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The secret of success: How to raise funds properly
Raising funds or fundraising is any help from followers. It can be a one-time donation, regular sponsorship, or in-kind support. Attracting donors is very important because it is the most stable basis for the development of an organization; partners' money or start-up capital will run out one day, but income from a loyal audience never does.
How to raise funds
To effectively attract donations from the audience, NPOs should take the following important steps:
Focus on the paying audience
Filter your audience by various characteristics: age, views, type of activity, etc. Next, analyze which audience is most likely to support social initiatives and how much it overlaps with your core audience, and focus on it in your posts, articles, and appeals.
Working for a loyal audience
After focusing on the right audience, start creating materials with a focus on justifying the organization's needs. Explain the organization's global goals, what you plan to do in the near future, and what you need to do it.
It is also useful to promote narratives about the "normality" and "correctness" of personal financial support for non-profit organizations because they perform important socially important functions.
Maintaining close communication with donors
To retain existing donors, increase the level of their involvement in your organization's affairs. For example, regular donors often have a separate chat in messengers where they can communicate directly with members of the organization and share their opinions on its activities.
Other bonuses can also be an element of donor retention: exclusive materials or gifts (books, merchandise of the organization, etc. - get creative).
Don't just focus on the audience
The audience should be the backbone of the financial stability of an NPO, but businesses should also be involved in supporting it. Companies benefit from this, as they can increase sales and improve their reputation.
Try to choose a business that fits in with your nonprofit. For example, one of our case studies, Step Of Help, an organization that supports the military with clothing and footwear, cooperates with the BlackBay brand of tactical and civilian footwear.
We have considered what functions fundraising should fulfill, and now it is time to move on to specific methods of raising donations.
Google Ad Grants
Advertising on the largest search engine on the planet will be very useful for attracting new followers and, consequently, donors.
Search giant Google provides a $10,000/month grant for advertising on its search engine. All you need is a website and official non-profit status. Once the grant is activated, $10,000 will be credited to your Google Ads account every month. The grant is valid indefinitely, meaning that funding will not stop as long as your website meets Google's requirements.
CSO Digital helps organizations get Google Ad Grants. We create turnkey websites, submit an application to Google, and set up advertising. Fill out the form below and sign up for a free consultation.
Methods of attracting donations
Crowdfunding
Suitable for implementing individual projects rather than ongoing support for an organization. Usually, crowdfunding campaigns work as follows: the organization describes the project, the timeline, and the amount needed. If the amount is not raised by the end of the deadline, the money is returned to the donors.
Sponsorship
This method is ideal for ongoing support of an organization. You can specify several levels of support (for example, $5, $10, $100) and the rewards that sponsors will receive at each level.
P2P fundraising
Use your active social media audience to spread the word about fundraising for your organization. It's very simple: you post a post with the details and information about the fundraiser and ask your audience to share it.
Targeted advertising
Sometimes you can raise large sums of money even without focusing on your own audience - it's enough to target social media users who might be interested in your business.
Analyze your organization's target audience and launch targeted social media advertising.
Engaging volunteers
Support for an organization can be not only monetary. Concerned citizens can help the organization by doing some work, which will also be useful.
Special events
It is much easier to inspire trust in person. Hold small parties for your followers where you organize fundraising while people spend time at their leisure.
Auctions and merchandise sales
Developed organizations can create items with their own design, and the proceeds from these items will help implement projects. You can also auction off meaningful items for your organization's followers (if you have any).
Now that you know the basics of fundraising, it's time to wrap up with some useful tips.
Useful tips for attracting donations
Express gratitude to donors
There are many ways to honor donors:
● Wall with donors' names on the website● Mention in the video credits (if you have a video blog)
● Personal thanks from the head of the organization● A written thank you note● Sharing on social media
Report on the money spent and encourage donations
Explain in detail how you will manage donors' funds and be sure to post reports on the money spent. You can do it as a general report (how much money was raised in a month, how much was spent and where) or as a personal letter to each donor about how their money was spent.
Use analytics tools
CRM systems offer extensive functionality for analyzing the level of audience involvement in donation. The system filters the audience by various characteristics and analyzes which user groups are most likely to support.
Send fundraising newsletters
Don't hesitate to send emails asking for donations to your social initiatives. Sometimes users may simply forget about your organization and an email will effectively remind them of you.