How to Fundraise for Any Charity

Know the basics of successful fundraising for any charity. This crash course gives you the philosophy behind the art of fundraising.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• determination
• the willingness to ask for money

1. Rule #1 - You never know until you ask. Ask everyone you know to donate money to your cause. If you don't ask, you cannot receive. Also ask businesses that would need exposure with your target market. If you are having a women's fashion show, ask the city's largest, most prominent Spa to be the host $5,000 sponsor of the event and offer their coupons to your attendees.

2. Rule #2- A face to face, in person ask is THE most effective way to recieve a donation. The second most effective way is by telephone and the third is by mail.

3. It is all in who makes the "ask." You may ask someone for a donation and get no results. Your board member may ask the same person and get $5,000 because they are golf partners, the once worked together, their children are friends, etc. Most people rarely remember the name of the organization they gave to, but they always remember the person they gave the donation to - sadly but surely, people give to people more than they do to causes.

Tips & Warnings

• Follow up is critical to your success.
• No does not always mean no. Sometimes it means they need to know more about what you need, or will give at a later date. Be persistent.
• Give to the charity yourself, so you will not be aksing people to do something you, yourself do not do.
• You will receive many rejections for every donation you recieve. Remember not to take it personally.
• Never feel embarrassed to ask people for money for your favorite charity. You are not asking for you, but for a good cause.

[qqakai]

on 12/15/2008 Well, first of all, be sure to get legitimate charity number if you're considering it seriously.
Secondly, find a charity hosting website. Unfortunately, most of them have a high bar for personal fundraise activity (because of credibility).
But the good news is: If you don't want to perform either of steps above, you can refer to http://www.listen2helps.com, which is a free (and tax-free) charity/fundraising programm hosting website. Although it's located in Switzerland, but it support Paypal. Where your request will be viewed by thousands of people from all over the world. Just put your fundraising activity detail on it, and let as many people as possible know this page. Then just wait for fund coming into your account.
And you can also try your luck elsewhere, like www.fundraising.co.uk, just don't remember to advertise your page
Good luck to you~~

[LilacGirl]

on 7/2/2008 This is all great information. Thanks for the tips about fundraising.