Five Fundraising Ideas for Growing Non-Profits

Almost every non-profit wants to grow – to expand and serve more people, to accommodate more students, to encourage more attendees.  That’s why most non-profits exist: to serve as many people in a target universe as possible.

If you’re growing your non-profit (or if you want to grow your non-profit), you’ll need to grow your revenue base to match.  The more people you serve, the more money will need to be spent on you programs, your outreach efforts, and your overhead.  Today, we present five great fundraising ideas for growing non-profits.

1.   Think Big

Donald Trump likes to say “if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”  I’d like to paraphrase by saying, “If you’re going to be fundraising anyway, you might as well fundraise big.”  If your organization is trying to grow, are you trying new strategies for reaching donors and finding prospects? Are you setting your fundraising goals high enough, and reaching far enough?  For more information, check out Thinking Big in Fundraising.

2.  Think Different

Growing organizations have to break the mold.  Are all the other development programs in your niche sticking with events and direct mail?  Then your program needs different fundraising ideas that those other charities.  It’s time to think outside the box.  For inspiration, check out this list of Popular Fundraising Models from A Small Change Fundraising Blog.

3.  Think Mission

All of the fundraising ideas you implement for your growing school, church, or charity should be mission-based.  Growing, prevailing organizations center their communications and outreach on their mission.  Getting donors engaged with your mission leads to bigger gifts and longer-term relationships.

4.  Think Individuals

With the exception of large national charities and a handful of niche players, non-profit development programs that are direct mail or event based are doomed to collecting small gifts from a limited pool of donors.  If your organization is growing, one of your first fundraising ideas should be to expand your individual giving program.  Individual givers often take more donor cultivation than event donors, but they also give larger gifts and give more often.

5.  Think Networks

Growing your fundraising program requires systemizing and scaling your efforts by encouraging your closest supporter to fundraising from their own networks on your behalf.  No matter how many staff members your development organization has, you’ve got to build fundraising networks to help you implement your fundraising ideas.  Get people on board by engaging them in your mission, then making them part of your team.  Check out Building Fundraising Networks for more information on setting up these systems.

Related posts:

1. Fundraising for Small Non-Profits
2. 5 Unique Fundraising Ideas
3. Four Low Cost Fundraising Ideas
4. 3 Great Unusual Fundraising Ideas
5. 10 Ideas for Taking Your Fundraising to the Next Level

Tagged as: Fundraising Ideas