Have a fundraising event to plan for? Don’t panic. While planning for one can be stressful, with a lot of help and advanced planning, you can stay on top of things, from coming up with great fundraising ideas to successfully get that event off the ground. Here are some things from TheFundRaisingAuthority to help you out:
1. Planning and tactics. Bazaars are always a great fundraising idea. So how much money can you raise with fundraising catalogs of fun, colorful bags? Will that help you achieve your goals faster? As a fundraiser, you’ll need to constantly refine and tweak your strategies and tactics to adapt to sudden changes or adjust when a better plan comes along.
2. Mission. Why are you doing this? What’s the reason behind holding an event and putting effort, time and heart into this activity? By knowing the real reason—you want to help raise money, whether for the school’s library or you want to raise enough funds to give poor communities better access to food and books—you’ve got a better perspective on the why. You’ll work harder and better when you and the rest of your team know why you’re doing the work in the first place.
3. Spreading that mission. It’s not only important that you know the reason, it also matters that your target market knows the reason too. When they can relate more to the idea, when the reason connects with them, that’s going to drive the success of your event even further. Great fundraising ideas after all aren’t just about holding the most colorful, fun or loud activities you can think of. It’s when your reason connects to your audience that they want to be a part of the event, that they see why it’s important and that they want to help, participate or commit in any way. That’s how you make customers and donors out of your audience.
4. You need energy, too. Aside from mission, energy is the other thing your fundraising needs. Great, positive energy is contagious and can make your target more willing to part with their dollars. The more positive energy you radiate, the more people will be drawn to you. If you’re holding a fundraising bazaar, they’ll likely end up cleaning out your booth or leaving you a large tip.
So when you start planning, remember that while tactics and strategy matter, you shouldn’t forget about mission and energy too. Having these won’t just help you achieve your fundraising goals much easier, you also help create a community of participants who are engaged, committed and willing to help for a cause.
