Depending on the reason behind your fundraising campaign, you have to devise a strategy to approach the campaign so that you start out on the right foot. On the one hand it might require very little on your part, while in some cases it might seem as if you have to do everything yourself. It all depends on your target community and of course how well you are communicating your intentions to your donors and potential donors, as well as to your team. This being the clichéd advice given time and time again, it must also be mentioned that you should adapt your approach to accommodate the needs of your organization and community.
School fundraisers are by far the easiest. You have a community which directly benefits from your efforts. This in itself motivates your students, who are the beneficiaries, as well as their parents, who are also beneficiaries, as they will have to foot the bill for things like sports uniforms out of their own pocket if your fundraiser is not successful. It is not necessary for you to conduct an external event or anything expensive to solicit sponsors. Send the parents and children out to canvas local businesses asking for their support, and among your student body you are sure to have business owners as parents.
While this will almost always be the case for school fundraisers, if you have a cause or if you are working on a community fundraiser, you might find it a bit more difficult to secure donors. (After all, nearly every local business will have some tie to the schools in that area, whether a child in the school, a niece or nephew or perhaps they themselves are alumni of the school.) This is different from school fundraiser in many ways. One of the primary differences that you will notice is the need to more aggressively market your fundraiser if you are working on a community fundraiser. (You will not have the built in benefit of parents needing to save money, and therefore being more proactive.) You will need to show donors and potential donors the benefit of participating in your fundraiser. The most important, and also the toughest job, is to get noticed. You must strive to reach the eyes and ears of everyone in your community. Eye-catching outdoor campaigns are the norm. Think of the typical summer car wash, or bake sale that goes on around school start up times.
Arm your fundraiser with a battle cry or in your case a catchy tag line or slogan that will make you stand out from the crowd. You should inspire your potential donors in a way that calls to their generous nature. This is a very important aspect of efficient fundraising. Obtaining new donors is no less important than maintaining tried and true donors.
Perhaps you can approach an influential person from the community asking them to voice their support for your campaign. Religious and political leaders have enormous potential and charisma to attract a large following. You can make use of their influential prowess by asking them to join your team.
Grabbing the attention of people and convincing them of the worthiness of your cause is the ultimate aim. Pastors and politicians are great at this (after all, they do it on a daily basis). They can explain the necessity and the benefits of your campaign. It gives a touch of authenticity and approval to your campaign that is irresistible! It also opens up your potential donor base to include all of the people that these leaders come in contact with.
By making use of Phoneraiser you can provide a valuable and a highly justified reason for your contributors to support your cause. Environmental awareness has become a high priority for many people. This is the right time to make the best use of Phoneraiser for your fundraising campaigns.
Different people try to achieve different goals with a fundraising campaign. Most of them could be put into one of the three categories – steady income, jab and big bucks. Regardless of the organization you are representing you might be going for a campaign with one of these objectives in mind.
Steady income campaigns are focused on bringing you a continuous flow of income all year long. Obviously you would need a separate and dedicated team working on it the whole year round. If there are no standing instructions for the people working the campaign, you might find that they spend more time trying to sort logistics out rather than profitable fundraising activities. Given the statistic that on an average a person uses a mobile phone for one to one and a half years, you could ask your donors to agree to contribute one used mobile phones each year or so! Phoneraiser helps you get the most for those used mobile phones! Make sure that the basics are covered at all times, and make sure that you have clearly defined instructions for your team.
Jabs are just what they sound like. If you are planning to run a campaign to add to your primary income, you are going for a booster or a jab campaign. This requires you to come up with some innovative ideas to bring in quick money. Social events are the best way to go. You can always arrange a social event and sell tickets in advance. With the idea that you get back what you have invested by selling about half of the total tickets and rest being the profit, you can gain a lot in a short time. Further, selling tickets in advance increases the chance of more people turning up for the event and helps you plan. Use the event to build a rapport with your community and also to extol the benefits of your organization. Selling your benefits is the most important aspect of fundraising campaigns.
On the other hand, if you are trying to pull big strings and make a mountain of cash, you are looking for a big bucks fundraising campaign. This no doubt requires you to spend a lot of time on fundraising activities. A grand event is what is needed. Getting a celebrity or well know person to help publicize your campaign is the best way to go. You have to put in your best efforts and give everything you have to give to make these types of campaigns successful. In essence you are looking for an idea where you would raise big money in a short period of time. Phoneraiser pitches in with a huge contribution for this kind of effort. You can collect a lot of used mobile phones from a group of people as almost everyone is likely to have one or two up their sleeve. You can return these to Phoneraiser, who will help you raise the much needed funds that you are looking to raise. (And with the release of the iPhone 4, now would be a great time to start looking at this fundraising opportunity. People galore will be looking to upgrade their phones to this newest and coolest model of the ever popular Apple iPhone.) With every penny going directly to your campaign, and no overhead cost for your cause, this is one of the most economical fundraisers around!
No matter what you are planning to achieve with your fundraiser efforts, Phoneraiser can fit right in and can bring you unmatched benefits!
A lot could depend on the fundraising campaign you are planning to conduct right now (whether a child gets much needed medical attention, your boy scout troop gets to go to the national jamboree, or your choir gets to go to that worldwide competition). But you do not need to buckle under the pressure. Online fundraising has become the most used mode for solicitation primarily because of the wider reach and the ease with which you can establish contact with your potential donors.
While attempting to start an online fundraiser, many people fall prey to some of the common mistakes which can deliver a death blow to their campaign. It is important to stay clear of these roadblocks to make sure that your campaign runs smoothly.
Too often innovation is given undue encouragement. Yes, it’s a great idea to be unique. But trying to reinvent the wheel too much could be detrimental to your efforts (that old saying “don’t fix it if it isn’t broken” actually has quite a lot of worth to it). You should not throw in the towel on conventional modes of fundraising just because technical advances allow you to. As with most things, moderation is the key. You can successfully combine tried and true methods with new methods to enhance, and not replace, your current modes of fundraising.
Even if you plan to dive headfirst into online fundraising, it is too easy to forget the available resources in the search for a more lucrative and attractive option. Making use of the available resources to the fullest is the primary objective. If you already have an email or a blog, make use of these channels before you start thinking about newer modes. And make sure that you use them to the FULLEST extent possible.
In the age of social media there is nothing that escapes the Twitterati and Facebook fanatics. If you are not ready to embrace social media, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities to spread the word about your cause.
The second most important objective of a fundraiser is to bring in volunteers. Once you have recruited and drafted eager men, women and children to bolster your cause, it is up to you to keep them abreast of your plans. Keep in touch with them regularly, as they will look to you for guidance. Emails are the best way to stay in touch. Neglecting to communicate with them is a common mistake. (But never forget to pick up the telephone and give a personal touch to a conversation, offer encouragement, or just chat to keep lines of communication open!)
The “ask once and wait” policy is not the way to go for fundraising. While being polite and avoiding inbox spamming is important, it is necessary and indeed advisable to send follow up emails for those who have shown some interest. Just think of how many times you have forgotten to do something after being asked about it! Thanking them for their contribution is a great way of showing appreciation. This will help in expanding your spectrum of donors and repeat donors.
Your friends, relatives, relatives of friends, friends of relatives, colleagues and ex colleagues are all part of your target donors. USE YOUR NETWORK. You must be very sure not to miss out on reasonable opportunity. Hindsight is 20/20, but research and active networking will ensure that you don’t have any regrets about the way that you have conducted your fundraiser.
And then the most clichéd mistake! Sending a common and generic template to beseech for support from your donors will not work. You need to send a personalized request. Remember that emails and snail mail are only an alternative to an in person meeting. The letters should reflect your appeal, and appeal to the donor’s desire to be part of a larger cause!
With the use of Phoneraiser you can deliver a valid reason to your donors to convince them to support you. Avoid the common mistakes and achieve your goal with Phoneraiser!
What better way to motivate your sponsors than to make them understand what their actions mean to the community?
These words have been repeated several times over, across all the websites that promise to give advice on fundraising campaigns. Most of the people fail in fundraising campaigns because they are unable to find a worthy cause or because they are unable to explain to the sponsors the use of their contribution.
At Phoneraiser you have both a noble cause and a clear explanation of how your sponsor’s contribution will benefit the community. Surely, most of us have realized by now the hazards of improper disposal of used mobile phones. If that didn’t convince your sponsor to make a contribution this should!
A majority of the people have absolutely no idea about how our used cell phones are recycled. The important thing is that most of the cell phones that we use could end up as toxic wastes poisoning the very air we breathe and the water we drink. To avoid this, safe disposal sites are set up to ensure proper disposal of used mobile phones.
When the used mobile phones enter the recycling plant, they end up giving back a lot of valuable metals including platinum and gold. This is not to say that your mobile phones are made of gold or for you to imagine the metals in your mobile phones turning to gold by alchemy. But, mobile phones do contain a certain amount of gold.
Secondly, if trained technicians take care of your used mobile phones, they can separate working parts from the mobile phones to reuse them. Very rarely do all the parts of a mobile phone become trash. There is no end to the amount of savings that can be made in terms of material by recycling and reusing “old” mobile phones (old of course being relative). Here at Phoneraiser, we are “dated enough” to remember those massive blocks of things that we had in the cars, and that awful, but very useful, mobile phone that Zack on Saved by the Bell used. (Of course, we certainly don’t miss the massive phone bills that those phones came with… it’s money that we can put to good use!)
This should help you to persuade your sponsors. Armed with the technical knowledge of what happens behind the scenes in a mobile phone recycling plant, you can make an appealing request to your potential donor. It certainly can’t be said often enough. Get your donors invested in the cause. People who are invested also become very good “spokespersons” for your cause, officially or unofficially.
The power of persuasion is not achieved without a solid reason to back up your cause. Phoneraiser gives you an opportunity to contribute to the community as a whole, while ensuring that you derive benefits out of your fundraising campaign. Recently several organizations have realized the importance and need for contributing to the community. This coupled with an easy way to raise funds seems ideal to most organizations.
Visit this link in YouTube to know more about how mobile phone recycling is done:
Fundraising campaigns have increased in number and you don’t want to be treated like one in a million. Standing out from the rest is important if you are planning to succeed in your fundraising campaign efforts. Whether you achieve success or not in your campaign depends on how good you are at convincing people. (In fact, fundraisers are in effect sales people. You have to be able to sell your cause.)
Your organization should have a strategic plan. You must ask yourself how this new fundraising campaign is going to fit into the scheme of things. The biggest challenge in your campaign will be to convince your benefactors. You must demonstrate that your efforts are benefitting the cause and it would be even better if you are transparent enough to show the results of how you are managing to help your cause with their contributions.
It is always a good idea to advertise your fundraising campaigns with a set of well written statements that shows your motivation and commitment towards the cause. You begin by writing a mission statement explaining why your organization exists. This should convince your prospective donors that your company does yield benefits to the community.
Next is the vision statement. This should explain what you are planning to do in the near future. The way your organization operates to achieve your long term goals is also equally important. People are not going to look at your organization as a benefactor to the society unless you go out of your way to express your intentions.
The strategic plan should be an explanation of how you are intending to achieve your goal. It should be clear and concise. It should make sense to the sponsor and appeal to him. Finally you get the chance to talk about your fundraising plans. This is indeed nothing but your strategic plan, but you can explain how your vision and mission are going to be utilized by this fundraising campaign. It is important that you present a coherent and clear picture of what you are intending to do. This will go a long way in convincing and converting casual onlookers to active contributors and volunteers.
Your ‘case for support’ statement is an important element of your fundraising campaign as it explains to your sponsor why he or she should be contributing towards your cause. Here you relate the needs of your organization and also the reason why you are approaching the sponsor.
If you really have no experience in fundraising, you can still succeed in your campaign. If you have visited bank managers asking for loans you know how to handle them. This is a similar kind of situation where you are looking for a bigger amount!
Explaining that used mobile phones are a hazard to our environment if they are not recycled properly is an easy way to convince your sponsors. With the help of Phoneraiser, explaining to your contributor about the importance of his actions is not going to be a big deal! Enjoy the power of fundraising from Phoneraiser.
And Phoneraiser helps you get your campaign off the ground with marketing templates and documents that will help you in your efforts.
With the recession hitting every aspect of our society, there are very few organizations that are showing signs of weathering the storm, without external financial help. So if your organization is in need of some quick and relatively easy funds to keep it going, Phoneraiser gives you the most “bang for your buck” fundraising campaigns, (especially since it does not cost you a penny!)!
If you are planning to run a fundraising campaign with the help of Phoneraiser you should understand the motivation behind Phoneraiser. This will help you convince your donors the cause they are donating to, is one that benefits people on many levels. Once your benefactors appreciate the cause they will be more forthcoming.
A recent survey shows that an enormous amount of cell phones are being disposed of as garbage each year. With the average life expectancy of a mobile phone being around one and a half to two years, a huge amount of mobile phones get dumped daily and most of us fail to think about where they are going! (And if they are not being dumped, they are hanging out in various drawers, nooks and crannies around the house.)
It has been estimated that the toxic content of mobile phones is dangerous enough to consider them as hazardous waste. Leaving them in open garbage cans is not the proper way to dispose them. There are quite a few organizations that are environmentally responsible and they take on the job of recycling the used mobile phones.
The limited resources of our earth should not be wasted incessantly without regard for future generations. Recycling used mobile phones, to use them longer is a great way to sustain and protect our natural environmental resources.
Apart from the obvious benefits of recycling mobile phones, there are certain amounts of gold used in the ICs of mobile phones and PDAs. This can be extracted and reused. This is perhaps the most important fact about recycling mobile phones. Recycling all the mobile phones carefully could accumulate a large amount of gold content which would otherwise be wasted!
The alarming fact is that very few people are aware of this. This is certainly important information that should be passed on to everyone. The more people that are aware of the environmental impact of tossing cell phones, the more people want to donate their used mobile phones for this worthy cause, especially once they are made aware of the benefits.
Phoneraiser will pay you money for every used mobile phone you donate. This is a nice way to kick start your fund raising campaign. Once you explain the importance of recycling used mobile phones and PDAs, a lot of people are going to want to contribute. A change of heart is imminent if you take pains to explain how harmful the toxic wastes can be for our health, if they are left to decompose…. SLOWLY, while leaking precious metals and untold other toxins!
To better understand the after affects of throwing away your used mobile phone, see this short video which will inspire you to donate your mobile phones for reuse!
As we often like to do Phoneraiser wants to encourage people to fundraise to the best of their abilities. While we offer a unique fundraising opportunity that you can use time and again, and one that benefits not only yourself, and you cause, but also the environment and the underprivileged, we know that a lot of planning and effort must go into the process in order to make it a successful venture.
There is a lot of talk about goal setting and planning when it comes to fundraising events. Many of you might not understand the importance of prior planning and establishing goals. But before you begin any fundraising campaign, it is always better to set goals so that you can work towards the intermediate and final goals. Having short term and long term goals helps you to keep your team motivated.
Lack of planning is the problem with most fundraising campaigns which struggle to succeed in their efforts. Without a fixed goal, it would be impossible to avoid chaos in your campaign team. Unless your team is given a tangible goal, it is entirely possible that you will find some of them working in a disorganized fashion without leading to the overall success of the campaign. A goal on the other helps people to focus on what they should do to contribute effectively. Additionally clearly setting out the responsibilities and duties for each person will help with meeting your goals.
At the outset, if you have clearly planned your goals, it eases the management job for you. You have broken up the elements of the campaign into reasonably manageable groups. You have assigned goals for individual teams and set up deadlines. This helps your teams to strategize and think about the ways to bring success to your campaign.
Set reasonable yet challenging goals. Remember that, it is always fine to set up goals that appear challenging. If you aim for the stars, you might land up on top of a mountain. However improbable your goals appear, you should provide your team with the resources to achieve the goal. If you fail to provide the required resources, your team will feel frustrated!
Setting goals is not the end of the management job. Once you have your team moving towards the goal, working on the plans you have made for them, you must keep them motivated. Bring them together once in a while and deliver motivational speeches. Appreciate the contribution they are making towards the campaign. Be honest with them when you talk about where your campaign starts. Make them believe in themselves. It is very easy to get frustrated during an off week. Make sure you are right there, to push them towards the goal!
The process of setting a goal is not easy. But success does not come without planning. Most fundraising teams are successful because they do what other people never think of doing. Uniqueness is the key to success.
Fundraising events and campaigns could be a long term effort especially if you are planning to make substantial contributions towards a cause. No matter what you do to kick start your fundraiser campaign, always begin with a positive attitude. Be passionate about your efforts. If you are enthusiastic about the cause, it will catch up with everyone in your team. A motivated team can do wonders, even with limited resources.
Never forget that planning and motivation are the two eyes of a successful fundraiser campaign.
Now that you have decided that a fundraising campaign is a highly effective way to help your organization raise funds, you have to understand some of the basics of fundraising. Assuming that most of the potential fundraisers are the people who live in your community, you should develop a relationship between the community and your organization.
Building a solid relationship with the community will help you find a lot of volunteers and benefactors for your organization. You must use the power of persuasion in convincing your potential benefactors. Phoneraiser can help with this by helping you create the necessary promotional materials that you can share with your community regarding your Phoneraiser fundraiser.
For the sake of easy understanding, lets say we have three distinct steps in building an effective relationship with the community. The motive behind this exercise is to search for potential sponsors and volunteers for your organization or for your cause.
The first step is to sell your benefits to the society. Everything you do to help someone or some organization outside of your own comes under the benefits tag. You must take careful steps to make people realize how your organization brings benefits to the community. Many fundraising campaigns fail to do this effectively. This step lays the foundation for bringing in volunteers and sponsors! Through this effort you are trying to create awareness about your organization in the community. You can’t expect a new soccer team to have a big fan following, if no one knows about its existence! You must stop being a ‘nobody’.
Building a personal relationship is the second step in this relationship building exercise. Put to use all the techniques you have to build a strong relationship. Invite your community members to a relationship building event. Make sure the people who attend your event are inspired by the way your organization works and start to see your organization in a new light! You are passively converting people who are politely curious about your organization into active sponsors and volunteers.
The final step is the most important of the lot. You have no way of reading the mindset of the people who have attended your relationship building event, unless you are psychic. If you fail to follow up with the attendees all of your efforts till now would have been wasted! The relationship building event is just a warm up session. You must identify potential volunteers for your cause and recruit them, and this means staying in contact with them. It is very difficult to get volunteers otherwise.
If you think you have spotted a potential volunteer go out and talk to them right away. Give them small responsibilities at first and encourage them. You can gradually increase the workload as time goes on. This will make them enjoy the work and contribute to your organization’s cause. This is the most effective way to bring in volunteers. And people passionate about your cause are the most effective ambassadors.
You can easily convince the community that bringing in used mobile phones and ink cartridges are a great way to contribute both to your organization and to the environment. It will be much easier for you to make them understand the potential benefits of their actions. If one begins to appreciate their own actions they will be much more forthcoming in contributing towards your organization’s cause!
There are very few areas of society that can boast of being left unscathed by recession and subsidy cuts from government. If your organization is in need of funds, it’s only natural that you start thinking about fundraising campaigns! Schools are worst hit by the financial depression because of the lack of funds. Phoneraiser offers you a quick and smooth way to accrue funds for your cause.
If you are planning to use phone raiser you must of course have thought about how to obtain a substantial number of used mobile phones or PDAs in a short period of time. Fundraising letters and emails are a great idea if implemented with the right technique. Here are a few tips to ensure that you get the maximum result out of the efforts that you expend towards your initiative.
Being clear with the W’s and H!
Before you begin writing your fundraising Email or Letter, you must be certain that you can answer the ‘all important’ questions that people would ask you if you confront them with a fundraiser leaflet. You must clearly define your cause. The contributor or the potential contributor should understand the rationale behind your fundraising campaign. They should be made to appreciate the cause behind the campaign.
Promptly after mentioning a convincing and honest answer to the ‘what’ question, you must brace yourself to answer the ‘When’ question. Be sure to state the deadlines clearly that you have in mind. If your initiative requires immediate response, you must be able to communicate the urgency of the situation through your writing. Finally, be clear to mention ‘How’ they are expected to contribute towards your campaign. This should include the mode of communication and also the fact that you are expecting used mobile phones and PDAS!
Tone and style
Your letter should neither be a demand nor should it ooze flattery. Keep your tone casual but sincere. Use phrases to convey that you are requesting and not demanding them to contribute. Your style should bring out the dedication and the value that you attach to the cause. Remember that being flippant or writing exaggerated letters could be off-putting to someone that is asked to donate. How are they expected to trust that you will do good with their money or donations if you don’t seem to take your cause seriously yourself?
Make the Contribution count
It is also important that you acknowledge the donation. Let the potential contributor know that you are intending to acknowledge their efforts. It could be something like displaying their name in a list of donors in a notice board.
Explain the benefits
The best way to convince a potential contributor is to show the benefit that the community gains from the contribution. If the benefactor’s actions could only passively benefit the target community, make sure you clearly explain the role the contributor plays towards supporting the community.
Fundraising is an art! It is not as difficult as it sounds but there are quite a few important aspects that you need to understand to become an effective fundraiser! Lots of professional fundraisers around the world are of the opinion that successful fundraisers have some typical habits that play a huge role in their success. Phoneraiser offers some tips for effective fundraisers. And if you are an effective fundraiser, you should also always take advantage of any help out there. Let Phoneraiser help you!
Always be on the lookout for an opportunity
If you want to become successful in your fundraising campaign, motivation is a key factor. Be pro-active and make use of every opportunity that comes your way. The best fundraisers are those who are self motivated individuals. If you work in an education institution, be the first one to notice that the school playground needs a repair. If your organization auditorium needs a face lift, be the first one to initiate a campaign to raise funds to repair it.
Set your goals
Even before you start thinking about a fundraising campaign, be sure to set your goals. You should push yourself to work towards the goal at all times. Set interval goals. Furthermore, knowing what your end result is provides you motivation when you need it the most. During the course of your campaign, if you feel low you can push yourself towards the short term goals you have set. Nothing works like self motivation.
Manage your Campaign
You need not be a qualified business administrator to succeed in your fundraising campaign. But you have to be smart in what you do. Setting your priorities straight is an important part of a successful campaign. You should not be shy about handling money matters. It is the most important task in fundraising.
Listen before you talk
Ever heard of the quote, ‘Great speakers are great listeners’?
If you are running a big fundraising campaign, you might have to deal with a lot of volunteers. You must be ready to listen to the problems they have. As much as you try to keep the campaign in good shape by taking a leading role, you must be ready to hear and solve the problems that each member of the campaign team faces. An effective manager is able to solve problems on the fly using excellent problem solving skills. Listening and problem solving skills always go hand in hand!
Bring them together!
Appreciate the importance of each and every department of your campaign. Bring them together once in a while and keep them motivated. The sight of a large number of people working towards a common goal never fails to inspire others. Be equal to all the members of your team. Make sure your team is always moving towards that common goal.
Physical and psychological fatigue is sure to catch up with you. Take time off once in a while to keep your mind and body fresh. You are not going to get a great deal of job done when you don’t have the cooperation of either of these key elements!
Fundraising job is not a bed of roses. Make up your mind and be ready to take up the challenge before you begin your campaign.
Depending on the reason behind your fundraising campaign, you have to devise a strategy to approach the campaign so that you start out on the right foot. On the one hand it might require very little on your part, while in some cases it might seem as if you have to do everything yourself. It all depends on your target community and of course how well you are communicating your intentions to your donors and potential donors, as well as to your team. This being the clichéd advice given time and time again, it must also be mentioned that you should adapt your approach to accommodate the needs of your organization and community.
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Different people try to achieve
A lot could depend on the fundraising campaign you are planning to conduct right now (whether a child gets much needed medical attention, your 
