5 Top Fundraising Ideas for Non profit Organizations

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The most common question people ask me is what fundraising ideas for non profit organizations can you give me to raise more money? Although there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, there are 5 universal principles that, once applied, will increase virtually every nonprofit organization's funding.

If you master the basics of these fundraising ideas for non profit organizations, you will become fully funded and maintain sustainability for the long-term. On the surface, these principles may look elementary, but the power is in their simplicity. The challenge is to master the principles in their practical daily application, and the rest will take care of itself.

Here are the top 5 fundraising ideas for non profit organizations:

1. It's all about relationships. We've heard this for years, but what does it look like? Anyone can secure the first gift, but it's building a relationship, which establishes trust that keeps donors coming back. It starts with sharing your story and engaging the donor, which connects their heart to your cause. Inherently, people want to help and give for personal satisfaction. When they see the results of how their gift impacted the cause (those you serve), their desire increases to see more accomplished. Many donors have giving goals, which drive their giving decisions, fueling long-term involvement and incredible impact through their giving.

2. Personal and organizational stewardship: Since you're wearing several hats and there never seems to be enough time in the day, how do you keep up? The answer is more than time management; it's about priority management. Priority management is looking at your donor base and prospective donors through the lense of a segmentation approach. Fundraising, in many ways, is more about developing a communication strategy for the different constituencies you need to approach. Let's say you have current and lapsed donors, prospective donors and volunteers in your database. Those 4 categories can be broken down into segments based on their giving history or anticipated gift capacity. The next step is determining which media to use for the most effective communication strategy. Media is a broad term, which includes face-to-face meetings, phone calls, personal emails / letters, direct mail, etc. The highest gift or potential giving categories receive the most personal communication, while lower levels are handld by phone or other media methods. Creating a communication strategy will alleviate the challenge of wondering where to focus your time. Let the segments help you prioritize more effectively.

3. Recognition: This is synonymous with donor care. People want to be appreciated regardless of the gift size; being appreciated is a basic human need. How you do this is based on many variables and best addressed through a thoughtful donor care strategy. Everyone has experienced that sinking feeling when we forgot to update donors or send them a thoughtful thank you for their gift due to the flurry of daily activity. A pre-determined donor care strategy will help you start the month with a plan on how you will communicate with each segment in your donor base. This responsibility can be shared with others on staff or your governance board. In addition, I'm a firm believer in the "thank before you bank" philosophy. We suggest that a thank you note be sent within 24 hours of receiving a gift. This instills a donor appreciation culture that is irresistible. With thousands of new nonprofits opening their doors every year, this is the time to stand out in how you maintain those key relationships. People have many choices in where to give their gifts, and a donor care strategy will help make your organization a favorite to support.

4. Monetize your mission: Sounds impressive, but what does this mean? This is about providing a clear picture to your donors of what their gift will accomplish. Regardless of your programs and services, there are ways to help donors understand what their gift will do to help others. For example, we all know organizations that serve needy children. For as little as $30.00 a month, they feed, clothe and provide medical care for a child. Once this is understood, the ask is linked to their mission. How many children are on your heart to feed, to clothe and to provide medical care? The reason people give is because they have an emotional attachment to caring for these needy children. The programs deliver that result. It becomes more about how many children they want to take care of than the dollar amount you're asking to be donated. I've worked with hundred of nonprofits, and I only had one organization that could not monetize their mission. Because they were so new, they didn't have enough history to cr unch the numbers. It may take some time; however, if you can provide clarity for both monthly and special gift amounts, your fundraising effectiveness will increase dramatically.

5. Diversified funding sources: We've identified 14 primary funding sources for nonprofits. I've seen nonprofits that had all of their eggs in one basket and others that had too many sources and no development plan to stay focused. The most typical challenge for nonprofits is having too few sources. Recently, this has been problematic around expecting too much from foundations in the form of grants. I frequently hear, "We're hoping for a grant of x dollars from this foundation." When I hear the word "hope," I cringe. There is a great book whose title says it all, "Hope is Not a Strategy." How many grants did not come in that you hoped would? In times like these, nonprofits not only need a diversified approach to becoming fully funded, they also need a plan to keep focused on getting the right results. A written fundraising plan is critical to increase and to maintain full funding for a nonprofit, especially in these economic times.

Gregg Pawlowski's passion is to equip nonprofit leaders to fully fund their mission. He's worked with organizations across the country to increase their fundraising capacity, helping to raise millions of dollars to increase mission impact. As a fundraising coach, consultant, trainer and speaker, he specializes in fundraising and leadership development, having served hundreds of successful leaders in the nonprofit and for profit sectors.

If you're interested in having Gregg speak to your organization or would like to learn more about his work as a fundraising consultant, coach, or his training services, please visit nonprofit fundraising.