There are several money-related issues that the fundraisers should ensure clarity about. This is important from an audit point of view and also to retain and increase donor trust and confidence. Charities whether big or small need to have a cost-earnings record so that they can furnish documents to claim tax benefits and also offer documentary evidence to donors that their donations make a difference. There are many software options available in the market that can enable charities to keep track of their spending. Charities do not need to send a lot on fundraising software, often a simple excel sheet will do for record-keeping.

Contributions, whether in-kind or monetary, should be reported periodically. Expenditures should be meticulously noted down. There should be clarity on the definition of a “contribution”. There should be rules on amounts above which the names and addresses of contributors should be recorded. You should also have a record of the donor’s employer.

Contributions are considered to be material; a person helping out with his time is not “contributing”. In-kind contributions above a certain value should be recorded. Fundraising costs should be meticulously recorded with appropriate break-ups. Costs of hosting an event, food and drinks, tickets, entertainment, rental, etc are costs that need to be written down and recorded.

Fundraising volunteers and candidates should report on all costs including small ones such as money spent on thank-you notes, calendars, envelopes, post-its, etc. The reason for this is that small costs escalate and if not recorded you will be faced with money drain that you may find hard to pinpoint or control. You may require special arrangements for joint fundraisers that you hold together with another party. Proper apportioning of costs as well as a fair split of the funds is essential.

Reporting of funds raised by candidates for political parties is essential and required by law. There is something known as Political Contribution Refunds that donors can make use of but not the entire amount may be refunded. Politicians and would-be public representatives need to project an image of honesty; indeed they need to be honest. Fundraising activities like raffles may not be the best idea for political fundraising as it is akin to gambling.

It is important to make fundraising fun and participative so that you can enthuse volunteers and energy levels remain high during the entire fundraising drive. Think of activities that are relevant to the cause so that becomes easier to plan for them. Have brainstorming sessions to come up with interesting ideas to adapt fundraising work to your situation. This is an interesting and important aspect of fundraising; things rarely happen according to the book. So you will have to improvise to meet your objectives in terms of time, money, space, getting people, informing people, etc.

Look around you, there will be scores of things that you can do to help the community and in return people will gladly help your cause with time and money. For example you could shovel snow, prune lawns, deliver groceries, do babysitting, tutor kids and so much more.

You have to get the people on your side, get them energized, and let them realize that their positive energy contributes a lot towards the cause; celebrate success. As far as young volunteers are concerned getting involved in fundraising is a great way to develop entrepreneurial skills by active participation and observation. Fundraising requires interacting and dealing with vendors for products to put on sale. It requires haggling over prices. You get to strike contacts and build your network.

In order to get people enthusiastic about attending your fundraiser you can always try and offer them something that is unique and if it is participative then so much the better. If your community has never experienced a fun bake sale then by all means hold one. It is a low-cost fundraising idea and very participative. Make use of seasons… hold a bob-sledding competition in winter; swimming and cross-country races in spring, etc.

You can also hold fashion shows for the moms and dads; invite groups to prepare skits and perform, have fun and issue prizes. Of course all these activities have to contribute towards your funds for your charity.

Advance preparation and contacts developed through experience are key in hosting a smashing fundraising event; this means that you need to scout for and book a good location in advance and also strike deals with vendors on sharing profits and return of goods not sold.

The reason why fundraising should be made stress-free and fun is because it is an activity that requires a high degree of commitment and honesty. You impact your community, the people you work to help, and the donors. Because of the tremendously deep manner in which you can affect people’s lives it is worthwhile to remember to do so in the right spirit and a cheerful manner.

The beauty of Web 2.0 is that it is relationship and conversation-based. You connect in good faith with people. Consider that you wish to market something, only it’s not a for-profit product, it’s a charitable cause. Any marketing effort benefits immensely when those who are using the product / service put in a word for it – word of mouth publicity is not only free but also very effective. And there is no better avenue today for explosive word of mouth information spread than the internet.

Web 2.0 has empowered users; people can exchange facts and information. What this means for a charity that is doing good work is that if people really like what you’re doing for the community they are not going to hold back on their praise. And Web 2.0 has a multiplicatory or viral effect that can leave you reeling under the impact of public response.

Before entering a Web 2.0 climate and creating your own space out there, you need to have something to say. You need to take time out to participate in the process and further other people’s causes. You need to be honest, civil, approachable, and more. Each social network functions under its own set of rules, you have to adapt to these rules and use them to your benefit. Web 2.0 works for you in one way and one way only – that is to have enough people to spread your word. The strategy lies in getting enough people to do it for you. There are two things you need to do. The fundamental thing is to have something powerful and meaningful to say and contribute. In the case of fundraising charities it means telling people about the good things that your organization has done and the importance of public support to keep the organization going. The second thing is to be seen. Contribute on the message boards, spread the word around for other charitable causes, help people, interact with them; basically make yourself useful. Web 2.0 is a peer-to-peer give and take. Give so that when it’s your turn to ask, you can do so with confidence.

The good news is that online donors are young; they believe in philanthropy give whole-heartedly. Men and women both donate in equal measures. Keep this in mind when you plan your online fundraising drive. Target correct audiences to achieve maximum conversions. Keep track of what your audience groups follow. Make use of Google alerts, forum alerts, newsletters, etc. This will help you engage your audience in a meaningful conversation.

The internet has for quite some time been a bulwark for fundraisers; fundraising has a lot to do with communicating and the internet opens up so many communication options. But to make the best use of the web for reaching out to potential donors you have to be aware of new developments.

Web 2.0 implies real-time interactive communications via the internet. Web 2.0 is about engagement; it fulfills our desire to be seen and heard. When we get seen and heard, it does wonders for our credibility and charities depend a lot upon credibility. Web 2.0 is an extremely useful medium for charities to explore. It consists of chats, forums, blogs, wikis, social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, business networking sites, etc. Podcasts and audiocasts are powerful tools that help you reach out to a potential audience using social media.

Social networking sites and other Web 2.0 sites can form crucial hubs that align with and link to your own website. This helps achieve many objectives. One you reach out to a greater number of people. Two, like-minded people have more than avenue of keeping track of what you do. Three, content put up on your site gets viral distribution through the Web 2.0 sites. Four, you learn a lot of things by studying existing fundraiser activities on Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook, Digg, MySpace, etc.

A great advantage of Web 2.0 sites is that it frees up the communication process. Those who donate know who they want to donate to and with a little effort from your part they can really spread the word around for you. This means that one donor can get in a few more and those few more again spread the word for you. This can help cover all your fundraising bases very nicely. You are not limited by geography, demographics, etc.

You should know that the same principles that make donors give offline are at work online too. People are eager to be associated with a cause; they want to feel the happiness and satisfaction of being associated with something greater than the daily mundane happenings of their lives. The beauty of Web 2.0 is that a powerful message can really come alive across all the sites and platforms out there. So powerful can be the impact of an honest and heartfelt message that you will be hard pressed to manage the responses that start pouring in.

Fundraisers are to accept only those donations that are voluntarily made and should be in line with the objectives of the organizations. Also very importantly, the donations should not invite unreasonable costs in processing or disbursing the donation amount.

The fundraisers should accede with the donor’s wishes regarding how the funds should be disbursed. At no time should the fundraiser raise funds for personal gain or for any financial gain for the organization. The donor’s free will in making a donation is paramount; at no time should the fundraiser use coercion, threat, intimidation, harassment, etc in trying to gain funds. Any such activities can backfire badly on the organization and invite legal action as well as a huge bad rep in the society.

The organization employing the fundraisers has three stake holders; namely the donors, beneficiaries, and the employers. The fundraisers are answerable to all these regarding the use of funds and methods employed to generate the funds. Donor privacy and donor wishes are to be respected. Also donors should be furnished with details on how the money is being used. This is not only a responsibility but also a great way of retaining donor confidence for future donations and promoting their cause.

Under no circumstance should the fundraiser act in a way to undermine the honor and dignity of the beneficiary. He has to be careful about the fundraising material and brochures that he uses to propagate his cause. The content should not cause embarrassment to anyone.

Fundraisers should try to see that the suppliers and agents they work with do not gain any unreasonable profits. They should follow the same standards in dealing with them as they follow within the organization.

Fundraisers are expected to behave in a very responsible manner when it comes to communications; their public communications are very often the basis on which donors make up their minds on giving a donation. To this end the communication has to provide accurate facts and figures. At the same time it should present the issue in a sensitive manner without hurting the dignity of the beneficiaries.

The public communication should not give the impression that the fundraising activities are carried out without any fundraising admin and operation costs. This creates a misleading picture in the minds of the donors.

If a donor wishes to be removed from a mailing list, then this should happen immediately.

Fundraising is a global activity; it takes place across different industries, in different forms, different countries. Yet, fundraisers are bound by several common aspects. Fundraising for a non-profit is basically an altruistic activity in which the fundraiser works selflessly for a cause. There are certain universal ethical practices that fundraisers should and do embrace in one form or the other. The codes of conduct and standards of practice need to be implemented within the cultural context of a region.

First of all, honesty is a basic principle. It is the foundation on which ideally all fundraising is to be done. Truthfulness is the cornerstone for all fundraising as the activities are all dependent on public trust and goodwill.

Fundraisers are expected to show respect to their work and conduct their affairs in a dignified manner. They have to be a credit to their organization. They are also responsible for upholding the dignity of their donors.

Integrity is also important; fundraisers are often entrusted with sensitive information and they have to safeguard it. At the same time it is incumbent on them to make clear all potential conflict of interests to donors. They should not display any bias towards donors on the basis of caste, color, creed, religion, sex, education, etc. Fundraisers should always try to rise about professional misconduct.

Empathize with donors so that they can make an honest and more effective pitch. This will also help fundraisers to view donors’ privacy and freedom of choice as something to be respected.

Lastly and very importantly fundraisers should always try to maintain transparency in their dealings; there should always be an auditable trail. They should be able to furnish on demand all details on how the donations are acquired, managed, used as well as their operational costs. Accurate finance management and reporting is very important if they are to maintain donor trust in their work.

The standards of practice that fundraising organizations follow should adhere to the laws of their jurisdiction. The different activities must confirm to the most rigorous interpretation of the laws that apply.

As we can see the ethics and related code of conduct for fundraisers are not very difficult to understand but a little difficult to practice; more about the subject in the next article.

There are many factors that influence your chances of getting funds from a company. These include your past track record as a charitable organization, the company’s financial condition, benefits for the company, and of course the esteem that your organization is held in within a company.

A lot also depends upon how you present your case. Research your proposition to make it interesting for the company; show them what’s in it for them. It’s in your interest to make it long-term. Your approach has to be professional. A good PowerPoint presentation can work wonders. Explain to the company about the edge and advantage they can have if they put in money to support your effort. Tell them about the positive public perception and how they can not only get good PR and promotion but also do charity at the same time.

Here are some pointers to consider when preparing your case – find out how your organization and the company are linked; is there a past association; does the company support other charities like yours; do the two entities exist in the same geographical area; are there any skill-sharing or learning opportunities for mutual benefit; etc.

Keep the presentation language direct and simple. Buttress your statements with facts, figures, and achievement stats. Be clear about where the money is going to go. Tell the company about the beneficiaries. Highlight your success stories through case studies. Tell them about your awards, commendations, and government funding that you have obtained on the basis of your work. Mention the yeoman service that volunteers do for you. This tells the company that people are willing to spend time and money on serving society through your organization.

Once you have laid the groundwork, you can then ask for the money. Now you can make a demand based on the information you have furnished in your presentation. Tell them how if they accede to your request they can fulfill their corporate social responsibility in an admirable manner. Be clear about issues such as permission to use the company’s name, premises, and logo for your promotional activities.

If you can get corporates to help you with your fundraising it takes away a lot of your stress; you know you can meet your annual targets when you have the assurance of companies backing your effort.

To get companies to donate to you, you should first have clarity on why do companies donate. The basic reason is philanthropy – the desire to do good. It also helps them create good publicity. They can also link their charitable work to a promotional drive, increase sales, and invest for the future.

If you have your finger on the pulse of why a given company chooses to make a donation, then you can approach it accordingly.

Companies can contribute to a fundraising in the form of cash donations, match employee donations, give gifts in kind, volunteer to help an organization, sponsor an event, advertise your cause, and bundle the promotion of your activities into their marketing.

Here too it helps an organization immensely if it knows how a given company prefers to help the fundraising act. If you can get it to sponsor an event or two, then you have a major expense taken care of. You should also know that your success in getting substantial funds from a company does not really depend upon the size of the company. A lot depends on the effort you put in and how convincingly you present your case to the company. Always remember that your organization is competing for funds with so many other organizations. And big companies often support several charities.

When trying to obtain funds from companies a big consideration is your timing. The best time is when you feel that the industry that the company represents is doing well. No point in approaching an airline company when oil prices are very high. And when you do decide to approach a company do so in a very systematic manner. Find out the right person to communicate with. It helps to maintain personal contacts in a company. See if the company has a charity coordinator or a PR department.

Here’s a great tip. Very often a company’s advertising budget is substantial but its charity funds are not that great. So you should see if you can strike a sponsorship deal with the company wherein the company benefits from good PR and commercial benefits and you get funds to execute your charity operations. There are various things that you can come up with. The scope of such an activity can extend beyond local regions and allow you to increase the scale of your activities.

Often schools find themselves hostage to unhealthy food items when they look around for stuff to sell in a fundraiser. The truth is that parents and guardians would really be attracted to a fundraiser that would give their chance to enjoy and learn about tasty and healthy snacks. America is facing an obesity epidemic and schools are where you learn about good nutrition.

It is a myth that only junk food sells in fundraisers. The myth is propagated by cola, chips and chewing gum manufacturers. Low nutrition foods sell because that is all that gets sold; faced with any competition such food items are bound to fare poorly given that parents and kids today are more conscious about health-related matters.

Schools are often attracted to vending machines dispensing junk food as these offer easy money; but given that you often get tied to a company that blocks precious real estate on your premises, you really need to calculate the costs.

Soda companies are often viewed as benefactors of schools, as being ever ready to help with funrdraising; however the truth is not so simple. The cola companies get the bulk of the money that comes from the pockets of children that spend to support a charity and what do they get in return? Empty calories that only make them obese.

Bake sales are not popular is another myth; they are popular and do great, especially in a community in which a small group prepares the bake items and the whole community pitches in to buy the stuff.

Redemption programs are good; in fact such programs are big rip offs. You really need to spend a lot to stack up sufficient points that can net you something substantial. You could consider gift wrap sales as an alternative if you can find enough items that are healthy and not just chocolates and ice creams.

One thing is certain, if you can get sufficient health food items on display, such as fruit salads, green vegetable dishes, baked pastries stuffed with veggies, tasty protein shakes, etc then you will be able to enthuse people to come forward and purchase.

Non-profits and charities exist because of the good folk that follow the maxim – “People give to people.” And as a fundraiser you have three main options to raise money; on an individual basis, as a team, and of course the ever-growing online fundraising.

Given the finances and skills available with your organization, you can follow one, two, or all three options to raise funds. Whatever you do remember to take it forward and not leave it halfway. Spread your fundraising activities, do not expect immediate results.

Have a long-term fundraising plan that covers fundraising activities for the year and the avenues that you wish to tap. Apportion work according to the capabilities of the manpower resources at hand.

Fundraising is very dependent on the amount of information your team has on the cause you wish to support and how you plan to make a difference. So, for example if it is arthritis patients that you are keen to support then have the stats on the condition, particularly in the area where you wish to canvass for funds. You are bound to be asked questions and relevant answers will help you strike a chord with people who know the travails of an arthritic.

When seeking funds, use the opportunity to get volunteers as well. Be enthusiastic about the work and you will surely get converts that also wish to work to making a difference via your organization. This is something that you should always remember. Also always ask for references from a donor, he may surely know like-minded people who are likely to donate to your cause.

When working as a team, it is important to maintain team spirit, cheer one another’s success and share information. Fundraising ideas are essentially limitless; you can pick and choose based on what’s worked in the past. If you’re an office-going person you can get your entire office to contribute, to make it participative you should make it fun…like maybe a dress-down day where people earn the right to dress casually for a day or more by paying for the privilege. The proceeds, of course, go to the charity you support.

If you’ve got a skill that you can impart to your friends, then charge them a fee and do so by all means, teach them to sing, dance, play the guitar. You don’t, however need skills to throw a great party, just some space and lots of good food.