How to Fundraise

Sometimes schools, businesses, non-profits and such need extra funding to keep the lights on, provide students with the necessary books for the year, get funding for a new building, or need donations to help a noble cause. Sometimes, its just really not in the budget to do those things, so, in scenarios like this, we have fundraisers! In order to pull off a successful fundraiser, we first need to go over how to fundraise and what tools you'll need to make it work! 

What is fundraising?

Fundraising is when a business, school, non-profit organization, or other group puts on a event, sale, or auction in order to gain extra funds to put towards donations, educational tools, building plans, or general needs such as water, electricity and other bills that come with running an organization. Business and organizations will typically run some type of auction, put out a catalog of items for sale, or organize an event such as a festival, concert, carnival etc... with the proceeds going towards the business, organization, or charity running it.  

How to start a fundraiser

So how do you start a fundraiser? Depending on the business you're in or the organization you represent, this can determine what kind of fundraiser would be most beneficial towards you. With your team, decide what kind of event or product catalog would be most appropriate towards your target audience.

Next, you'll need to gather all the merchandise or make some phone calls to available vendors, rent a location or request a date and space, or get in touch with the manufacturing company that will be producing these products.

Once the wheels are in motion, you'll need to promote awareness of the event or sale you're putting together. Use online ads open to the public, start a Facebook event, or create a small Facebook group to promote your fundraiser. If possible, send out emails or promote your fundraiser in a newsletter. Let your audience know what the event or sale is for and where the proceeds are going or what cause it is going towards to make your potential donators feel more comfortable putting their money towards your fundraiser.

If your audience can start donating before your event, make a Go Fund Me page or use an equivalent to start collecting donations sooner!

How do fundraisers work

Typically, if you're selling products to collect funds towards your cause, the money can be put into a separate account or into a business account whenever someone makes a purchase. These funds can be transferred online or with a cash or check order. 

The same rule applies for a event. If you're holding a school carnival for example, ticket sales, game sales, and food sales can be collected in cash or put into a separate account with card if you have vendors that can take debit or credit cards. Obviously, if you're getting other business involved, like caterers for an auction dinner or renting out rides for a carnival etc... a portion of the proceeds will have to go towards that as well. Just something to keep in mind.

Fundraising Ideas

Some fundraising ideas for different businesses and organizations:

For Educators: Festival, Carnival, Silent Auction, Magazine Drive, Bake Sale, Lemonade Sale, a Food Truck Sales (at a school sports game for example), School Dances, Escape Room, Haunted House Walk-Through, Rummage Sale, Student Concert, Product Catalog.

See Our Article About School Fundraiser Ideas for More!

For Businesses: Festivals, Concerts, a Silent Auction, Product Catalog, A Silent Auction Dinner, Wine Tasting, A Marathon or Obstacle Race, an Art Show, Food Truck Sales (at a separate event such as a music festival).

For Non-Profit Organizations: Rummage Sale, Amateur Film Festival, Trivia Night, Marathon or Obstacle Race, Bake Sale, Lemonade Sale, Arts and Crafts Sale, Product Catalog, Raffle Tickets, Social Sharing.

See Our Article About Non-Profit Fundraising Ideas for More! 

If you would like to partner with Sincerely Silver for a product catalog fundraiser with a custom landing page, social media graphics and much more, see our Fundraising Page.