10 Fundraising Tips to Make Money in Less Time

I love hearing about fundraisers nonprofit leaders have found that bring them beaucoup bucks with so little of their time invested. Many of the most effective fundraisers are a lot of hard work, but some of them just seem to fall into your lap without much effort at all. Here’s a list of things that might work well for you if you’re looking for ways to make more money in less time:

Fundraising Tips that can help your nonprofit grow!

1.     If you’re raising funds with special events, consider hiring a professional event coordinator; you might be pleasantly surprised by their rates and chances are, since they do this for a living, they’ll spend far fewer hours on the event than you would.

2.     Host a non-event. Instead of actually throwing the special event, try “uninviting” people and asking for their financial support in lieu of attending. Be sure to let them know how much they would have spent on tickets, what they would’ve spent at the bar, which would – of course – have caused them to overspend at the silent auction! Be gracious but use a healthy dose of humor. I created some fun Non-Event Invitation templates you can customize/brand and send out.

3.     Segment your donor database and customize your appeal letter based on demographic data. For example, if you can capture the age of your donors, you can send a letter with a self-addressed, stamped return envelope to your favorite Boomers and maybe just a quick note with a QR code to your Millennial members. Or perhaps you segment by neighborhood and suggest more modest donations from neighborhoods where house values have a median range of $150,000-$250,000 and larger suggested donations from your McMansion dwellers.

4.     Take credit card/debit card donations. The number of people who even have a checkbook declines in direct proportion to the age of your donors. There are several options for taking donations by plastic: find a credit card processing company with nonprofit rates, sign up for PayPal, register on Venmo, Zelle, or Stripe (to name a few).

5.     Decide what one, two, or three activities your organization does on a regular basis that would qualify for grants and develop a written program plan for each. Set a minimum grant award and apply for grants that are a good fit for your activities and that meet/exceed your minimum. Replicate this every year…or multiple times per year, if appropriate. You should find that with each grant application you get faster in your response times and better at identifying grants you’re likely to win.

6.     QR codes are so handy! Use them to solicit donations everywhere you go. They can be on the back of your business card, on the drink coasters you use at your appreciation dinner, or on a laminated sheet of paper you place on the table at your events when you participate in public engagement events.

7.     Make it fun! How much money do we spend every year in entertaining ourselves? Or to keep ourselves caffeinated? (It’s not just me, right?!) What if your coffee came with a sleeve that had a QR code on it and said, “Donating to XYZ Organization is more hydrating than your coffee!”? Or golden tickets around town that read “If everyone donated the cost of a movie ticket, we could renovate the historic theatre downtown” …and had a QR code.

8.     Instead of spending 100 hours soliciting donations of $100 from citizens, try spending an hour with the area’s top ten wealth managers and estate attorneys. The better these professionals know you, the better position they’ll be in to recommend your organization to clients who may be in a position to donate real estate, stocks or bonds, or bequeath something upon their death.

9.     Promote yourselves! I recall my first couple of years as an Executive Director, I was so busy planning and executing events that I never even thought about how well (or how little, really) the organization was represented at the events. If you’re nodding your head right now because you feel that pain, make sure your nonprofit has it’s name and logo everywhere people look at your events: signs, banners, tablecloths, swag, volunteer t-shirts and hats, etc. Just as important, be sure you have a table/tent/booth (logo’ed to the max!) where organizational volunteers can be stationed at the event to talk about your mission and engage with potential donors. Be sure there’s a QR code visible for instant online donations AND a donation jar/box for cash donations AND a way to capture names and email addresses so you can keep in touch. This will go a long way not only to fundraising but also in community awareness and in identifying more people who may want to volunteer and/or donate to your organization.

10.  Set up, and enforce, a board give/get policy. Organizational fundraising is essential, but it’s just as vital that your board members lead by example, giving of their own personal funds and also seeking new donors on behalf of the nonprofit. If your board members aren’t concerned with the organization’s financial stability, sustainability, and growth that’s an issue that needs to be addressed. How much in organizational resources would you save if the board took their fiduciary and fiscal responsibilities more seriously? I would never advocate for “selling” board seats or forcing board members to give at a level they’re uncomfortable with, but as stewards of the organization, they should feel compelled to protect the organization’s current resources and to add to them.

Want to maximize your fundraising efforts with less time and effort? Get a brief analysis of one of your fundraisers, including expert recommendations to boost its profitability. Email Jenn@JenniferEGoldman.com and mention this blog post for a special discounted offer!

**Links throughout this post are to JEG LLC YouTube videos on related topics and items in my resource hub.