Debunking the Top 5 Reasons Not to Fundraise

Fundraising for RESULTS is one of the best ways to share our mission and passion with your community.  Yes, it brings in money to sustain RESULTS, but it’s also a very effective way to grow support for your local group. Most partners agree that grassroots fundraising is a critical part of growing our organization to hasten us to the end of poverty, but many of our groups and free agents are not yet involved with fundraising activities. If you haven’t yet taken the step to get involved with an event or an online campaign…

What is holding you back?

In this blog post, we’ll address the top five reasons we often hear from RESULTS advocates about why they don’t want to participate in fundraising. Perhaps they might ring familiar with you!

1. “I don’t have rich friends”

Most of us don’t! Yet small donations can really add up. Teresa Rugg of RESULTS Snohomish raised almost $2000 with an online campaign in 2013 with most of her donors giving $50 or less and no donation exceeding $100. Cindy Levin had the same experience in Chicago the prior year with most of her donors giving less than $30.

1. You can hold a fundraising event for free or very little money in a public place. A local park generally might charge $25 or so for the use of a shelter or it might even be free. Our groups have used restaurants for their first fundraisers where they can have a space reserved and a portion of the check donated to RESULTS.
   1. Asking for money is often difficult for people, but keep this one fact in mind and it may be easier than you think. You’re not asking for money for YOU. In fact, it’s not about you at all. It’s about 57 million children without access to education. It’s about hungry Americans who must sacrifice their pride to ask for food. It’s about 19,000 children under 5 who die every day from treatable and preventable diseases.

      If we still haven’t convinced you, here’s another way to tackle this hurdle. Do you have anyone else in your group who would be willing to play that role? In many groups, individuals take on certain roles. One person may be much better at coordinating details, some might be excellent hosts, and others don’t have a problem with public speaking or asking for money.

      1. There has never been a better time with RESULTS to do an on-line fundraiser. We can help you with an email or social media campaign to inspire donations whether you’d like to run a race, ask people to celebrate your birthday with you, or take part in one of our online campaigns (Friends and Family or the Virtual Thanksgiving Feast).
         1. You can actually make a fundraising event part of your strategy to drive people to your outreach event. St. Louis was successful using a plan with a fundraiser on March 1 and a group start on March 30. Guests at the fundraiser became part of the inviting committee for the group start.

            The crazy fact is that some people are more likely to a fundraiser than an outreach meeting. Some outreach events suffer from low turnout because busy friends think they can simply talk to the host about it any old time. But if you have a fun evening planned or a special guest speaker, they’ll likely see it’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity and save the date for you!

            Public fundraising events make fun and engaging outreach events, especially when you focus on the fun. Louisville, KY partners gained outreach momentum when they held a karaoke fundraiser and showed everyone their silly side.  RESULTS Chicago got a boost of energy and credibility with guests when Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky spoke on our behalf and inspired their biggest fundraiser audience to date.

            However you’d like to participate, we are confident we can find a way to help you be more comfortable with fundraising. Reach out to one of our fundraising coaches today (Cindy Changyit Levin at [email protected] or Jen DeFranco at [email protected]) and start thinking about how you can fundraise in 2014!