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Step By Step Fundraising Ideas Brought to you by September 2004 Can you believe the summer is over? Here in my home state of Texas it is still pretty darn hot, so as we like to say, “it’s not over til it’s over.” I hope you all have had a great summertime and have had a chance to relax and unwind. Most of you know that I’ve been hard at work getting the new e-book, “The Beginner’s Guide to Fundraising: How to Make Big Money with Small Events” published. By the way, there’s only 12 bonus coaching sessions left. So if you’re one of the next 12 to get a copy of the book, you will get a free one hour fundraising coaching session by telephone! I’ve also added a sneak peak at one of the success stories that’s
in the book. It’s about how one man throws a luau (and gets his
head shaved!) to raise money for Leukemia research. In this month’s newsletter article I’m featuring a newfundraising idea – stock market sales. Read on to find out about this easy fundraiser. Best wishes for your continued fundraising success! Sandra Sims Giving Your Supporters a Healthy Return on InvestmentOver the past few months the talk of the financial world has been the Google IPO. On August 19th Google.com became a publicly traded company and shares are currently trading at around $102 per share. And rightly so, Google is arguably the most powerful, and smartly run, internet company of today. What can non-profits and fundraisers in particular learn from Wall Street? People who donate to your cause are not just buying a product or giving away a few dollars. They are literally investing in your organization! Your donors are investing their money in your mission, your cause and want to see a return on that investment. How can you show a “return on investment” to your donors? Well
of course, you will not be giving money back to them as in the real
stock market. The return your donors are looking for is The first contact after the donation is generally a thank you letter. In this letter include some ways that the donation will help the organization. There are a number of other ways to communicate your progress to your investors. Quarterly newsletters by mail, e-mail newsletters, and donor receptions are all means of communicating the return on investment to your supporters. Make your story as real as possible. Include real success stories of people you’ve helped and pictures of people and events. Statistics and reports about how you organization has grown or achieved goals will also show your donors that their investment was well spent. If you’re having a meeting or reception, use a multimedia presentation and/or video. Consider having one of your volunteers, or someone who’s been helped by your organization give a short talk. The important point is to let your supporters know that they are valued, and their contributions are making a difference! Stock Market Share Sales – Easy and Profitable FundraiserLet’s take a look at a practical way to apply the idea of the Stock Market to a fundraiser. This is a program that has worked well for a church youth group for several years. Here’s how they conduct this fundraiser: High school and junior high students raising money to go on a mission trip each sell shares of “stock” for a set price each. There’s a generic stock printed that has spaces for the donor’s name, number of shares, and the child’s name. This particular group sells the shares for $20 each. So if someone wants to donate $40, they will write “2” shares and give a check or cash for that amount. After the mission trip, there is a “Share Holder’s Meeting” and
anyone who purchased shares before the trip are invited. Desserts
and drinks are served and Power Point presentations and This is an easy fundraiser that could easily be adapted for individual fundraisers who are participating in a charity athletic event, or for other non-profit groups. That’s it for this September edition of the Step By Step Fundraising Ideas Newsletter. If you have any questions or comments about this month’s issue, let me know.
To Your Continued Fundraising Success,
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