Tag Archives: emptystockingfund

The Appeal For Giving Comes First

Fundraisers talk about appeals all the time when raising money. It’s the appeal, or ask for a gift! Is now the right time to ask? It certainly is if you’ve already prepared and educated people about your organization. If not…stay away from the ask! Instead, think about the future and how you raise the appeal or desire in others through your actions.

We’re sitting on top of a gold mine for 2018. SOAR is in Colorado where the Gold Rush happened in the middle 1800’s. Gold mining continues with the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine, which is close to where we live. They are the largest employer in the area. If gold mining goes away in this county so do a lot people’s dreams. The same is true with your fundraising. No dollars – no dreams!

Raising the appeal for giving is when the people you ask for money – GIVE IT!

The appeal in our lives is that we always have the opportunity to sit back and let the chips fall where they may. “We’ve done all we can do” is often our excuse. The last five days of 2017 are no exception. People say: We’re done for the year; What we do now is not going to make a difference on the bottom line. Is this really true!? NO!

Actually, now is the most-important time to be diligent. You have five days to impact your future financial success for 2017. But, more importantly, this rolls into what happens for 2018 as well. You know THIS to be true.

Raising the appeal within others to give a gift to you is extremely valuable. Lots of people do their annual giving through campaigns set up nationally now. The list is online. They can donate from the comfort of their home and no one is “asking” again and again for a gift.

This statement is now common, “I now give to two organizations each year and I’ve already given.”

Now, more than ever, relationships matter if you want to be one of two organizations a person is giving to. SOAR develops relationships. We help organizations become THE “connector” in their community. People CHOOSE to donate to the organizations we are involved with because the organizations are making a difference for others and not just asking for money!

SOAR works with a handful of organizations each year and we have a few openings for 2018 available in our Year-long Development Program, which is currently discounted through December 31, 2017. Learn more here!

Timely Investments for Raising Money

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Timely Investments:

7 to 12 months before fundraiser
6 to 1 month before fundraiser
1 month to the day of fundraiser

History proves a professional fundraiser raises, on average, 41% more money for an organization, when a successful fundraising system is put into place. It means, if you raised $50,000 last year you’re going to raise $70,500 this year.

The simple formula is – take the dollar amount you raised last year and multiply by .41 and then, add the number you get to your original number. For example: You raised $90,000 last year. $90,000 times .41 is $36,900. Add $90,000 and $36,900 together and you get the magic number of $126,900.

There are systems out there, no doubt, which will encourage you to do things outside your comfort zone. How about sticking to what’s natural?

SOAR’s system has proven to increase dollars raised by 126% within 4 months and 371% within 16 months by highlighting people’s gifts. This means participating organizations must be diligent and open-minded about following a system and sharing the things they’re good at with others.

Timeline prior to a fundraising event:

7 to 12 months before fundraiser – This is when you are spreading the word about your organization because you’re hosting networking events. HOW you do this is important.
6 to 1 month before fundraiser – This is when you change to every other month for networking events, and spend time with a core group of people who are instrumental in achieving your success.
1 month to the day of fundraiser – This is the month when you are looking past the fundraiser and what happens afterwards.

SOAR works with corporations and non-profits to put together Collaborative Networking Events.

SOAR is…here!

Timely investments are HOW you spend your time. The value of follow up…PRICELESS

Vehicles for Raising Money!

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Individual giving, group giving, and organizational giving are three of the vehicles people use for donating money nowadays. This is important to know when you’re establishing ways to share your information with people who may be potential donors. These methods become vehicles for your success when you let people know your organization is an option.

Individual: This is when someone gets directly involved in your mission. Usually, there are obvious reasons, which make this happen. They may have a personal connection through a family member or friend. Other times, it’s not so simple.

Group: This is when someone chooses to be part of a group giving campaign. It may be dedicating an amount of money for someone completing a task. The one that comes to mind is a “run” where a person contributes so much per mile when it’s completed. It’s a sponsorship, so to speak.

The popular giving campaigns would fall into this category. Many people are now giving their donations through “Giving Tuesday” because it touches the organizations, which are tried and true and have taken the steps to market themselves. This is always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving – https://www.givingtuesday.org/

In Colorado there’s the Colorado Give campaign. Last year, https://www.coloradogives.org/ raised nearly 34 million dollars in twenty-four hours. This is the first Tuesday in December this year.

In Colorado Springs there’s the IndyGive campaign where 75 non-profits learn how to market their organization while also encouraging people to donate during the two month campaign. https://indygive.com/

The last one mentioned here – also in Colorado Springs – is the Empty Stocking Fund. this event has been around for thirty-three years. It will run Thanksgiving Day through January 19, 2018. 100% of the funds go directly to agencies to support those in need thanks to the sponsors. https://www.fillanemptystocking.org/about-the-fund/

Organizational: This is where people are contributing on the level of sponsorship. They may donate money and receive a product in return. Many times a business will purchase a “table” at a fundraising event and people from the business will attend. Sometimes, the people sitting at the table also contribute personally, which does help the organization grow. The best benefit to the people in the room is they get to know more about the organization and have the opportunity to get more involved.

Organizations sponsor the fundraising efforts of the campaigns mentioned above (IndyGive, Empty Stocking Fund, Colorado Gives and Giving Tuesday) and this allows for ways people can be involved on the organizational level.