THE TEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING EVENTS FOR YOUR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

Article by Herb Rubenstein
CEO, Herb Rubenstein Consulting

Introduction

Often the leaders and staff members of Non-Profit Organizations hate to ask for money for their own organization. They are more willing to raise money for someone else's organization or write a grant proposal, send out a direct mail campaign or pursue some other form of requesting money without direct human contact in the initial stages of fundraising appeals. Most non-profit organizations are created with a clear vision - expand through the sheer effort of people who want to make a contribution. Ultimately, however, many of these organizations fail to grow and meet even the local, state or national, much less the international need for the services of the organization because they lack money, including stable sources of funding.

Actually the world is not so different for entrepreneurs and capitalists. They are both often faced with the task of asking for money in the form of loans or capital investment to support the creation or expansion of their enterprise. This article focuses on the non-profit world, but all readers should be clear that, in theory at least, it should not be much harder to ask for money in the non-profit world that in the for-profit world. In the for profit world you can promise some return (financial gain) to the investor. But in the non-profit world you can show the money provider that you will be working for the good of society, a certain group or some other "worthy cause" and if your non-profit organization delivers on its promise to use the money given to it wisely, the financial contributor will receive a significant return for his or her contribution.

This article focuses on events. It does not discuss direct mail campaigns, phone solicitation, catalogue sales, United Way or other similar fundraising campaigns or activities designed to secure in-kind resources for your organization. These areas will be covered in subsequent articles by the authors.

Ten Steps

Now, what are the Ten Steps to holding successful fundraising events.

Your organization must have a clear goal regarding how much money to raise by when.

Your organization must have a written and well circulated plan for spending the money it will raise.

The plan must be the product of a serious effort by all officers and board members to create a priority listing of how to spend money over what period of time and should be reviewed by at least five people (advisors) from outside of the organization for comments, editorial changes and ideas for overall improvement of the plan.

Your organization must have either a track record of success in the areas specified in the plan or a plan that clearly demonstrates the need for your products or services and your organization's unique capability to address that need successfully.

Someone within the organization must be
in charge and take responsibility for seeing to it that
the financial goal is met. This person must have the time, resources, capabilities, accountability and willingness to take a stand that the fundraising goal will be reached.

The person in charge must receive periodic, on schedule, support from numerous individuals within the organization (and possibly one person outside of the organization who volunteers to give support in this endeavor) in achieving the fundraising goal. The most critical time this support is needed is when it is uncomfortable to give and more uncomfortable to receive.

Specific fundraising activities must be identified and developed giving due consideration to the specific strengths and weaknesses as well as the personalities and preferences of the individuals within the organization and among the target group of contributors. Organizations must study and do research regarding how other organizations are raising funds through events and apply that knowledge to their own events. A clear allocation of leadership roles and responsibilities, a detailed budget and a clear target for how much money will be raised at each event must be developed and revised as necessary.

Fundraising activities should be planned at a minimum in one year cycles and ideally in five year, ten year or even FIFTY YEAR cycles giving careful consideration to the seasonality of the calendar, allowances for additional fundraising events in later years, other major fundraising events that will be held at or near the same time each year. Everyone knows that the 10th annual event will raise much more money than an event that is held as a one shot idea, but few organizations plan for this essential element of fundraising success at the outset.

A timetable must be created and followed impeccably or modified as required due to unplanned contingencies for 1) all necessary activities leading up to each event, 2) for receipt of pledges or RSVP's to the event, 3) for acknowledgment of all contributions in a timely manner and 4) for post event analysis, evaluation and knowledge building/recording to insure that the organization has documented in reusable form all that it did and all that it learned (and all that each individual in the organization learned) as a result of the fundraiser.

What's left? Actually, two related things. The whole process should be designed to be fun and rewarding, and to enhance the capabilities of each person involved as well as the organization as a whole. And, the whole process must be designed to avoid burnout, to limit overloading any individual or group and to foster increased self confidence of the group and each individual involved.

Conclusion

Certainly this process is easier said than done. The good news is that often fundraising events are also great public relations events, education and consciousness raising events, good board and volunteer development events and "feel good/do good" events. However, the bottom line is the bottom line and these events are first and foremost designed to capture financial resources for your worthy organization. Happy Hunting.

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