Fundraisers are a waste of time, effort, and annoy people. If that were true, why would you hold one? The common answer is because we need the money. Are you raising enough money to justify the time, effort, and ill will?
Mission Enablers provides consulting services to nonprofits. Holding a fundraiser is common event. When the nonprofit is struggling, it becomes a frequent event. The theory says that with more money our financial worries will evaporate. The theory is fine. Do you know of anyone who has achieved financial health through a fundraising event or through several events?
Consider a nonprofit with a $1,500,000 budget, an operating deficit of $150,000, and declining donations. Can it afford to annoy people? Can it afford to waste anyone’s time?
The board decided to hold a hog roast and auction to raise money. When the auction was over, they raised $5,000 after expenses. The attendance was about the same as last year. There were a few new people and some of the regulars were absent. The merchants who provided the auction items were annoyed. The auction items sold at a discount. The merchants felt their gifts were undervalued. The organizers felt that the buyers took advantage of the event and failed to honor the spirit of the event. The volunteers and staff were annoyed because they put in 835 hours and the event earned less than $6 per hour for their time. As one person put it, “We could have stood on street corners with coffee cans and earned more money per hour!!!”
They earned 3% of what they needed to balance the budget. In addition, they spent three months preparing, organizing, and holding the event. In short, they invested 25% of the available time to earn 3% of the need.
The board’s response was, “We had to do something.”
When no one wins, it is a very sad story.
Is that an uncommon story? In our experience the answer is no.
What is the solution?
There are two solutions. The first is contact everyone who attended the event and determine why. Several of those people really care about the mission. Help those caring people connect with the parts of the process that are important to them. Over time, their passion will cause them to give. Their gifts will be larger than their purchases at the auction and their entire gift will support the agency. The cost of events dilutes the value of the income. In addition, they will make their gift year after year without the reoccurring expense of the auction and hog roast.
Yes, that is time-consuming work. However, it will produce more dollars per hour than the fundraiser did. In addition, the donors will keep giving year after year. The dollars per hour next year will be even higher. How does that compare with a fundraising event?
The second solution is to invite people currently without a connection to the agency to have lunch or coffee on Friday. Each Friday have a different group of adults (5 – 10 individuals) visit. Give them a tour of your agency as well as the free food. Talk to them about how the agency is changing lives every day.
Just give them a good time and plant the seeds. Asking for money will be easier in a few weeks once the seeds begin to sprout.
Within a week of their visit call them and discover what parts of the mission are important to them. Help them see how they can easily connect to their areas of interest. Then over the coming year cultivate a deeper interest. As their interest deepens, you will find multiple opportunities to increase their financial commitment. At the end of three months, the agency will have more money with less effort and everyone will be happy. In six months, your accomplishments will be impressive.
The third solution is to do both. However, the long-term goal is to eliminate all fundraiser. They are an unwanted tax on the faithful and a burden for the staff and volunteers.
As always, if you want help contact us.
