Why Your Organization Needs Community Fundraising Training
It’s hard for any business owner to step away from the many goals of their company and focus on giving something away. Resources such as materials, time, and even money seem so precious within a business. However, it’s very possible that your community could benefit from these resources more than you. It’s also possible that your business will get something in return, although you shouldn’t expect it.
Every organization has a level of duty to their community. That could mean paying taxes, or you could take it to the next step. Involve yourself in your community, make a difference, and become the manager or business owner that the members of your community know.
Creating a company culture centered around fundraising does not have to be your exclusive organizational goal. It does not need to feel like an impossible task, either. Ultimately, community fundraising training is the first step towards investing in the community that returns to you again and again.
You might see surprising results from your staff and community. Many people love experiencing the intrinsic value of helping people and feeling connected to those around them.
Different Types of Fundraising Training
Are you aware of the many different types of fundraising and fundraising training? Each type of fundraising will come with different benefits, and each requires different training because there are various legal and organizational obstacles.
Community fundraising training isn’t your only option. However, many businesses gravitate towards community fundraising because it does exactly what you would expect; it serves the community. With general or fun fundraising ideas, you can help build up your community center, contribute to a community food bank, or create a community garden. You’ll learn during fundraising training that each idea requires different connections within your city or town government. Some require the help of many other volunteers or permits and documentation. With community fundraising training, you should expect to learn about all of the common obstacles and how to navigate them when it may be unclear how to proceed.
Other types of fundraising training opportunities and options include
- Legacy fundraising training
- Major donor fundraising training
- Board fundraising training
With each different type of training, your company can receive different benefits and have different opportunities. Explore each type of fundraising to see which is right for you and your company. If you’re working with a small team or are a startup company, your only option may be community fundraising or legacy fundraising. However, for more established companies, it may be best to explore the opportunity of major donor fundraising training and board fundraising training.
Legacy Fundraising Training
Legacy fundraising is a type of fundraising where you ask for people, usually your customers, to give to a charity. A great example of this is the donations requested for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by grocery stores. In these instances, you’re informing your customers or individuals of a charitable opportunity for them. Then you facilitate the handling of the donation until it reaches the intended recipient.
Why choose legacy fundraising? Through legacy fundraising training, you’ll see that it puts very little work on your staff. Most simply have to ask customers or people coming to the event if they want to contribute to the charity. It serves a very direct purpose, which makes it easier to get people involved and active. For example, people that hear they’re helping a family recover from a house fire, or a community building recover after a bad storm can identify with that struggle. There are ways to benefit the greater community through legacy fundraising as well, though. Companies can explain that all donations go to a specific food shelter to help create holiday meal baskets for needy families.
Legacy fundraising training explains the legal aspects of this type of charitable collection and giving. You may need to obtain permits, and you must be careful with your advertising. You need to be very clear about what you are collecting for, where the donations will go, and when they will get there. Although many companies use general time frames such as, “in time for the holidays” or “during the school year’s summer vacation” it allows contributors peace of mind that their donation is going towards a timely cause.
Major Donor Fundraising Training
Major donors make it possible for many non-profit or small endeavors to carry on with businesses as usual. Great examples of the recipients of major donor fundraising include churches, charities, and even private non-profit schools. Unlike other forms of community fundraising training, major donor fundraising training will likely focus on finding the right relationship.
Usually, small non-profits rely on a few major donations throughout the year. These major donors likely went through major donor fundraising training to find the right fit in terms of values, expectations, and timetables for giving. This type of fundraising does not happen overnight, and usually, it involves much more than issuing a check once a year. Major donor fundraising training will explain that it’s always best to become involved slowly, and then to explore what opportunities there are for the receiving organization.
Investing in Your Community is Good for Business
Through major donor fundraising training you can learn how to start with small gifts, dedicate monetary donations for singular purposes, and eventually become involved in operations or impact. If you’re hoping to become a major donor, then you need to find a non-profit or charity that is willing to:
- Be in frequent contact with you
- Answer your questions and questions from the c-suite or board
- Show where your money would go if donated
- Explain why certain repairs or initiatives have priority over others
To accomplish this, many major donor fundraising training programs center around creating a game plan. Mapping out from initial contact to long-term dedication will help you decide if at any point you and the charity or non-profit are not on the same page. Every donor and every charity or non-profit recipient has specific needs.
For example, you may not want to contribute long-term to a school that holds different values than your company. The two goals of giving to your community and substantiating your business goals may cross in unwelcome ways. However, you may find that becoming the major donor of a local non-profit fits with your company values. It may also give volunteer opportunities to your staff and cultivate long-term change in your community. It’s difficult for people to acknowledge, but many times, community fundraising does fall in line with major donor fundraising as well. The two are not always at odds.
What is Community Fundraising Training?
Although it might seem innate and natural for many people, there are processes, legal obstacles, and organization struggles for fundraising. Community fundraising training, as well as other types of fundraising training, help people understand how to begin, facilitate, and complete a fundraiser for their community.
The fundraising training can help people within your staff understand the importance of participating as well. While many people love taking part and pitching in, many others just want to show up, put in their eight hours, and leave for the day. However, during training, it allows these employees to understand what they can get out of participation as well. Benefits such as public recognition for their efforts, additions to their resumes, and enhanced networking within their community are all things that employees can get out of fundraising events.
Community fundraising training, as well as legacy fundraising training, major donor fundraising training, and board fundraising training, can help you act on ideas you already have for fundraising and giving. Many managers want to organize food drives, make floats for community parades, or sponsor local sports teams. The trouble is that usually, they don’t know how to get started. Always explore the benefits of giving before committing to any specific event.
After completing fundraising training, you will be able to complete a full calendar with events and planned fundraising to help involve you with your community more. It’s a massive opportunity for you, your staff, and your company as a whole.
Make Your Donations Count
Without training, it’s likely that you would rely on an organizer or simply pass over the donation to a charity. What that’s doing is taking away from the effect of every dollar collected. When you bring in additional labor, and strains on your resources, then each dollar reduced to pennies of actual value for the community. Essentially, you’re implementing more, and unnecessary, overhead that coincides with the donations. Instead, you can create a fundraiser that delivers a high dollar value to the final recipient.
Through community fundraising training, and even alternatives such as major donor fundraising training you can make sure that your contributes have a significant impact. With training, you can learn how to organize your events and to do so in a cost-effective way. You can also understand what it takes to acquire the proper permits and what fees to expect with obtaining property rentals, permits, and permission from any necessary authorities.
Community fundraising training gives you the tools necessary to build up a strong foundation of resources that you can use again and again. Eventually, you may have an internal team or board that takes care of community fundraising events. They can even host their community fundraising training program within your company, allowing them to pass the torch to newer staff members.
If you are set on building your board, you may want to graduate people from the community fundraising group. Putting key group members through board fundraising training may help them create more efficient, impactful, and clear fundraising plans. When choosing which board fundraising training program is right for your staff to look for programs that go beyond cold-calling or asking former contributors for money again.
Give Your Staff Something to Believe In
Don’t waste away your good talent. Instead, motivate, inspire, and incentivize them intrinsically. People do indeed love a hefty raise or a well-earned vacation. However, more people feel higher levels of engagement through intrinsic motivation. They want a company that stands for something, that they can believe in, and that will put some effort into helping people.
Intrinsic motivation can be delivered in many forms, and while staff will often see some benefit in rising to a challenge, many others will pursue a self-less or emotionally value experience. Volunteering is one of those opportunities. Aside from feeling more connected to their community and listing the experience of participating in an event on their resume, there are other opportunities.
For many members of your staff, community fundraising training can open up leadership chances. This opportunity is especially important for those who deserve promotions into leadership but find that the company doesn’t have any positions that fit their skills. Finally, invite them to plan things that are close to their hearts.
Through community fundraising training, you should be able to get a sense of your company’s values. Too often, executives and managers jump on the first community event that presents itself. However, that could be too arduous on your staff, and company. You can spend too much time trying to make an event “work” for your company and then lose all the benefits of participating in a community fundraiser.
Instead, survey your staff or do a little bit of research. With a little bit of training, you can learn how to marry your staff’s interests with the community’s needs.
Learn How to Promote Involvement
You will need to rely on your staff for many aspects of a community fundraiser. That said each person will also bring in a different skill set, and attitude. Unfortunately, not every attitude is welcome, and not every skillset is useful. Often times, you will have a very mixed environment of enthusiastic and less-than-enthusiastic staff members. With training, you can learn what you need to so that your employees stay involved and motivated to contribute. Even your less than enthusiastic staff can support the company’s decision to help the community.
Through training, you should learn how to use these motivational tools:
- Schedule feedback
- Explain the purpose of the community fundraising event or goal
- Set clear goals for each team and larger goals for the company
- Utilize each person’s skills
- Communicate clearly about expectations, responsibilities, and outcomes
- Give rewards for jobs well done
Each year workplaces around the nation can raise about $5 billion for their communities and non-profit charities. With the right training in place you and your staff can make the contributions your company makes even more impactful. Create change and instill a sense of fulfillment within your staff and your community. More than anything else, community fundraising is about helping people. Train your staff properly, and you can help build up your company culture while improving your local community.