Capitalizing on Holidays

Its a day before the 4th of July weekend in the US. What is your non-profit doing about it? Oh, this is supposed to be Pinoy Fundraising. I apologize. Let me repeat. Its a few days before the Philippine-American Friendship Day (is it still being celebrated??). What is your non-profit doing about it?

Sad to say, maybe a lot of haven't even thought about it. Maybe it does not relate to your organization. But if you thought hard, would you have thought of something. Probably some lame, old excuse to do fundraising. But wait, isn't that what you are supposed to do?

Mother's and Father's Day went by. What did you about it? Did you thank, congratulate, call, write or even SMS the mothers and fathers in your database? (I don't have database, some of you groaned). Oh well...

Events are hyped in this highly commercial world we live in. The Pinoy Fundraiser can use these holidays to grab a share of the fundraising pie. You can write a direct mail package themed from whatever holiday is coming. You can organize special events revolving around a holiday. You give out freemiums (stickers, note cards, pens, etc.) based on a holiday. You can make a holiday a lot more special to people. What you do can make it meaningful to a lot of people.

Now that you read this, do you have something in mind of Christmas?

See you next time!

Do you have money today?

When is the best time to ask? For the Pinoy Fundraiser, it's usually something like, NOW! 8-)

Admit it or not, a non-profit always needs money. For a humanitarian organization, for example, one of their primary mandate would probably be disaster relief. And we all know that disaster strikes at the most inopportune time. A non-profit like this always needs to be ready. It cannot ask money when a disaster strikes. They need to be ready everytime. They need to stockpile food stuffs, medicines, clothing, drinking water, etc. They cannot have it tomorrow, they need it today.

This is one reason why asking for support needs to be an on-going effort. You do not want to be caught flat-footed when a disaster strikes. Appealing for support needs to go out when an opportunity happens. This can also be done intentionally, on a schedule.

Some non-profits, ask for money annually. These non-profits embark on a campaign that will allow them to raise funding to support their work for a year. This is called an "annual campaign." For others, it could be quarterly or monthly.

But then, a good non-profit should be able to have a reasonable surplus that would get them through in emergencies. There are extreme cases when you ask your supporters to stop giving money specially when you set a goal for the amount that will be raised. I read of a humanitarian organization that responded to the tsunami in Indonesia, and when they reached their target amount, they asked people to stop giving and instead redirect their donations to other causes that are helping the tsunami victims. That was a risky thing to do for a non-profit but they wanted to be transparent. they wanted to let people know that this is what they will be doing, no more, no less.

More to come tomorrow.