How to guide for organizing fundraisers

WHY FUNDRAISE TO BAN BOMBS, CLUSTERS AND LANDMINES?

Wherever cluster bombs and landmines have been used, they have had horrific, predictable impacts on civilians. We can solve this problem in our lifetimes but only with your continued support and help!
It is a fun and easy way to make a tangible difference in preventing further suffering caused by these weapons.
It is a fun and creative way to raise awareness within your community to get new people involved in supporting these important humanitarian issues.
It is an opportunity to move forward from being aware of the issue to taking concrete action.
Raising money to ban clusters and landmines now will save money later in terms of the money that will be needed to clean up after a conflict and assist victims.
Put your money where your mouth is. Back up your values and other efforts with funds to help us turn words into action!

THINGS TO CONSIDER

Some basic planning will increase the likelihood of a successful event. A first step might be to convene a committee, which will be responsible for drawing up a fundraising plan. The committee decides on the goal of the event and answers the following questions:

What type of event will best fit the capacity and time commitment available from the group?
What human, financial and other resources will the event require? Does the fundraising potential outweigh the upfront investment?
Who do you think will come to the event and how much do you think they would give?
Who will do the work before, during and following the event to ensure success? What are the key tasks and deadlines?
What will the event cost? It is best to overestimate cost and underestimate profit.

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING

Publicize, publicize, publicize. Raise awareness about the issue and your event with a compelling story or statistics. Get an article in the local newspaper about what you're doing. Find an angle that makes the issue relevant to the people whose contributions you seek.
Make it fun. Creativity goes a long way. By making fundraising activities social events, you can get a lot of people, a lot of money, and a lot of happiness. Think dance-a-thons, walk-a-thons, pie eating contests, etc.
Engage local businesses. Write letters to local businesses, newspapers, banks, etc. about what you are working on and ask for their support.
Get potential supporters of the issue in the same place. If you have access to the people or issues that will be affected by your efforts, try to get a representative to come to speak. Cool speakers make the whole initiative real.
Be bold. Speaking up and asking for contributions can be an intimidating act, but it's amazing what you can get if you only ask.
Don't forget alternatives to money. In-kind support – food to feed people at a fundraising event, donation of a space to hold an event, and other supplies – are just as good as money.
Catchy flyers are always helpful.
Think about all your potential donors. When coming up with fundraising activities, it's good to come up with different activities to satisfy diverse tasks and styles, for example, both group and individual activities.
Sometimes competition helps. Pitting classroom against classroom, department vs. department, etc., can raise the stakes.
Remember that all donations, small or large, are equally valuable and should be recognized!
Ask frequently. Churches are some of the best fundraisers because they ask every week. Provide several opportunities for people to give at your event.
Ask personally. Don’t just have a donation box. Have volunteers at donation tables and mingling with guests.
Ask volunteers. They have already shown they want to help. Contributing financially strengthens their commitment.
Avoid events needing a lot of up-front cash. Events that require expensive prizes can lose money. Raise more money then you intend to spend. Extra money lets you address unforeseen difficulties, and exploit unforeseen opportunities.
Have fun!

EVENT FUNDRAISING IDEAS

An event may be of any size. A small event has the advantage of being easy to organize with an immediate cash return. It might be a bake sale or a pot-luck dinner, or something more creative.

Auctions
A popular medium-sized event is the auction at which donated items are presented before an audience, members of which offer a price, or "bid", for the items being auctioned off. The highest bid wins. Auctions are a way to convince big spenders to donate large sums of money. They do not necessarily even need to be enthusiastic about the issue itself. They will spend because they seek a bargain on the items being auctioned. And bargains may indeed be possible if local artists, celebrities or people of considerable means donate items.

Another type of auction is a service auction where donations of time and services are auctioned off such as babysitting, shoveling snow, playing a musical instrument at a dinner party, dog walking, cleaning or grocery shopping.

Paws for Peace is a public dog walk-a-thon that aims to increase public awareness about the humanitarian crisis of landmines. Participation in the event is free! Walkers will collect sponsor pledges and there are prizes for those participants who raise more than $100. Alternately, there could be a registration fee in lieu of collecting pledges. Walkers without dogs are more than welcome to take part in the event!

Toonie Days
Give a toonie at your workplace or school and get a privilege you would not normally have like wearing casual dress, hat days, etc.

Fasts
A 24-hour fast is another strategy, which has worked particularly well for NGOs battling hunger. Groups utilizing this strategy set a specific date for the fast well in advance, publicize it, and ask targeted sectors of the public to go without food on that day and donate the money they would have spent on food. The fasting event not only raises funds, but also helps to create empathy by giving the more fortunate an opportunity to experience what it feels like to be hungry. This experience often translates into additional donations and can be adapted for various development and human rights issues – get creative!

Raffles

Raffles can also be lucrative. A raffle is a game of chance popular in most cultures which requires selling raffle tickets to customers and then selecting a few winners to receive donated prizes. The prizes may be something tangible like a bicycle, or intangible like a mini-vacation. A travel agent might donate a free trip. A weekend at a guesthouse might be a nice treat for an overworked ticket buyer. Whoever donates the prize should receive credit by having their name printed on each raffle ticket.

Tasting Events

Tasting events are popular too. Everyone loves to try something new. Parties can be organized to taste homemade cakes, the best couscous, beignets, or any other popular treat. Friends and local businesses can donate the items to be tasted. (For commercial donors, this is a very low-cost way to advertise!). A small entrance fee to the tasting can be charged, and the guests can be asked to vote for the product they like best. In most cases, a prize (donated, of course) will be offered to the provider of choice.

Bazaars, Garage Sales & Flea Markets

A bazaar, garage sale or flea market is an opportunity to have a collection of several small fundraising activities in the same location. Money is made by playing games, having entertainment, selling food and bargain goods. Churches and schools have favored this special event for decades.

Sponsored Events (Pledges)
Sponsored events are another time-tested source of local funds. Almost anything can be sponsored. The idea is to enlist volunteers to engage in an activity (fasting, dancing, juggling, walking, running, etc.) and to ask their friends, family and workmates to "sponsor" them. "Sponsors" agree to pledge a set amount for each hour that the volunteer dances or fasts, or for each kilometer that the volunteer walks or runs. The volunteer is responsible for collecting the funds pledged, ideally before the event occurs.

Competitive sports tournaments are another entertaining way to raise local funds through pledges. Volunteers offer to compete at soccer, basketball, handball, volleyball, squash, tennis or any other competitive sport. The players then ask friends to sponsor them per point or per game. Local businesses might donate tee-shirts for the players and prizes for the winners. A small admission fee is charged for the viewing public.

Speaker Programs
In many countries, people will pay to hear an interesting speaker or series of speakers. Some groups rent a hall, or have one loaned, and solicit compelling speakers on subjects of interest, making sure to publicize the program well in advance.

Theater Parties
A theater company might be persuaded to donate a number of seats to a play. This way, the theatre does all the production work and NGO volunteers need only sell tickets. This is a relatively easy benefit to organize and because the event is such fun, it may be possible to sell tickets for a slightly higher price than for other events. Some NGOs also put on their own plays, often about the human rights subjects they cover in their work, and charge an admission fee.

Concerts
A concert can be either a local affair or an international world tour like Amnesty International’s "Human Rights Now" celebrity event. In either case, an organization might ask well-known musicians to do a benefit concert, and then sell tickets to friends, family and the public-at-large. Advertising the concert as widely as possible will ensure sale of the greatest number of tickets. Wealthier patrons can be asked to purchase a block of seats so that people who could not otherwise afford to attend the concert may come. This allows wealthier concert sponsors to do a double service for human rights.

Film Festivals
Although film festivals require long-term organization to locate, obtain and schedule appropriate films, they can be successful fundraisers. If a whole festival of films seems too ambitious, start with the world premiere or special screening of one important film. Movie theaters will sometimes donate a hall on a week-night, but festivals can also be held in a school with a VCR or outside with a projector at night.

How to Guide content adapted from:

CeSHRA – the Center for Sustainable Human Rights Action. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Web: www.ceshra.org.