There are certain occasions that call for small businesses to get involved in fundraising. Whether it’s to campaign for domestic abuse help or feed the hungry, there are so many causes that call for small businesses to get involved.
Despite this, if you’ve never fundraised before, the entire process can feel overwhelming, whereas if you’ve conducted fundraisers in the past, you’ll likely struggle to come up with new ideas time and time again. As a result, detailed below are some of the most important steps to creating a profitable fundraiser.
Build a Strong Fundraising Team
Firstly, in order to successfully fundraise, you’ll need a quality team onside. Therefore, in order to create profitable fundraisers as a small business, you need to select the best staff members for the job.
This should be the first thing you do, and it should be arranged as early as possible, even if you’re not sure what kind of fundraiser you’re going to organize yet.
This team will be responsible for brainstorming ideas, and they’ll each be able to find a role that plays to their strengths. Once you’ve established your fundraising team, you can continue to build from there.
Know Your Audience
The point of a fundraiser is quite literally in the name; you need to raise funds. Consequently, you need to resonate with those who you’re likely to obtain donations from. You need to appeal to their lifestyles, interests, values, and more, as this will tell you what’s important enough to them to donate.
While it’s a relatively universal concept to donate to charity, you’ll be surprised to find just how many charities have a target audience. For instance, Movember is directed at men, while Women’s Aid is directed at women, as the donors will need to relate to those in need.
Establish and Stick to a Budget
In order to raise money, money needs to be spent; however, going over budget is easily done. This is especially true if you don’t keep track of your spending. In order to create a budget, you’ll need to note down everything you’ll be using to raise money, as well as the cost of these things.
It’s a good idea to keep some money aside for any emergencies that may occur; however, you shouldn’t stray too much from the budget apart from these emergency purposes. Make sure you stay within a reasonable cost per dollar raised (CPDR) and ensure that your fundraising goals are met.
Use the Right Tools
Tools are essential for fundraising, especially in the technological sphere that we’re currently living in.
Technological tools allow you to create online fundraising pages that they can donate to within a matter of clicks.
Not only does this allow for efficient donations, but it allows you to automate data entry and analyze results.
Therefore, not only do the right tools make the lives of your donors easier, but they also make your life easier by reducing the amount of time and manual work that you need to invest in your fundraising tools.
Simplify Your Fundraising
Last but not least, you want to keep your fundraising methods simple. After all, the mission of fundraising is simple; you want to raise funds to better the life of someone in need.
Consequently, you should form a fundraising strategy that’s straightforward, sustainable, repeatable, and won’t burn you out.
The last thing you want to do is create stress for your team and confusion for your donors. When it comes to fundraising, sometimes the most old-fashioned ideas are the best ones (e.g., bake sales, dress-down days, raffles, etc.)
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