For hundreds of years, nonprofits world over have tirelessly devoted their time and resources to support people at various types of risk in their respective communities. Through various community initiatives, nonprofits have continued to touch and transform millions of lives, giving them an opportunity to live a decent life.
This is a selfless gesture that has been made possible by the much-needed donations from corporations, small businesses, governments, and well-wishers. In 2019, Americans gave over $449 billion to nonprofits, which is 5.1 percent more than what they donated in 2018.
Not to be left behind, corporations in America also donated over $21 billion to various charities, which was an increase of over 13 percent from the previous year.
However, just like normal businesses, nonprofits have always had their fair share of challenges that have continued to affect their fundraising efforts. As if these were not enough, the global health crisis brought with it a set of new, never-experienced-before challenges that almost brought the industry down to its knees.
You see, nonprofits rely heavily on face-to-face activities to lobby for support from donors and volunteers. In-person events are pretty much the order of the day for nonprofits with fundraisers being their flagship events.
Image Source: Walden University
Since 2020, when the health crisis was officially declared a pandemic, nonprofits have had to go back to the drawing board and strategize on how to keep their donors not only engaged but also interested in their initiatives.
In the absence of social events, the over 1.5 million nonprofits and 36 million volunteers in America alone have experienced subdued funding – a situation that has and continues to adversely affect the lives of millions of people who depend on their support.
But while a good number have somehow weathered the pandemic storm, most nonprofits are still struggling to sustain their fundraising activities let alone attract additional funding. In this article, we shall highlight tried-and-tested donor-attracting ideas that you should include in your fundraising strategy this fall.
Fall is one of the perfect seasons for outdoor activities. Everyone wants to enjoy the first whiff of crisp wind and gaze at the leaves as they change colors. So why not give people what they want and organize a walk-a-thon or bike-a-thon in your community?
Unlike a marathon where participants have to be (almost) pro athletes, a walk-a-thon or even a bike-a-thon is a low-impact activity that anybody, regardless of their fitness level, can comfortably participate in.
All you need to do is to identify a suitable date and make sure there aren’t competing activities. You also need to scout for a scenic route that your participants can enjoy and also capture the experience through photos.
Remember to also talk to local business owners and request their support to help you keep your costs down. Lastly, since a big chunk of your fundraising will come from the participant registration fees, so make sure you advertise the event well in advance so that you can attract many people to the event.
Bonfires are a popular family activity, especially when temperatures start to plummet in the evening. This is a great opportunity to organize a bonfire event in your neighborhood or community and collect donations while at it.
Start by mobilizing people to collect any discarded wood and bring it to the selected location. Consult and coordinate the activity with your local fire department to ensure that the safety of all participants is enhanced throughout the event.
For the fundraising bit, you can sell concessions, ask for donations from local entrepreneurs, as well as sell food items that can be cooked over the bonfire such as marshmallows, hotdogs, or even popcorn.
You can already feel the excitement that this event will bring to the neighborhood, right? Such competitions are a great way of bringing the community together for a good cause.
To make sure that you hit your target, you can either ask participants to bring their own pumpkins and they can pay an entry fee or sell them at the event. To ensure full participation from everyone, introduce different categories for the contestants, including children. You should also pitch the event to local celebrities and businesses to participate, be part of the judging panel, or even sponsor some of the main categories and themes.
Image Source: Care For Kids
This is an interesting activity that will have the whole community excited, especially if it’s a cause that also helps to clean up the neighborhood. Think of it as killing two birds with one stone.
First things first, find out who needs their front yards raked. If it’s in support of a worthy cause, most people will gladly have their yards raked. To fundraise, you can either set a flat fee or simply ask people how much money they would like to part with as a donation to the cause.
Nothing brings a community together like a good meal. Dinners are also a great family activity, especially if there’s some good old turkey with delicious stuffing and mashed potatoes.
You’ll never go wrong with this! Because this kind of event involves groups of people, it is advisable that you partner with a local restaurant to host the dinner. Alternatively, ask people to volunteer to prepare the food. You can then ask the diners to pay a small fee as they enter as a donation to the cause you are supporting.
Image Source: Sub-Culture
If you have access to a nice, flat open field that’s easily accessible, then a football tournament is a great outdoor fundraising activity that you should organize this fall. Get your local football enthusiasts to organize their teams and pay a small fee to participate and compete for the top prize.
During the event, you can sell snacks to the spectators as they cheer their favorite teams. To celebrate everyone’s participation, you could also host a dinner or lunch for the teams and sponsors.
This is an activity that can attract potential donors, especially if you make it an annual event. They can support the event by donating branded uniforms, balls or even have the teams named after them.
Everyone loves pie! And since good food brings people together, then why not make a cause-related event out of it?
Now, your neighborhood must have a local bakery, right? What you need to do is approach them, sell them your idea and ask them for support. They can donate delicious pies and get the much-needed publicity during and after the event.
Once you’ve locked in the pies, approach one of your local celebrities to be the MC at the event. Their work is to hype the crowd and encourage people to participate in the contest. To enter the event, you can ask people to donate an amount of their choice or set a flat fee.
Every family has a special secret chili recipe that they consider to be the best in the whole wide world. Why not put that belief to the test?
It’s time to find out who can prepare a chart-topping chili once and for all and fall happens to be the perfect season to do it. Chili contests are a great way to bring together donors and well-wishers to support your nonprofit as the families show off their chili cooking prowess.
To raise funds, you can charge participants for taking part in the chili cooking contest or sell tickets to people who want to attend and sample some of the best chilis in town. You can also approach local businesses to sponsor the event or participate in the judging process.
To make it more memorable, you award the overall winner with a trophy. How’s that for a spicy event?
Bring together local artisans and have them showcase their creations as part of your fundraising activities. All you need to do is send out invites to all known artists in your community and ask them to partner with you in support of a worthy cause.
And since most people love to buy arts and crafts to decorate their homes, your event will probably attract a good crowd. Depending on the size of your event, you can either ask the exhibitors to pay a small registration fee or the attendees can donate to enter the event.
I know, everyone loves in-person events for a good cause. And while we’ve enjoyed some freedom throughout summer, there’s no guarantee that things will stay the same during fall.
Luckily, all these events can be organized with respecting social distancing (like the walk-a-thon or the bike-a-thon) or moved online. People can always upload their recipes, their art, their carved pumpkins online and other participants can rate them. Similarly, dinners can be organized over Zoom. You just need a bit of creativity, but you can still bring people together, irrespective of the health-related restrictions in your area.
In fact, if there will be such restrictions, your initiative to create community relationships will be even more appreciated. Whether you can organize in-person events or not, you shouldn’t completely dismiss the power of online campaigns and of neat online records.
So here’s a bonus tactic for you:
Your nonprofit needs all the money it can get either through donations or even cost-cutting measures. Did you know that your nonprofit can actually save a significant amount of money by adopting tech-driven solutions such as integration? Well, if you didn’t, now you know.
For starters, integration solutions can help your nonprofit manage its financial data better, create memorable marketing campaigns, reduce its IT spend, as well as promote efficiency across all key departments.
UNICEF, an agency of the United Nations that’s devoted to serving the world’s children and to fighting for the rights of every child, every day, across the globe, uses Dynamics 365 and Mailchimp to power their operations. Due to diminishing funding and limited staff, UNICEF needed a solution that required minimal human input.
SyncApps came to the organization’s rescue by providing a solid marketing automation process that was seamless. Using the SyncApps Mailchimp for Dynamics 365 integration, UNICEF has saved tons of effort, money, and, most importantly, time.
Now, UNICEF, just like all nonprofits who run on our solution, is able to keep better track of their donors. With or without in-person events, they can still get donations because they have other ways to reach people who want to help. With integration, they also have unparalleled insights into donors’ behavior, so they always know which message to send to which subscriber.
Better yet, UNICEF’s integration journey started off 100 percent free of charge, which is a big plus for a nonprofit! By the way, SyncApps has a must-grab 50 percent discount for all nonprofits. Want to give it a shot? Start 100% FREE here.
Despite the underlying challenges in fundraising, your nonprofit still has a good chance of attracting generous donors and funding from other well-wishers. All you need is a robust strategy that incorporates activities that are in line with the interests of these donors. Technology such as integration also plays a key role in helping you save a bit of money here and there – money that will be used to help the community.
