request on your website and your other communications. Someone may want to donate a valuable item and need help determining its value (get official appraisal), or transporting it to you.

For more tips on in-kind donations, please click over to part 2.

What are some in-kind donations you have received? Where have you been able to get valuable in-kind donations? Please share with us and leave your answer in the comments below!

The post In-Kind Donations and Low Cost Products and Services for Your Group – Part 1 appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Whether your program is teaching kids about growing vegetables in a school garden, playing sports, or art for the purpose of emotional healing, the challenge is the same: to make potential donors understand the importance of your program, even if they don’t have children or don’t feel it’s important.

(More about donation request letters, including free to copy sample donation request letters.)

Helping your potential donor understand

Because not everyone understands the purpose of after schools programs you will have to explain. Launching directly into talking about your programs may make the topic too impersonal and distant from the reader’s experience. It may be better to start out with a specific personal story, or a detail about your program that many may not have thought of.

Because personal stories that talk about specific individuals who have benefited from such programs make the subject of after school programs more real, they take the reader from thinking about donating to a ‘program’ to donating to ‘individuals in need.’ Taking this a step further, give examples about how after school programs can ‘help the whole community’ and not just individuals. For example, after school programs may help kids stay in school, give them inspiration to achieve more and thus become highly productive members of the community.

Grab your reader’s attention

But before trying to get your message across, get your readers attention with a catchy opening. If someone takes the time to open your letter and take a look, he or she may not make it past the first few lines if there is nothing interesting or novel for them to read. A heartfelt or otherwise intriguing opening may just hold their attention for a few more lines. Make your letter worth their time.

Provide general details

Once the reader has a more personal involvement in the need for after school programs then you can give a brief but thorough general overview of what your after school programs do and who they are for. Relay this information only after you have tried to make your potential donors understand the importance of your after school programs. Do give enough details to show that you are running your group in a professional manner and that any potential donors can trust you will use their donations wisely.

Tell your potential supporters what their donation will do

Just as you made after school programs personal with individual stories, make it real again by telling the reader what their donations will do. You want your donors to know exactly what their money will be spent on. If they can imagine their money helping people in need then they will give it.

Keep asking for what you want

You do not want to overdo your requests for donations but do not be afraid to ask more than once. In fact, your requests should be spread throughout your letter so that the thought of giving stays in your readers’ minds. Ask from the beginning and ask after you make points about why these donations are so important. You need to find that delicate balance where you do not ask too often but you ask enough that your reader never forgets why they are learning how essential after school programs are.

A donation request letter for an after school program is an exercise in helping people understand. Not everyone knows why these programs are so important. You have to help them see just how much a donation to your after school program can help not just individuals, but also your community as a whole.

The post How to Write A Donation Request Letter For An After School Program appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.

Google’s updated non-profit suite of products

Google has re-launched a suite of products and services tailored to the needs of non-profits. If you’ve created videos for your non-profit before, or used Google Apps, now you can make use of all these services under one roof and with special enhancements relevant to non-profits.

Google has added online training videos, case studies and offers a one-stop application for all its non-profit services. If you get approved you may qualify for up to $10,000 a month in free Google Adwords advertising, free or discounted Google Apps (depending on the size of your organization), premium YouTube features and mapping technologies to help raise awareness of your cause.

For more information on Google for Non-Profits, click over to Google’s blog. In order to qualify for this program you must have current 501(c)(3) status.

Related: Is it time to turn your PTO into an official non-profit?

Do you have a Twitter or Facebook account?

You can follow our updates on Twitter and now also through our brand new Facebook page! Our Twitter updates also contain volunteer opportunities available through Idealist.org. To receive our updates vie email, click over to our subscriber options.

Did you know…

…that we update our articles on the site as new information becomes available? For example, our article on the 15 Most Popular Online Fundraising Services has been updated several times already, because some services shut down and new ones have spring up. We do this because one goal for our site is to create a reference for you that’s easy to use and isn’t cluttered with outdated information.

Another example of a continuously updated article is the one on how to Create a Website. As services have changed and blogs become the standard for websites, we’ve updated this article to reflect the most current information available. Having said that, if you see something on our site that you think could use an overhaul, please let us know through our contact page! (Browse through all our articles or the latest ones.)

Our first app:

Have you been following our updates on creating our own iPhone app? We’ve finally been approved by Apple which means we can submit our app for inclusion in their app store! The first step for us is to test the app, then once it’s determined that it works the way it should work, we’ll submit it and hope that Apple will approve it right away.

Lesson learned: get registered for Apple’s iOS Developer Standard Program as soon as possible (you can enroll as an individual or company), because it can take a while to get approved. Also, learning about how the whole process works of testing the app, giving others (like developers or anyone else who might help you with this) access to your account and reading their terms will save you time once your app is ready to go. We’ll let you know as soon as our app is live and available for distribution!

Easter fundraisers:

Are you planning on holding an Easter fundraiser? For ideas click over to Easter Fundraiser – Do the Bunny Hop! and Easy Profits with an Easter Chocolate Fundraiser. Don’t forget to use one of our checklists to help plan your event!

Donating to Japan’s Disaster Relief Efforts

If you’re planning on making a donation for the victims of the disaster in Japan, get some information about the charity you’re considering on Charity Navigator. And while you’re there, be sure to check if the information on your own non-profit is correct and up-to-date.

The post Google For Non-Profits, Mobile App, and Other Updates appeared first on Fundraising How Tos and Event Ideas.