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REALTOR® Emeritus |  | THE GOOD NEIGHBOR TOOL KIT: FUNDRAISING | | ||
|  Why Volunteer? Getting Started Improving Your Community Improving Yourself as a Volunteer Fundraising Working with Volunteers More Resources Directory: Links to Charitable Organizations | Fundraising can be the hardest part of a volunteer effort--though it's undoubtedly also the most critical to the survival of many philanthropic organizations. Here we offer tips on how to make the most of your fundraising efforts. 24 Sure-Fire Fund-raising Tips 1. Be different. Even if you’re performing a worthwhile function, your approach and goals should be different from those of related organizations serving similar groups. 2. Incorporate fundraising into your business. You may find out in a casual conversation that people you work with are potential sponsors or donors.--Gil Gillenwater, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 3. Form a fundraising committee and get the community’s key players involved. This will give you access to personal contacts in different sectors of your community and make it easier to have a personal contact to ask for donations.--Craig Conant, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Winner 4. Don’t ask too often. You don’t want people saying, “Oh no, here she comes again.” I have only one event per year.--Oral Lee Brown,2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 5. Get an involved board of directors. You want some community leaders, but don’t go for big names who aren’t really involved in your charity.--Gil Gillenwater, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 6. Know your facts and figures before you ask for help. When you attend a meeting, try to be the most knowledgeable person in the room.--Joseph Pitts, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 7. Ask for the order. It’s not an easy path to ask for money, but our real estate training helps us do it.-- Claudette Bruck, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Honorable Mention 8. Cultivate high visibility in your community. Volunteers and contributions will follow.--Jean Clary, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Winner 9. Use existing organizations to help get your message out. For example, we've enlisted local Avon dealers to make people aware that they can donate unwanted clothes and furnishings to our program. The clubs you belong to are another great way to reach more people with your message.--Doris Attebury, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Winner 10. Keep accurate records of donations. They provide a great tool for next year’s solicitation--you can ask donors if they can at least meet that figure this year--and allow you to acknowledge gifts.--Joan Flanagan, The Grass Roots Fundraising Book, Contemporary Books, 1982 11. Find the donor’s self-interest and appeal to it. Just as everyone buys a house for slightly different reasons, they donate to a cause in the same way.--Joan Flanagan, The Grass Roots Fundraising Book, Contemporary Books, 1982 12. Consider establishing annual membership dues, if it seems to fit your organization. It’s a great way to get a base amount of money easily.--Joan Flanagan, The Grass Roots Fundraising Book,Contemporary Books, 1982 13. Use the media to get the word out about your charity. When you stage an event, call the newspapers yourself and get reporters to attend. It’s the most cost-effective way you can promote yourself.--Gil Gillenwater, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 14. Think of fundraising like prospecting; just call all the people you know and see if they’re interested. Real estate professionals are accustomed to dealing with private information on money and finances and understand how to recognize what motivates people. It makes it easier for us than for most people to ask for donation.-- Ronald Phipps, 2001 Good Neighbor Awards Honorable Mention 15. Look at fundraising as a long-term cultivation process. You must build up a relationship with a person before you ask for a donation, just as you would when selling a home.--Ronald Phipps, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Honorable Mention 16. Develop an annual report of your charity’s activities and send it out to potential donors with a gift envelope.-- Karen Brown, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Honorable Mention 17. Just ask. What’s the worst that could happen? Prospective donors could say “no.”--Linda Booker, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 18. Invite potential donors to one of your events or committee meetings so they can see how your organization operates. 19. If you’re trying to get funds from a government or quasi-government agency, send them regular copies of your correspondence with other donors and volunteers to build a sense that the community is behind your project.--Joseph Pitts, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 20. File for and obtain a 501(c)(3) nonprofit status for your organization. The paperwork isn't difficult, and with this tax-exempt status in place you can easily establish a giving program for any need that arises in your community. For example, our 501(c)(3) foundation at the Tampa Board of REALTORS® was able to immediately accept donations from real estate professionals all over the country to help the victims of Hurricane Andrew.--Claudette Bruck, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Honorable Mention 21. If you don’t want to establish nonprofit status, ally yourself with an established charity or your church and channel donations through them so that donors can deduct their contributions and you can benefit from non-profit status.--Karen Brown, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Honorable Mention 22. Develop a written case statement for your organization, explaining its mission and specifics on how it can serve the community. This document will be an effective tool in fundraising, especially with foundations and corporations.--Campbell & Co., fundraising consultants, Chicago 23. Request giving guidelines from corporations and foundations to find out what types of activities they will support and what information they need to consider a grant.--Ron Phipps, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Honorable Mention 24. Work through civic organizations with a charitable purpose, such as the Rotary and the Lions Club, that already have fundraising structures in place.-- James Hay, 2001 Good Neighbor Award Honorable Mention 14 Things (Other Than Money) You Can Ask Sponsors For > | |||