I think that everyone in the nonprofit sector (if not in every industry) is feeling the bite of the economy. At GoodDogz.org we’ve always had an appropriate albeit modest budget and this year we are just squeaking by. So, instead of relying on donations (which aren’t coming in) and large fundraising events, we’ve put on our thinking caps and tried to develop some ongoing fundraising programs that can sustain us through the year without putting stress on our human resources. Here are a few ideas that we are going to try.
Please let us know what’s working for you as we would really like to work together to ensure that we can all stay afloat during these tight times.
- GoodDogz.org Days – We are asking small, local businesses to hold a GoodDogz.org day. On that day, the business donates a percentage of their profits to GoodDogz.org. This started when a local yoga studio offered to hold a special class in honor of GoodDogz.org and gave us all of the proceeds. We ended up with close to $700 and really did nothing but promote the event. It’s a win for the business because we help provide them with exposure that they might not have had. It also helps them be part of the community by giving back (which is so important right now).
- Product Parties – We’ve all been to Mary Kay or Tupperware parties. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of these parties, but they are a great way to easily raise money for your organization – especially if you are a small org. We are compiling a list of local representatives for Mark Kay, Tastefully Simple, Silpada jewelry, etc. who want to help us support our mission through fundraising. It is likely that you have one or two volunteers who LOVE to host these parties. Well, let them do what they love. They can select a party, host it and part of the proceeds go to your org. The rep wins by expanding their audience. The volunteer wins by having the party. You win by getting the $$. And its easy.
- Cookbooks - My “pet” project this year is putting together a cookbook for the org. I’m not a very good cook but I do love cookbooks. So, we’re launching a 5-month campaign that enables food lovers to submit their recipes to the cookbook and for a small donation they can include a photo of their dog with the recipe. I would rather not print the cookbook, so I’m trying to devise a way to offer the cookbook online for a one-time fee. Again, for 5 months all we do is collect recipes and then kick it into gear in August to develop the cookbook.
These are just a few ideas for sustaining your organization when the donations just aren’t coming in. Please feel free to share your ideas!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Madison Belle in Leesburg does a spin-off of your GoodDogz.org Days, except they do theirs for the whole month. You should contact them and see if they’d be willing to support your project one month — maybe this spring around the same time that the Pet Fiesta is going on. They’re really dog friendly. We used to stop in there with FunDogs when we’d do our walks downtown.
I’m all in for the cookbook — guess I need to swing by the site and see if I can track more info down! I think that’s an awesome idea!!
Awesome! Thanks, Whitney! I will definitely contact her. We need to really get moving on these sustainable programs. This economy is killing us. The good news is that we don’t spend a lot of $$ but with the Pet Fiesta coming up, we need to pull our budget together. Looking forward to working together on Monday!!!
Here’s something you might want to consider – leveraging the online raffle and social media marketing capabilities of the charityraffles.org organization to raise funds – plus it benefits a similarly dog-inclined organization, the paws4people.org foundation. Dogz helping dogz, and people!