Community Cause-Based Fund Raising

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These notes comes from our experience working on HelpVera and SaveOurS00j. Advice from other fund raisers (such as LiveLongAndMarry would also be welcome.

Contents

The Cause

Before you can be successful at fund raising, you must first have a cause worth funding. It is best if the cause is personalized. Raising funds to pay a person's medical bills or fix a person's house works better than trying to fund an abstract ideal. We'll get to why next:

The Appeal

The cause should have a story associated with it. Remember your basic journalism/marketing here. People care about people. The story should be well written and non-rambling. It should be as short as possible (so people will read it) and as emotionally-written as possible (so people care enough to learn more). It's good to have a short summary at the beginning and then more information below. It should also be honest and verifiable.

For more specific advice, please see Writing The Appeal.

Funding Sources

Money can be raised in many ways. The three common options are: Donations, Sales, Auctions.

Donations

Donations are not as easy as you may think. It requires a person to step forward and accept the duty of [bookkeeper]. They should create a way for people to donate money as easily as possible. Remember, not everyone is as comfortable with the Internet as you may be. Some like the Internet, but not PayPal. It's important to have multiple funding sources.

What's worked in the past was to have:

PayPal Account

PayPal allows people to send money via email. Depending on the account the sender has, they can send from bank accounts or credit cards. However, PayPal does take a cut, so plan on this. If you are running the PayPal system, remember that the end result will be 3-5% less than the amount donated.

Mailing Address

It is important for those that wish to send money be able to do so without creating a PayPal account. However, please remember that on Internet-based fund raisers, all information is public. It would be very unwise to use your street address. Try getting a PO Box for a few months and use that instead.

Sales

Sales are the easiest way for people to raise money quickly. They simply find stuff they don't need, slap a price tag on it, and post it online somewhere. The first person to claim it gets it.

Advantages: fast, easy.

Disadvantages: raises the least amount of money possible.

Generally speaking, the goal is to raise a lot of money over a period of time, not raise a small amount of money very quickly. If this is the case, you probably want to go with auctions.

Auctions

Auctions are, by far, the most complex way to raise money. However, they are also the best way to maximize the funds raised.

When running an auction, you have to be careful to:

  • Be very clear what is being auctioned
  • Set an end date
  • Set a starting price

Optionally, you can run multiple items in an auction, run multiple auctions, set "Buy It Now" pricing... the sky is the limit. Unless you're using eBay (who takes a cut), the system you're running on may not support these options. Clearly, you need good rules.

Other Ways to Help

A great many people are not in any position to donate money, but still want to help. There are always ways to help out.

Things to sell/auction

A lot of people want to sell things they have. Items that have sold successfully have been:

  • Books
    • If you don't have anything impressive, sell lots of books.
    • Books that are rare sell better
    • Books that are rare and signed sell even better
    • Books that are rare and signed BY THE AUTHOR are best
  • Jewelry
    • Note, if you sell jewelry, it is best to have high quality, well lit photos. A good sparkle can double the price.
  • Photography
    • If you're a photographer, there are online places to make gift cards and calendars.
    • Prints also work
  • Stuffed Animals
    • Try to keep them new. There are certain laws out there about used stuffed animals.
  • Clothing
    • Perhaps something you've outgrown
    • Perhaps something you bought when you were younger and now shudder to think that you used to wear it in public
  • Crafts
    • Quilts
    • Pillows
    • Cross Stitching
    • Yarn / Thread
    • Poly clay sculpture
    • Beads
    • Candles
    • Bags
    • Knitted items (socks, sweaters, scarves, klein bottles)

Skills to sell/auction

  • Writing
    • The bidder's (or delegate's) name in a book
    • Editorial services
    • A poem a month
    • Custom short story
    • Character in a web comic
  • Divination / Spiritual
    • Tarot reading / Rune casting / Reiki
      • these can be hard to do online, think about it first
      • Also, there is a social stigma to these in some communities. This is likely a cross-community auction. Consider this as you write up the auction.
  • Food
    • Cookies / cakes
    • Home-grown organic items
    • Sushi can be problematic to ship
  • I.T.
    • Custom website theme
    • Software installation services
  • Performance
    • House concert

Connections

Many of us know people. We might be able to make the money go further by identifying companies and individuals that can help out. In particular, the following types of professions that can be linked via the extended network can be very helpful:

  • Lawyers (in the right region, of course)
  • Doctors / Nurses (free consults)
  • Plumbers (repairs at cost)
  • Carpenters (repairs at cost)
  • I.T. People (we need a web site STAT)
  • Bloggers (high-profile bloggers are great at getting the word out, especially for friends in the same industry)



Sales and Ongoing Operations

In many cases, the person being helped is a performer/artist/publisher, etc. In other words, their job is making something which is then sold en masse. During the fund raiser, they may wish to run a "special sale" so that they are seen as helping themselves (as much as possible). It is also important to use this form to get the word out about what they do, so that long-term sales can be driven up as well.

Special Sales

If there is a stash of books or CDs that can be sold, consider selling them at a discount. This can be worked many ways:

  • Simple percentage. Example: 10% off everything.
  • Flat rate. Example: Everything $10.
  • Group Discount: 25% off if you buy more than four.

The goal should be to drive the influx of money without impacting future sales. In short, the sale should target new buyers.

Special Projects

If the group is so skilled and inclined, a one-time-only product could be created. It could be a book, a CD, DVD etc. Anthologies are best, as then the individual contributors don't have to do as much work. The key here, though, is to make it as rare as possible. Terms like: "Only available during this fundraiser" and "Only 100 copies will be produced" are good.

If you're in a large enough market, benefit concerts also work.

Ongoing

Consider setting up a mailing list in addition to an LJ community, so that new friends can stay on top of future releases.

The Infrastructure

People

Running something like this is a lot of work. It's more than one person can manage. You need at least three:

Community Organizer

Someone has to have the job of "community organizer". Their role is to get the word out. This can involve posting to mailing lists, LJ communities, calling press agencies, etc. The right person would be outgoing, have a lot of deep connections, and be listened to. They have to be good at communicating, both at a logical and an emotional level. It's an exhausting job.

See Community Organizer Notes

Bookkeeper

Someone has to manage the money. This is a "behind the scenes" job, but is essential. They have to be good with numbers and graphs. They have to take the time to generate a report on a regular basis (at least once a week, at most, every day). They have to be technically skilled enough to check the PayPal (or whatever) account and be dependable enough to be trusted with incoming checks (and cash).

See Bookkeeper Notes

Auction Manager

Most auctions run themselves, so this job is pretty easy. The hard work is drafting the rules ahead of time in a way that is obvious and clear. They have to review all auctions and make occasional posts pointing to noteworthy auctions and reminding people of deadlines.

See Auction Manager Notes


Networks

You need, at minimum, a Facebook page and a LiveJournal community. Yes, there are other networks, but those two are essential for driving traffic. Other ideas include:

  • A Twitter account
  • A Google or Yahoo group (mailing list)
  • A Flickr group
  • A Myspace account
  • A NowPublic account (for posting articles and press releases)

Bear in mind that each corner of social media space will require their own dedicated manager.

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