Lately I’ve been getting lots of questions about how individuals can fundraise for walkathon events and many other -athons: bike, bowl, etc. Here are some of the ideas I’ve been offering:

First of all, good for you! Thank you for caring enough about the cause to put yourself out there and raise money for it. Our world is a much better place because of people like you. Thank you!

• RESEARCH
  The first step in any fundraising effort is to research. By doing research up front, you–or you and your team–will lay a terrific foundation for achieving your goals. Here are some suggestions on what to do:
  1. Determine how much are you are going to raise

  Specifically. Not the “more-is-better” answer but how much? $1,000? $2,500?

  This will often come from the minimum amount you need to raise to be part of the event. But what if you raised more? Figure out a specific dollar amount.

  2. Find out if the nonprofit has different giving levels to recognize donors
     Often nonprofits will recognize donors by assigning them to a donor level “Founders” or “Contributors” or “Patron.” Find out if the group you’re supporting uses these and if gifts given by your friends will be recognized in this way. It’ll help later on.

  3. Develop a plan to reaching that goal
     If you’re trying to raise $2500, it’s easy to fall prey to thinking you “only” need to find 100 people to give $25.

     This just doesn’t happen.

     We’ve been studying fundraising for decades. Although this sounds wonderfully egalitarian, experience shows that people give varying amounts.

     Plus, if you only ask $25 from someone who’d gladly have given $100, you’re leaving money on the table.

     To do the research of creating a plan, go to a tool like GiftRangeCalculator.com. Plug in the amount you want to raise and the calculator tells you what size gifts you need to ask for and how many prospects you need.

     If you do it for $2500, you’ll get something like this:
     

     You’ll see that it recommends your top gift be $625–the equivalent of 25 people giving $25! A tool like this is based on decades of fundraising experience and can really help you develop a map to raising the amount of money you need.

     You’ll also see that if you get all the gifts recommended, you’ll actually raise $3200. I did this intentionally. I wanted this calculation to be conservative so that even if you miss some of the 49 gifts, you’ll still reach your goal.

     I also did this because if your cause is worth fundraising for, it’s worth raising more than the minimum!

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I’m surprised by how many nonprofit professionals see “marketing” as a bad word, a practice that is somehow beneath them. If that’s your attitude, a new book called Guerrilla Marketing for Nonprofits will help you move beyond that and become excellent at communicating your message. This book is packed with useful ideas, detailed strategies, and [...]

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ask Without Fear! was listed on Amazon.com two years ago. Last week I asked for suggestions about songs that dealt with Research. Some of the answers were: “The Gambler” Kenny Rogers “Private Eyes are Watching you” Hall & Oates “If I had a milliion dollars” BNL “She Blinded [...]

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As most of you know, I am an avid fan of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook. They don’t replace normal fundraising techniques, but they sure to extend our ability to reach our donors and donor prospects. So this week, I want to tell you about a cool experiment that’s entering its second year: [...]

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Waterville’s amazing librarian, Sarah Sugden passed on this terrific article from the New York Times, How to Market Your Business With Facebook. It’s well worth reading for nonprofits too. For instance, take this great advice: Some basic rules: Buy-buy-buy messages won’t fly. The best practitioners make Facebook less about selling and more about interacting. Engage [...]

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