When I started my non-profit organization some years ago, I would have to say the thought of
raising money was definitely the scariest part. I thought who in the world is going to want to give
our cause money? Who is going to want to fund our little organization? It took me years and dozens
of failed attempts before we finally figured out how to bring in sustainable revenue for our unique
organization and when we finally figured out the formula so to speak for how to fundraise
for our unique situation we were able to grow our impact we were able to hire more full-time staff
and be able to reach more people and help more people and ultimately better fulfill our mission
and growing our community impact is what it's all about right welcome or welcome back to my
channel! I'm Amber Melanie Smith. I'm a non-profit founder and executive director of the nonprofit
that i started years ago and i make these videos here on youtube to help other people who are
trying to start a non-profit or trying to get some kind of social impact endeavor off the ground
even if it's not a non-profit etc in this video i really want to share with you the four components
of what i think makes up a strong non-profit fundraising formula that means a formula that
is unique to your organization because every organization is different that will help you
figure out how to generate revenue sustainably for your nonprofit so i really hope that you find this
video helpful and useful don't forget to give it a like and help me out there and subscribe to my
channel for more videos all about these topics before i go on to the next section though i want
to take a minute to share a big announcement with you i am very excited to announce at long
last that my newest online course find and grow your funding is now live so my new course find and
grow your funding takes you through five possible ways that your nonprofit can generate sustainable
revenue it talks you through how to create a fundraising plan unique to your needs and
it includes all sorts of practical real-life action steps that you can take right now to start
your fundraising strategy off it's really ideal for newer or smaller non-profit organizations
who are still trying to figure out the right way to bring in revenue and keep it coming in so if
you are interested go to my website founder to fulltime.com and check that out check out all the
details see if it's for you and i've got a special discount code up there live for a couple more
days okay so let's get into today's topic there are lots of different variables and components
that can lead to fundraising success for any given non-profit organization i've heard a lot of people
ask what is the key to fundraising what's that special magical recipe and unfortunately there
is not one way that works for all organizations every organization is different has a unique
mission has a unique community and has to figure out what's going to be the unique formula that's
going to work for them so instead of saying here's exactly what you need to do to raise all the money
which as i just pointed out is not a thing i'm going to talk you through the formula the
different variables i would consider in developing a strategy for any non-profit to help you figure
out what your unique formula is going to be only you know your non-profit best so this non-profit
fundraising formula contains four components as i see it those four components are going to be
audience fundraising vehicle engagement and personalization so i'm going to talk you through
each one of those to share a little bit more about what i mean by these let's talk about number one
first that's audience or in other words your target audience every non-profit is going to have
a unique target audience that's going to make up their base of supporters or potential supporters
for their organization i know it's uh easier to say or you'd like to maybe say well everyone's
my target audience i'd love to have everyone's support for my organization and of course of
course you would and so would we all but what i've found is that different missions different
program models different ways of engaging people they speak to different types of people people in
different life situations a little bit differently so starting with your target audience and figuring
out who they are what their characteristics are what they like what they don't like is at least
going to give you a strong fit for the people who would be most likely to support your cause
and then you can build on that to hopefully get others beyond that circle too and knowing these
things about your target audience you know who they are what they like what they don't like etc
is very important because it's going to allow you to tailor your communications and your messaging
your website your social media etc and even your donation asks you're going to be able to tailor
those things to that specific target audience if you aren't sure who your target audience is
one very easy way to think about it is by asking yourself who is going to be able to best relate to
or be concerned about the specific issue that our nonprofit is tackling for example let's say you
are a non-profit organization that helps find homes for homeless dogs and cats well probably
your target audience is going to be animal lovers people who like dogs and cats for example
you're not going to make it very far with someone who doesn't like animals
if you are trying to message your organization for um an animal lover so you have to tailor your
messaging or another example let's say that your non-profit raises funds for cancer research for
cancers that affect children one possible target audience could be families with young children
because they're at least able to empathize with or relate to a situation in which their
families could be affected by this and that will allow them to connect emotionally to the cause
once you've thought through your target audience of course then you can figure out where you
need to do outreach where you need to market your cause in order to build up relationships
with that potential target audience in the case of families maybe family festivals or um
parenting magazines might be a good fit for example or facebook groups or social media
accounts that are targeting families okay so that's part one your target audience now part
two of this formula is your fundraising plan or your fundraising vehicle meaning the methods
through which you're going to be generating this revenue raising these dollars and you're looking
for a method or a combination of methods that once again fits your unique mission and situation as a
non-profit this one this piece of the formula is typically where i hear people get stuck there is a
widespread misperception misconception you know what i mean there's a widespread misconception
that grants or donations are the top or even most common ways for non-profits to bring in revenue
for their organization and for some non-profits it might be true that grants and donations make
up the bulk of their budget but in my experience that's not true for most organizations and it's
not necessarily the best fit for all organizations and in actuality there are many ways beyond those
mechanisms that non-profits can bring in money earned income sponsorships program fees etc etc
lots of different ways so for this part of your fundraising formula you've got to take a look
at the whole landscape of fundraising mechanisms and opportunities available to your organization
and really think hard about which of these methods is going to be the best fit for your
unique situation weigh the pros and cons of each the time and the resources required by each in
order to be successful and make a decision about what is the right method or combination of methods
that's going to work best for you now the third part of the fundraising formula is engagement
and by this i mean you need to have a way to keep your target audience engaged throughout the year
and keep your name in front of them beyond just the times when you'd be asking them for support
supporters do not just want to hear from you when you need their donations they really want to feel
like they are part of your non-profits journey growth and success so think about what are the
unique ways that you have the ability to um to do to keep them engaged throughout the year is it a
newsletter is it a gathering is it meeting people for coffee what are the ways you're going to keep
them engaged keep building that relationship with them and maintaining that relationship with them
throughout the year now the fourth component of a non-profit fundraising formula is personalization
and what i mean by this is you want to find a way to make it personal for the person your supporter
when you do ask them for support of course the way you would do this the way you might
personalize something largely depends on the fundraising vehicle that you chose in part two
of the formula another way of thinking about this is simply to make sure that your mission and the
way you ask for support is a good fit for that type of supporter that type of target audience
so let's say that for part number two you decided that the fundraising vehicle that your
organization should most focus on is individual donations then when you're thinking about this
component personalization of how you're going to ask maybe you want to think about and ask
yourself the question what inner need or desire for connection or belonging could supporting
your cause meet in your donor's heart the act of donating can be a very emotional experience people
are invested in the story of your cause invested in the success and the impacts that you could have
they have a friendship with you they have a relationship with you so they are getting
something emotionally out of the experience of providing your organization with support or let's
say the fundraising vehicle you decided you wanted to focus on instead is corporate sponsorships then
in the personalization part maybe you're thinking about what sort of business need might sponsoring
your cause help them fulfill as well now i do want to offer a little bit of a disclaimer here
and that is that you want to avoid taking this too far you want to avoid being overly donor-centric
what you don't want to do is bend over backwards to accommodate a donor or sponsor because that's
not your mission it's not your mission to serve them it's your mission to serve the community so
it's your job to figure out how to inspire and convince these supporters to support that work
for the community it's not about pleasing them but it is about treating them like a partner in the
process where they can play a role as long as that doesn't interfere with your ability to serve your
community authentically by framing giving and supporting your cause as a partnership with a
donor or supporter you can really strike a good balance between helping them feel that sense of
fulfillment and getting that personalization that they need while also being sure to impact
your community in the right way so i'd love to hear where you are in this sort of process at
this point are you in the process of starting a non-profit or creating a fundraising plan share in
the comments below what you are working on right now and as i mentioned before if you need some
additional help either with figuring out steps to start a non-profit or now that my new course is
available figuring out how to create a sustainable fundraising plan check out my website founder to
fulltime.com go check out my find and grow your funding course and see if that can help you out my
newsletter with more resources and opportunities for non-profit leaders and change makers is also
linked in the description below so check that out if that's something you'd like to receive
finally if you are on facebook don't forget to check out my group change the world or bust
i know there's a lot change the world or bust where you can join in lots of people all over
the world who are on some kind of social impact journey whether that's starting a non-profit
or other kind of social impact project come on and join us join the group we will be happy to
have you thanks for watching as always i hope to see you next time have a great day
you