Let’s get curious about these misconceptions, break ‘em down, and try out some tactics to make fundraising easier!
Myth #1: Grants are the easiest way to get nonprofit funding.
Reality: Grants are really competitive, and most funders won’t consider giving your nonprofit a grant until it has at least a few years of proven work in your portfolio first. Even seasoned grant writers might only get roughly 1 in 10 grants of those they apply for. 📄
What to do instead: When you’re first starting out, focus on more accessible funding streams, such as individual donations.
The Return on Investment (ROI) can be pretty good.
For the sake of comparison, it might take you a few hours to ask 10 people to donate $250 each to generate $2,500, compared to 20-80 hours to write 10 small grants and hope to win $2,500. 😮
Myth #2: Fundraising is mostly about asking for donations.
Reality: Effective fundraising involves building relationships, communicating the nonprofit’s mission and impact, and engaging donors in meaningful ways. It’s about creating a sense of partnership and investment in the cause.
It’s 90% relationship building 💗 and only 10% ask. 💲 (if that.)
A lot of people picture fundraising as meeting with someone and making an inspirational pitch about why your cause needs the money. But one of the most successful fundraisers I’ve ever met shared her secret about winning donations in meetings: “Don’t talk a lot. Listen instead.” 👂
Why? Because at the end of the day, people are more likely to give when they feel a connection to you and your cause (versus how pretty your presentation was!).
What to do instead: Prioritize relationships and listening. Focus on building your audience and community before you make any asks for money. Provide information about the issue you’re working to address through your social impact efforts, and help educate people on why funding is needed to tackle that issue. THEN you can make an ask!
Myth #3: Events are an effective way to raise a lot of money.
Reality: While events can be an important part of a fundraising strategy, they are not always the most efficient or effective way to raise funds.
How do you know if a fundraising event is worth hosting?
Calculate the amount you think you’ll raise and subtract what you’ll spend to put it on. Plus… something else. All that time you and your team put into planning the event. ⏲️
Time is a cost, too. A big one. If your event raises $10,000, and it cost you $3,000 to put on the event, you might assume that’s a good ROI. 📈
But if your team spent 6 months planning the event, now you need to subtract the value of that time – even if they aren’t paid staff.
The reason? It’s called “opportunity cost”. Every time you choose to do one activity, you’re sacrificing the time you’d spend doing a different activity. Which is better – spending 6 months planning an event that raises $10,000, or spending 6 months cultivating a donor base that could donate $50,000?
What to do instead: Events may be a good strategy when first starting out IF you recognize that at that stage your main goal isn’t to net a lot of money, but instead to build relationships and community with potential future donors. But you can also build relationships with future donors in other ways, such as presenting to groups, networking, and forming partnerships with other community organizations or businesses. 🎤
Myth #4: All Fundraising Strategies Work the Same for Every Organization.
Reality: If you see another organization try a fundraising strategy that works really well, that’s not a guarantee it will work really well for your organization.
Fundraising strategies need to be tailored to fit the specific organization. 🧩
Your mission is different.
Your target audience is different.
The resources you have may be different.
What to do instead: Get clear on who you really are as an organization. Spend time thinking about:
- Your organization’s target audience: Who do you serve and what groups of people care most about your mission?
- Your program model: Who benefits and who has a stake in your success?
- You and your leadership team’s top skillsets: What are you great at?
Your goal is to create a fundraising strategy tailored to your audience and skills.
For example, let’s say you’re an animal rescue nonprofit. 🐶
Your organization’s target audience is animal lovers.
And you determine that your team’s top skillsets include dog training or public speaking.
How can you match your skills to your audience? What about offering dog training workshops for a donation or fee to generate funding to support your organization’s other needs? Or doing a speaking tour raising awareness about pet homelessness?
I’d love to hear:
What are some other common myths about nonprofit fundraising, and what are you doing differently?
