Fundraising Ideas That Work for Grassroots Groups
by Ken Wyman,
cfre* Director Ken Wyman and Associates Inc
Consultants in
Fundraising, Volunteerism, and Communication 64b Shuter Street
Toronto, Ontario M5B 1B1
(416) 362-2926
* Certified Fundraising Executive
Voluntary Action Program Department of Canadian Heritage
Ottawa 1995
Note: This is an updated, expanded and largely revised version
of A Guidebook to Fundraising for Disabled Persons' Groups,
published in 1988 by the Disabled Persons' Participation Program,
Department of the Secretary of State of Canada.
Do you want to reprint part of
this book?
Table of Contents
Introduction: How to Use This Book
1 Fundraising in Canada
Today 2 What's
the Money For? 3
Working With Volunteers 4
The Four Types of Fundraising 5 More Than
Money 6
Special Events 7
Gambling 8
Institutional Grantors 9
Major Individual Donors: Rich and
Not-So-Rich People 10
Taxation Issues 11
Should You Use Fundraising
Consultants?
Bibliography:
Fundraising Resources
About the Contributors
How to Use This Book
Adapt, don't adopt
This is not a fundraiser's cookbook with easy-to-follow, surefire
recipes that will guarantee that you raise money every time. There is
no such thing. Every organization is unique and must adapt ideas to
suit its own situation.
The informality of the writing style used in this book will, we
hope, make the manual more user-friendly, so that you can work with
the information it provides right from the beginning. This is meant to
be, literally, a guidebook, pointing directions and suggesting
options. Some points are touched on only briefly. Others had to be
left out completely, and may form the ground for a future work. Where
possible, a few selected resources are suggested to help you go
further.
Here's what you will learn
- You'll get solid advice on good ideas for fundraising and on how
to avoid major errors.
- You'll find suggestions for sources of help on most topics, so
you can do additional research if you need to.
- You'll discover techniques that have been outlined with
grassroots and disabled persons' self-help groups in mind. Methods
are adapted to help you raise money whether you are in a small
community far from corporate headquarters and foundation offices, or
are in the heart of a metropolis, feeling unable to compete with the
multi-million dollar charity drives that surround you.
- You'll share the experiences of professional fundraisers (and
professional fundgivers) who work regularly with grassroots
organizations that are committed to self-help and social change.
You'll find ways to make your task easier. It will never be easy,
however. The authors have long experience in the frustrations of
fundraising. Seeing long hours lead nowhere has bred a healthy respect
for the difficulties. But seeing money donated to many causes has also
led us to a positive and optimistic attitude. Proceed with hope and
caution.
If you have questions, suggestions about how to make another edition
of the manual better, or ideas on how to help grassroots groups
improve their fundraising, please send them to: Ken
Wyman, Director Ken Wyman and Associates Inc Consultants on
Fundraising, Volunteers, Communication Suite 200 64b Shuter
Street Toronto, Ontario M5B 1B1
(416) 362-2926
What's Left Out
This book could not cover everything, of course. Emphasis is placed
on essential basic information for which there are no other readily
available sources. Where other first-rate sources were available, it
seemed best to point them out rather than attempt to duplicate their
content. Here's what's omitted:
How to get grants from foundations
Foundations gave about $305 million in 1993, exclusively to
registered charities. In many ways, applying to them is similar to
dealing with corporations, which is covered extensively here. However,
there are significant differences. There is an excellent no,
make that essential article in The Canadian Directory to
Foundations1,
published by the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. (See the resource
list at the end of this book for more information.) Don't even
consider applying for foundation grants until you have read this.
How to launch a direct-mail campaign
A whole manual on this subject, written by Ken Wyman, is available
from the Voluntary Action Program of the Department of Canadian
Heritage. (See the resource list at the end for more information on
this and other materials.)
How to build endowments and bequests
This topic, usually called planned giving, is important but
goes beyond the scope of this book.
Too many people who are new to fundraising have a fantasy of finding
benefactors who will build up a huge lump of capital, so that the
organization can live off the interest. In reality, this is
exceedingly rare. Virtually no institutional giver (corporation,
foundation, or government) ever contributes to such a scheme, no
matter how important the cause or how respectable the group.
When money does come in for endowments, it is usually left in the
will of an individual who is a friend of the group. Typically, that
person has already made significant contributions during his or her
life, and is now looking for a way to help more after they have gone
to their own reward.
How to invest money for maximum return
You may wish to investigate one of the several `ethical investment
funds'. Each of these has different limitations on companies and
countries in which money can (or can't) be invested, depending on
factors such as labour practices, racism, sexism, environmentalism, or
weapons production.
For more information contact: Social Investment
Organization Suite 443 366 Adelaide Street East Toronto,
Ontario M5A 3X9 (416) 360-6047
How a nonprofit can start its own business
Here are a few short points on the exceedingly complex topic of
community economic development. Lengthier treatment must be left to
another book.
Decide the primary reason why you are setting up the business. You
cannot accomplish several goals all equally well simultaneously. Is
your goal to:
a)create opportunities for people to learn job skills? You will
also need to invest more heavily in trainers, and you may need to
constantly update your equipment, both hardware and software. This
may not produce enough income to be self-sufficient, so you may need
subsidies.
b)create long-term jobs for your client group? This may take the
form of permanent job creation or a sheltered workshop, or anything
in between. It may mean putting a lower priority on net income and
tolerating work habits that are less than perfect.
c)create income for your organization? This may mean concentrating
on employing people who can produce a profit at the minimum
investment, even if you have to turn away or fire
people who do not produce at maximum efficiency. That is hard for
most nonprofit groups to do.
Use the knowledge you already have that others might want to buy
from you. For example, a disabled people's group could offer:
a)advice for architects, businesses and governments on how to make
buildings accessible;
b)a directory of services for disabled persons, listing social
service agencies and health professionals;
c)consultation for schools on curriculum design to teach
non-disabled children (or social work students) how to understand
and respect disabled persons and their struggles.
Make use of existing free or low-cost services that advise people
how to start a small business. These include everything from the
Federal Business Development Bank (which offers excellent booklets and
courses) to student projects run out of university business schools.
Courses are offered by: Larry Trunkey PO Box 8667
Victoria, BC V8W 3S2
(604) 384-4096
For more advice contact: Our Local Economy 4th
Floor 49 Wellington Street East Toronto, Ontario M5E 1C9
(416) 361-0466
Chapter 1
Fundraising in Canada Today
Will available funds keep pace with rising
demand?
First, the bad news
The real world of fundraising is a hard place. Government funding is
being cut back. Corporations and foundations are not picking up the
difference. Massive public appeals are costly.
This world can also seem very competitive. As of mid-1994, there
were over 70,000 registered charities in Canada, and another 20 or 25
are created every day ten per cent more each year. Big
organizations such as universities, hospitals, and health research
associations use very sophisticated techniques to raise millions of
dollars.
Cutbacks in funding have increased demand for independent nonprofit
organizations to replace services once provided by government
agencies.
Small groups, especially self-help organizations, can feel hopeless
in the face of this pressure.
Corporations are not increasing their giving to make up the
shortfall in government contributions. Corporate giving has, in most
cases, been cut back in response to the effect of the recession on
profits. A few exceptions have emerged, particularly where support for
a popular cause complements marketing strategies. More on this in the
chapter on corporate giving.
Foundations have cut their giving back, too. With lower interest
rates, they have less to give without depleting their capital.
In the six years since the first edition of this book, traditional
fundraising has changed too.
Direct mail, once a low-risk proposition, has become
increasingly difficult as the public gets flooded with requests. While
it is still an effective technique, it is harder than ever to make it
work for a grassroots group.
Special events, too, are less reliable as a major source of
income for many organizations than they once were. The ticket price
for gala balls and dinners once climbed steadily with little apparent
resistance. By 1994, that was no longer true. The costs and volunteer
effort required to produce an event can be so high that the financial
results are barely worthwhile, or may even result in a loss. Events
can still be useful ways of generating publicity, finding new
supporters and cultivating existing donors, whether or not they are an
immediate financial success.
Now the Good News
Individual Canadians continue to give more to charity, after a
downturn in the mid-1970s. Even during the recession, individual
giving continued to increase faster than inflation.
Individual Canadians donated about $96 million more to charities in
1992 than in 1991, despite the economy, according to Revenue Canada.
Their numbers only count the tax credits people claimed on their
income tax returns. The real total is incalculably higher. This is
especially remarkable, considering that 22,000 fewer people even
claimed donation tax credits.
Individuals give 87% of all the money given to charities.
Corporations give roughly 8%, and foundations 5%.
Wealthy individuals are not asked to give as often as they might be,
outside of hospital and university campaigns. There is room for growth
here.
Slice of the Pie or Change the Recipe?
This manual focuses primarily on how you can get your share of over
$3 billion Canadians give to charities each year. It is a big pie, and
even a small slice may help you a lot.
This does not mean you must fight with other equally worthwhile
organizations over a piece of a limited resource. On the contrary,
most experts feel that the size of the pie may grow, meaning more for
everybody.
Charitable giving is an elastic section of the economy. You are not
competing so much against other nonprofit groups, as against other
sources of gratification, such as beer and cheesecake. In fact, the
Imagine Campaign has had measurable success at urging all Canadians to
donate more money and to volunteer more time.
You may not be satisfied with getting a slice of the pie, even if it
is expanding. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women
suggests it is time to change the recipe. Not content to
depend on public generosity, many people want the government to
provide better funding for more organizations.
This is an attitude shared by many of the smallest groups, such as
centres for abused women and advocates for human rights. To their
surprise, they find themselves allies with the largest hospitals and
universities in this battle.
Effective presentations can and have changed government views on how
public funds should be spent. Revenue Canada recognizes that limited
advocacy for government intervention is a legitimate part of a
charity's mandate. While the present publication is not intended to
suggest techniques for making such sweeping changes, the author
applauds these essential initiatives.
Paradoxically, good fundraising may be a vital part of efforts to
eliminate the need for fundraising. First, of course, money is needed
to fund the battle. Perhaps more importantly, developing a wide base
of supporters helps show government leaders how much the public values
your individual organization. This is most clearly demonstrated when
Canadians not only offer vocal support but put their money where their
mouths are.
Unless unlimited government funding is available, however, most
groups will have to find other sources of funds, like it or not. This
manual tells how to do that effectively.
Would you still fundraise if the government provided
unlimited funds?
If the government offered full funding for your organization, would
you still want to do outside fundraising?
The answer may be `yes'. In addition to money, fundraising provides
a number of advantages, such as:
- security, if grants are cut back;
- freedom to work outside whatever restrictions donors might have,
without strings attached;
- feedback from the public on how well you are getting your message
across;
- a sense of ownership for participants who help fund their own
organization, instead of depending on charity (in all the bad senses
of the word);
- an opportunity to influence public thinking;
- a stronger, two-way relationship with supporters.
- financial power to tackle projects that are beyond even the
government's vast resources;
- proof to the government that the public believes in what you do
(and that you can count on voter reaction if your grants are cut
back, or increased).
This is not to suggest there is not a need for more government
funding. Over the years, the public notion of what is an essential
service has changed. It will continue to evolve. |