Fundraising Directory

Fundraising Handover Report

Bring forward your

fundraising ‘after-work’

After any fundraising event, there is tidy-up work to be done. A good practice is to take care of as much of your ‘wrap-up’ work as possible before your event takes place.

I have always emphasised that a fundraiser is not complete ‘until the handover report is written’. This report obviously can’t be prepared in advance of the activity taking place, but there are other wrap-up tasks that can be brought forward to reduce the ‘after burden’.

Anyone who has ‘been there done that’ will know that the minute a fundraising event is over, you just want to collapse, shut out the world for a day, and then not have to think about it EVER AGAIN (until we forget the pain and sign up to do it all over again!). Taking care of some housekeeping matters in advance will be a real sanity-saver. Here are three things you can organise before the curtains come down.

Certificates of Appreciation

Whether promised (in your sponsorship proposal) to sponsors or not, a Certificate of Appreciation is always a great thing to provide to sponsors great and small. The larger value sponsors can be given framed ones, while the smaller ones can have them printed on A4 card.

Tip: Have these designed by your graphic designer (who, of course, is generously donating their time as a sponsor!). Make it a part of their initial brief, so they can get the template prepared at the same time with the same theme or branding.

Thank-you letters

You can also prepare your thank-you letter template in advance. Include all details except the final profit made – you can add that in later. Acknowledge your supporters for getting behind the fundraiser, let them know what tangible outcomes are now possible because of their support, and be specific. For example, ‘Because of your support, we have been able to invest in a classroom set of iPads for our school. This enables our students to extend their learning in different ways and can particularly engage those students with learning challenges’. In your thank-you letter, let them know you look forward to working with them in the future.

Tip: Jobs such as thank-you letters are easily done remotely, so you could recruit a specific ‘thank-you’ convenor who isn’t able to offer hands-on support but can contribute in their own time.

Feedback requests

If you have a lot of people involved in your team, you will want them to fill out a simple post-event feedback form for the purposes of preparing your handover report. For example, if you are running a fete, you will want each stallholder to complete a feedback summary. By distributing the blank forms ahead of time, everyone will have clarity around what sort of feedback they are expected to provide. This will have the dual benefit of improving the quality of the feedback, as well as reinforcing the importance of making certain it is completed in a timely manner.

Tip: When distributing your forms, specifically ask your helpers to come up with those small ‘tidbits’ that can improve your next event but are otherwise easily forgotten. It is often a combination of these small things that can make a world of difference.

You will find that there are plenty of other ‘after jobs’ that will need to be done. By doing a stocktake of these and bringing them forward, you will be able to relax and enjoy your efforts sooner.

Happy fundraising!

Mandy Weidmann