Tips for Marketing Your Fundraising Program

You've decided on a fundraising program, and you've made all the arrangements--ordered products, reserved venues, and printed up fliers. But as much work as organizing a fundraiser is, you're nowhere near done yet. The most important part hasn't even begun--letting people know about it!

In the world of marketing, a company with the best product in the world still won't make a dime unless they take steps to make sure the world knows about what they have. You must do the same. Never make assumptions that "the word will get out," because it won't, unless you give it a push.

The marketing phase of your fundraising program can be as simple as printing up take-home fliers and making a few public service announcements, or it may involve much more, depending on the range and scope of your program.

The Basics

Some private companies spend millions of dollars on marketing, but you don't have to. Your first lesson is that as a benevolent organization, you can get a lot of publicity for free. Never hesitate to ask for free press, all they can do is say "no," and chances are, they'll say "yes." You may not have the budget for big-time marketing/advertising like television and billboards, but then again, you may not need it.

Marketing starts at a grass-roots level (although it doesn't end there). You presumably have a community in existence already, made up of your core group of activists, members and supporters, and this group is the first target of your marketing campaign. Make sure that everybody within your group's sphere of influence becomes aware of your fundraiser.

This is usually easy enough to do, through things like take-home fliers, phone trees, emails and direct mails, and announcements in newsletters. Don't neglect this valuable core group, no matter how small, because they will deliver the greatest return on a percentage of people contacted basis. They may also be very useful in getting the word out to others outside of your sphere of influence.

Outside of this in-group, but within your own community, simple outreach can be done through things like the following:

Local newspaper. Send a press release to your local paper's community editor, and if possible, get to know that individual. Be aware though, that any editor probably receives dozens, if not hundreds of press releases daily, and any one release has a pretty good chance of getting lost or ignored. Always follow it up with a phone call. Don't forget alternative newspapers, weeklies, college papers, and shoppers in addition to your daily newspaper.
Other local media. Other local media such as radio stations and television stations are also often willing to lend a hand by providing free public service announcements. Contact these locations as well, again through an initial press release and a follow-up phone call.

Make it Interesting

There are always plenty of announcements in the local paper about local organizations holding fundraisers, and to be perfectly honest, there's really nothing that interesting about it. Most readers will just glance over it and move on to the sports page. A simple announcement will get you some results, and it's definitely worth doing, but you can do better.

Instead of just placing an announcement to the effect of "local organization holds bake sale", make your story unique. If you have a twist, you may well be able to catch the eye of some of the local reporters, and you'll get a lot more than a listing. A feature article in the local section of the paper will go a lot further than the basic listing.

Getting that feature article in the paper isn't always easy. Just talking about your organization and why it is so praiseworthy isn't enough. Newspapers want a human interest story, and so it's up to you to give it to them. A bake sale isn't news. But a bake sale that features international pastries from all over the world, with goodies baked by a former chef at a five-star restaurant in Moscow, is news.

Look to your event and your organization for the unusual, and offer it as a feature story. If you can't find something unusual, then create something to make your event stand out. Here's just one example: Solicit local celebrities to contribute baked goods. Cookies on sale that were baked by the booster club are boring, but cookies baked by a popular anchor on a local news show will make the news.