IFMSA Leadership Training Program

Fundraising Strategies

Step 1: Start Thinking

Why do you need funds?
How much do you need?
Does it worth it?
How much should be raised?
Who will raise funds?
Why should they finance it?

Why do you need funds? Having a worthy cause alone is not necessarily nor usually adequate for raising funds needed to achieve it. It should be formulated within a framework of project or concept, following a logical reasoning and structure. Thinking process will allow you to formulate your thoughts on the paper, leading to the first draft of your project proposal. Define your objective(s) as clear as possible, using simple, understandable terms. Any valid objective must be capable of being expressed in simple declarative sentences that are obviously clear once stated. Avoid complex sentences, use dots instead of commas. Discuss the formulation of your project objectives with peers and friends. Remember, nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood. Justify your objective(s) in terms of: Rational: The objective(s) should be logically sound, relevant, affordable, and achieveable within a reasonable time and budget. Relevant: Relevant is defined as acceptable and accessible by the target population, and addressing a well established need. An AIDS prevention campaign to supply condoms to a community could be irrelevant if their religious convictions do not allow them to use condoms, or if AIDS is not a major problem in that community, or if the community does not see AIDS as a major problem. Applicable: Your project should achieve results which could be of some future use for and/or have a direct, significant and accountable impact. For example, if you are organizing a educational conference, you should think how the information and skills transferred/generated during the meeting will be used by the participants in future. Develop an assessment mechanism for your project: At this stage, before formulating your objective to a project, identify how would you measure the achievement of your objective. This is a vital step, and will guide you in developing your methods. Make an outline of how you would achieve your end goals: Identify steps of the project: what should be done first, and what will follow, what should be achieved at each step (intermediate goals), and how you assess the achievement. Each step must be manageable in size and time. Estimate the time needed for each step: Everything will take longer than you think, so be pessimistic when making a time-table. Finishing a project early is praisable, finishing it late is not. Try to identify all the factors that are out of your control and might cause delays (such as a step depending on the replies from international correspondence). Estimate the resources needed for each step: Inventorise your resources (manpower, time, funds, etc.) Be realistic! Make your projections on identifying how much additional funds, labour and other resources you would be needing. Again, be realistic. Compile your draft project: Do not get lost in details at this stage, remember: this is only a draft. The odds are that you will need to change this document quite couple of times before it will eventually make sense to most of your peers. How much do you need? Formulate your budget based on the draft you have created. Try to think all the possible expenses and inventorise them. Add a buffer (5% to 10% is usually acceptable) for unexpected costs. There might be many. Be pessimistic in projecting costs, especially if this is the first time you develop a project of that nature. If you have a lot of unknowns, try to find out real costs rather than estimate them. Classify budget items and number them consecutively. This will help you later in refering to them and in bookkeeping, and it will make more sense for the sponsors. Does it worth it? Actually there are two essential questions: a. Does it worth it at all? Will this project result in something that worths all the energy, money and time spent for it? Re-evaluate the relevancy and applicability of your project. Be critical, because sponsors will be. b. Does it worth this much? Spend some time thinking if your objectives could be achieved in a more cost-effective way. How much should be raised? Inventorise project incomes. Are you already promised any funds or consumables? Are there any direct incomes as a consequence of the project (eg. participation fees, loyalities, etc.)? When estimating be pessimistic. Do not count on any money which is not promised you on paper, or already in your possession. For example, planning a course for 30 people, or to sell 100 postcards does not mean you will reach that goal readily. If you do not have experience enough to predict a sound flow-pattern of donations, be pessimistic in your calculations. Try to identify services and goods which you could use to substitute your fund needs. Some organizations and companies might be willing to donate consumables rather than hard cash. For a course, for example, you can aim to get educational material, rental of meeting premises, and/or travel ticket of a resource person sponsored. By definition, the difference between your expected expenses and incomes is the amount you need to raise. Who will raise funds? This is often neglected, but an important question. At this step, you do not need to identify each and every person's tasks; however you should decide on general lines. Will you have a committee or a person responsible? Will you need a professional fundraiser of volunteer(s)? Who will coordinate the whole operation? In case you will solicitate the services of a paid fundraiser, also decide on the terms of payment. Will you pay for the time of the fundraiser or will you pay him a percentage of the raised funds? The advantages and disadvantages of a professional fundraiser: On the positive side, the odds are a professional will raise more funds than a nonprofessional, On the negative side, the services of the professional fundraising will cost you money. The advantages and disadvantages of nonprofessional fundraiser(s): On the positive side, this is usually free. On the negative side, it needs a lot of coordination, interim training, time and labour. Why should they finance it? Start by thinking about the last time you made a contribution: perhaps you gave money to a charitable organization: Maybe World Wildlife Fund, maybe the Salvation Army, or maybe Amnesty International. Perhaps you bought some fundraising merchandise: a UNICEF greeting card, for example. Perhaps you supported a campaign of any sort: Bought "fair trade" good or a more expensive but ozone-friendly deodorant, "happy chicken" eggs maybe; or send a contribution to the Stop AIDS campaign. Whatever it was, two things happened to get you split from your money: you were asked and it was in your interest. You may have cared about an issue, wanted something to happen or not to happen! Reflecting on your experiences of being asked for money -both positive and negative ones- will help you to discover some effective and non-effective strategies, arguments, presentation techniques and communication skills involved in fundraising. It will help your fundraising if you can give people a very specific understanding of what their contribution will accomplish (e.g., $1 will pay for a life-time polio immunisation to a child, $400 will pay for a month's drug supplies in a health centre, etc.) Keep in mind: People feel good about giving money to something they find important and useful. However, corporations have another approach to sponsorship: They consider the cost/benefit ratio of the donation in question. Whatever other claim they might have, the bottom line is a corporation stands for making profit, not necessarily in terms of cash, but still, a profit of some nature. The results might be directly beneficial for a company (eg. research grants), or the impact of the project on a commercial target group might be attractive (eg. corporate funding on education, missing children campaigns, etc.) or offer direct advertisement opportunities (eg. sponsoring mass sports, conventions, festivals). Remember: offering advertisement possibilities to the sponsors might strengthen your appeal. An important note: Most of the big cash donations by corporate sponsors are tax-exempt donations to non-profit organizations. So if possible, try to get a tax-exempt status; if not, try to collaborate with a tax-exempt organization in fundraising for a project of mutual interest.