Raising funds for any nonprofits may look exciting, but in reality it’s quite challenging. This has become even more difficult during the coronavirus pandemic where nonprofit organisations across the world have to cancel their fundraising events and programmes due to lockdown. Their biggest problem has been on how to raise funds from the public.

Nonprofit fundraising is ideally a process of contributing money to support a cause of any charitable or nonprofit organisation. It’s a primary source of income for any nonprofit organisation to continue its mission, complete projects on time, drive awareness, attract more volunteers, run campaigns to gain new donors and to keep them sustainable. 

So, there is no doubt that fundraising is very important for nonprofits and indeed requires a proper strategy and execution plan to support through good and bad times.

There are 3 key ways to raise funds (aka nonprofit fundraising strategies):

Individual fundraising
About two-thirds of all contributions received by any nonprofits are donated by individuals. It is also known as personal fundraising. Here, nonprofits look to raise money with the help of their family members, colleagues, friends or someone within their network to support their cause. 

Some of the most popular individual fundraising ideas for nonprofits:

Direct Mail Donations
It’s one of the easy and traditional ways of receiving donations from people who prefer making a donation via direct mail in the form of checks. 

Online Donations
It allows nonprofits to raise funds online for a specific cause from donors around the world. All that is required is a fully functional website with a donation page integrated with a payment processor to accept payments online over SSL.

Social Media Donations
Today, social media is a great way to raise funds for a specific cause or for an ongoing fundraising campaign. For example, Facebook offers several fundraising features and tools like a donate button on FB page, facebook events for promoting fundraising events, page fundraisers, live video donations etc. In instagram, you get donation stickers and a donate button.

Pledge Donations
It's a donor promise to give a certain amount of money to nonprofits after a specific goal / milestone is achieved or sometimes after a specific period of time in future.

Text Donations
One of the cheapest ways to receive donations for a cause is via SMS text messaging using a text donation service. 

Event Donations
These fundraising events such as dance / music competition, walkathon, bikeathon, auctions etc are hosted by nonprofits so that encourage many people to give donations on the spot. 

Phonathon
It’s a way of fundraising whereby nonprofits volunteers make a call to all existing donors and ask for their contribution for a specific or ongoing campaign.

Company fundraising
Nonprofits take help of like-minded businesses who wish to support their cause, give back to the community and contribute to CSR activities. Here, funding is raised by the company and then donated to a nonprofit. 

Some of the most popular company or corporate fundraising ideas for nonprofits are: 

Matching Gifts
It’s a corporate giving initiative in which if an employee donates to a nonprofit, the employer will equally match the donation. 

Volunteer Grants
It’s a corporate giving program to encourage their employees to become volunteers with eligible nonprofits for a certain period. Once it’s reached, the employer will donate a certain amount of money to nonprofits equivalent to volunteered hours.

Corporate Grants
At the start of every fiscal year, companies keep aside a certain money that they plan to donate to eligible nonprofits.

In-Kind Donations
It’s also called as gift in kind donations. Instead of money, donation of goods, services or time is done to nonprofits. Goods can be books, clothing, furniture, equipment, stationary items, toys, bicycles etc. 

Foundation fundraising
Nonprofits who are looking to raise funds from the reputed charitable trusts and foundations. To receive grants, nonprofits need to submit applications and meet their eligibility criterias to qualify.

Top foundation fundraising ideas for nonprofits are: 

Private Foundation Grants
These grants are made by private (or family) foundations which are given to chosen nonprofits ideally on a yearly basis based on approval of their application.

Community Foundation Grants
These grants are made by corporate (or community) foundations which itself acts as a nonprofit entity to help other nonprofits looking to receive funds. Nonprofits need to apply for receiving grants and can take several months before they internally select a winning nonprofit. 

For more amazing and new fundraising ideas, check out this article from easyfundraising

10 Important Tips for Nonprofit Fundraising  

Tell your story in a concise and powerful way such that it not only communicates on what you do but also what impact it can create.

Keep your website or blog, social media pages, fundraising pages etc. all up to date, interlinked and mobile ready.  

Ensure that your campaign messaging is consistent across all channels

Make use of high-quality photos, infographics and videos to tell your organisation’s story, raise awareness about a cause, volunteers / donors contributions, campaign progress, social impact etc. Creative, engaging and compelling visual content is key for getting more click-throughs, boosting engagement, raising funds and building trust and loyalty. 

Send monthly or bi-weekly newsletters to all donors, subscribers, volunteers, staff members etc. to share success stories and effectiveness of your campaigns. Take this as an opportunity to encourage and motivate them to donate more wherever they can.

Don’t forget to write handwritten thank you notes or send personalised emails to first time or recurring donors for their valuable contribution.

Try to build relationships with donors by asking for their feedback at regular intervals, appreciate their contributions, educate on what they are funding, invite them on key events, offer networking opportunities etc. Give equal attention in retaining an existing donor along with acquiring a new one.

Research and learn from your competitors. Know what inspires them, what they are doing differently, what types of activities are yielding more results before readjusting your goals, fundraising strategies and finances.

Empower your volunteers, team and board members with the right tools and technologies to help them work together smartly, effectively and efficiently. 

Explore new partnership opportunities with local or global stores that donates a flat or percentage of sales to partnered nonprofit and charity organisations. 

.   .   .

Jay Charara

Chairman of JC Foundation Trust

A psychologist, communal and civic leader, a dedicated advocate with a background in public relations.