Raising funds or fundraising is any help from followers. These can be one-time donations, regular sponsorship or non-monetary assistance. Involvement of donors is very important, as it is the most stable basis for the development of the organization; partners’ money or start-up capital will run out someday, but income from a loyal audience will never.
Raising funds: methods
In order to effectively attract funds from the audience, NGOs must take the following important steps:
Focus on the paying audience
Filter the audience by various characteristics: age, views, type of activity, etc. Next, analyze which audience is most inclined to support social initiatives and how much it overlaps with your core audience and focus on it in your posts, articles and appeals .
Work for a loyal audience
After focusing on the right audience, start creating content with an emphasis on justifying the organization’s needs. Tell the global goals of the organization, what you plan to do in the near future and what exactly you need for this.
It is also useful to promote narratives about the “normality” and “correctness” of personal financial support of non-profit organizations because they perform important socially significant functions.
Read how to create materials for a blog in a separate article on our website
Maintaining close contact with donors
To retain existing donors, increase their level of involvement in the affairs of your organization.For example, there is often a separate chat in messengers for regular sponsors, where they can communicate directly with members of the organization and share their thoughts on its activities.
Other bonuses can also be an element of keeping donors: exclusive materials or gifts (books, organization merch, etc. – show creativity).
Don’t just focus on the audience
The backbone of an NGO’s financial stability should be the audience, but business should also be involved in support. It is beneficial for companies, because they will be able to increase sales and improve their reputation.
Try to choose a business that organically looks with your NGO. For example, one of our cases of the NGO “Step of Help” – an organization that supports the military with clothes and shoes, cooperates with the BlackBay brand of tactical and civilian shoes.
We considered what functions fundraising should perform, it’s time to move on to specific methods of attracting donations.
Google Ad Grants
Advertising in the largest search engine on the planet will be very useful for attracting new followers and, accordingly, donors.
The search giant Google provides a grant of $10,000/month for advertising on its search engine. All you need is a website and official non-profit status. After connecting the grant, $10,000 will be credited to your Google Ads account every month. The grant is valid indefinitely, that is, funding will not stop as long as your site meets Google’s requirements.
CSO Digital helps organizations get Google Ad Grants. We create turnkey sites, apply to Google and set up advertising. Fill out the form below and sign up for a free consultation.
Raising funds: the main types of fees
Crowdfunding
It is suitable for the implementation of individual projects, and not for constant support of the organization. Usually, crowdfunding campaigns work according to the following scheme: the organization describes the project, the terms of implementation and the required amount. If the amount is not collected by the end of the term, the money is returned to the donors.
Sponsorship
This method is ideal for continuous support of the organization. You can specify multiple support levels (for example: $5, $10, $100) and the rewards that backers will receive at each level.
P2P fundraising
Use your active social media audience to spread the word about fundraising for your organization. It’s very simple – you put up a post with details and information about the collection and ask your audience to share it.
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the special material on managing social networks for NGO.
Targeted advertising
Sometimes you can attract large amounts of money even without focusing on your own audience – it is enough to target users of social networks who may be interested in your activity.
Analyze your organization’s target audience and run targeted social media advertising.
Involvement of volunteers
Support of the organization can be not only monetary. Interested citizens will be able to help the organization by doing some work, which will also not be superfluous.
Special events
At a personal meeting, it is much easier to create trust. Host small follower nights where you organize fundraisers while people enjoy themselves.
Auctions and sale of merchandise
Developed organizations can create things with their own design, the earnings from which will help the implementation of projects. You can also auction items that are meaningful to the organization’s followers (if any).
Now that you know the basics of fundraising, it’s time to wrap up the material with useful tips.
Useful tips for raising funds
Express gratitude to donors
Donors can be honored in various ways:
- A wall with the names of donors on the website
- Mention in video credits (if you have a vlog)
- Personal thanks from the head of the organization
- Written thanks
- Bookmarks in social networks
Report spending and encourage donations
Explain in detail how you will manage the funds of donors and be sure to submit reports on the funds spent. You can do this as a general report (how much money was collected per month, how much and where it was spent) or by a personal letter to each donor, where their funds were spent.
Use analytics tools
CRM systems offer a wide range of functionality for analyzing the level of audience involvement in donation. The system filters the audience by various characteristics and analyzes which groups of users are most inclined to support.
Do fundraising mailings
Feel free to send out mailings asking for donations to your social initiatives. Sometimes the user may simply forget about your organization and a letter in the mail will effectively remind him of you.
Begin by entering your first and last name to establish your identity. The next crucial step is providing your email address; remember, it must be a business, branded, or corporate email, as generic email addresses are not accepted. This is to ensure a professional level of communication and to filter out non-serious inquiries.
You are also required to include your website’s URL. This is vital as it gives context and allows for a preliminary assessment of your online presence, which is integral to the audit process. Furthermore, you must clarify your status regarding NGO registration or your interest in Google Ad Grants. This information is essential for tailoring the audit to your specific needs and circumstances.
After you have filled in all these details with precision and care, review them to ensure accuracy and completeness. Submitting accurate and comprehensive information is crucial for a meaningful audit.