Community fundraising: Improve your donation drive
icause is a one-stop shop to raise money for your community organisation or project. If you are planning a fundraiser, keep reading for everything you need to know about fundraising ideas for communities.
Why do communities need to fundraise?
Unless the funding for your community organisation is guaranteed (lucky you!), then you need to fundraise to be able to run the initiatives and projects on your schedule. In many cases, members of the community rely on community organisations for their daily essentials, so keeping the funds flowing is really important.
Some of the many things that communities need funding for include, but are definitely not limited to:
- Youth programs
- Community gardens
- Meal delivery services for the elderly
- Homeless shelters and soup kitchens
- Community support and mental health fundraising
- Fundraising ideas for schools
- Maintenance of community buildings and parks (beyond council funding)
- Furniture
- Websites and marketing
The most successful community fundraisers will not only keep the cash flow healthy but also continually build awareness of your projects and initiatives to secure a loyal local following that will help to keep your future funding stable.
Fundraising ideas for community projects
So, you know you need funding, but where do you start? With the proper planning and support, fundraising should be a fun and rewarding experience, so the first step is to make sure you have a stellar committee with you. Once you have your team together, it’s time to leap into these 5 tried and tested easy fundraising ideas for communities.
1. Partner with local businesses
A great way for local businesses to raise their profile and support your cause at the same time is through donation matching. This means that for every dollar someone donates, the business also donates a dollar (or two or three, depending on the agreement you have).
Donation matching can encourage more people to support because they know that their donations will be multiplied. Plus, having a well-known local business involved can help to raise the profile and credibility of your campaign.
For smaller businesses who are not in the position to offer donation matching, they can lend support in-kind by supplying a venue, catering or goods and services to help your campaign or fundraising event become a success.
2. Sponsorship
Identifying sponsorship opportunities can be a much-needed source of ongoing fundraising for your community. Approach local businesses, councillors, schools and clubs as potential sponsors. Some potential sponsorship opportunities include:
- Events and performances
- Buildings or parks
- Community Christmas tree
- Newsletters
- Morning teas, lunches or food truck drives
- Fetes and fairs
3. Community fundraising event
Give your community members the chance to support themselves with a fun community event. Ideas for events are endless, with options for adults and plenty of fundraising ideas for kids. Some of our favourite events include:
- Community fair
- Trivia night
- Talent show
- Art auction
- Barn dance
- Casino night
- Record attempt (put your community on the map!)
- Sponsored fun run
- Film night
- Raffles
Ask local businesses for support by hosting the event at their venue, supplying food and drinks, donating prizes for competitions and raffles or becoming an event sponsor.
4. Donations
Setting up a crowdfunding campaign can help you raise funds for your community. The social nature of crowdfunding means that your supporters can easily share the campaign with their own friends and family to boost your funds.
Make sure you choose a crowdfunding platform that lets you easily share your campaign to your email and SMS database, as well as social sharing and a QR code for direct mail, posters and flyers.
If donations have slowed due to the cost of living crisis you can use the Switch and Donate feature, exclusive to the icause fundraising platform. It allows your community members to donate without spending a cent. In fact, they’ll be saving money by donating to your campaign!
Read more here: Introducing Switch and Donate.
5. Community shares
Community shares, also known as community investment or a cooperative, work in the same way as equity-based crowdfunding, which you have probably seen work successfully in the commercial world for start-ups or raising capital for businesses.
Community shares are best if you are raising funds for a physical asset, such as a building, shop or hotel. When your supporters donate, they get a ‘share’ in the asset in return. This means they are likely to remain supporters for a long time, to maximise the success of their investment.
Setting up community shares needs a little more legal knowledge than other fundraising methods, to stay within the fundraising guidelines. You need to adhere to your state’s fundraising laws and Cooperative Act and make sure that you fulfil the financial commitments you make to your donors.
BONUS: Some more ways to raise funds
It’s a clever idea to diversify the income stream for your community, that way you have a backup if one source of funds dries up. Below are some bonus fundraising ideas to add to your mix.
- Government, Council or Private Business Grants
- Membership or Association Fees
- Selling Merchandise
- Selling Goods and Services
- Bequests
- Calendar-based campaigns, for example, charity Christmas fundraising campaigns
Next steps
If your committee is ready to take your community fundraising to the next level, get started today! Make sure you choose an option that is feasible and achievable, and where possible, choose several options so you have funds coming in from all angles.
The team at icause are passionate about helping you reach your goals through our fund raising platform, so for help and support give us a call, or get started online today!
