Fundraising Tip of the Week #15: Finding Donors Outside of Friends and Family

When it comes to online fundraising there are two types of donors — those who donate because they care about you and those who donate because they care about your cause.  The great majority of people with GiveForward personal fundraising pages will reach out to friends and family and then stop there, which is fine in most cases.  But if you’re looking to kick some real fundraising butt, this post will show you how to get donations from people who don’t know you personally but care about your cause.

Step 1: Find out who else donates to your cause

Do a Google search to find out which organizations and community groups already donate to your cause.

If you are supporting a local non-profit, find out where it gets its funding from. Does your local rotary club or chamber of commerce donate?  What about your town or city’s civic organizations?

If you are supporting a national non-profit, find out which national organizations support this cause.  Do any sororities or fraternities support it?  What about corporations or associations?

Step 2: Write to them and ask if they’ll contribute to your personal fundraising campaign

Believe it or not, some folks will actually say “yes.”

For instance, a few years back I was training for a marathon and raising money St. Jude Children’s Hospital.  After a quick Google search I found that St. Jude is the national philanthropy of the Tri Delta sorority. So I emailed every single chapter president and asked if their chapters would donate.  Of course, most of them said no, but a handful of them decided to support me.  In fact, two chapters even held their own car wash fundraisers and then donated the money to my personal fundraising page.  In total, I raised an extra $1000 for St. Jude from the Tri Delts.

When you ask strangers for money, you might get rejected or you might find someone who really cares about about your cause and donates a lot of money.  The point is, you’ll never know until you ask.