Did you know that there are over a million charitable organizations in the United States?
Anyone who works in the nonprofit sector knows that a large section of your time has to be dedicated to fundraising. Although everyone has to do it, many people are unsure of the best way to go about nonprofit fundraising.
Luckily, you’ve made it to the right place. Keep reading for four tips on how to build your nonprofit fundraising strategy.
Table of Contents
1. Leverage Your Network
Most nonprofit fundraising occurs because of personal relationships in some shape or form. If you’re starting a nonprofit from scratch, begin with your personal and professional relationships, and go from there.
Your board of directors can be particularly useful in this arena. They often have personal wealth and/or wealthy contacts from whom they can request donations. They’ll also be able to make introductions for you and provide added power behind requests for donations you make on your own.
2. Apply for Grants and Other Funds
Most operating funds for nonprofits come from fundraising campaigns and successful grant applications. If you don’t yet have an experienced grant writer on staff, it’s worth getting one to help you with this part of the fundraising process.
Search for both national and local grant applications. If there are other organizations in your area who do similar work to you, look through their funder lists and see if there are any grants and foundations that you would be competitive for. Track all deadlines in a calendar and hold regular strategy meetings to make sure that you stay on track.
Be prepared to expand your organization’s capacity if you win a grant. You’ll not only need to do the work that you proposed in the grant, but you’ll also need to report back to the funder on how and when you used the money they gave you.
3. Prioritize Recurring Donations
While one-time donations are great, they’re unpredictable. You can’t rely on them as part of your yearly budget.
Recurring donations, however, happen throughout the year on a preset schedule. Your donor commits to providing a certain amount of money on a monthly or quarterly basis. Because of this, it’s easier to include this money in your organization’s budget to be used for salaries, programming, and more.
If you have individual donors who make substantial annual donations, encourage them to convert their donation to a recurring format instead. Make this option accessible for all your community members by allowing low dollar amount commitments on a monthly basis.
4. Don’t Be Afraid of New Technologies
Technology is always changing, and you can use it to your advantage. From online fundraising platforms to text-to-give fundraising events, smart technology makes it easier than ever for your donors to give to your organization.
You can even use NFTs to gather funds for your organization! This article shares four of the ways that you can use this technology to fund your work.
Nonprofit Fundraising: Start Today
Now you know four ways to take your nonprofit fundraising to the next level. From leveraging your personal contacts to experimenting with new technologies, many tactics can help you gather the necessary funds to keep doing your work.
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