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One of the most important steps in getting your fundraising off on the right foot is making sure that the people your put in your fundraising team are there because they have a passion for the goal or cause that you are trying to reach. People are the greatest resource in any fundraising venture and utilizing them is imperative for reaching your money raising targets.
In this first article of a two part series on your fundraising team, I want to point out three reasons why having more people as a part of your overall fundraising strategy is going to pay off down the road. Let's take a look at what those reasons are:
1.) Networking - If you think about the pyramid effect: one person knows two people, and those two people know two people, and so on - then you understand why more is usually better - especially for networking. You begin a small snowball at the top of a mountain only to roll it down and watch it grow to immense proportions.
2.) Many hands make light work - If you just want to recruit more help during your event, that's no problem. Spreading the work around allows the event preparation to be done effectively and efficiently.
3.) Greater skill set to work with - This is important. If you have three people in your organization, and none of them has the slightest clue about income tax, legal arrangements, and / or how to fix the glitch in the computer, then you might be spending more of the organization's money on paying professionals to help you, than having those in your ranks lend a helping hand.
I spent a great deal of my amateur athletic career doing fundraising. However, since I wasn't always around (traveling internationally for competition), I had to leave many of the fundraising duties to my team members. Without them, I may not have achieved the success in my fundraising that ultimately led to my success as an amateur athlete.
Spend some time developing a fundraising team that utilizes the skills of others and helps to attract others to your organization. Remember, passion for an organization is contagious - and belief in a cause or a goal is the number one driver for success in any fundraising effort.
Building your fundraising team is one of the preliminary items you should take care of when you are devising a fundraising strategy for your organization. The people you recruit and the passion they have are going to drive your fundraising to much greater heights.
Watch for Building a Solid Fundraising Team- Part Two, where I will discuss the type of people that help make the best fundraising team for any organization.
As I mentioned in part one of this two part series, your fundraising team is one of the most important elements of your entire fundraising operation. Without a solid team, you may encounter unnecessary roadblocks along the way - everything from uncooperative team members to people whose passion is a little misguided. These things are all going to count when the final fund raising dollar value is tallied at the end of each year.
That's why selecting the right people for your fundraising team is so important.
Now, for your organization, you may not be able to rely strictly on the work of family and friends - depending on the size of your organization. If you are a smaller community organization, the friends and family angle might work just fine. If you are looking beyond your own organization for a few helping hands, here are a few things I would look for in winning fundraising teammates:
" Share the same passion -In my fundraising strategy this is always the most important element in a fundraising team. If you don't have the passion for the cause, then it might be tough to get motivated to do some of the groundwork to make the fundraising successful.
" Team players - Team players are extremely important to the overall success of your organization. Working well with others towards the organization's goals is paramount in the people you want as the driving force behind your group.
" Extra skills - Everybody has something to offer the organization, but getting to that might prove to be difficult. So, the best thing you can do is ask… "What sort of skills can you bring to the organization?" Note: If they say, "Passion for this cause," that's a really good start!
" Expertise - Professionals can help tackle some of the governance and technical aspects of your organization. These types of people include accountants, lawyers, marketing people, computer technicians, etc. Surrounding yourself with people that can provide expertise in these areas can help save on professional costs.
As I mentioned previously: everyone usually has something to offer. Take advantage of the fact that someone wants to be a part of the organization and then you can find a way in which this person can be most effective within the fundraising team. And remember in most cases, as stated in part one, more people is usually better. But don't sacrifice the entire fundraising plan if you don't feel a person is going to be able to contribute in a constructive fashion.
Fundraising can be a tricky business; the donors are finicky and they can be tough to crack. Making sure that your fundraising team is all rowing in the same direction is one of the best ways to showcase the passion and determination your organization has for its goals - and ultimately it is the path to greater financial support.