Fundraising

There is only one way to spell fundraising and that is H A R D W O R K. But it is more that that - fundraising is also a way of engaging the community.

What is fundraising?

Growing a community group doesn't come from getting funding grants - it comes from working together to fundraise your own money. Funding grants can often get in the way of this, working together as a group can be much more beneficial.

All those who have given years of their time fundraising, will testify that their lives are richer for the experience of being a part of fundraising for their community.

It's not begging - it's not charity - it's people sharing with people. It's - selling the feeling of being needed.

The key is to make sure you approach the right person with the right opportunity to support you. It takes time, commitment and belief.  Making sure people know that your organisation is the best at what it does, that the work you're doing, the services you offer are making a difference to people's lives and the community we all live in - and it should be supported.

Fundraising can also be called "Friendraising" it is important to make friends with those people both funders and philanthropic people in your community who support your organisation.

Where do you start?

Successful community groups have a structure that helps them to keep on track. It includes a Strategic Plan, Annual Plan and Funding Plan. If you start the year with these you will be well on the way to achieving you goals.

For those of you who have never done this before here is a very simplified description of the process.

Strategic Plan

This is a document that describes your organisation's purpose details your values and philosophy and sets out your goals for the say the next 3 years.

It would include a Mission Statement which in one sentence would state at a very high level what your organisations highest aim is and include such things as:

• the direction the organisation wishes to take, its goals its objectives. In short it details the overall picture of your organisation for the future.

For more information on writing a Strategic Planning document contact: http://www.community.net.nz/How-ToGuides/CDResourceKit.

Annual Plan

This document sets out in more detail what must be achieved in any particular year for your organisation. It takes the goals from the Strategic Plan and details how you are going to implement them, including budgets. It states who has overall responsibility, when they realistically can be achieved by and some way of measuring when you have been successful.

For more information on writing an Annual Plan contact: http://www.community.net.nz/How-ToGuides/CDResourceKit.

Funding Plan

Once you have both the strategic and annual plans in place you are in a position to look at what it is going to cost to achieve the goals and targets that you have set.

We suggest that you put some dollar figures around each project and decide how far in advance you would need to start your own fundraising and which funding agencies you potentially can approach to top up your own money so that you can achieve them.

Be realistic and allow at least 6 months before you need the funds to make the applications. That way if you are unsuccessful with one agency you may still have time to apply to another.

It is important to read the application forms very carefully to check that what you are applying for is an eligible criteria.

If in doubt, ring them up and confirm. It is a great waste of time to be told only weeks prior to the start of a project that your application never even got considered because it is not something that the funding agency gives money for.

For more information on each of the funds, go to Fundview this is a subscriber website and is not generally available on your home PC. (But often can be accessed remotely through your library card as is subscribed to by your local Council).

If all of the above seems daunting to you the very least you should do is:

• Set out a list of what projects you are undertaking this year, how much money you will need, when this money is needed. Include what fundraising will be undertaken and what funding agencies you will approach for the balance.

Ways to fundraise

There are many ways you can get a person to donate to you. What methods do you use to raise money for your organisation?

There are a wide range of fundraising vehicles but those more applicable to you may include:

• Sponsorship
• Special events
• Raffles/lotteries
• Selling merchandise
• Time based fundraisers
• Mail/telephone appeals

So how do you decide what one to use?

You might find helpful to consider:

Who? What? Where? When? Why? Will? How?

• Who will do the work?
• Who do you approach for sponsorship? (products, cash)
• What do you want to achieve?
• What is your target market?
• Where will the actual money come from?
• When should you start your marketing?
• Why should people support you?
• Will this raise the money needed?
• Will this raise the profile needed?
• Will it be value for money/time for all concerned?
• Will this motivate your supporters?
• How can you improve on the idea?

For all fundraising activities you need to:

• Set clear objectives
• Think long term
• Pay attention to detail
• Tell people
• Target sponsorship for everything
• Ensure it is a win/win for all involved
• Offer value for money
• Say Thank You (also be great at saying welcome)
• Evaluate

Consider money raised vs the hours worked

Will the financial return be worth the amount of time your supporters/members have given?

It is very easy to over estimate the financial return and under estimate the amount of work it takes regardless of what fundraising vehicle you use – gala day, raffle, car wash, movie night etc.

For example if you intend to send out a direct mail package to supporters asking for their financial support for building extensions will the cost of printing the letters, postage (including cost of freepost for donations received), a glossy brochure etc get the sort of return you expect?

We've all learnt from the past and have spent hundreds of hours organising and running an event to end up with a financial return that is about $3 an hour.

So how do you minimise costs?

There are costs involved with fundraising – there is no escaping that.

They could include:

• Prizes
• Printing
• Publicity
• Food
• Hire of equipment e.g. bouncy castles, sound system etc.

Take the time to get as many sponsors as possible. Remember you don't have to find one sponsor for the whole event. It is often easier to get a few smaller ones than one big one. Ask local businesses for their support, especially local shops and real estate agents. This way as much of the money raised from the fundraiser as possible is pure profit.

Lets take a closer look at a couple of the fundraising activities that you are likely to consider.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is the payment of money by a business to a not-for-profit organisation for the purpose of promoting its business name, its products or services. It is a commercial contract between two organisations.

There are agreed expectations for both parties to fulfil. Both organisations must benefit from the transaction. There is an official review and evaluation. Not an easy option – sponsors are hard to find and hard to keep and it should be the icing on the cake rather than the bread and butter.

An organisation wishing to seek sponsorship should:

• Make a list of those organisation who you do want to be aligned with and those you don't
• Determine the goals and values of the sponsor being approached.
• Get their annual reports, brochures etc.
• Look for LIA – Linkage, Ability, Interest, make sure that you put your effort into companies that have a greater chance of supporting you.
• Take a look at the market - who is sponsoring who?
• Examine the potential sponsors strengths and weaknesses
• Tailor the sponsorship package to best suit the sponsor
• Don't undervalue your organisation
• Ensure it is win/win for all concerned
• Have review clauses in the contract
• Ensure you get legal advice before signing the contract
• Meet your side of the deal
• Invite sponsor to all activities—really inform and involve them

What do companies want from sponsorship?

• Profile
• Sales
• Hospitality
• Showcase for new products
• Endorsement
• Credibility
• Brand enhancement
• To be seen as good corporate citizens
• "give back to the community"
• Educate an audience about a product
• Point of difference

How do you set a price?

• Don't be greedy – be realistic
• Ask yourself how much it would cost the company to reach that audience themselves
• Remember the cost of servicing the sponsorship, if the sponsor wants all advertising to include their logo which is in full colour and you normally advertise in black and white, make sure that you add sufficient into the proposal to meet the extra printing costs.

Special Events

Raise funds, help promote the work of your organisation, enhance other fundraising, programmes e.g., they provide an excellent opportunity for gaining members and can attract corporate support to your cause. Improve the moral of staff and volunteers in the organisation and motivate them to do more to assist with volunteer recruitment. Have fun.

You need:

• Meticulous organisation
• Thorough communication to all involved
• Attention to detail
• Energy and enthusiasm
• A sense of humour!

As you evaluate each event, ask yourselves:

• Is this event likely to achieve our goals?
• How much will it cost?
• How much time will it take?
• What risks are we taking? Are they worth taking?
• Will our audience respond to this type of event?
• How much interest is this likely to generate within our organisation, staff and
  volunteers?

Important Considerations:

• Objectives
• Timeline
• Theme
• Budget
• Sponsors
• Volunteers
• Marketing
• Mailing list
• Banking
• Security
• Venue/location
• Printing
• Prizes
• Insurance
• VIP's
• Permits (Including liquor licence from Council)
• Programme
• Acknowledgments
• Evaluation
• Health & safety requirements (Go to - www.civildefence.govt.nz) then 'Will you cope when disaster strikes' then 'publications'

Raffles/Lotteries

Go to the Department of Internal Affairs website – all the information you need is there. It is www.dia.govt.nz. 

Key points:

• A licence is required if the total prize value is over $5000
• Draw it under police supervision if you can
• Do a realistic budget – can you actually sell that many tickets per day??
• Keep accurate records
• Give yourself adequate time to sell and get back all the tickets before the draw date

Try to get as many of the prizes donated as possible. The first prize is the one that attracts the buyer and you might need to purchase this. The minor prizes can be items your members/supporters could provide.

The printing of the tickets can be expensive and there are legal requirements you have to meet (see Internal Affairs website for details).

You might know of someone who can produce a ticket on their computer then all you need to do is number and perforate them. You can use a sewing machine with no thread to do the perforating. It works but make sure you have some help as it is time consuming to number, perforate and staple the books but you can make a significant saving. (Don't consider this if you are selling thousands of tickets!)

Selling merchandise

Many companies these days use 'not for profit' organisations to sell merchandise on their behalf such as:

• Chocolates
• Entertainment books
• Lollies
• Spring bulbs etc.

In fact you're probably already bombarded by companies wanting you to do this.

Make no mistake they are using you to sell their products because it is an easy, cheap way of increasing their market share.

You need to consider:

• Is the product something that aligns with your organisations philosophy?
• What is the profit you get?
• Is it a lot of work for little return?
• Are you just making money for the company?
• Or is the product easy to sell and something your members/supporters will appreciate and feel is of value to them and want to buy

Remember if you're expecting your supporters to part with their money they have to feel that what they get is worthwhile. It needs to be a win/win situation.

Time based fundraisers

For example stocktakes, cleaning, sausage sizzles and other such tasks when supporters time is required. It is really important to look at who you have in your organisation and what sort of ability they have to support you in this particular fundraising activity.

Do you have:

• People who work full time and have little free time
• People who do not work and have an ability to give time to you
• Or a mixture of both?

If most of your supporters work full time, it is no use organising a weekend stocktake that would take say 16 hours to complete. People who work full time just don't have that sort of time available. Especially when you consider that most stock takes would be paid at a rate of $8 per hour, when many of your members would be earning $15 plus per hour, they would be unlikely to want to give up their precious weekends and would rather make a donation to you. They may even consider working overtime and donating the money to you, that way they wouldn't have so many hours to do and there would be a benefit to their job.

Alternatively if most of your members do not work then this type of fundraising could work very well for you. They would be able to support your organisation while having some fun meeting and enjoying the company of other members of the group.

If you have a mixture of the two then maybe those who work may prefer to make a donation and those who don't could do the stocktake. Either way it's important to understand what could work for your organisation.

Requesting donations

If as part of your fundraising plan you are going to solicit directly to the public for donations, then there are some important things to consider. Firstly what method you wish to use, basically there are three main methods:

• Direct mail
• Telemarketing
• Face to face solicitation

Direct Mail

Remember we all get heaps of letters asking us for money, so you need to state clearly what the need is, and then stress the benefits of their giving. Make it easy and a pleasant experience for the donor.

Telemarketing

This can be costly if you employ an agency to do it. But if you choose to do it yourself you need to select:

• People who have the right skills. (People who are good listeners, knowledgeable and know when to ask and when to walk away).

Face to Face Solicitation

This can be in done in several ways, such as:

• Street Appeal
• Dinner/event organised specifically to request funds.
• Direct request as part of other fundraising event.

If you are going to make a direct request for funds, remember that you need to be passionate about what you are doing. Be polite and accept other peoples views. Do not get pushy, or you will damage your reputation.

Record Keeping

Set up your information systems by identifying what info you need to collect, how you're going to collect it, store it, manage it. It doesn't have to be on a computer, a simple card system works just as well

What to record:

• Name and contact details of attendees/supporters/sponsors/key personnel
• How you acquired them
• When they last donated
• Size of donation
• How often they donate
• Opportunities for future e.g. would an annual giving plan be an option, invites to events, afternoon tea, possible volunteer an so on
• When you will ask for the next gift, and how
• Absolutely anything else you know about them! Must be accurate e.g. spelling & title
• You need to be aware of the Privacy Act when keeping information

Over time you will build up a mailing list of people who are or have supported you. You will know if they've brought tickets to an event or a raffle, so you invite them to do so again. As long as you have kept them informed on what you are doing, the difference you are making and how important their support is then the majority will continue to support you.

To get a supporter to donate again you also need to:

• Thank them promptly and appropriately
• If they've asked for additional information send it promptly and follow up with a phone call.
• Generally make sure supporters feel involved, informed and a part of proceedings but at their pace. Don't automatically send them all your mailings, ask them what they want.
• You need to develop loyalty – so that a supporter feels loyal to your organisation and that takes time but you need to get it right and you sometimes don't get another chance. Once a supporter is loyal to you, they will remain loyal

Things you can do:

• Survey your supporters regularly – what do they want from you?
• Review your newsletter as it is vital piece of communication. It ought to communicate the effectiveness and efficiency of your work
• Do you have a supporter contact strategy? If so review it frequently
• Arrange special events where supporters come in personal contact with key staff. This could be as simple as a meet the staff morning tea
• Give people choices of what they can receive and when they can hear from you
• Develop a 'thank you' strategy based on level of support
• Use the annual report as a way of communicating efficiency and effectiveness

Don't:

• Treat everyone the same way
• Get complacent

How to say thank you

Two simple words but they are often forgotten in the aftermath of a fundraising activity as everyone is just so pleased that it's over. Yet those two words are so important.

People like to be appreciated and are more likely to support you again. So how can you say thank you?

Examples:

• Phone those people who make a large donation to you be it $25 $50 or $100, whatever is a large donation for your organisation
• Send news clips of the event to sponsors
• Cards from CEO/President/Principal/Chairperson
• Plaques, certificates
• Signage
• Article in newsletter

How to ask

Asking for money/sponsorship/product/help is not always easy but it does get easier as you get to know people and as you get use to asking and knowing what to say/do.

But when should you ask people? How? Who should you ask and who should do the asking?

It's all about developing relationships and that takes enthusiasm, courage, patience and persistence as us human beings have a fear of rejection, embarrassment, failure, retribution and losing.

Time is too short to go into detail about how you should ask, what you should take with you etc but there is information in the handouts which should help.

What ever methods you use you need to fundraise ethically.

What is Ethical fundraising?

The Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ), as are all fundraising institutes around the world, is a professional association whose members are individuals engaged in fundraising for not for profit organisations.

Everyone who is a member of the Institute has by signing the application form, agreed to adhere by these Codes.

The key message is that it is important to fundraise ethically as if you don't and the public hear of it, it impacts on all fundraisers and the fundraising profession which simply makes it difficult for all.