Fundraising in a recession
Posted on: Tuesday, February 8, 2011
What are your best fundraising tips? There simply must be a better way than selling chocolate!!!
Share your fundraising gems and maybe you'll get some fantastic ideas in return!
I recently read an article about how schools are crazily chasing the charity dollar in an environment where fundraising is tougher than ever. This hit a nerve with me, as I had just handed over $60 of my own hard-earned money to buy a box of chocolate from a local toy library fundraiser as I didn't have the heart to hit up my mates to buy a chocolate bar for twice as much as they could get it for at the corner shop.
And I thought to myself - what is the answer?
I came up with a similar idea to that of Kerri Tilby. In the article I read, Kerri from Exult (which runs fundraising seminars for schools and other non-profit organisations) said that she believed the ultimate product for schools to sell in a recession is toilet paper - as everyone needs it and parents are not being forced to spend money on something that they wouldn't otherwise buy. (For the record, my fundraising brainwave was plastic wrap - I recokoned that all parents of preschoolers have a long few years of school lunch wrapping ahead of them...but hats off to Kerri, toilet paper is better!)
So my question to you is, what works for your organisation? What fundraising brainwaves have you had that have not only been a winner for your organisation but also for your supporters who have opened their wallets?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter about the toy library chocolate fundraiser, and was more than happy to do my bit, but it just left me thinking surely there must be a better way.
Your views????
-Pip