Fundraising Directory

Fundraising Jobs

After any fundraising event, there is tidy-up work to be done. My tip this week is to take care of as much as possible before your event takes place.

I have always harped on about how any fundraiser is not complete ‘until the handover report is written’.  This obviously can’t be done before the activity takes place, but there are other wrap-up tasks that can easily be brought forward.

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 hahaha!).  Taking care of some housekeeping matters in advance will bring that closer to reality.

Here are 3 things you can organise well before the curtains come down and make the fundraising jobs easier

1. 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, where the smaller ones can have them printed on A4 card. Tip:  Have these designed by the graphic designer (who is generously donating their time as a sponsor 😉 as a part of their initial brief – get it all done at the same time with the same theme.

2. Thank-you letters.  You can prepare your thank-you letter template with all details except the final profit made – add that in later.  Acknowledge your supporters for getting behind the fundraiser, and let them know what tangible outcomes are now possible. Go one step further and relate this back to something more substantial.  Eg ‘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’. 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.

3. 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 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 way, your helpers will be mindful of the wrap-up throughout the event. This means you are more likely to uncover those small ‘titbits’ that can improve your next event but are otherwise easily forgotten.

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

Happy fundraising!
Mandy Weidmann