In any given community there are a number of organizations and associations who rely heavily upon fundraising methods. Often the success that they have in fundraising allows them to stay operational, provide services, purchase needed supplies, etc. In fact, if looking at the budget of any not-for-profit in your community one would find that their reliance upon public donations is a major percentage of their revenue.

In order to be successful in this important endeavor, fund raising plan should consider a number of components. These components could include having sufficient resources, does the fund-raising match the organization’s mission and drawing from a pool of specific ideas.

Sufficient Resources

Before undertaking any fundraising plan it is important to evaluate the capability of the fundraising group. One of the major considerations before embracing specific ideas for fundraising activities is to evaluate whether there are sufficient resources.

One critical resource to being successful at any fundraising event is to determine whether there are a sufficient number of volunteers. For example, many special events require a large number of personnel to plan and prepare for the event. In addition there is the selling of tickets and the actual staffing of the event on the day that the fundraiser will be held.

Another resource that may be required to be successful with implementing ideas for fund-raising activities is money. The old axiom is true that it takes money to earn money. Therefore, before undertaking any ideas for fundraising activities, it is important to understand that there will be costs associated with fundraising. Those costs may include the use of office supplies, transportation, purchase of consumables, insurance, etc.

Matches The Organization’s Mission

Another major consideration before undertaking any ideas for fundraising activities is does the fundraising activity match the mission statement of the organization? For example, if the organization is against alcohol consumption, then a wine tasting party would certainly be a mismatch as an idea for a fundraiser.

One other example of appropriately matching a fund-raising activity with an agency’s mission would be holding a banquet rather than a golf tournament. This would be especially powerful if that agency was a health providing agency and the individuals that were being honored at the banquet had saved a life. A fundraiser honoring these individuals and promoting the agencies mission would be better served in the dining room rather than on the golf course.

Specific Ideas

There are many tried and proven ideas for fundraising activities. Some of these activities include walk-a-thons, carwashes, selling of candy and magazines, auctions, fundraising dinners, etc.

However, it is important to note that with the increase of not-for-profits it is becoming increasingly difficult for these agencies to raise the needed revenue to meet their operating costs as well as providing services to others. Therefore, it is important that new and creative ideas for fundraising activities are generated.

One of the more creative and newer ideas for fundraising activities could be a no-show ball. The concept of this no-show ball is that the donors are sent an invitation and are allowed to check off their excuse for not attending. However, the beauty of this no-show ball concept is that no one shows, but the donor still sends in their donation. This speaks loudly to the donor in that the agency appears to be very creative and understanding in regards to the time demands placed upon the donor’s time.