A successful capital campaign can offer many benefits, both to a charity and to those it helps. The goal of the capital campaign is to generate as much money as possible in as short a time and from the fewest resources as possible. The object of the funds is usually a major asset, such as a new building, outreach project or charitable service.
Before you start targeting donors, you need to have a concrete fundraising strategy to keep you focused on your call to action and monetary goals. If you’ve never put a fundraising strategy together before, then it can seem a bit of a daunting task. Here’s a handy little guide to break down the task and get you thinking about what you want to include in your fundraising strategy:
Income from Trusts is often seen as the holy grail of fundraising. Indeed, for many charities trust fundraising forms the backbone of all their income, eclipsing the amounts raised through community fundraising, individual giving, corporate grants and legacies. No wonder then that many charities are keen to boost their trust fundraising income. But how can this be done, in an increasingly competitive marketplace where many established Trusts are seeing their own income squeezed?
The support of a philanthropic billionaire can completely transform the work of an organisation. If a billionaire makes your charity their pet cause, then you can expect an immediately raised public profile, critical injections of funds and committed support for your projects, not to mention the strong possibility of a generous legacy.
Major Donors, or ‘high value’ donors are so important to many charities that they deserve a fundraising strategy all of their own, often with a member of staff devoted exclusively to ‘Major Donor Fundraising’. A charity CRM offers you a fantastic means of managing your relationship with your major donors, monitoring your contacts and promoting greater engagement with your cause.
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For generations, schools have engaged in ad hoc fundraising activities in order to boost their coffers. This good tradition is usually epitomised by the summer fair and its stalls of grubbily iced fairy cakes, Santa's grotto at Christmas and the obligatory school leaver's tea towel for year six parents. However, over the past couple of decades, school fundraising has become more professional, more streamlined, and more capable of raising serious cash to further the school's developmental goals.
The proposed Fundraising Preference Scheme has been a hot topic of discussion among fundraisers across the charitable sector, and is now the subject of a paper produced by the Charity Commission working group tasked to consider the subject. The proposals have met with a mixed reception from fundraisers and, if implemented, will certainly affect the way supporter data is managed and fundraising campaigns are conducted. There is currently a consultation running on the details of the scheme until 31st March 2016. This blog briefly goes into the details of the proposals and how fundraising professionals may have to respond to its challenges.
As fundraisers, we spend a lot of time thinking about reasons why a supporter would donate to our cause. Hundreds of hours of love, care and attention are poured into passionately expressing your charities vision, creating powerful adverts and compelling campaign appeals. Focusing on the core messages of your charity and how they relate to your target donors is the best way of securing new support. However, in order to secure that crucial second donation, or to convert ad hoc supporters into regular donors, we need to understand the reasons why donors stop giving.
At the beginning of 2016 there were 3.3 million registered limited companies in the UK. A good proportion of these companies, from the large national brand names to local micro-businesses, have charitable interests and budget to spend on fundraising partnerships – but currently only 2% of the charity sector’s fundraising income comes from businesses. Clearly there is room for growth, and a report from Good Values in 2015 indicated that 95% of fundraisers are optimistic about the potential from the corporate market. However, competition is fierce, relationships take time to nurture and securing a partnership can be hard work.