Welcome back! It’s time to sweep up the pine needles or scrape the wax off the mantelpiece and get back to work. Everybody has a new lease on life in the new year, and nonprofit organizations are no different. Each one has a fresh budget and fresh bills. There are fundraising letters to write, fundraising events to plan, and programs to execute. Here are some things to get you started if it all seems daunting:
Get your ducks in a row. A little extra time planning now will save much hassle later. When are your major fundraising events and what are the critical lead times and milestones? Are these items on everybody’s calendars? Are you ready to remind boards and volunteers to make sure things happen smoothly?
Identify strategic fundraising opportunities, and map out the dependencies to take advantage of them. What conditions - political, economic, demographic - are favorable to your organization? What assets - volunteers, technology, marketing - do you need to take advantage of them? Turbulent economic times will definitely transform your fundraising efforts, but they don’t have to defeat them.
Communicate. Get your lists in order and use them. Don’t be shy about emailing your supporters, but make sure that not every message is an ask. Share what’s happening inside your organization, provide some valuable or at least interesting information, and people will be lots more interested in participating in your organization’s events and programs.
Thank you very much for your contribution to Achilles through Melissa’s fundraising page. It is very much appreciated. Your support will help us to run one of the following programs chosen by Melissa.
The first is our Freedom Team. We currently have 360 recently disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan on the team. They train and participate in races; thirty recently competed in the NYC Marathon. Team members use wheelchairs or crutches and artificial legs to complete the distance. Crossing the finish line brings them an amazing sense of achievement.
The second is Achilles Kids. Over 3,500 disabled children in 144 schools are introduced to running. Their objective is to complete a total of at least 26.2 miles, a marathon distance, during the school term.
The third is the New York City Marathon. Over 210 disabled athletes participated in the NYC Marathon on November 2nd, 2008. Many are in handcrank wheelchairs. Others are blind, and several are running on artificial legs. There are also Achilles members with disabilities such as traumatic brain injury, heart transplants, and multiple sclerosis.
Your support helps make it possible for these athletes to compete.
As always, it was nice to receive a “thank-you” from this NPO. But I didn’t know much about the Achilles Track Club when I decided to make a donation. I originally donated to Melissa’s fundraising page because I thought it was great that she was running the NYC Marathon for a charity and wanted to support her.
After reading this letter, however, I have a much better concept of the inspiring work that Achilles does. The letter quickly and effectively communicated the impact my donation has on their programming, and in turn, the impact their programming has on the community. In fact, I’m so impressed by their work, I think I will donate to them in the future.
Second in a mini-series of year-end best practices from NPOs we know.
Orphan Support Africa sent out a year-end thank you newsletter to its supporters this month. Not only did they say thank you, but they also highlighted the impact that donors had on their work and programs. Excerpt below:
In 2008, Orphan Support Africa has achieved great success in bringing positive change and opportunities for the most vulnerable children in Malawi and Tanzania. This is your success as well! Your support of our initiatives encouraged and enabled children to stay in school through provision of school fees, uniforms and books, and receive proper medical care and nutrition. Your continued interest in our work has encouraged and allowed community-based organizations to achieve tremendous success in food security, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, sustainable development, and income-generating initiatives.
In these few sentences, Orphan Support Africa
connects donors to the cause they care about
gives a concrete explanation of how donor dollars are used to provide for tangible needs
Oxfam’s mission statement is a one-two punch: they deliver development programs and emergency relief services, and campaign for change in global practices and policies that keep people in poverty.
Through out the years, we’ve seen many marathoners come to Firstgiving and raise extraordinary amounts of money for causes they care about.
About 8 months ago, a group of us that work at Firstgiving and regularly fundraise and compete in endurance events such as marathons, got together to try to find out more.
Specifically - what’s the connection between endurance athletes and charitable giving and fundraising?
So, we started to do research by:
pulling data
hosting focus groups
reaching out to and learning from
…and this is what we learned
The average amount raised on a Firstgiving fundraising page this year (so far) is:
$420 for walks (25, 479 fundraisers)
$982 for all running events, including marathons (7,428 fundraisers)
$1458 for all marathons (3,229 fundraisers)
The dollar amount given when donating to a fundraising page is determined by:
the personal relationship between the donor and fundraiser
an amazing or challenging event, such as a marahton (the harder it is to do, the larger the donation amount is)
an affinity for the charity or cause (eg, a family member or friend had that illness
the direct impact their donation makes (eg, $10 buys a family a meal)
And the best part for your nonprofit is - you don’t have to organize this event.
So how can you get your supporters to fundraise for a marathon?
Find a marathon - visit Marathonguide for a complete list of all the marathons in the world. It’s likely you’ll have better luck if you target local races, as it’s an excuse for the race director to give back to the community and get publicity for their race.
Contact the race director - Ask the race director if he or she would consider donating bib numbers to your nonprofit. You may have to pay for the entry fee or offer volunteers for the race.
Promote it - tell your supporters on your website, through a newsletter, or email blast. Ask your supporters to tell their friends, too.
Pair up with a coach (optional) - give your runners guidance from a coach so that they can safely cross the finish line, get advice, and organize group runs.You can find a coach through local running clubs or schools or just ask your supporters if they know someone. Read this article on how to find a coach
Need help getting started?
Firstgiving has provided many nonprofits with information on how to get started and motivate your fundraising runners. We also have literature and hand-outs that you can give to them.
Firstgiving has been listening to you and wants to make your life easier when gathering information about your fundraising, registration and donation information.
We’ve made changes to the reporting and account area. Login to your account to find out what updates have been made or contact us with feedback or questions.
Below are the changes we’ve made:
Registration report
Unmerge all cells
Indicate Offline as well as Online registrants
Add the column Donation Reference Number, so that you can match-up the Financial and Registration reports
Fundraising page results report
Unmerge all cells
Make individual columns for Title, First Name, Middle Initial, and Last Name
Make individual columns for Team Name and Team ID
Break-down the cell for Address into Address 1 and Address 2
Include a column for Unprocessed and Processed Donations together, as well as another column for Processed Donations only
Unmerge all cells within the Donor details
Make headings consistent within the Donor details
Donor report
Unmerge all cells
Make individual columns for Title, First Name, Middle Initial, and Last Name
Break-down the cell for Address into Address 1 and Address 2
Add the column Team ID
Add the column Donations Status, where you can see which donations have been processed (examples of status types include Awaiting Authorization, Processed, and Rejected)
Financial report
Unmerge all cells
Make individual columns for the fundraisers’ and donors’ Title, First Name, Middle Initial, and Last Name, and Fundraiser ID
Indicate whether the money is a Registration, Donation, or Direct Donation in the Payment Type column
Break-down the Donor Address cell into Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, State, Zip Code, and Country
The economic crisis has everybody thinking last-minute, and the holiday season makes it even worse. So we figured sending out an invite for a webinar about last-minute fundraising the day before the event would be par for the course.
Please join us for Five Fundraising Days ’till Christmas, a Firstgiving.com Webinar with Fundraising Expert Margaret Morse Berwind-Dart, tomorrow, December 17, at 2:30pm East coast time. Margaret will discuss some actionable tips for closing out the fundraising year in style. Whether you’re a fundraising virgin going through your first year-end crunch, or a seasoned veteran looking for some fresh ideas, this is the webinar for you. It’s free and all you need is a computer with an internet connection and headphones or a telephone. As usual, we’ll make time for Q&A and post the recording and slides on the Webinar page.
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