how to organize a fundraiser

How To Organize A Fundraiser

Every fundraiser is unique. Whether you are selling products, collecting donations, creating an event, etc. This raises the question that if they’re all unique, is everyone who fundraises just making it up as they go along?

 

The answer is, no. There are tried-and-true methods people use to run effective, profitable fundraisers. There are step-by-step processes. If you follow every step with strategy and energy, you’ll set yourself up for success in your fundraising efforts. We’ll walk you through it. In this article, we’ll discuss how to do fundraising for nonprofit organizations. In particular, we’ll talk about product fundraising.

 

Let’s go through it, step by step. This is how to organize a fundraiser:

 

  1. Decide on your fundraising goals
  2. Match your fundraiser to your goals
  3. Figure out your budget
  4. Get organized with good leadership
  5. Create your timeline
  6. Marketing! Marketing is important

 

Now, let’s break that down.

 

How To Organize a Fundraiser

Fundraising Goals

goals

Fundraisers have two goals:

  1. Raising money for your cause
  2. Raising awareness of your cause

 

Do some research and run some numbers. Figure out how much money you will need to fund your goals. Your fundraiser will probably cost something itself even if you are using volunteers. Then inflate your numbers a little bit. It sounds counterintuitive, but a good solution for accounting for costs is setting your goal higher than you need.

 

Determine how much money you need to raise and set that goal.

 

At the same time, decide how much awareness you want to raise about your goal. You might want to raise some awareness quickly and then move on. Or, maybe you want to work on sustained awareness of your cause. All answers are good. You just need to know which answer is yours.

 

Match Your Fundraiser to Your Goals

There are many kinds of fundraising strategies you can use to reach your fundraising goals. You could sell products or host a marathon. You could set up an online donation page and advertise your fundraiser online. The right fundraising strategy for you will depend on the goals of your fundraiser (HubSpot).

 

One of the most flexible and profitable fundraising strategies is to implement an online fundraiser.

 

There are a few objections to an online fundraiser. They’re impersonal, some people say. They aren’t suitable for any size of budget. While that might have once been true, online fundraising has evolved and can be used in conjunction with in-person fundraising. There are a lot of ways to run local, personal-feeling fundraisers online that suit any budget goals. In fact, online fundraisers have the potential to be more successful because they can reach more people more frequently.

 

Figure Out Your Budget

It may seem ironic, but it costs money to run fundraisers. However, different fundraisers will cost different amounts. Your budget will be largely determined by the kind of fundraiser you want to run (Keela).

 

For example, if you want to run a product fundraiser where you sell something to your local community for a profit you would need to purchase the goods, store them, process payments, organize distribution, and keep track of your profits. Product fundraisers can require a significant amount of work and substantial startup costs, but they don’t have to, though. 

 

There are ways to run product fundraisers online that dramatically cut startup costs and time (RallyUp). You can sell fundraiser items online if you have the right tools. We’ll talk about them in a second, but first…

 

Get Your Leadership Organized

When we say this, we really mean you should get your whole fundraising strategy as organized as possible. You need to know who’s doing what, and when everything will be due. It will be equally important to make sure everyone on your team knows where to find all the resources involved in running your fundraiser. At the same time, your team will need to know who knows how to do which tasks.

 

A fundraiser is a business venture. A well-organized business is a successful business. A fundraiser is the same. 

 

There are online fundraising management and tracking tools that can help you keep your fundraiser organized.

 

Create a Timeline

timeline - how to organize a fundraiser - create a timeline

“Until we meet our goal” is an inappropriate deadline for your fundraiser. Likewise, “eventually.” Your timeline has to be dictated by your fundraiser goals.

 

Create a clear, achievable timeline that will enable you to include all the stages of your setup before the deadline for your fundraising efforts.

 

Having a strict deadline can also help you raise more funds as some people wait until the last moment to give. Show them how far you are from reaching your goal and get them excited about helping you achieve it.

 

Market Your Fundraiser

One of the most important aspects of a successful fundraiser is effective marketing. Nobody can contribute to a fundraiser they have never heard of. You may decide to rely on word of mouth, posting around your community with physical posters, or a social media strategy. Alternatively, you might have a combined strategy, taking advantage both of your in-person networks and digital marketing tools.

 

Marketing strategies for fundraising are a science all their own. But with the right tools, your fundraiser can be a success.

 

There are fundraising tools and platforms that can help you with all aspects of organizing a fundraiser. Utilizing these platforms is a great way to help you know how to organize a fundraiser successfully.

 

Local and Online Product Fundraising with farmRaiser

With farmRaiser, you can do everything we outlined above. farmRaiser is an online, product fundraising tool. It has tools for organizing your fundraising strategy and running it. You can create the ideal goals and a timeline to fund your cause.

 

farmRaiser is unique because it focuses on healthy, locally sourced, sustainable products. Through farmRaiser, you can source your products for your fundraiser from local businesses. This means you can support businesses in your community and raise money at the same time!

 

You figure out your fundraising goals and the local businesses and products you want to sell. After that, we work with you to set up a portal where your backers can contribute to your fundraiser by purchasing products from local businesses. Then we handle all the processing and help you organize distribution. (farmRaiser)

 

It’s pretty cool, if we say so ourselves. Check out farmRaiser for product fundraising and RaiserHQ for white-label fundraising solutions for larger businesses and organizations.

 

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healthy fundraising ideas

Healthy Fundraising Ideas

If you’re looking for sustainable, healthy fundraising ideas for your school or nonprofit organization, there are many options for you to consider. With healthy food and sustainability becoming a bigger priority than ever before, why settle for played-out fundraising ideas such as candy bars, processed snack foods, and coupon books? We have a better way, and it’s catching steam. We invite you to explore healthy fundraising ideas with farmRaiser.

Here are some examples of healthy and sustainable fundraising products. The products will vary by location.

Community Food Basket

community food basket - healthy fundraising ideas

Community food baskets are one of our most popular healthy fundraiser ideas for schools, and for good reason. Not only will people be supporting your school or organization when they purchase one of these locally-sourced produce baskets, but they will also be helping your local community! Our community food baskets are available in varying denominations so that they can serve any size family. With community food baskets, your school or organization keeps a portion from every sale and the rest goes to purchase produce that we will donate to your local food pantry. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Herb & Flower Seeds

Few things are more satisfying than growing your own food and herbs. With herb and flower seed kits, purchasers will receive organic heirloom seeds for growing four plants: sunflowers, cosmos, parsley, and basil. It’s a great way to encourage new gardeners to become more self-reliant. Additional options and seed varieties are also available, making this widely appealing to anyone who currently maintains or is thinking about starting their own garden.

Quick Pickle Kit

Fermentation is all the rage in healthy eating circles these days. Not only is eating fermented foods healthy for the gut, but it’s incredibly satisfying to create your own ferments right on your own kitchen counter. The Quick Pickle Kit allows customers to dip their feet into the world of fermentation without a huge commitment to equipment and supplies. It’s a very unique and popular healthy fundraising idea worth exploring.

Rainbow Vegetable Seed Kit

The Rainbow Vegetable Seed Kit is yet another way to encourage sustainability and self-reliance when people need it most. There is literally nothing more healthy and sustainable than growing your own food. Additionally, the Spring Salad Seeds Kit, Mulch, and numerous other gardening-related products are possibilities that your customers will love.

Cold Pressed Juice

If you love freshly squeezed juice, why not consider selling cold-pressed organic juice for your next fundraiser? Juicing has always been associated with healthy living and is widely accepted. Incorporating a fresh juice option into your fundraising plan is a smart move, and is highly rewarding.

Local Honey

local honey

Raw honey is arguably the sweetener of choice amongst those who choose to eat healthfully. Not only is it packed with vitamins and enzymes, but the taste is superior too! We believe that nothing is more reflective of sustainability than natural apiaries. If you’re looking for a healthy fundraising idea that nearly everyone can enjoy, adding raw, unadulterated honey to your fundraising plan is sure to be a winner.

Granola

Granola is delicious, portable, and incredibly good for you, making it an easy sell! If you’re looking for unique and healthy food fundraising ideas, granola is a great option. Who wouldn’t want to purchase food that’s so wholesome?

 

Other Healthy Fundraising Options

Still don’t see something that interests you? farmRaiser has partnered with sustainable businesses all over the country to bring you the very best fundraising options for a healthy lifestyle. Here are just a few of our other healthy fundraising ideas:

  • Natural soaps
  • Natural pet products
  • Bath salts
  • Herbal teas
  • Candles
  • Coffee
  • Dressings and condiments
  • Organic fertilizers and mulch
  • Nut and seed butters
  • Natural skin care products
  • Imperfect produce
  • Oils and vinegars
  • And more

online fundraising - farmRaiser

We partner with only the best local artesian suppliers and farmers to bring you top-quality healthy products that sell. If you’re starting a fundraising project for your school or organization, be sure to check out all of the healthy fundraising ideas found on farmRaiser and get started today!

 

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elementary school fundraisers

Elementary School Fundraisers

Elementary schools always need more funding. Running elementary school fundraisers is a great way to give back to the community. Whether you’re a member of the PTA, a coach for a school sports team, a parent helping out a club, or just a community member wanting to take action, raising money for schools is always very much appreciated.

 

A great advantage of fundraising for elementary schools is the population involved. You will rarely encounter a group of people who get more excited about fundraising than elementary school administrators, teachers, and students. That is if you run your fundraising event well.

 

When you run unique school fundraisers, you get your community excited. Typically community members love to help children. The most profitable fundraisers for schools are fundraisers that get communities involved (Read-a-Thon).

 

There are also online fundraising platforms for schools that help you run easy, effective fundraisers. Get started with the right online fundraising platform to organize things to sell for a school fundraiser (99pledges).

 

Here are a few ideas for running an elementary school fundraiser.

 

Product Fundraising

When it comes to product fundraising, you have two options: product catalogs or online fundraising.

 

Typically you’ll work with a company that does product fundraising as a regular practice. Selling cookies is the most famous example, but there are many other options (DoubletheDonations).

 

Product fundraising can be extremely profitable. You want to focus on products that people enjoy buying or meet their day-to-day product needs. There are many types of products that students sell. While typical products include candy, tee shirts, and wrapping paper, there are a few companies out there that connect organizations with better products in high demand.

 

Product fundraising is effective. However, when you send children around with catalogs, most of them don’t reach very far beyond their parent’s offices. That’s why online product fundraising typically raises more money. The products can be shared on social media to reach friends and acquaintances that don’t live nearby and then they can share it with their circles, expanding the reach. It also saves children from needing to go door-to-door. Instead, it can be shared in online neighborhood groups.

 

Community-Sponsored Bike-a-Thons or Run-a-Thons

 

bike-a-thon

Kids like riding their bikes, running, etc. Sponsoring a bike-a-thon or run-a-thon is a great fundraising tool for elementary schools (RallyUp). It has a relatively low startup cost. Participating students seek sponsorship from members of their community based on the distances they ride or run.

 

The students of the school get the chance to share their excitement for helping their school. Then members of the community get to cheer on the students and get excited about their success.

 

Car Washes and Bake Sales

bake sale

Many clubs and sports teams use car washes or bake sales to raise money. They are cheap to implement because all you need are a few supplies and some volunteers. However, you typically won’t find a huge return on this. If you only need to raise a couple hundred dollars this may be the way to go but if you are hoping for thousands, you might want to go in another direction.

 

farmRaiser and Your Elementary School Fundraisers

online fundraising - farmRaiser

If you’re raising funds for your elementary school, odds are you care about your local community. farmRaiser is an online product fundraising platform that PTA members, parents, or after school clubs can set up with ease. While running your fundraiser, you are simultaneously supporting local businesses.

 

We work with you and businesses in your community to create product fundraisers selling artisan foods, coffees, teas, seeds for gardening, pet supplies, and other healthy, sustainable options. Your donors will be able to browse products from local businesses online.

 

We handle many aspects of your fundraiser, which makes it easier for you. We process all the orders from donors and provide the tools you need to manage and track your fundraiser. For more information on how farmRaiser can help you with your next elementary school fundraiser, click here.

 

For other types of fundraising, such as online donation drives, crowdfunding, and more browse other RaiserHQ fundraising platforms.

seed fundraisers

Seed Fundraisers For Spring

Seed fundraiser? What’s that? Is that a thing people do? Do people sell vegetable seeds and flower seeds in their product fundraising? Sounds cool, but do people really do it? They sure do!

 

Not only is it the perfect idea, but it is also a well-known way to run a profitable fundraiser (SeedFundraisers). A seed fundraiser is a great fundraiser to run during the spring. Many people start to plant their gardens and flowerbeds. Attaching your cause to the springtime energy that people are already using to motivate themselves is strategically brilliant. You will likely find that people are excited to participate in a flower seed fundraiser or a garden seed fundraiser. Since many people are already shopping for seeds anyway, it’s not much of a stretch to get them excited about your cause too.

 

A lot of people are also excited about supporting their local community in a sustainable way. There are ways to combine your seed fundraising efforts with supporting your local economy. We’ll get into that in a second. First, here are a couple of seed fundraisers you might consider.

 

Seed Fundraisers

Vegetable Seeds

vegetables

A theme is useful in fundraising. A theme helps you stay organized, and it also helps people understand what you’re doing.

 

Selling vegetable seeds for your fundraiser creates a clear and specific image of what you’re doing. It will bring clarity to your marketing decisions and some of the decisions you make in terms of when to run your fundraiser and how to involve your community.

 

If you decide to run a seed packet fundraiser that focuses on vegetable seeds, a really clever thing to do is build some educational material to go with it. Some of the best marketing for vegetable seeds will include information about cultivating them. Gardening education is such a great tool for your fundraiser because finding and sharing information like this is inexpensive and easy (JohnnySeeds). There’s so much public information out there about cultivating vegetables. It’s a popular hobby, and a lot of devoted hobbyists talk about gardening.

 

It would be a bonus if you could tap local talent. There might be a master gardener in your community who would be interested in doing some talks, presentations, or videos for you to include in your marketing. Get creative to see your fundraising profits increase.

 

Flower Seed Fundraiser

seed packet fundraisers

Similarly, a flower seed fundraiser brings a great vibe. If the cause you’re raising money for is more aesthetic or artistic this is a great choice. Plus, flower seeds can appeal to homeowners who don’t have the time or skills for vegetable gardens, but want to keep their flowerbeds filled. Whatever the reasons, it can be fun to run a flower seed fundraiser.

 

In your marketing, you can include information about which flowers attract bees and butterflies. Some flowers are far more effective than others at attracting pollinators. You also might find it effective to recruit members of your community who know a thing or two about flowerbed aesthetics, such as spacing and variation of height. It’ll bring value to your fundraiser that will make your backers enjoy getting involved in your cause.

 

Local Seeds for Your Seed Packet Fundraiser

You might be wondering, where you get seeds for your seed fundraiser. There are a lot of places that sell seeds. However, it wouldn’t be economical to go down to a garden center and buy out their inventory of whatever seeds they have on hand. There likely wouldn’t be enough inventory, not to mention the pricing likely wouldn’t leave much room for profit.

 

Another thing to consider is something we mentioned early on: involving your local community in your fundraiser is important. People get excited if they can get involved in the goings on of their local community. Making your fundraiser support your local economy or small businesses is an effective way to raise interest in your fundraiser. However, it’s difficult to create these partnerships on your own.

 

farmRaiser has a set of tools that enables both pursuits. farmRaiser is an online fundraising platform that has a wide selection of locally sourced seeds you can sell in your fundraiser. Choose from a variety of flowers, vegetables, and herb seeds in different unit sizes. Our always-expanding network of vendors includes local nurseries and garden centers near you. You can easily set up your seed fundraiser online and promote it within your community, share it on social media, and more. (farmRaiser)

 

Additionally, we help you with the organization of your fundraiser with fundraising management tools. We process the transactions between your backers and your vendors. You can track your inventory in real-time, set your fundraising goals, and more. We’ll be with you every step of the way. Click here to start your next fundraiser.

 

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spring fundraiser ideas

Spring Fundraiser Ideas That Support Your Local Community

Winter is over. The weather will soon warm up. Flowers will start pushing blooms soon. It probably feels like it’s been a while since you ran your holiday fundraisers, or it might feel like yesterday. We hope they went well. 

 

Now that the days are getting longer, it’s time to start thinking about your next fundraiser. Fundraising ideas for spring will often be different from fundraising ideas for other seasons. Because the weather is warmer, more options for fundraising open up. Like any other fundraising strategy, making smart choices in your planning will set you up for success. 

 

Spring fundraiser ideas will look different for different groups and different goals. Ideas for spring church fundraisers will look different from spring fundraising ideas for schools. However, while you are planning, consider some of these fundraising ideas for spring. Some of them will be better than others depending on the size of your monetary goals. We’ll count down to our favorite two spring fundraising ideas.

 

Here are a few fun spring fundraising ideas. Good luck!

 

Spring Fundraiser Ideas

fundraising - hands with money

5. Gardening Class

Running a class of any kind can be an effective fundraiser. If you have lofty fundraising goals this won’t be the way to go, but if you just need a little capital for your non-profit organization, this can be a quick and easy way to raise a modest amount. You’ll, of course, need people on your team with gardening skillsets. If you happen to have them, let those people share their excitement. And even if you don’t, you can probably find talented people out there. 

 

A workshop, a boot camp, or even a several-day-long class schedule has a good return on investment. A class has a relatively low set of start-up costs. Maybe you need to print some handouts, and possibly bring some gardening materials if the class is hands-on. You may or may not have to pay the person teaching the class. If they are in your circle, they might be excited to teach for free, especially if they believe in your cause. Then you can charge people for taking the class.

 

To give it a springtime flavor, make your class a gardening class. Teach people when to plant flowers and vegetables and how to care for plants. This has always been a popular subject. In the current social climate, gardening is getting more popular every year. Everyone is excited to be able to grow their own food. People will love this fundraising idea! (DonorBox)

 

4. Spring Cleaning Day

This is a great idea for anyone with a building as part of their organization. It’s great for schools, churches, community centers, libraries–you name it. It might sound counterintuitive, but a lot of people actually enjoy helping to clean up places that they value. They might even donate a few dollars each to be able to participate in helping to do the spring cleaning for a building of importance to their community (FireSpring). It won’t cost a lot, and you get the bonus of a cleaned up building.

 

3. A Cook-off

Anytime you can organize a fundraiser that gets people excited and gets people involved, you create a recipe for success. A fundraiser that involves creativity and is a social event with some friendly competition will take you far. There are lots of fundraising ideas that fit these criteria. Things like craft sales, plant sales, or art sales. A cook-off is a fan favorite, though. (QGiv) Get your community involved in showing off their chili-making skills, their baking skills, or their barbecue skills. They will, in turn, get their own communities excited about the competition, and will raise awareness about your cause.

 

2. Selling Flower and Vegetable Seeds

The coolest and most profitable spring fundraising idea we can think of is sourcing seeds from your local nurseries and selling them for your fundraiser. This is cool on a lot of levels. It’s great to support local businesses, and it’s amazing to sell seeds at the beginning of spring. People will be excited to support your cause, and at the same time, they will love starting their gardens whether for flowers or vegetables. farmRaiser is an online fundraising platform that can help you run a locally-sourced seed fundraiser from start to finish.

 

1. Fruit & Vegetable Baskets

Springtime is the perfect time to sell fresh fruits and vegetables. Beautiful, ripe, locally-sourced fruits and vegetables are a popular fundraising strategy since families need to buy them at the store anyway. This way, people are able to get good quality produce they’d normally find at a farmer’s market but they can support a good cause while purchasing it and have it delivered. farmRaiser is an online fundraising platform that can help you run a fruit and vegetable basket fundraiser from start to finish.

fruits and veggies baskets - spring fundraiser ideas

 

farmRaiser, can help you set up your spring product fundraiser. We will work with you to set up a fundraiser that sources seeds, produce, or artisan foods from nurseries, farms, and stores in your area. Your backers will be able to browse the products you choose and buy them through your fundraising page. Read how farmRaiser has helped organizations grow fundraising profits here. Click to sign up.

 

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most profitable fundraisers

What are the Most Profitable Fundraisers?

It may not always feel like it, but it’s entirely possible to run a killer fundraiser that aligns with your values. In a way, running a fundraiser that aligns with your values is essential. Whether you need to raise funds for an upcoming business venture, or if you want to raise funds for a cause you believe in, a fundraiser can offer rewarding results. Fundraisers represent the twofold opportunities of raising money (obviously) and at the same time, you can raise awareness of your cause and values.

 

You might be a nonprofit organization that relies on fundraising for part of your income. Or, you might be a for-profit organization that wants to raise money for a cause you believe in. Whatever reason you want to run a fundraiser, you need your fundraising to be profitable. So, what are the most profitable fundraisers?

 

You want to know the most profitable fundraisers for schools, sports teams, and business philanthropy? Start out in the right place. There are plenty of good ideas, and we’ve got a few thoughts.

 

Depending on your goals, the most successful fundraisers are easy, profitable fundraisers. You probably want ideas that won’t force you to become experts in fundraising.

 

Let’s get you started in the right place. And not only started, we’re here to support you the whole way.

 

What Are The Most Profitable Fundraisers?

Ideas for the Most Profitable Fundraisers

Profitable fundraisers require a balance of good management and an attainable level of ambition. You have to be ambitious. With good preparation and management, you’ll be shocked how well your fundraiser can do. At the same time, you need to be conscious of your goals and the realities of the resources at your disposal. (GetFullyFunded)

 

Make smart decisions based on your resources as well as the goals of your fundraiser. Maximizing the profits from your fundraising will come from smart management choices. The most profitable fundraising strategy is figuring out how to streamline your work.

 

Consider some of these fundraising ideas.

 

Online Product Fundraising

online product fundraising - FarmRaiser

One of the best ways to raise money is to implement an online fundraiser. Instead of sending a catalog around the office, or going door-to-door, you can use an online fundraising platform to raise money. Simply choose the products you want to sell and blast them around the internet. Share with friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and more. And then they’ll share with their friends and so on. Many organizations have seen their fundraising profit grow tremendously when they switched to online fundraising.

 

Formal Events

Putting on a formal event once a year can raise a lot of money. The caveat is that they can cost quite a bit to implement and they rely heavily on donations. Many formal fundraising events will ask attendees to spend money on a ticket and that means you need to secure entertainment, and provide hors d’oeuvres and drinks at the very minimum. You also need to put together a guest list. Typically live auctions and raffles bring in additional money. From gift baskets to tickets to the theatre donated by businesses, to checks written at the event, the money raised may make up for the hard work and cost that goes into the preparation.

 

Fitness Challenge – Marathon, Walkathon, Work-out-athon

Organizing a sponsored fitness challenge can turn into one of the most profitable fundraising efforts out there. Because the funding is based on financial sponsorship of people volunteering their physical activity, initial costs are fairly low (Hollows). The upper limit on the profitability of this fundraising idea depends on management, advertising, and sources of sponsorship. This fundraising idea has the bonus effect of raising awareness of the fundraiser, as well as creating a sense of community among the people getting involved. A fitness challenge can be an opportunity for friendly competition. Or it can be a chance for a community to share in achieving the same goal. It does, however, typically require advertising funds to get people registered and you’ll need to find a good location with the proper permits.

 

Host a Battle of the Bands

There might not be a more fun fundraising idea. If you have the facility and you know some people in your local music scene, a Battle of the Bands could be a great way to raise money for the causes you care about or to fund your project. Charge ticket prices, and advertise heavily. Make sure to pay your musicians too, though (Bonfire). This is one of the cooler fundraising ideas around. It’ll say something about your investment in your community, and you can support some local artists too.

 

farmRaiser For Fundraising

There are a lot of fundraising options out there. You’ll be able to find any number of options to match your goals and resources. (DoubletheDonation) But when you want to keep the work minimal, online fundraising may be your best option.

 

farmRaiser is a fundraising platform that also invests in the community. It provides sustainable product fundraising where your donors can support you through buying local artisan foods, seeds from nurseries, pet products, and more. 

 

Through farmRaiser, you get to work with local businesses. Then, your supporters can browse through products of your choosing online to purchase them. It couldn’t be easier.

 

If that sounds like the way you’d like to run your next fundraising event, get in touch. It may be one of your most profitable fundraisers yet.

 

 

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types of fundraising strategies

Types of Fundraising Strategies

If you’ve landed on this blog, you probably have some fundraising to do. This is the right place to start. If you’re at the beginning of your fundraising efforts, then you have a few things you need to figure out. You’ll need to choose between the different types of fundraising strategies available to you. It’s almost always a good policy to narrow down to a few possibilities and then focus your efforts. Spreading your energy across a lot of different fundraising ideas reduces your odds of a successful fundraiser.

 

Let’s talk for a bit about the types of fundraising you can do. Then you can make a more informed decision. With a good grasp on the realities, you will improve your chances of a successful fundraising campaign.

 

There are a handful of things to consider when choosing a fundraising strategy. For example:

 

  • The demographics of your expected backers. 
  • The goal of your funds. 
  • How much money you need to raise.
  • You also have to consider your brand and the image your organization has. (DonorBox

 

Fortunately, fundraising is flexible. There are as many solutions as there are challenges! Here are some of the types of fundraisers to raise money, and the reasons why you might use each.

 

Fundraising Strategies for Every Situation

Fundraising strategies fall into three basic categories. Within those categories, your fundraising can follow a lot of different paths.

 

Here are the four basic types of fundraising.

 

Crowdfunding

If you are an individual wanting to raise money, you may turn to crowdfunding. This is where you rely solely on the generosity of others. Whether you are raising money for a good cause, or wanting to get an idea off the ground, crowdfunding can be an effective way to raise quick funds.

 

Investors

Raising funds through investors isn’t appropriate or necessary for all fundraising efforts. It’s a good tool to know about, though. In some cases, raising funds through investors is a great way to get a for-profit venture started.

 

A fundraising campaign like this is often referred to as a Capital Campaign. 

 

It gets its own category because you don’t necessarily approach it with the same strategy as other kinds of fundraising campaigns.

 

Other fundraising strategies rely more on marketing and advertising efforts.

 

With a Capital Campaign, because you are trying to attract larger contributions from fewer backers, you’ll find your efforts more directed toward developing relationships.

 

Capital Campaigns are important fundraising strategies if your project requires a substantial upfront investment.

 

In-person Fundraising

For a lot of people, the most familiar type of fundraising campaigns are in-person fundraisers.

 

In-person fundraising can include:

  • Silent auctions
  • Fundraising events with ticket sales
  • Direct mail fundraising 
  • Direct donations
  • And product fundraising

 

In-person fundraising has a lot of advantages. It’s familiar to a lot of people, for example. It can also be exciting since it often involves people doing stuff with other people.

 

On the other hand, in-person fundraising efforts require more organization. They require more people, more planning, and more initial set-up.

 

They’re more complicated, in short. Depending on the fundraising needs of your project, in-person fundraising might be the way to go. For some fundraising strategies, in-person fundraising may be unsustainable and less profitable than the last type of fundraising.

 

Online Fundraising

online fundraising - farmRaiser

When you want to raise more money with smaller teams and less effort, online fundraising might be the way to go.

 

As a fundraising option, online fundraising has a lot of advantages.

 

A fundraising strategy based on an online fundraising campaign can have a much lower startup cost. It can make a big difference in overall profits to keep startup costs as low as possible.

 

Online fundraising also has the advantage of reach. In-person fundraising limits you to the people you can physically interact with. You turn the entire world into potential backers when you take your fundraising online. Therefore, a well-run online fundraiser will typically help you raise more.

 

You can run product fundraisers online where your supporters shop with a click of a button. As a fundraising strategy, online product fundraising suits a lot of needs from sports leagues, to schools, to social clubs. You can also run donation drives. Depending on your fundraising platform, you’ll be able to easily launch your fundraising page and start tracking your revenue goals.

 

farmRaiser, myRaiserHQ, and friendRaiser

If you are in a position where you need to run a fundraiser, but you’re struggling to find tools that work for you, don’t worry. Online fundraising may be your solution.

 

If you are a school, sports team, or non-profit, consider farmRaiser which is an online platform that helps you raise money by selling healthy, sustainable, locally-sourced products such as artisan foods, seeds for gardens, pet supplies, and more.

 

Tailor your online fundraiser to the particular needs of your project. If you’re a charitable organization needing donations, use myRaiserHQ to collect items such as blankets, school supplies, hygiene products, and more. (coming soon)

 

If you are looking for a crowdfunding platform we are designing friendRaiser just for you, stay tuned!

 

Whether you’re a non-profit or for-profit organization, we can help match you with an easy online fundraising strategy. Contact us today.

 

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