Bored with the Same Old Fundraisers? Try Creative Fundraising

By Brad Morgan

Fundraising is an inevitable task for any non-profit organization.

It can be a challenge motivating staff - and yourself - to raise money, especially if you are using the same methods as you generally do. Creative fundraising can impart some much needed strength into your efforts and business.

It has become increasingly necessary to involve in creative fundraising. In order to compete and boost the profile of their business, non-profit leaders have had to think of collecting money in a new way.

Through creative fundraising, it is possible to create new and interesting ways to fund your endeavors. A major advantage is that they tend to be much more fun than classic methods of fundraising.

People respond better to fundraising proposals when they're enjoying themselves, and when they believe you are offering them something different and unique. They will be more likely to contribute to your cause if they enjoy your service and its employees.

How does this come true in a actual non-profit organization? Imagine you are trying to raise funds for an animal shelter.

Maybe you would hold sponsorship functions or rely upon funds from a scattered group of people. Most animal shelters depend on receiving funds in this way.

Is there a more efficient tactic? Could you, as the fundraising chair, come up with a way to enthuse people in your shelter and open their wallets? What about pet day?

During pet day, children from the locality are invited to come and spend time with the pets from your animal welfare organization. You can fix a suitable location and make it a memorable day for everyone, frankly speaking, your pets!

Once the parents see their children playing happily in the company of the animals, they are more likely to shell out much needed funds. This is creative fundraising: it doesn't need much, if anything, and the returns can be very fruitful. Chances are also ripe that your staff had much more fun with the children than with an advocacy meeting or soliciting random donations.

The options are various, but here's another example. How do you use creative fundraising in a library setting? Schools endlessly need to get money, and a library day can make this possible.

Invite residents from the community to browse through the library and all the fantastic services it offers. Students can take part by actually writing letters to parents requesting money. It may be cuter - and more well-received from a child's cute little hand! They can also create projects or displays about different parts of the library.

To get the best out of your time, you can also have lunch served at library day. Once there, people will want to eat. Add a little wine, and you could look forward for some great donations!

When adopting creative tactics for fundraising, the sky is the limit. The key is to think different and come up with outrageous ideas. If they're too far out there, you can always change them to serve your needs. But just thinking in different ways can help you develop creative fundraising methods that people will actually look forward to.

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