Creating a nonprofit fundraising plan or strategy for your next campaign will help you focus your efforts and guide your day-to-day fundraising efforts when things get tough. It’ll also ensure your fundraising team is aligned on certain tactics or events that may be part of your strategy. Non-exempt organizations can still raise money, but their donors won’t be able to write off their donations as a tax deduction. In order to meet your fundraising goals, you’ll need the right donation tools that make the process of giving to your campaign quick, easy, and convenient for your supporters. All fundraising campaigns benefit from a messaging platform that provides everyone in your nonprofit organization with a consistent positioning statement.
- A multi-channel approach combining digital and print content will likely reach the widest audience and lead to better results.
- You will also need to consider the medium through which you deliver your stories, which is where marketing comes in.
- A fully committed board that actively fundraises is critical to the success of your campaign.
- This emphasizes the value of a frictionless donor experience and serves as a reminder to understand your donors’ preferences to ensure all expectations are met.
However, your nonprofit will need a strong marketing plan to promote your campaign landing page. For more ways to attract, engage, and convert donors across all online fundraising campaign types, download our Fundraising Campaign Checklists. We break down what to include in your crowdfunding campaign, peer-to-peer, and event fundraising campaigns, plus pro tips and best practices to help elevate your campaign’s visual appeal. You can think of designing a nonprofit fundraising strategy as laying the foundation for your campaign. The more solid and sure your foundation is, the easier time you’ll have building on that foundation in order to achieve your fundraising campaign goals.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to tell your organization’s story, as well as the stories of those whom you help. A recent study found that transparency among charities could increase donations by 50%. Also, two-thirds of donors say that understanding the impact of their donation would encourage them to give more. If you’re open about how you spend your funds, people may give more to your cause. Commercial co-ventures, or cause-related marketing, is when a nonprofit organization partners with a business to raise money.
Create a sense of urgency
Fundraising is often the primary means of revenue for these organizations. That’s one reason why nonprofits and charitable organizations dedicate so many resources to it. Because it’s likely your primary means of income as a charitable organization, raising money can be a burdensome, never-ending effort. Whenever you’re faced with a tough https://simple-accounting.org/ decision or challenge during your fundraising efforts, return to your roadmap for valuable insights and guidance. A centralized roadmap with clearly organized sections for each strategic element will be essential once things are underway. If your project will fund new infrastructure, promote your campaign by sharing project renderings.
Say Thank You and Celebrate Donors’ Success
Capital Campaign Pro uses a different approach — one made possible by the accessibility of online and virtual communication. Through our Capital Campaign Pro toolkit, organizations gain immediate access to all of the tools and materials they will need for their campaign organized in a clear step-by-step process. They are given the option of working virtually with a very experienced campaign advisor (in a group or individually), to help them move through the campaign process.
(We cover these in the previous section.) Remember, providing a variety of ways to donate will likely increase the number of donations you receive. The process of matching gifts is when a company matches employee donations. This is because these programs help companies give back while helping donors give twice as much.
Tips for Running a Successful Nonprofit Fundraising Campaign
If you want to learn about the matching gifts program & how you can enable them to increase your donations, read our in-depth blog post on the Matching Gifts Program. The appeal of text-to-give campaigns is how easy it is to encourage a second or third donation. Donorbox has its own text-to-give service that works for any organization willing to give this campaign style a try. Our system connects seamlessly with your online campaign page for your donor’s first donation.
You’ll also need to express appreciation to your team of volunteers and staff! Consider spotlighting them on your social media or hosting a private event that recognizes the important role they played in bringing your campaign to life. Finalize your fundraising plan with your team and ensure everyone knows their role in contributing to your campaign’s success. Consider hosting regular check-ins to unblock any issues your team members might be experiencing and ensure your plans are on track. It’s important to acknowledge and celebrate milestones, creative ideas, or fundraising success if you want to keep your donor base focused and inspired to reach the next big goal.
That’s great news if you’re setting up a fundraiser—it’s never been so easy for your donors to contribute. But a danger of digital communications is how easily an impersonal email can make donors feel like they don’t matter to you. Part of what makes your goals achievable is making it as easy as possible for donors to contribute. The best donation pages make donating a quick, easy and secure process. Your organization’s mission is the end goal, but you will reach smaller goals as the years go on. When your organization reaches one of these goals, like building a new school or reaching a donation goal, send a celebration email or card and invite your supporters to celebrate with you.
If you make an observation you want to remember for a future campaign, make sure to record it. This will help you to enhance future fundraising strategies and campaigns in a myriad of ways, including prospect research, staff capacity, donor communications, marketing how to run a successful fundraising campaign channels, and more. Great for repurposing across multiple outlets, a well-designed brochure can effectively convey your organization’s project in a tangible, easily digestible format. This makes it a must for your fundraising strategy for large projects.
Lastly, no matter the platform, social media makes it very easy to share content about your cause, why you’re fundraising, and who’s already involved to get others excited to become involved. Social media has become a booming, online fundraising tactic due to the sheer number of people on various platforms — over 3.5 billion people globally, to be exact. Cause-related marketing, also known as commercial co-ventures, are also regulated by law.
The kick-off of your campaign is a celebration, an opportunity to recognize campaign leaders and donors, and a press event all rolled into one. While all big projects bring some inherent risks, capital campaigns are not uncharted territory. Understand your organization’s risk tolerance and thoroughly plan ahead, but also be ready to adjust course if you encounter cost increases or donation shortfalls later in the campaign. Luckily, there’s more than one way to successfully raise funds for your organization, so you can try out different strategies to find out what works best for you and your community. Whether you want to raise funds virtually or in-person, organize a product fundraiser or a fundraising event, there are steps you can follow to maximize your success. Capital Campaigns are for specific causes or projects, like building a new location.
It’s much easier to get 10,000 people to donate $2 than to get one person to donate $20,000. But it’s not enough to simply set up a donation page on your website and wait for people to stumble upon it with their credit cards in hand. Driving donations requires strategy, marketing, relationship-building, data analysis and constant pivoting. Your donors may want to become recurring donors but do not know where to start. Donorbox includes monthly, annual, and weekly recurring donations with only one click. Donorbox does not store any card information and has a fraud detection system so donors can trust that their financial information is safe.