The other day I was meeting with a friend of mine who volunteers his time with an international service organization.  He is very passionate about serving his community and helping others so I wasn't surprised when he asked me to adopt a duck for the upcoming Ducky Derby race.  Having seen it on the local news but not knowing the specifics about it I asked him to tell me more.

He showed me the beautiful tri-fold, multi-color marketing brochure designed for this fundraiser.  He told me about the beneficiaries of the monies raised.  And finally, he shared with me how I could get involved financially with this fundraiser.  Then I asked the BIG question, "How much money do the beneficiaries of the fundraising get to keep?"  After all, isn't this the most important question that non-profits ask when they undertake a fundraising campaign?  

Unfortunately, my friend didn't have the answer to this question.  He made a phone call right there in my office and to his surprise discovered that his organization (one of the beneficiaries of the event) would only keep 40-50% of the proceeds for all their efforts.  This hardly sounds like an effective fundraising event to me.  Yet, I have seen many non-profit organizations accept these types of percentages or less and much of the time it's these types of events that take the most time and effort to complete.

So the question remains.  How effective is your fundraising?  Effective fundraising in my mind is about keeping the most money for your dollars spent while utilizing more of your volunteers than your staff and doing all of this in the least amount of time necessary to do an effective job.  After all, if you run a celebrity golf tournament that grosses $500,000 yet takes a year of effort to pull off and after all the expenses are paid you only keep 20% have you really had an effective fundraising campaign?

Here are my keys to effective fundraising:

1. Get results.  Your non-profit should keep at least 70% of the money raised.  My goal for all the campaigns I take on is a minimum of 75% net to the non-profit.


2. Volunteer driven not staff burdened.  My goal is to have at least 75% of the people involved with our campaigns be passionate volunteers not staff personnel of the non-profit. 


3. Simple campaign to explain to others.  You shouldn't need a multi-colored brochure with a page of rules on the back for an effective campaign.  The simpler the better.


4. A short, manageable campaign time table.  If your event takes more than 6 months to plan and pull off then it's probably not an effective use of every one's time.  My campaigns are 8-12 weeks period.


5. Effective fundraising must be people driven not product driven.  If you're selling cookie dough, wrapping paper, coupon books, etc you will not keep much of the money raised.  People give to people.  My campaigns utilize volunteers that have made a commitment, they share the story of why they are involved in the organization with their sphere of influence, and then they ask for their help.


6. Training.  If properly asked, 8 out of 10 people will give you exactly what you ask for.  My company provides all the training and tools necessary for your volunteers to be successful. 


7. A fun, repeatable campaign.  If done right, your volunteers should want to participate year after year in an effective fundraising campaign.  That's our goal.

Now, there are always exceptions to the rules but for most organizations the keys listed above should be your guide to choosing your next fundraiser.  Remember, keep it simple, business like, and short and you should have an effective fundraising event. 

If you want to learn more about how I can help your organization raise more money than you thought possible in a short, 100 day campaign feel free to call me at (800) 327-1353 or send me an email to richardmorris@golfmarathonman.com.

Happy fundraising!

Richard Morris