Hundreds of billions of dollars are given to charitable organizations every year. Now, more than ever, that generosity is needed to help people, animals, and other living things make it through today’s uncertain environment.
The problem is that most fundraising events have been canceled which has hampered several traditional means of generating funds.
Fortunately, there are nonprofit fundraising ideas available to you that can enable charitable organizations to collect donations completely online.
If you’d like to unlock the secret to your organization’s success in today’s digital-first environment, keep reading and we’ll share with you impactful suggestions that can help you weather present uncertainty.
1. Documentary Movie Parties
Depending on what your organization supports, chances are, there is a well-executed documentary that outlines key issues surrounding your cause. Consider firing up that film and streaming it to a group of virtual watchers to help educate and mobilize action.
Documentary movie parties that are meant to drive donations should be prefaced with opening statements that describe the purpose of the evening and disclose how people can give if they feel compelled to do so. You might also choose to hold a Q&A after the movie and again, ask people to give before they log off for the night.
2. Virtual Concerts
If you know a person that supports your cause and has musical talent/a following, consider seeing if they’d donate their services to help your organization raise money.
Similar to online movie streaming, you can create a live feed of your featured musician which you can charge admission to. You could alternatively make your feed public and compel people to donate if they like the show.
Concerts aren’t the only way to make this donation model work. You could have virtual talent shows, poetry readings, and other virtual art exhibitions.
3. Digital Auctions
Auctions are go-to nonprofit fundraising ideas. Conducting them online, however, might be foreign to some organizations.
Fortunately, auctions port well to the digital world and there are even virtual platforms that you can use to quickly host auctions without any technical expertise. Applications like GiveSmart and OneCause are two of the most popular platforms nonprofits use.
To make your auction successful, spend a month or so marketing to drum up interest in what you’ll be auctioning off. Make clear that proceeds will go to charity.
Also, have resources available for non-digital-savvy people so they can understand how to navigate the online auction platform you choose to go with.
4. Online Classes
Do you know a skilled chef? What about a painter or other artist? If you do and they’d be willing to donate their time, ask them to conduct an online class for your charity.
This means of fundraising has become increasingly popular over the last few months. Usually, a class’ sign-up fee in this model is what gets donated. How much sign-up fees cost can vary but we like allowing people to choose their sign-up price and suggesting a minimum rate.
That way, you can maximize attendance and very likely, maximize donations.
5. Gaming Tournaments
Over half of the American population plays video games. Therein lies an excellent opportunity for nonprofit organizations.
To raise money, you might consider holding a series of gaming tournaments that feature different titles. You can require buy-ins to enter the tournament and use that money to support your charity.
You’ll have to carve out a portion of the buy-in cash for prizes. Still, you can make a fair amount of money for your organization if you pick popular enough games.
6. 50/50 Raffles
We love 50/50 raffles because they’re extremely easy to execute and are not confusing to participants.
All you have to do to get your 50/50 raffle going is contact as many people as possible and ask them to buy tickets (at usually a dollar apiece). Once you’ve hit your ticket deadline, you can Livestream your team blindly selecting a ticket you’ve sold.
The person whose ticket is pulled gets half of the money that was collected for the drawing and the other half stays with your charity.
7. Donation/Funding Pages
While not particularly creative, we’ve seen time and again pages set up through sites like GoFundMe or Kickstarter keep charitable organization’s non profit bookkeeping in the black.
Getting pages set up on donation platforms doesn’t take special experience. Most sites make the process turn-key and will just ask that you describe your cause and share some media associated with your ask.
After that’s done, you’ll want to share your link out as much as possible to entice potential donors to give.
While most platforms do take a portion of your collected money as a fee, if your cause is nonprofit, these fees will usually be waived.
8. Virtual Happy Hour
People love getting tipsy and supporting the things they care about. There’s no reason why you can’t facilitate that experience online.
Virtual happy hours are held every day via Zoom so host a call, set up some fun activities you can do while drinking, and let people know you’re collecting donations.
Nonprofit Fundraising Ideas Are Limited Only by Your Imagination
While being able to meet up with large groups in person made executing nonprofit fundraising ideas easier, there’s no reason why you can’t keep the ball rolling online until gatherings become a possibility again.
We hope our suggestions have gotten the wheels turning in your head as to how you might continue to drum up charitable support. If you need more guidance, dive deeper into the helpful material featured in our blog.
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