Fundraising – Easy Or Hard?

Sometimes, one is not so sure if fundraising is easy or can be hard. The distinction cannot be figured out beforehand.

Big-time fundraising events can sometimes be a nightmare or can be smooth as silk. Small fundraising events look like they can be done with eyes closed, although they can be stressful at times.

Needless to say, everybody wants the easy way. How does one get the best results for an easy fundraiser?

For starters, the easy fundraiser is theoretically done with less effort. It is said that the level of effort is directly proportional to the size of the group's monetary goal. Of course, experience tells us this is not set in stone.

Resources

The perennial problem in a small group is resources. You need so many volunteers and you end up with never enough number. An additional problem would be that, as common courtesy would have it, you cannot require too much time commitment from so many people.

Ideally, the commitment would only consume a volunteer's single weekend or perhaps a small amount of time during the days of the week. Experience tells us that people are more enthusiastic in helping if it does not require more than two hours straight of their time.

Time period

Another important aspect of an easy fundraising is the overall length of time spent on the program. An easy fundraiser that lasts more than one weekend should not need much attention. Meantime, those that exist only for a single weekend should not need a huge amount of preparation time.

What, then, are the easy fundraisers that take a little effort, few resources and have the right time lengths?

Here's a random list of some simple ones that anyone can set up:

Recycling programs

Used printer cartridges collection and recycling program virtually costs nothing. The boxes and shipping are covered by the suppliers. Many companies encourage recycling efforts. Good prospects are office buildings housing many offices.

Electronic and office supplies stores are also good places to collect them. Customers bring their old cartridges to the stores for replacement.

After a while, a considerable number of places shall have been covered in your recycling program. After the initial placements of these collectors, there would be less work after and yet they can produce the needed funds for your group.

Another easy enterprise is the famous yard sale. The time needed is short, probably just a Saturday sale (with some preparation time the previous night).

As to the resources needed, recruiting outgoing types can be productive. Balloons for children and doughnuts and coffee for adults certainly add fun to the event.

Putting items from different households together into groups can create bigger draws. It can attract enough shoppers with enough donations to give away.

Another type of easy fundraiser is the weekend specialty sale. The best items would be those seasonal ones – Christmas trees, pumpkin patch, spring flower bulbs, etc. This needs some advance publicity and a high-traffic location. The target is the general public as well as those from the group.

The trick is to make it quick and fun – setup on Friday, sell on Saturday, and close on a Sunday afternoon.

Of course, the prices should be competitive. And there should be some service to go with the sales. Have big boys around to tie down those Christmas trees on cars and place pumpkins in the trunks.

Fundraising is actually not that difficult for both small-time and big-time events. It is all in the right planning, using correct resources and managing the time. You've seen how a small time event can be done in fun and easy way.

How a big-timer can be done just as easy will be in another article.