While the mind-numbing stagnation of lockdowns, postponements and cancellations caused by the pandemic trudges along, the struggle for many charities and community groups to build or generate a base of donor support remains constant. Unable to hold live events, host kiosk displays at community festivals, launch traditional acquisition mailing appeals or provide open houses and tours of their facilities to the general public for more than a year, organizations have been massively deprived of opportunities to share the magic of their work with potential new supporters.
An overdependence on core funders, major donor fatigue and widespread reluctance to ask mid-range and entry-level supporters to contribute for fear of annoying or offending them are the tragic results that have placed many organizations in financial jeopardy. Urgently needing dollars both for immediate bills as well as their long-term viability, charitable groups are perplexed as to how to produce dollars under such seemingly sterile conditions. Grassroots and volunteer-run agencies are especially vulnerable since they lack the experience or capacity to raise volumes of money within tight timeframes.
Under these circumstances, the solution to their funding challenges most likely exists externally rather than within these organizations. Rather than risk exhausting the time and energy of their own board, staff and volunteers, charities should explore third-party fundraising opportunities and borrow some of the sweat equity expended by external groups within their sphere of influence. Piggyback or gently assist other community organizations with their fundraising activities – where they perform the bulk of the work – and receive part of the proceeds.
A beautiful yet sadly overlooked benefit about third-party fundraising is it a fabulous way to “friend-raise” and attract several potential long-term donors to your group. Below are three (3) terrific third-party fundraising ideas that accomplish this objective:
1) Virtual fundraising events organized by service clubs and other community organizations.
Service clubs like Rotary, Kinsmen, Opimist and other membership-based groups in the community offer a bounty of third-party fundraising options. Blessed with built-in volunteer bases with high levels of team chemistry, and an unshakeable commitment to helping their communities, service clubs regularly organize or participate in large-scale fundraising events. As a way of supporting local non-profits, service clubs and membership-based groups will often happily give them a percentage of the money raised.
Virtual fundraising events on platforms like Zoom are the rage these days since we cannot host in-person happenings. Service clubs are among those who have successfully re-imagined how they do things by hosting their events digitally including their meetings and fundraising activities. Thus, do connect with service clubs and other membership-based groups with whom you have existing relationships to see if they would consider allocating a piece of the revenue from their next virtually held gala, movie night or walkathon to aid your pandemic transition.
To sweeten the pot, offer to assist in some facet with the event and of course, do encourage people within your organization to buy tickets or view the event virtually. Service clubs would find this gesture especially enticing since it gives them the opportunity to showcase the benefits of joining their chapter to potential members.
Provide the service club with plenty of images or videos that convey the true impact of your charity’s work and ensure that the hosts direct the participants’ attention to them as frequently as possible throughout the event. Your endgame is having these visuals resonate with so many participants who subsequently feel compelled to learn more about your cause in the following days.
For those event participants who do follow-up, find out precisely what aspect of your charity’s impact affected them the most. Using that as the basis for the conversation, immerse the individual with additional samples of the true change that your charity has accomplished. Seek feedback intermittently during the conversation by asking “What are your thoughts regarding . . .?”.
Conclude this initial exchange by having the individual reflect on everything they have just witnessed and if they were touched by any specific aspect of your cause. If they are not interested, simply thank them for their time and graciously part ways. For those who remain interested, arrange a new time to reconnect and determine what the first “call to action” (ie. Donation, volunteer, sponsor, join, etc.) should be.
2) Engage with various fundraising bodies within church congregations and faith groups.
Growing up in the Catholic Church I became aware at an early age of how many groups or associations existed within each parish that raised money for their own endeavours. The Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Women’s League are the two primary entities who amass astonishing sums of cash through the variety of events and appeals each held every year.
Equivalent groups can be found within other faith congregations such and the Brotherhood of Anglican Men and Anglican Church Women. Like service clubs they are endowed with hardworking and compassionate volunteers who care about the community-at-large. Although most are held digitally now, among the traditional methods these groups raise funds are raffles, spaghetti dinners, bazaars, Pancake Tuesday feasts and the like.
Church-based groups also commonly direct revenue slices towards charitable organizations with whom they are familiar. Thus, it is more than prudent to present your organization as an option for these groups to consider when they are searching for community projects to support. Yet it is again crucial to ensure that participants are thoroughly made aware of your organization’s impact so they depart the event yearning to learn more about your programs enhance the wellness of the community.
Nearly every faith congregation has a youth group who also organize several energetic fundraising initiatives like car washes, dances, Christmas gift wrapping and bikeathons where a percentage of the proceeds is shared with local charities. Humbly suggesting to youth pastors that choosing to invest in your charity’s work would amplify its impact in the community is a wise route to pursue. Having young people associated with your group to assist in some of their fundraising events would make such a proposal even more enticing to youth pastors.
3) Involve local business in raising money on your behalf.
Most charities are unaware of the third-party fundraising potential of small and local business – including affiliate “big box” stores – when it comes to producing immediate income for their causes. Retail and consumer-driven businesses like banks and restaurants are especially promising since they offer the possibility of enlightening customers about the positive change your organization creates in the community.
Point of purchase campaigns are a convenient and passive means for charities to accumulate short-term revenue by having customers donate either a certain dollar amount or their leftover change. Customers can also contribute their shopping points they redeem with each purchase to a recipient organization. In return, the customer’s generosity is recognized by having their name printed on a piece of cardstock in the shape of a symbol that is relevant to the cause.
The drawback of point of purchase campaigns is the lack of opportunity to engage and steward relationships with the people who actually donate. Far better chances to connect with potential supporters exist with employee workplace fundraisers. Much like “United Way-style” activities, company employees can organize a wide range of spirited activities to raise money for local non-profits.
Casual Fridays and “Wacky Tie” Tuesdays are vintage workplace money-makers for charities where employees donate personally for the privilege of adorning themselves in the themed attire of the day. Although there is some possibility of following up with participants in these situations, significantly more fertile opportunities to engage long-term prospective donors are found in events like Employee Fun Runs or Employee Bowlathons.
Organized in the same manner as traditional “athons”, these activities involve employee participants soliciting pledges from friends, family and others within their social circles. To facilitate these transactions, employee participants use peer-to-peer funding software like Causevox, Raisely or Donor Perfect to set up their own personal fundraising page where sponsors can sign-in and pledge their support.
Processing and issuing tax receipts for each pledged donation presents a window for the recipient organization to unveil to each donor the great things that their kind gesture helped make a reality. Including a brief but heart-rendering story within the copy of the “thank you” letters or inserting a brief list of inspiring recent results of your organization’s work can ignite the donor’s curiosity. Invite them for tea or coffee with your Executive Director or Board Chair and indicate that you look forward to the prospect of sharing more inspiring stories with them like the one they read.
No matter the tactic used, the goal is to extend opportunities for these prospective donors to develop an affinity for your charity’s mission and vision. Our hope is that these altruistic people will value as much as do we for the lives of the families and communities affected by the issues we seek to address. In short, third-party fundraising might not produce enough long-term donors to secure our long-term viability. Yet it enables our charities to conserve the energy that we will need when cultivating and stewarding ties with those who ultimately will become our core benefactors.
