The Hottest Charity Fundraising Tactics

As mentioned earlier, charities use a number of different techniques to raise funds. These techniques may or may not be suitable for you, depending on your specific requirements and aims. So it is better to consider and evaluate the effectiveness of each of these techniques in order for you to make sure that what you’ve considered is the best.

Here are the techniques:

Doorstep Fundraising

Also known as door-to-door fundraising, the doorstep fundraising is basically the process of knocking into someone’s door and asking for a cash gift for charity purposes. Some fundraisers do this also by asking the home owners to sign up for a regular gift to charity which usually occurs in two different ways, either by standing order or direct debit. The fundraisers who do this technique may represent a single charity institution, or a number of different causes.

It is typical in doorstep fundraising that the ones who knocks someone’s door are volunteers. Yes, volunteers are an essential part of charity fundraising. They are deemed important knowing that they can help expand the operation especially if more people are volunteering. So in doorstep fundraising, the volunteers will collect cash and or one-off gifts. They, however, do not handle the responsibility of asking households to sign up to a regular gift for the ones who usually do this are those who are employed by the fundraising companies. These fundraising companies may not be part of certain charitable organizations. They are just contacted by charities to do the work.

Street Fundraising

Street fundraising is to some degree similar to that of the doorstep technique that it is performed outdoor to attract people. However, unlike the door-to-door technique of raising funds, the street fundraising is also known as face-to-face fundraising simply for the fact that people involved in this kind of activity ask the passers by to sign up and give them money for charity sake. They raise funds either by direct debit or standing offer, depending on what is preferred by the fundraiser. Also, most of the fundraisers who do this technique often wear bib simply as they own way of showing concerns for the charitable institutions, especially to the ones that take good care of homeless children.

Many of those who consider street fundraising are often disliked by passers by for several reasons, some are personal. The teams that are disliked by people are often referred to as “charity muggers” or “chuggers”, for short.

Telephone Fundraising

From the outside, let’s proceed to something that is housed inside an office or home with telephones as the major fundraising tool – the telephone fundraising. On the most basic, the telephone fundraising is used by charities in a number of ways. On one hand, they try to call their established supporters to put some increase on the amount they give for charitable purposes. On the other hand, there are some charities and fundraisers who use the phone to give their prospective supporters a special gift for a special appeal, and they later end up recruiting fundraising volunteers who will do the task for their benefit. Usually, the ones who do this technique sell raffle tickets as their way of increasing their raised funds.

The telephone fundraising tactic is often considered by the younger generation of fundraisers perhaps for the reason that they believe they can reach their targets from anywhere.

Mail Fundraising

When it comes to mail fundraising, charities and fundraisers often do this tactic in a number of ways. One of the most common is the so-called “personally addressed mail”, which is simply the process of mailing letters addressed to your personally.

This tactic is not considered just to ask for money. Most of the charities do this by also sending newsletters, magazines, and annual reports to keep their supporters aware of how the charity is doing and how they have achieved with the money that has been donated to them. There are also some instances when charities send mails to their prospective supporters with catchy messages designed to catch your eye and make you interested enough to know what’s included in the mail.

There is also the so-called “unaddressed mail”. Basically, this fundraising technique has something to do with sending mailings or leaflets to your letterbox that don’t carry your name and address. They are often left blank or sometimes addressed to the occupier.

According to some experts, this fundraising technique is considered by many charities to get their information out to their potential new supporters. Unlike the mailings addressed to you, this is pretty less expensive as charities and fundraisers don’t have to pay for names and addresses and the delivery is much cheaper than the normal post. It is also expected that those charities and fundraising companies that consider this technique have certain aims to reach bigger audience. It is for this reason actually that the fundraising through unaddressed mails are often deemed as perfect for the very large scale communication campaigns. It can also be targeted to areas where the fundraisers think are likely to be the home of people who are willing to support their organization and campaigns.

TV and Radio Advertising

TV and radio advertising are also becoming an effective means of raising funds for charity. It is important to remember though that most of the TV and radio advertising requires a much higher initial investment, the reason that it is deemed perfect only for the larger charities. But out of the high cost, TV and radio advertising provides charities the advantage of reaching a huge audience, including people who would be unlikely to be reached in any other way. Also it raises awareness of charitable issues and it attracts support from a massive number of people. It is for these advantages that most of the larger charities prefer this technique than the other possible ways.

Newspapers and Magazines Advertising

Aside from TV and radio advertising, advertising on newspapers and magazines is also now becoming a popular tool of charity fundraising. This type of fundraising is often adopted to bring in new supporters. Most of the charities and fundraising companies consider it to provoke a certain response, and what is included in the adverts posted are a cut-out coupon, contact number and address for charity purposes.

Perhaps the downside of this technique has something to do with the cost for the reason that just like advertising on TVs and radios, buying advertising space in newspapers and magazines can be very expensive. And, this too is only perfect for larger charities.

As you may notice, the hottest tactics of charity fundraising are associated with almost all the means of communication. This is simply for the reason that fundraising is a process of communicating. It gives you the chance to meet and deal with people of different personalities, and it somehow test how tough you are when it comes to rejections and disliking. Yes, most of the fundraisers are disliked by the public, but when it comes to charities, who would have thought to reject when the cause is so decent and honest? I guess, none!

How the Money is used by Charities

So you’ve learned all the hottest tactics of raising funds for charitable purposes. Now, are you wondering how the charities use the funds they raised through those tactics? The details mentioned below will give you ideas about this concern, so read on.

It is often said that charities primarily spend their income to achieve their charitable purposes, such as helping disabled and street children, pursuing a cure for cancer, animal protection, campaigning for child abuse, so forth and so on. These purposes are in the first place introduced to the supporters making them aware of where their money is going to be used.

However, there are some instances when the picture becomes so complex especially when it comes to charities trying to make a difference outside their local area. It is maintained that in this kind of situation, the proportion of money they receive from their supporters has to be used on supporting the organizational needs that usually have something to do with the management and the administration. This may seem not so brilliant though, but it is important to understand that charities need to support their own organization for them to continue running for a charitable cause. This is very common to the non-profit organizations.

Also, a portion of the money the charities received from their supporters sometimes cover the cost of the fundraising itself. So to keep the organization running and delivering its services, they need to invest and re-invest on fundraising. So it follows that the income they get from their supporters is also utilized for this common aim.

The Cost of Charity Fundraising

When it comes to the cost of fundraising, the charities often find a number of different figures. The cost may vary from cheap to expensive depending on a number of factors that affect the total amount of how much the charity will need to run the event. In the first place, the cost of fundraising may differ according to the sources of the fundraised income. According to certain reports, it cost much less to ask for grants from companies, trusts, and government agencies than it does to raise funds from the general public. The problem then occurs as these sources are not available for every charity. It is for this reason that charities often spend much in thinking for ways on how to solicit funds from the general public.

The charity fundraising cost may also vary according to how big or small the organization is. It is often observed that larger charities often find it cheaper to raise funds from the general public because they can support all the economies needed. The smaller charities are much deprived of this opportunity mainly for lack of resources.

In addition, the cost of fundraising often differs according to the number of volunteers involved in the event. It is said that the more the people are volunteering to perform the charitable deeds, the more chances for the charity to spend less just to support their fundraising event. Well, it is for this reason actually that volunteers are deemed a very important part of charity fundraising. So if you are thinking to fundraise for a charitable cause, then start encouraging volunteers as early as possible.

Finally, how much the charity will spend for the fundraising can be identified through the fundraising techniques used by the organizations. As mentioned earlier, the techniques can be cheaper or expensive, depending on what is needed. For instance, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines advertising costs higher than street and doorstep fundraising simply for the reason that the charities need to pay for the advertising charges whatsoever. With this, it is important to know exactly what fundraising technique will best suit your needs.

Charity fund rasing with a number of great techniques involved is now becoming so popular to the general public. However, it is important to keep in mind that fundraising is governed by certain rules and regulations. Everything that is included in the plan passes through a sort of censorship, which basically holds true in marketing and advertising. The fundraising adverts and appeals, for example, are required to confirm to a code of conduct designed to prevent advertising of something that can be offensive or misleading. It is even held illegal for the charities to hold more personal information than is required for a particular purpose. But whatever is the case maybe, we can’t deny the fact that fundraising is so effective in accumulating funds for charities’ sake.