MODULE 1 – MYTHS OF FUNDRAISING
Definition of Fundraising
Fundraising, as we describe it in this course, is the process of soliciting
support for a cause. The cause intended to make the world a better place.
Fundraising is the process of soliciting support for a cause. So, to begin
with, fundraising is not about soliciting money for a conventional business
enterprise, or to enrich investors or company owners or shareholders of an
organization
Donors will want to know what problem you are trying to address, whom you
are serving, and why it is important?
Seven Myths
1. fundraising is only about getting cash. Sure, we always think about
soliciting money when we think of fundraising, but money is only one of
the most obvious forms of support. Support can also come in the form of
people donating time or manufactured goods or food or space or a host of
other things that furthers the work of the organization (in-kind
donations). In kind gifts are only valuable if you can use them. Solicit
in kind gifts that you need
2. raising money is all about knowing rich people. You have to start
somewhere, and you shouldn't expect a lot when you start. It's about
finding supporters as many as you can who can spread the word. the more
donors you have the more funding You can get. And the more donors you
can find the more prospects they will lead you to.
3. in fundraising one person gives and the other receives. But at a more
abstract level, you’re providing something intangible, that may be of
equal value to donors. Such as an opportunity for the donor to
participate, in an organization that does something special in the world
of which he or she wants to be a part. Critical to your attitude when
you asked for support, is that you are offering partnership where both
sides have something to gain. You're providing something essential to
that person's well-being, you may just be giving friendship and an
opportunity to belong.
4. you should always try to tell a donor as much about your organization or
project as possible. The more you say the better chance you will have of
getting money, but that is simply not true. So, a conversation with a
donor is a chance to find out as much as you can about them and let them
talk. You should be prepared to lead the conversation to areas of their
interest by finding out as much as you can about them in advance. Follow
up on things that they say, leading whenever possible to points of
connection with you and your organization and its activities. Everyone
wants to feel personally connected to the work they support.
5. when you're making your case to a donor, statistics and facts are the
only things that matter. True, they will matter at some point, but it's
stories that engage donors. Donors like to hear success stories, but
they also like stories about beneficiaries overcoming adversity even
more.
6. a great fundraiser is an individual superstar and that he or she works
mostly alone in achieving success. In fact, fundraising is what I call a
team sport. First of all, fundraising is hard work. As the old saying
goes, it's 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. And with fundraising,
there's much more to do than one person can do alone. There's planning
and strategizing. There's prospect identification, both individuals and
institutional donors. There's making contact. There's following up and
courting donors. There's research. There's the solicitation phase.
There's designing materials. There's keeping your website up to date if
you have one. There's collecting stories and other materials for
fundraising. There's budgeting, there's record keeping, reporting.
There's servicing donors and funders and most important, there's
acknowledging when they have given you money or something else. Also, it
takes team effort to constantly enlarge your circle of donors. It's
about leveraging the talents that you have access to.
7. the Internet has completely changed how we do fundraising. While some
things have indeed changed. Change. You might be surprised by how many
things have not changed at all when it comes to fundraising even online.
You can have a substantial international presence for the cost of a
domain name and a website. You can tell people your story anywhere in
the world and maintain important relationships with donors immediately
without ever having to travel. You can mount a major fundraising
campaign without the investment of large amounts of money. But your
mission still matters, people still need to be convinced that your work
is important, you still need to find donors and cultivate them. True,
you may be able to find them on Facebook rather than at a party, but you
and your team still need to find donors and get them interested.
Disposing the 7 Myths and Changing Them into Fundraising Truths
1. fundraising is about more than getting cash. Donated items that you
need. Donated labor, or in-kind gifts can be of equal value if you can
use them.
2. you don't have to know rich people to be an effective fund raiser. Most
people start with family or friends.
3. fundraising is a transaction in which both sides receive something. Be
sure you're clear about what that something is when you ask for money.
4. Listening to donors is often more important than lecturing them.
Everyone likes to talk about themselves. And those personal experiences
can be linked to the ask.
5. Stories often matter more than statistics to capture people's attention.
6. fundraising is a team effort
7. fundraising via the internet still holds many similarities to in person
fundraising.
MODULE 2 – WORDS EVERY FUNDRAISER SHOULD KNOW
1. CHARITY
It is simply the act of giving to those in needs. Charity can include giving as part of your
religion or it can be responding to a beggar in the street. You might give a rupee, a penny,
or a shilling or you might donate your time or make a large financial gift.
In fundraising, it identifies the class of organizations that engage in fundraising
activities. A charity, according to this second definition, is an organization that is set
up to provide assistance, whether to the poor, the young, the disabled, to students, to
whole communities, on behalf of the environment, or the arts or religion.
This kind of charity is the kind of entity that engages in fundraising. It helps distinguish
this type of asking for money from the kind where you're looking for an investment in a
business venture. Charities go by many names. Some are called non-profit organizations, non-
governmental organizations, trusts, foundations
But whatever these charities are called, they share one important attribute. They are
intended as helping organizations, and are not established to provide wealth to their owners
or shareholders like for-profit businesses. They can earn money, and they can pay their
staff people. They can even assist those that help run a profit-making business and become
entrepreneurs. But the fundamental purpose of a charity is to use its resources to further
its good work, not to make a profit. As you can imagine, describing the purpose of a charity
is critically important.
Donors need to feel confident that they are indeed supporting, helping organizations. We
call this statement of purpose the mission statement. Every charity needs one. Ask yourself,
what is it we do? Why do we do it? Where do we do it? And for whom? Look at the mission
statement of other organizations.
2. Financial support
There are three types of support:
(i) support for your programs – for your core mission. It is the easiest to raise
(ii) support for your operations – daily operations, rent, salaries, etc. It is the
hardest to raise (restricted funds)
(iii) capital support or capital gifts which is for more permanent things like buildings.
Preferred by large donors who like giving once for such large projects
you don't always have to specify to donors what their money will be used for. Often you do
but often you don't. I made a mistake in giving everyone a choice of what they wanted to
support. When I gave them the choice, of course, they wanted to support the kids. But if I
just asked for general support, many were happy to give that way. For some who loved what
the organization was doing, they were fine with that and what they were giving is what we
call unrestricted money.
3. Unrestricted Funds
money that donors give with no special conditions or requirements attached to it.
4. Restricted Funds
money that can only be used the way the donor specifies. know precisely the conditions and
follow them as there can be legal consequences for not doing so and certainly the
possibility of alienating donors.
5. Characteristics of a GOOD PROSPECT (DONOR) AND STRATEGIC FIT (ORGANIZATION)
(i) Know charitable sectors or industries the donor is interested in
(ii) constituency. (consider) Who is being served? Who are the people receiving the
benefits?
(iii) community. (consider) Some charities attract funders because donors want to support
their home communities or international communities
(iv) scale. (consider) Donors who give to internationally and favor large multinational
agencies or local organizations with small budget
6. Outreach/ Community Connection
People claimed to be reaching out to those in need as if they were the givers of all good
things and the constituency was merely the recipient. In recent times people have begun to
shy away from the term outreach because it conveys a value proposition in which only those
performing the outreach have something of value to offer. Today we talk a lot more about
connecting with our constituents and communities, listening to their needs, respecting what
they have to say, being thankful for what they can offer. It's more of a partnership and
conveys greater respect. Community connection seems to be a richer and healthier term than
outreach.
7. Accountability
its obligation to account for its activities, accept responsibilities for them and disclose
the results including financial results in a transparent manner to each donor and to the
public. This can be done through the board of directors/trustees internally or financial
audits externally
