Have You Thought About Online Fundraising?
Charity auctions, golf tournaments and scratch card sales are all great fundraisers that have a lot of potential for success. They also have a lot of another thing. Start up costs.
If you’ve set up or been to a charity auction you know how the expense list looks. Wine, alcohol, catering, bouquets and more lavish accessories. That’s how it should have looked anyway…
Golf tournament fundraisers are the same way. Book a golf course, caterer, and provide some sort of goody bag for players are all essential to success. The cost you have to pay for each person could be quite a large due.
Scratch card sales are another popular fundraiser, especially for high schools. The only problem is that you have to actually buy the cards before you sell them. With a system like this, there’s always a chance you may not sell them all and take a loss.
These are all great fundraisers, don’t get me wrong, but some charities are in such dire need of funding that they can’t spend thousands or even hundreds of dollars to set up a charity auction or golf tournament, and the risk of taking a loss on scratch cards just isn’t worth the hassle.
Have you thought about online fundraising?
There’s a variety of effective online fundraisers, but the one I’m thinking about is easy for people to get involved with and has zero startup costs. This fundraiser takes advantage of online shopping – each time you shop online, you could be supporting your favorite charity.
It’s an interesting concept, and an effective one at that. My high school booster club had an online fundraiser that did well and our athletic director loved it (because he didn’t have to do anything but collect a check). With the system requiring one to just sit back and collect a check, it’s clear that it may be the choice for quite a few organizations this year.