Most nonprofits rely on the generosity of donors for a majority of their funding. It’s the primary way organizations pay bills, employ staff, and steer their impact in the world! That means fundraising is a necessary (and massive) undertaking… but it doesn’t have to feel like a “necessary evil”!
Great fundraising can (and should) be a learned skill. Sure, many development professionals are naturally skilled in the fundraising department, but excellent fundraisers take the time to hone their craft— and they back their skills with a strong fundraising plan that equips volunteers for success and cultivates a stronger, sustainable organization.
We know that time, energy, and money are precious for development professionals, so we created this nonprofit fundraising guide to help you build a fundraising plan that fits your nonprofit’s strengths and mission.
Table of Contents
Fundraising Basics for Nonprofits
Nonprofit Fundraising Strategies
Fundraising Basics for Nonprofits
Most people think of fundraising as the process of soliciting financial donations from individuals, groups, businesses, and other generous places. The truth is, fundraising for nonprofits is so much more than that!
While you’re raising essential funds to accomplish your mission, you’re also raising awareness about your organization and how you’re working to transform the world. Greater visibility and awareness then often leads to more fundraising opportunities! It’s a beautiful cycle!
Fundraising also involves donor care. Donors don’t want to just toss around their hard-earned cash. They want to be part of a movement to change the world! Donor care is the process of cultivating and maintaining a healthy relationship with each donor and helping them understand and embrace their role in your mission.
Nonprofit fundraising regulations
Fundraising is heavily regulated. Federal, state, and local governments want to hold each nonprofit organization accountable for how they fundraise and how they spend all the money.
If you’re a new nonprofit, make sure you register with your state government before you begin fundraising! You can head over to our guide for starting a nonprofit for some great tips and tricks on the best ways to get your nonprofit registered in all the right places.
For now, the most important thing is to make sure your organization files all the right paperwork and follows ethical fundraising practices. Understanding all the laws and fundraising regulations will help your organization take full advantage of a wide range of fundraising strategies and methods.
Fundraising audiences
There are many potential audiences for your fundraising strategies. Most successful nonprofits develop a strategy that helps them reach a wide range of audiences.
Corporate giving: Companies and businesses often look for ways to invest in their communities and causes that align with their brand. Whether you’re looking for matching gifts, corporate grants, in-kind donations, volunteers, or other types of corporate giving, fundraising from companies might take a little longer, but it’s well worth the time and energy.
Individual donors: When most people imagine nonprofit fundraising, they think of individual donors. After all, they do make up nearly 75% of all charitable contributions. People all over the world want to give their money, time, and energy to causes and missions they’re excited about. There are loads of fundraising strategies to reach individual donors, but the real goal is to connect with this audience on a personal level and help each donor truly feel like a part of the mission.
Foundations: Many nonprofits receive money from foundations through either community or private grants. Each grant has different criteria and qualifications, but there are countless foundations and grants out there for nonprofits of all shapes, sizes, and colors!
Many organizations steer clear of this type of fundraising because of the prevailing thought that it’s very difficult to “win” grant money without shelling out lots of cash for an experienced grant-writer. While having a grant-writer is a valuable asset, it is possible for even the smallest, scrappiest nonprofit to receive grants from local, regional, and even international foundations.
Nonprofit Fundraising Strategies
It’s important to familiarize yourself with a wide range of fundraising strategies so you can choose the right one that fits your nonprofit and connects with each audience. The best fundraising plan incorporates a wide range of strategies.
Fundraising strategies: corporate donors
Did you know that corporations and businesses give about $5 billion dollars to charities each year? With the right fundraising strategy, your nonprofit can grab a slice of that generosity pie!
Here are three of the most popular fundraising strategies that connect with companies and businesses:
Matching gifts: Many companies match employee donations to qualifying organizations. That means you’ll get twice as much money from individual donors who work for one of those companies!
Tools like Double the Donation can really help you identify and take advantage of matching gift programs with relatively little extra work from your fundraising team.
Corporate grants and volunteer programs: Many businesses give volunteer grants after employees volunteer a certain number of hours with your nonprofit. This incentivizes employees to give their time and talents while also holding companies accountable to invest in their communities.
Many companies also give corporate grants to organizations. While each company may have its own unique application process, look out for opportunities and ways to build relationships with company decision-makers and jump into the application pool.
In-kind donations: We all know that money makes the world go-round, but sometimes the best gift is the in-kind donation--non-monetary goods or services to help your organization accomplish a specific goal. Whether it’s food or auction items for your fundraising gala or art supplies for your after-school program, in-kind donations can come in all shapes and sizes.
Fundraising strategies: individual donors
As we said before, individual donors make up the largest slice of the fundraising pie. The key to successful fundraising with individuals (and fundraising overall, really) is to share your story in a way that draws people in and connects with them. This can get a little intricate as you find the right strategy to connect with individual donors in different demographics (like age, gender, location, income bracket, and many other variables).
There are dozens of fundraising strategies that connect with individuals and small groups of donors. We chose only a few of the most popular strategies to highlight:
Direct mail campaigns: This is one of the “tried-and-true” fundraising strategies. People have used this strategy for decades because it’s cost-effective, fast, and easily replicated over and over for a wide range of audiences. The key to success in this strategy is telling a compelling story in your fundraising letter.
Social media campaigns: Social media has forever changed the landscape of nonprofit fundraising. More than 3.5 billion people worldwide are on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There are loads of ways to capitalize on these platforms to raise money for your cause.
Whether you invite your followers to get involved in peer-to-peer fundraising or you add a “donate” button to your organization’s social media page, the opportunities are endless. Social media platforms also give you another avenue to share stories and connect with current and potential donors.
Peer-to-Peer fundraising: While we’re talking about social media, let’s touch on peer-to-peer fundraising. This strategy used to involve going door to door collecting pledges and spare change… but peer-to-peer fundraising grew up in the social media age!
The new and improved peer-to-peer fundraising empowers your donors to fundraise on your behalf. It’s a great way to raise a lot of money and expand your potential donor base with very little money or energy from your fundraising team because your amazing supporters are doing the lion’s share of the work on your behalf!
Online donations: Having an online donation page is really the foundation for so many other fundraising strategies. In fact, most fundraising experts say you need an online donation page to survive in the nonprofit world.
Online giving is actually the primary way people make donations now! People would rather make a donation online than track down a stamp to mail their gift to you. Having a custom online donation page lets you invite people to give online in your direct mail campaign, peer-to-peer campaign, gala, social media page, and every other fundraising tactics your organization uses!
It also opens other effective fundraising strategies, like monthly giving programs and donation tiers!Fundraising events: Organizations have been hosting fundraising events for as long as fundraising has been around. They’re popular, fun, and effective. They can take any form, from a charity 5K to a fancy fundraising gala the opportunities are endless! And with the right tools, like an events app that lets you sell tickets hassle-free, you can take all the agony out of your event planning and make your fundraising events more effective at the same time!
Now that you’ve got a sense of what nonprofit fundraising is and the countless ways you can do it, you’re ready to get started picking the strategies that best fit your mission and fundraising goals! You’re ready to write an effective fundraising plan that will set your nonprofit up for long term financial stability.
Here are three more resources to help you conquer your fundraising goals.
- 9 Must-Have Features for Your Nonprofit’s Online Donation Page: As we said, your donation page is the foundation of almost all your fundraising efforts. Before you get busy writing your fundraising plan, take the time to read this blog and ensure your donation page has all the critical features to get the most out of your fundraising efforts.
- 8 Tips for Hosting A Virtual Fundraising Event: In 2020 most fundraising activities moved online, but virtual fundraising events were already gaining popularity. This blog has some of the top tips and tricks from industry leaders to help you confidently put on excellent virtual fundraising events.
- Building Your Nonprofit Development Department: Every nonprofit needs an effective fundraising team to help you accomplish your goals. Whether you’re a small nonprofit operating on a shoestring budget or a big charity with all the resources you need, we gathered the top 5 tips to help you assess your current fundraising needs and build (or expand) your development department.
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