If you want to earn money for your organization or charity, you need to know where you will be getting your money from.  Of course, you will want to be able to appeal to a wide range of donors, but in fact you will get the most money by targeting donors.

You have seen this in action already in fundraising efforts you have likely observed: Cancer societies often appeal for donations from people who have lost someone to cancer; Girl Scouts target customers leaving grocery stores as these are likely candidates to buy a box of cookies.  Targeting your audience and carefully planning where you will look for money will help ensure that all your resources all well-spent and that you get the best return on your time and effort investment.

So who gives money?

Plenty of people and groups are willing to give money to non-profit organizations that support a good cause.  Some of the people and groups that offer money are:

•Individual People or Donors: Many non-profits, especially the smaller ones, get much of their money from concerned individuals.  People are extremely generous about setting out to earn money for causes that they believe in.  Some will donate just small amounts of money - sometimes just a few dollars at a time - that can quickly add up.

More affluent philanthropists may offer you large sums of money.  No matter what your fundraising goals in the long run, you should spend at least some of your fundraising efforts trying to reach individual donors.  Not only are these donors likely to support your group if your group seems to offer a legitimate help to society, but educating individual donors about the importance of your cause will help spread the word about your group’s mandate and programs.

The more individuals know about your group, the more your group is likely to thrive.  Another benefit of individual donors, especially for the smaller non-profit, is that individuals are often quite community-minded.  If you are a small group mostly interested in helping the local community, local donors are the ones most likely to be interested in - and supportive of - your group.

•Companies: Industry is actually a big supporter of non-profits.  Companies that earn money in your area are pumped back into the community in many ways - including through employment, taxation, and through direct donations.  Browse through your local papers and look for articles about corporate or company donations and sponsorship.

You will notice that some companies and industries in your area are especially adept at contributing to charities and non-profit groups.  In some cases, companies contribute in order to be a part of a community or in order to bolster their image in a community.  In many cases, companies and industry give to charities because an owner or shareholders believe strongly in a cause.

Many companies and larger industries have a large amount of money, and in some cases they may be willing to share a small amount with a worthwhile cause.  Even if you cannot gain on-going support from a company or industry, these sources are often great for individual donations or support.  For example, if you are organizing a fair or sale, a company may be willing to grant supplies, volunteers, or money in exchange for some free advertising, which can be as simple as a large banner at your event proclaiming “refreshments generously provided by Acme Bakery.”

•Governments: Local, state, and federal governments massively earn money for non-profit groups.  Through grants and programs, governments give away enormous sums each year to charities and non-profit groups, from the largest groups to the very smallest.  Grants and government support are not sources of money you will want to ignore, especially as some grant money each year goes unclaimed - money that could help your non-profit group prosper.

•Other Charitable Groups: Non-profits often help each other.  Larger organizations such as the Red Cross or United Way will often give support and even money support to local charities and groups doing similar work. Churches, schools, and local groups will often fundraise or gather donations for a group they believe in. There are also larger foundations and philanthropical groups, such as the famous Rockefeller Foundation, which exist solely to help other groups and individuals do charitable work.  These groups can be a great resource, and, large and small, they should not be ignored.

Where to Find Donors

Now that you know what the sources of money are likely to be for your non-profit, you will want to figure out how to contact the largest amount of them most effectively.  You will of course want to know where to find the donors that can help your group succeed.  There are several ways to get in touch with the groups and people who can help you:

•The library: Well before you start your fundraising efforts, you will want to frequent your local library.  Your local library, as part of your community and a great information resource, is indispensable for your non-profit.  Your librarian can help you find directories of government grants and programs that can help you, and can show you business directories that can help you find companies who may be willing to sponsor your non-profit.

At the library, you can also read books about successful fundraising and browse through newspapers and magazines to learn how other groups have managed to fundraise.  Most libraries even have free community bulletin boards where you can appeal to volunteers or advertise your latest fundraising efforts for free.  Without a doubt, the local library is one resource that no non-profit should ignore.

•Advertising: Many non-profits will seek donors by advertising in newspapers, on radio, and on television.  Larger non-profits such as the United Way will often advertise year-round in order to encourage donors to come forward.  However, even smaller non-profits will advertise locally.

You may well have seen your local food bank or shelter advertising for food and cash donations around holiday time, for example.  Advertising tends to reach lots of people for the cost of one ad, even though individual ads in newspapers and radio can be quite expensive on their own.  However, some non-profits find that they can sometimes appeal to a radio or local television station or publication to advertise for free.  Even though the media makes their money through advertising revenues, they are occasionally persuaded to offer free advertising as a charitable contribution to a non-profit.

•Plugging into the Community: Most small non-profits are very community oriented - most of their money and most of their charitable activities are centered on one local area.   If this describes you, then you need to become a part of your community so that donors in your area will become aware of your group.

When people see that your group is offering something to the community, they may be more inclined to donate.  Plugging into the community may mean showing up for local events with group advertisements, taking out ads in local media, or passing on the word through word of mouth. Whichever methods you choose, it is often very important for a small or starting non-profit to be seen as part of the community in order to secure donations.

•Direct Appeals: Direct appeals mean that you approach people individually. This can be done door-to-door, by standing in front of a store or establishment, or by phoning or mailing people individually. The idea is that direct appeals are harder to resist than general appeals, and so more people are likely to at least give some money rather than say “no” entirely.  The problem is that so many companies use this route that some individuals feel that this method is too intrusive and refuse every direct appeal made.

•Awareness Raising: You will find some enthusiastic donors and some volunteers and resources by letting people know about the problem your group is trying to correct and by telling people about your non-profit group itself.  Raising people’s awareness about your group and your groups’ work is a big job.  You can raise awareness in many ways:

•Reports in the media (interviews, articles)

•Advertising

•Visiting groups such as schools to let people know about your group

•Setting up booths at fairs, volunteer workshops, and other community events

•Going door to door to tell people about your group

•Sending mail campaigns to raise awareness

•Setting up events that will raise awareness (and money, too)

•Market Research: Every successful non-profit needs to do exact market research in order to find out who the most likely donors are for their group.  There are market research firms that can do this for a sum, but if you are a small or new non-profit, you can do your own market research by using newspapers and your own community knowledge to find out who will be most likely to support your group.

Targeting Donors

Of course, you want to reach all the donors you can.  The more people you appeal to earn money from, the more “yes” responses you are likely to get.  For most non-profits, and especially for small non-profits, though, the very logistics of trying to reach all possible donors are simply impossible.  Advertising in every newspaper and on every television show and trying to visit everyone in a city in a direct appeal is simply a lot of work - and a huge expense.  Most non-profits can only contact a limited number of people, so you will want to do one of the following:

1) Contact as many people as humanly possible using the budget you have.

2) Contact only those smaller amounts of people who are likely to support your non-profit.

In almost every case, option #2 will result in more “yes” answers on a smaller budget.  To understand why this is, consider the way each fundraising campaign would work.

Let’s say that two groups in the same community had a similar mandate and similar budgets. For the sake of argument, let’s say that both are women’s centers with a small $1000 budget each.

The first center decides to use all the money trying to reach all the donors it can.  Volunteers go door to door at no charge, ads are taken out in newspaper and radio, and appeals made outside stores.  The group talks to many thousands of people over the course of several months and spends their entire budget on the process.  They raise plenty of awareness and plenty of money, but there are several drawbacks to this method:

•Lots of “no” responses.  These are not essentially a problem except that each “no” response costs money or time (the time it took to appeal to the person and the expense taken to mail a letter or to contact someone).  Plus, lots of “no” responses tend to reduce morale, as volunteers wonder whether their efforts are really doing any good. Every fundraising effort will bring in plenty of “no” efforts, but by casting the net wide, the first group has all but ensured that they will have many such replies.

•Lots of unseen appeals. Advertising is great, but general untargeted awareness raising and direct and indirect appeals tend to have a high miss rate.  If door to door volunteers are used, then there may be many people who do not open their doors or who are not at home.  If newspaper ads are used, there may be many newspaper readers who do not look at advertisements and so miss the well-worded appeal.  If booths are set up at community events, there may be many who walk by without a glance.

Of course, with any fundraising strategy, there will be some people who do not see an appeal, but indirect and unpersonalized approaches tend to increase the rates of this type of non-response.

•Fatigue syndrome. The volunteers of this first group are working very, very hard.  While that may bring in plenty of good responses, it may also leave many volunteers too fatigued by the effort to keep making appeals.  Remember: one of the secrets of fundraising is that it must be continual in order to ensure long-term success of the non-profit group.  How many volunteers could keep up the dizzying pace that this group has set?

•Hit and miss, disorganized method.  With no plan and no real idea of who this group is trying to appeal to, volunteers are relying on blind luck to find donors. Some people may be appealed to a few times by volunteers while others may not get the message about the group.

•Consumption of time. While these volunteers are certainly doing a commendable job getting the word out about the group, they have left little time and energy for the mandates of the group.  Presumably, they are raising money in order to do some good, but have they the energy and volunteers left to actually implement the money in a positive way?

In contrast, let’s think of the second group.  They decided to appeal to a smaller amount of people - let’s say 300, but they chose each person they decided to contact carefully.

They contacted corporations they knew were supportive of women’s groups, contacted companies run by women, and campaigned aggressively at a local women’s college. They also wrote for several government grants designed especially for groups that help women.

Certainly there are disadvantages to this method - they did not raise awareness about the group over such a wide segment of population as the first group, they still got plenty of “no” responses, and they had to spend lots of time before fundraising in order to determine who to appeal to.

Despite this, the second group is likely to have a higher ratio of “yes” answers in a much shorter period of time, because they are appealing to the very people - women - who are most likely to have the inclination and money to support a women’s center.  The advantages of this second strategy are:

•The people who were asked were more likely to say “yes.”  The donors that were appealed to already had some built-in reason for saying yes to supporting the women’s center.

Less convincing was needed and less of a chance of a “no” helps keep volunteer morale high.  Plus, donors who have a built-in reason to support a women’s center are more likely to donate again (presumably, their reasons for donating will still be there) so this second group is already setting down the basis for on-going financial support.

•By using targeted appeals, the group was able to target people individually.  Rather than having many people walk by a stand or pass over an ad, this group was able to meet face to face with the groups and people who were more likely to help them, reducing the chances of a “no” response.

•By targeting their donors, the second group already had a built in organizations structure.  They knew who they had to contact and how to appeal to them.  There is less risk of overlooking an important donor source or of asking the same people twice.

•Time and money were saved. Rather than spending lots of time and money on a huge campaign, the group was able to do some research for free at the library and then appeal directly to groups and people that were interested.  Interviews with some groups could easily be set up for free, and government applications and a campus presence would also be inexpensive or free. Less time was wasted talking to those who have no interest in the project.

This is a fictitious example, but it sets out quite clearly why donor and market research is important before you start fundraising.

In this example, the market information was clear - women are likely to support a women’s center as they understand the issues and problems women face.

In some cases, though, the donor target may be less clear.  Who in your community would support an animal shelter or a literacy project?

There are a few basic ways to do some research.  The first step is to visit your local library and look up groups similar to yours in your area and in other areas.  Who supports them?  The same groups of people may support your group.  If your non-profit consists of a few volunteers, you can find out what sort of people your non-profit appeals to by asking your volunteers a few questions:

•What shows do you watch?  What publications do you read?  What radio station do you listen to?

•Where did you hear about our group?

•Where do you go for entertainment?  What other groups do you belong to?

•What appealed to you about this non-profit?

Even in a small group, you will hear similar responses.  These answers are important clues about what your donors are watching, where they are going, and what appeals to them. You can further establish your target donors by considering where people who believe in a cause or idea would go or what they would see.  Consider the following ideas:

•Pet shelters are likely to be supported by people who like animals.  If they like animals, they may read about them, own them, or visit them.  Advertising in pet journals, at pet kennels or grooming centers, appealing to owners outside of pet stores or zoos are likely places to find target donors or at least people who love animals enough to contribute some money to a cause that concerns them.

•Arts groups are likely to be supported by people who like the arts.  Where are such people found?  At universities, art galleries, theaters, art groups, book clubs, libraries, cafes that hold poetry readings, arts publications, bookstores, art stores, art classes, and other like places.

•Non-profits that have to do with children are likely to appeal to families.  Where would such people be found?  Parks, schools, PTA meetings, churches, playgrounds, fairs, toy stores, fairs, children’s days at the zoo or art gallery, parenting publications, and other like places.

•Non-profits that have to do with community development may seem to be a varied bunch, both those who are worried about issues such as poverty or issues such as housing regulations would tend to congregate around town hall meetings, soup kitchens, or other like places, depending on their individual concerns.

•Non-profits that have to do with the environment attract people who are worried about the state of our planet and resources.  Where are such people to be found?  At natural health food stores, environmental protests, town hall meetings that have to do with preserving parks, environmental stores, “green” publications.

•Non-profits that have to do with International issues attract people who are worried about international policies and the state of the larger world today.  These people may be considered about worldwide human rights, about international policies and other similar issues.  These people may be found reading the ‘world’ section of the newspaper, attending protests to raise information about human rights, and other like events.  People who either have family overseas or who are from overseas often have a built-in interest in International issues.

•Non-profits that have to do with education attract people who are worried about education and literacy.  These people are to be found at literacy centers, the library, schools, PTA, meetings, and other like areas.  If your education mandate has to do with children, then your target donors can be found in similar places as the target donors for non-profits that have to do with children.

You can probably see a pattern here.  People who are concerned about an issue are likely to express their concern by spending time at specific places and time attending specific events or reading specific publications.  People who are interested in a specific issue often like specific related things.  If you want to target your audience of donors, you should be asking yourself where potential donors can be found and then target your fundraising to some of these areas.

As you target donors to earn money from, keep asking yourself a few marketing questions:

•Where can I find people who are interested in the issue our non-profit is furthering?

•What do people interested in our issue read?  Where do they go?  What groups do they belong to?

•What sort of person is so likely to be interested in our groups’ issue that they will be willing to help our non-profit financially?

•What companies in my area have contributed to similar non-profit groups in the past?

•What sort of fundraising effort would be most likely to draw the people who are most likely to be interested in out group’s mandate?

•Are there government agencies or philanthropic agencies that tend to give money for causes that are similar to our group’s mandate?

Targeting your donors at first may seem to be only a way of narrowing down your choices, as you are basically trying to attract only a smaller percentage of people to your cause.  However, if your group only has limited resources (and this is true for many starting or small non-profits) then targeting your donors by choosing to ask those donors can help you get the best results possible in the shortest period of time.

Think of it as making educated guesses about who can help.  The idea is not to ask only those who are most likely to help, but rather to focus on specific groups of people before expanding out to other donors.

Once you have targeted specific groups on donors, you may wish to expand and seek help and support from donors that seem less likely to be interested in your group’s cause.  In some cases, you may be pleasantly surprised to find unlikely donors who are willing to help you raise money.

For example, across North America, there are motorcycle enthusiasts who regularly take part in a “teddy bear” drive around Christmas in order to raise money for children who might not otherwise have a holiday.  Many people are surprised to see gruff-looking biker enthusiasts carrying teddy bears on their Harley Davidson’s for charity, but this is exactly what happens each year.

Your group needs to be careful not to overlook sources of donations and fundraising money simply because you have a preset notion of what people would or would not support your group.  Sometimes, fundraising money comes from unlikely sources and it is often a good idea to contact some unlikely groups to see whether in fact they may be ardent supporters of your cause.

How much time and effort you spend trying to contact donors outside your targeted donor group will depend on many factors, including how much time and effort you have for such campaigns and it will depend on how much money you have been able to raise through more targeted fundraising.  If you have been able to raise all the fundraising money you need through targeted donor hunting, you may simply not need to expand your list of donors too much and instead of trying to find new sources for money you may want to direct your efforts to fulfilling your group’s mission.

If, on the other hand, you find that you require more money and have had smaller success with targeted donors (because, for example, a group with a similar mandate has also been fundraising your area) then expanding your list of potential donors may be one way to get more money for your non-profit.

What Do Donors Want?

The psychology of fundraising will be more thoroughly covered in an upcoming chapter, but while we are thinking about donors and how to appeal to them, it makes sense to say a few words about what is going through the minds of those who are willing to give money for your non-profit.

Many non-profits assume that people give money for specific causes for “nothing,” but this is rarely the case.  Studies have shown that people who are likely to give money to non-profits generally do so because they feel they get some “value” from giving.  People give to non-profits for a number of reasons:

•To assuage a fear: Many people earn money for non-profits because they fear the eventuality of a specific event or situation.  Some people, for example, are afraid that women are not treated well enough and that violence against women may affect their home.  Others fear becoming homeless or losing their jobs and give to food banks to ensure that a social support system exists for those who have less money.

While you never want to prey upon people’s fears or exaggerate their fears, knowing that people react in this way can help you target your fundraising efforts and can help you understand why some donors give generously.

•To make a contribution: Many people feel that by giving to a non-profit they are making a valuable addition to society.  This is absolutely correct - non-profits do the work that many working people simply do not have the time or the resources to do themselves.  Donors can contribute to this work through volunteering or through money donations.  This is certainly a “giving value: you will want to stress in order to increase donations.

You may want to emphasize how donor money will be used to a make a real difference in people’s lives, for example, and you will want to explain to your donors and contributors how their help of your non-profit is a contribution that the donors are making to society.

•Tax deductions: The fact that many gifts to non-profit companies are tax-deductible is often an extra bonus for many donors.  No one likes to pay more taxes than they absolutely have to.  For this reason, you will want to tell your donors when their gifts can be tax deductible and ensure that they get the receipts they need to make their tax deduction claims.

•A chance to win: Charitable lotteries and charity casinos are becoming more and more popular.  These events draw not only donors who support a specific non-profit, but these fundraising efforts also draw people who simply wish to win a nice prize and also like the benefit of helping a charity while they get a chance to win. If you are running a lottery or raffle, you will want o emphasize to your donors their good chances of winning as well as the contributions they are making to society.

•Emotional benefit: If you look at most successful fundraising campaigns, they generally appeal to the emotions rather than just the rational mind.  Non-profits that raise money for international relief, for example, often show emotionally charged pictures of people who do not have the basics of life.  Animal shelters often show saddening pictures of pets that have been abandoned.  The idea is not to manipulate your donors, but rather to make sure that their emotions as well as their intellect understand the importance of your group’s cause.  You likely developed or take part in your non-profit because you think that your group’s cause is an important one.  You need to communicate to your donors why the cause is important on an emotional level so that they feel the importance of your non-profit, not just understand it.

•Immortality: For a few people, donations are made in order to have a plaque or a statue dedicated to them.  Some individuals like to be known as philanthropists.  In many cases, these individuals are willing to offer larger sums of money in exchange for recognition of their gifts.

•Products: Some people take part in fundraising because they want whatever products or services a non-profit is offering through their fundraising efforts.  If you hold a book sale to raise money, for example, you can expect book lovers to show up, whether they want to support your non-profit specifically or not.  If you have useful goods or services you are offering as part of your fundraising, you will want to emphasize this to potential donors.

Now that you have a sense of who will be offering you money, and where to find these individuals, you can start tailoring ideas to suit your potential donors...

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here