How to Raise Money for Your Nonprofit Organization

Earning money for your nonprofit can be accomplished two ways, the traditional way and the nontraditional way. Whichever route your nonprofit chooses, even if it chooses both, will be beneficial on many levels.

Things You'll Need

• Professional grant writer
• """Ask"" letters"

Instructions

1. Write your grants. Grant writing isn't easy and requires tons of research - but it's the traditional way for a nonprofit to get funds. Consider hiring a person to do this (see Tips) - or plan to spend at least a day a week on it yourself.

2. Plan other traditional fund-raising efforts: a golf tournament, a silent auction or other activity that creates goodwill and raises money. Keep costs to no more than 20 percent of your total budget so that you'll still make money.

3. Plan, plan, plan. It's irritating to attend a nonprofit fundraiser that hasn't been planned but is simply asking you to take out your checkbook.

4. Ask directly for money from donors, corporations and service providers - another traditional way to make money fast. Create a donor list in your database and send out "ask" letters asking for support and money. Time it intelligently (see Tips).

5. Remember that without your general list of donors - individual or otherwise - it will be hard to sustain a nonprofit on simply writing grants and having fundraisers.

6. Market your cause. "Cause marketing" is a relatively new buzzword in the nonprofit world. It allows media outlets to use a nonprofit cause to "leverage" a buy from advertisers and gives back to the community at the same time (see Tips).

Tips & Warnings

• Grant writing is more competitive than ever. A successful professional grant writer will stay on top of all of the grant guidelines, deadlines and resources and be more than worth his or her salary.

• Sending out "ask" letters around the same time each year so that you can plan for it - and so can your potential donors. It is amazing how many nonprofits forget the simple task of asking for money.

• One example of "cause marketing" is Kellogg's supporting the Race for the Cure. Although this is a national example, you can think of things in your own area that might be a natural fit with your own cause. Cause-marketing has twofold benefits - you get advertising as well as money.