Being an event planning intern, I see a lot of what goes into fundraising and organizing. It is certainly not an easy or stress-free process. Being organized helps relieve a lot of the stress. I have developed a list of the key points that I have picked up in my experience with fundraising.

1. Decide who you are fundraising for. In order to put an event together and raise money, it is important that you have a specific organization to fundraise for. You want to be organized and on track. I suggest that you should choose an organization that is dear to your heart. This not only makes the event fun but meaningful, too.
2. Know everything about the organization. You want to be knowledgeable to anyone with questions. This will make people how dedicated you are thus making them more likely to donate. 
3. Decide how much money you would like to raise. This will help you stay on track and market yourself appropriately.
4. Keep track of everyone who has donated to you. It’s important to keep record of the person or company that has donated to you and the amount they donated. It lets you know how close you are to your goal amount as well as letting the donator know that you are organized. In case anything goes array, you have your records to cover your bases.
5. Don’t be pushy. You have to understand that a person may not have the funds to donate to your fundraiser. Do not take it personally, there will be plenty of other people and companies that will donate.
6. Develop a friendly way to request a donation. We all understand that asking for a money donation is slightly uncomfortable. There are plenty of ways to ask without seeming rude or needy. With your own personality, put together a few lines that you think sounds appropriate to an audience. It is important to draw them in and make them want to donate.
7. Give yourself a lot of time to prepare. Remember that anything can go wrong. Give yourself plenty of leeway to make new arrangements if need be. Start planning three months prior to the date.
8. Market your fundraiser. We are all familiar with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. So, post a bunch of statuses and tweets about your event. It doesn’t take a lot of money to market yourself efficiently.
9. Stay motivated. Keep in mind that this is something that you planned for a reason, so it must mean something to you. You will raise the money that you are striving for, it just takes hard work and dedication.
10. Have fun. When the date approaches, you will be fully satisfied with your work. All the stress you endured will be worth it. A good attitude always leads to success.

-Amanda Pryor, Summer 2011 Intern

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 1st, 2011 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Event Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.