• Build Credibility: Your website should give people confidence. Make sure that the content is up to date, that there are no bad links, and that the website is attractive and easy to use. The website is your key communications point for the visitor.

• Build Relationships: Through your website, Facebook Page, and your email newsletter keep in touch on a regular basis with people who visit the website. Include specific “Calls to Action” that will encourage people to come back often and interact – sign up for your mailing list, ask a question, make a donation, volunteer, or get involved in some way.

• Build Donations: Include a method for people to donate on your website, for example with a PayPal “Donate” button, or other donation methods. Include different levels of donations so that a person can give a small donation while you are building up the relation and their comfort with your organization. Setup an automatic “Thank You” email – but also follow up with other emails and reports of how donations are being used.

• Build Your List: Your list is a powerful asset for your organization. Use the internet to build your list through having people sign up for your email newsletter, put in their email to request to download a report or article, or sign up for an online webinar or attend an event. Be sure to use non-internet methods to build your list also including adding a “sign up for our newsletter” in your email signature file.

Share your Internet communications plan with the people in your organization. Many of them may be using Facebook or other social media. Ask them to refer potential interested friends and colleagues to the website and invite them to link to you.

Denise Davies of Aleph Consulting ( http://www.alephconsulting.org ) works with nonprofit organizations and offers planning and implementation for website design, implementation and management; strategies and setup of social media; and design and management of email newsletters and overall Internet communications strategy. davies@alephinc.com

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To increase revenue schools are looking for products that deliver a higher ROI (Return on Investment). Pennies on the dollar, the type of return found on candy sales, no longer provide the increased revenues required to educate our youth. The challenge facing so many schools is where they find the products or fundraising programs that both provide increased revenues and will actually be purchased by the members of the community. Most people won’t think twice about reaching in their pocket to buy a candy bar for a buck, but when asked to make a purchase much higher than that they start to weigh the cost to benefit factors.

One way that schools can increase revenue, is to provide products and services that people actually need and use. There are several school fundraisers products that meet this need

Discount cards: Discount cards have become a popular choice amongst some schools. They do provide a higher revenue stream, all though; setting up a discount card program can be challenging. Some companies offer assistance with this, for a fee. I would suggest doing more than a little research on suppliers since program cost can vary greatly.

Pre-Paid Phone Cards: Another good choice for schools looking for higher ROI. Again the initial investment can be high, usually higher than the discount cards, and some creative thinking is sometimes required to market pre-paid phone cards.

Discount Pizza Card: Working along the same lines as other discount cards, this Pizza Cards have good success. The cost to initiate Pizza programs is less than the others discount card programs, and Pizza Parlors are quick to participate because of the inexpensive advertising. Additionally, Pizza Cards are extremely easy to market-Who doesn’t love pizza?

Technology Fundraisers: In today’s world almost everybody has a computer, and everyone needs service on that computer at some time or another. Remote computer repair fundraising programs provide the highest revenue, and most companies that offer this service to school systems require no enrollment fee or other costs to participate. The fact that there is no start-up costs and the high revenue earned for the schools make remote computer repair as a school fundraising project very attractive.

Finding companies that can assist a school with high tech fundraising can be difficult. High Tech fundraising is still in its infancy, and is truly an example of thinking outside the box while providing a product that people use and need. One of the pioneers in combining technology and fundraising is MyCuredComputer.com, they offer a unique approach to those schools looking for additional revenue streams, and have a proven track record of success working with school systems. Not to mention that there is no start up investment required by the school. MyCuredComputer.com provides everything needed to get a successful technology fundraising campaign started.

Raymond Shell is a public relations and marketing consultant. Non-profit fundraising is a passion of Raymond’s, and he is always on the look out for new and innovative ideas.

Original article

And this in turn, will help you raise more funds!

So here are five awareness raising fundraisers that you could use…

Calendars – A calendar puts your organization’s logo, contact details, and website address up on someone’s wall all year round!

Whether that is someone’s office wall, a staff room, a reception area or a private home, that logo is being broadcasted to the people who bought the calendar, and all their friends, family, colleagues, and customers! Now how is that for spreading awareness!

Organization Calendars are one of my best fundraisers. It is a fundraiser that you can hold yearly that will build and build on its previous year’s success… Just think, all your previous customers and supporters will want to buy your calendar again, and you will of course market and advertise it, which will bring in new customers!

Car Magnets – Want your organization to be displayed on the roads all around your city, state and country! Well then a car magnet fundraiser is the perfect fundraising idea for you.

Often the best awareness raising car magnets are the simple ones that display your logo, have a simple slogan like, “We Support (Your Organization’s Name),” and have your website address.

It is also a great sense of pride for your members and supporters to be able to show off that they support a charitable cause, so you will find that you should be able to sell a good many car magnets! This obviously makes this fundraising idea rather successful.

Organization Cookbooks – This fundraiser will not display your organization as visually as the above two, but Cookbooks can be a great way for your organization to spread word of mouth buzz… but it all comes down to how good your recipes are!

If you have great recipes, the people that have bought your cookbook will talk about it and spread the word to others who will in turn either buy the cookbook themselves or become supporters!

Fortune Cookies – Although this is quite a novel idea, it can still be effective. In each fortune cookie you will have a slip of paper with a fortune, quote, or proverb. Then on the back of the paper you will add a small advert for your cause.

Whether it advertises your new website, an upcoming event, or a raffle competition you are holding, you should always drive the people to your website for more information.

A Golf Day – This event is one of the better fundraisers you can hold… BUT, it will take a lot of work. In terms of awareness raising it all comes down to how you handle the day.

Your first step will be to try attracting non-supporters to the day. Then the next step will be to make sure that they have the most fantastic day ever. Those two steps combined create a load of new supporters who will be enthusiastic about your cause and will definitely spread the word.

Rob Hampson is the creator and publisher of http://www.rewarding-fundraising-ideas.com a website providing ideas, advice and tips for fundraising. For more information on running the above fundraisers, and for a list of other fundraising ideas please visit http://www.rewarding-fundraising-ideas.com/list-of-fundraising-ideas.html

Original article

If you’re involved in a school group, you know money is tight. You also know that fundraising has become a fact of life for most schools. The funds raised cover what the budget can’t. Things like supplies, field trips, new books or computers and other key parts of education would be lacking without it. Every school and organization is fighting for a smaller and smaller amount of funding. People have to get creative to get the basic funding they need.

Fundraisers can be fun and are a great way to bring a class or group together. They can even be expanded to a whole school event that makes it a competition and brings in more money. Lots of people do the basic bottle drives and bake sales. Some groups sell magazines and gift wrapping paper. There are a lot of fundraisers out there but most of them require a lot of grunt work and organization. It takes a bunch of super-organized adults to pull off a successful bottle drive, bake sale or car wash.

One of the easiest and most creative fundraisers is a cookie dough sale, using the expertise of a company who is actually in the business. Cookie dough fundraising can at first sound like a daunting task– having to place the orders, get the cookie dough and organize it, then put together orders. It sounds like a lot of work right? It doesn’t have to be. Everyone loves cookies and most people will usually participate in a cookie dough fundraiser. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your group sell as many orders as possible and not have to worry about a large part of the process? When the company delivers the materials and organizes them for you it makes things so much easier.

Once you send in your orders, all you have to do is put the orders together and give them to the customer. Everything else is taken care of. It’s fast and easy and can be done with a handful of volunteers instead of relying on every parent in your group to pitch in. This is nothing like the labor involved with a bottle drive or other fundraising event.

The other plus side to selling cookies? They have to be one of the easiest things to sell in a down economy. Everyone loves their favorite sweet pick-me-up baking in the oven and making their homes smell wonderful. Cookie dough fundraisers can be carried out by groups of any age and are generally a big hit. So when it comes around to fundraiser season again, and you’re looking for a new idea, why not sell cookie dough?

View the original article about fundraising with cookie dough sales.

View all articles by Nick Messe.

A Closer Look

1. Make Sure You’re Asking for the Right Amount -When submitting a grant proposal, it’s really important to learn the grant making organizations average gift size so that your request is on target. You can learn this by looking at their 990′s, which are public documents available through the Foundation Center, the Guidestar directory, or even a public records office. Most foundations and corporate charitable giving arms list their grantees names and award amount on their website, but if you want to dig a little deeper, The Foundation Center directory will allow you to pull up a page that shows you the average gift size, the largest gift and smallest gift each foundation has made in the last couple of years. Their grants are usually larger than people think and many nonprofits err on the side of asking for too little. Don’t get caught in the cycle of asking for $20,000 every year just because you always have. You may find out another organization with a similar mission and operational budget is getting $30,000 or $50,000 and you haven’t gotten more just because you didn’t ask for it.
2. Do the Math, Track Your Success Rate -If you want to increase your grant dollars, it’s very important to know what your success rate is in order to raise the amount you need. In other words, you have to calculate how many proposals you submitted last year, for what amount, and how many were funded. If you only got 30% of what you asked for, and you need to raise $100,000 in grant funding this year, you need submit requests totaling $300,000. Then you will find that doing step 1, making sure you’re asking for the right amount will help you plan the total number of proposals and dollar amount per proposals to submit to meet your goal in one fiscal year. This is also assuming that you’re asking for funding from places that you already know are a good match, are interested in your cause and have either funded your nonprofit in the past or support other groups like yours.
3. Know the Rules to Break Them – You can compare to the next point to writing; it’s like learning good grammar and punctuation, it’s really important to learn these things to become a good writer, but once you become one you can intentionally break the rules to establish your own style. This is something I saw frequently in the past two years when the economy hit nonprofits particularly hard. I saw several organizations in Washington, DC that were at risk of closing their doors from a deficit go to foundations for the funding they needed to carry through. It’s so important to remember that these grant making organizations are not banks, but made up of real people who care about your missions, probably for some very personal reasons. If you need emergency funding or have a time sensitive project, go to your grantors outside of their grants cycle, explain your situation and ask to submit a special request. This won’t work with government grants or corporate giving arms, but it is likely to work with small family foundations where you have good personal relationships with people that care about your work.
4. Keep in Touch With Your Grantors Even When You Aren’t Asking for Money -Make a habit of sending a monthly update to your grantors and donors so that they stay current on what’s going on with your organization. There are several things you can do to keep communication open, such as sending a newspaper clip if your nonprofit gets mentioned in the paper, send out photos of special events, and if your major donors are accessible set a date to have lunch once in a while. It’s very important to make sure they know when you reach certain milestones and when you’re really struggling, and find out what they’re interested in funding. You may not always want to grow or operate in exactly the way your donors think you should, but keeping communications open and giving them plenty of opportunities to feel good about supporting you will help you strengthen your partnerships and make it a lot easier for you to go to them for extra funding when you need it.
5. Volunteer on Review Committees and Learn How Proposals Are Scored – Grants from government agencies, places like the United Way and many private foundations use volunteer review committees to score proposals and distribute funds in various categories. A great way to learn about this scoring and distribution process is to volunteer on one of these committees. Some divide the proposals into sections, score each section individually, and then fund the ones with the overall highest score. Participating in one of these scoring committees is a great way to learn the process firsthand. Plus, you’re just being a good citizen and getting involved in your community by doing this. It’s best to avoid any conflict of interest, so if for example you have an arts organization, you might want to volunteer to be on a grants review committee for something around education because the process is the same and it will help you understand how people outside of your world who might be evaluating your proposals view your work.
6. If You Get Declined, Find Out Why -You may have to ask more than once to get a real answer, but if your proposals are declined, do not accept the standard response form that says thank you for submitting your request but we have limited funding. Make sure you have a real conversation with the foundation’s program officer about why you were turned down, and if there was a review committee, ask to see how the proposal scored, read the reviewer’s comments and share that information with your colleagues. It’s impossible to improve your overall success rate as described in tip 2 if you don’t have a full understanding of why the proposal was turned down Sometimes the answer is truly that there was not enough funding, but if you keep the conversation going with each decline, you will eventually improve your process and get more grants.

If you’re doing all these things: strategically planning out your funding requests, building good relationships, and getting solid feedback on your declines, you’re going to get a lot more funding than you would if you’re just waiting to see what funding opportunity pops up and giving it a shot and you’ll find your success rate will improve within one year.

Listen to a free podcast on this topic at: http://www.amandajohnstonconsulting.com

About Amanda: Amanda Johnston understands the frustrations and challenges dedicated nonprofit leaders face and shares your passion for social change and innovation. In 2009, she raised $7 million for more than 12 medical, social and educational programs at a time when many nonprofits were closing their doors. She has helped many organizations move to the next level including a federally qualified health center, an international women’s rights organization, a refugee social service agency, and organizations promoting quality of life for people with disabilities. Amanda can help you raise more funds, develop a strategic plan and create a stronger board.

Breakthrough Strategies for Growth for Tireless Nonprofit Leaders
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Let’s Raise Money!

“Let’s Raise Money” is for the veteran and the novice alike. You will no longer be “on your own”. This book has the answers you need to assure your fundraising success.
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1. How much money do you need? – You need to decide this from the start. Then you’ll be better able to sculpt out a fundraiser that will get you where you want to go. Everyone should be working toward the goal of achieving the amount that is set. If your goal is vague it’s much easier to fall short of it. Decide how many people you’ll need in order to raise the amount you set, both for management and attendance. Some amounts you may be able to handle by yourself, while others may require enlisting some help.

2. How long will it last? – Choose a time frame ahead of your launching of your fundraiser. When they are open-ended they create confusion among the donors. People just aren’t as motivated as they will be when they know it is ending. You need that ‘urgency’ factor for good success. You don’t want it to be under a week or much longer than a couple of weeks.

3. What about product selection? – Choosing the right product and what type of fundraiser to have is very important. Lots of times your local businesses will throw fundraisers that will invite the local community to participate, and they willingly support these local causes. So if you happen to be giving a fundraiser that is product based, then by choosing products people are already using is a good idea. This is because you have a product they are going to buy sometime anyway, so they figure helping a worthy cause at the same time is very worthwhile.

Once you’ve planned it out you’re ready to spring into action. A good policy to have is collecting the money at the time of the sale. This helps to avoid many problems. There can be no mind changing or sudden emergencies that keep you from collecting the money for your products. Get the money, then hand over the product, in that order. Be sure all your helpers understand your operating policies.

Announce to your community just what the purpose is for your fundraiser. This gives them the reason for supporting you and they can assist in raising the awareness that your event will be taking place. You can even do thing like having a press release, or passing out flyers, or any other way of generating a buzz and getting the word out about your fundraiser. Everyone in the community should be aware of the ‘when’ and ‘where’ and ‘what for’ of your fundraiser. Make everyone aware of your goals and the amount you are trying to raise.

Once it has ended, be sure to thank all involved in the success. Be polite and let the community feel your deep appreciation for their participation and contribution. This will go a long way toward future fundraisers as well.

There are endless possibilities and methods for organizations to start fundraisers. Get more fundraising ideas for non profit organizations.

View the oiginal article

—————————————

Let’s Raise Money!

“Let’s Raise Money” is for the veteran and the novice alike. You will no longer be “on your own”. This book has the answers you need to assure your fundraising success.
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He had a terrific product, a compelling offer, and a sound business model. He had just one problem. He wanted to make all website visitors register before they could browse his product catalog. Big mistake.

So I, along with his business partner, managed to talk him out of the idea. And he was glad that we did.

That’s because one of the fundamental requirements of direct mail is that you make it easy for your prospects, customers and donors to respond. The word to remember is “convenience.” You must make responding as convenient as possible. Here are some ways to do that with your donors.

REPLY DEVICE

• Print your donor’s name and address on it so the donor doesn’t have to.
• If your donors must complete part of the card, give them enough space (most direct mail donors are over 60 and can’t read or write without glasses).

REPLY ENVELOPE

• Pay for return postage so your donors don’t have to hunt for a stamp.
• Print your return address on the return envelope.

TEAR-OUT COUPONS

• Place coupons at the outside corners of the page (not in the gutter or the middle of the page), where they are easy to tear out.
• Perforate the edges of tear-out coupons with a fine perf, not a coarse one, so they are easy to tear out.

PAYMENT

• Offer as many payment options as possible without paralyzing your reader.
• Accept all the major credit cards.
• Accept cheques.
• Accept recurring monthly donations.
• Accept donations by telephone (toll-free, of course).
• Accept donations by mail.
• Accept donations on your website.

One of the beautiful things about donating by mail is the convenience. But that is only true if the direct mail donating experience is convenient. Use some of these methods to improve your convenience quotient and your donors will thank you for it-with their gifts.

About the author
Alan Sharpe, CFRE, is a fundraising practitioner, author, trainer and speaker. Through his weekly newsletter, books, handbooks and workshops, Alan helps not-for-profit organizations worldwide to acquire more donors, raise more funds and build stronger relationships. As the Director of Direct Development with The Gideons International In Canada, Alan manages their direct mail, major gifts and planned giving programs. Sign up for “Alan Sharpe’s Fundraising Pointers,” Alan’s free, weekly, email newsletter, at www.raisersharpe.com.

(View the Original article)

For more tips on writing a successful fundraising letter, visit the website Fundraising Success!.

The secret to making your impersonal fundraising letter personal is personalization. Which is hard when you don’t know your direct mail donor personally. So here are some ways to make an otherwise form letter friendlier when all you know about your donor is their name, address and giving history.

1. Address your donor by name. Only strangers call me “friend.” Friends call me Alan, or Al, or Canuck. I’m more likely to pay attention to your letter when it begins, “Dear Alan.”

2. Avoid formality. While we’re on the subject of appeal letter salutations, use a personal salutation rather than a formal one. Call me Alan and not Mr. Alan Sharpe. If you refer to me by my full name, I’ll think I’m reading a court summons.

3. Thank your donor for their last gift. As Mal Warwick says, every fundraising letter should thank your donor for her last gift. So say something like, “Thank you for your recent donation.” Let your donor know that you know she is a donor.

4. Name the gift month, not the date. Your fundraising software will tell you that Jack Stutzman gave you a gift on 05/23/2010. You shouldn’t. Instead, thank Jack by the month. say something like, “Thank you for your recent gift, which you sent us this past May.”

5. Name their region, not their city. Referring to the city where your donor lives is easy. It’s in your database. You know that. Your donor knows that. So instead of saying, “Living in Saskatoon as you do, I imagine…” say “Living on the Prairies as you do, I imagine…”

6. Refer to your last letter. A quick way to establish rapport with a direct mail donor is to mention something you said in a recent letter. For example, “When I last wrote to you, back in April, you’ll remember that I described the great need for affordable retrovirals to combat AIDS in Lesotho.”

About the author
Alan Sharpe, CFRE, is a fundraising practitioner, author, trainer and speaker. Through his weekly newsletter, books, handbooks and workshops, Alan helps not-for-profit organizations worldwide to acquire more donors, raise more funds and build stronger relationships. As the Director of Direct Development with The Gideons International In Canada, Alan manages their direct mail, major gifts and planned giving programs. Sign up for “Alan Sharpe’s Fundraising Pointers,” Alan’s free, weekly, email newsletter, at www.raisersharpe.com.  (View the Original article)

For more tips on writing a successful fundraising letter, visit the website Fundraising Success!.

Delegation of Authority
Think carefully about what person you choose for each specific task. This is key to being good at delegating your authority. Pick people who understand what is expected of them and in whom you have confidence in their ability to deliver. Enlighten them in the areas of accountability and responsibility.

The Key is in The Promotion
You need to get the buzz going concerning your fundraiser. Promotion is a crucial part of being successful. Put out press releases in local media outlets. Take advantage of your school web page. Many of the promotional methods you employ will depend on what type of fundraiser you choose to run. Some may be good for putting out flyers and going from business to business asking them to put them in their store windows. The main thing is to be creative and get input from all who are involved. Make them feel like they’re contributing to your team effort.

Create More Than One Income Stream
I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché about eggs and one basket, or don’t put all your donuts in one box. Whatever way it’s put, the sentiment applies here as well. If you want to have a recipe for good success, then having multiple streams of income is the way you should go. Run fundraisers just like you would a business–plan on using multiple events for your fundraisers. Small town schools can really get blown away by other schools who happen to kick off their own event that is just like yours. But if you have other options ready, then life goes on, and so do your fundraising efforts. It takes away much of the risks.

Analyze Your Event Afterwards
This is not a part of your event planning, but it will help you in the future. By performing a careful analysis of how your fundraiser went, you can see areas that can be tweaked and improved upon for the next time you hold one. Look for things that worked the best, and the worst, and write them down for future reference. This will help you to improve with each passing event and to become better and better at being a really good fundraiser.

There are endless possibilities and methods for organizations to start fundraisers. Get more fundraiser ideas for non profits, churches, schools, and organizations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jenny_Berk

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If your fundraising results have been something less than dramatic, and the thought of the next fundraiser is driving you up the wall, then this could be the most eye-opening letter you will ever read.

Firstly, you want to nail down your fundraising goals. This is extremely important because your success will be in direct proportion to how specific these fundraising goals are. Just how much cash do you need to make this a successful fundraiser? How many people are going to be involved? Nail down when you want it to begin and how long you want it to last. If you have a deadline for coming up with the funds, then be sure to give yourself a cushion on the time for ending the fundraiser.

If you can get enough volunteers, they can really pick up your chance of having a smooth fundraiser. If this is the first time you’ve ever done this, then allow for some extra time in case of any unforeseen problems.

One very vital component to your fundraiser is choosing the right product. There are tons of good fundraising options, so be sure and pick the kind of product that you believe will be appealing to your target audience. Pick something that will create an impulse buy for them. This choice of product will also depend on the amount of money you need to raise.

Three of the top products for these events are magazines, candles, and coffee. These are common and proven winners. Most people will buy them and do so on impulse. They are items that are priced very reasonably, and most people will buy more than just one. This makes it a lot easier for you and whatever organization you’ve chosen.

The best option for collecting money is doing so right at the time of order. You don’t want to have to track people down to get their money. It just causes problems. So take the order, then the money, then hand over your product.

That’s about it. These tips should get you started quite comfortably on getting a good fundraiser going. Good organizing skills are an essential key to pulling off a successful event.

There are endless possibilities and methods for organizations to start fundraisers. Get more fundraiser ideas for non profits, churches, schools, and organizations.

More articles by Jenny Berk.

View the Original article.

If your fundraising results have been something less than dramatic, and the thought of the next fundraiser is driving you up the wall, then this could be the most eye-opening letter you will ever read.