How to Raise Money for Your Charitable Organization
Beyond the traditional bake sales, bingo and pie raffles, there are several other lucrative ways to raise funds for your charitable organization. Here are just a few that will excite your charitable organization and employees into participating in the fundraising.
Host a Dinner Plate Event
Take a page from the politician’s handbook and hold a dinner plate event. Use a save the date postcard template to announce the event to the community. Be sure to state that the proceeds all go to charity. Invite a celebrity to give a dinner speech and sell tickets for a certain price per plate, depending on your local economy and fundraising goals. Your celebrity choice might be a local author, a motivational speaker, or a visiting television actor or news anchor. Enlist members of your organization to supply the food, plates and tableside service, or request a reduced price from a catering company since it’s for a charitable cause. Your speaker may also be persuaded to volunteer their time, or you may have to pay them. Calculate your costs and profit margin before setting the per plate price.
Host a Community Talent Show
Everyone has a hidden talent that they would love to show off to the community. Announce the talent show, use the organization’s property to host it either indoors or out, and watch the entertainers line up to be a part of it. Sell tickets to the show and get local businesses to sponsor the event by donating prizes in return for helping to sponsor the event. Rent an applause meter to determine the winner, or have the audience drop cards in a voting box.
Raffle Off a New Car
Work with your friendly local auto dealership to purchase a brand new car at cost with the understanding that the purchase will not be finalized until all your raffle tickets are sold. If the car you select costs you $5000, you only have to sell 500 tickets at $20 each to raise $5000 for your charitable organization. Ask the dealer to load the car onto a tractor trailer to display the car and raffle at a prominent location in the town.
Sponsor a Kitchen Tour
Give your organization workers an opportunity to show off their amazing kitchen décor. Once you have about twenty kitchens lined up on your tour, create a route map for each stop on the tour and hand these out with each ticket purchase. Have a volunteer meet ticket holders at each home to stamp tickets. Be sure to have the visitors remove their shoes before entering the homes, or don disposable shoe booties.
Finally, when you do hold charitable events, many people might want to donate more money than you’re asking for. Have a process in place where you can accept donations over and above the cost of entry. Be ready to hand out receipts for donations on the spot so the contributors can also take a tax deduction for their donations.
These are all fantastic ways to raise money for your charitable organization. Be sure to save all the receipts, since the cost of organizing these events is also tax deductible. Now that you have all these ideas, all you have to do is get started organizing them!
