Fundraising for nonprofits generally requires a lot of meticulous effort. A lot of pre-planning has to go in before making the big ask. You need to assess things beforehand and know the situation on ground. For that to happen you need to ask a few relevant questions and seek answers to it. Doing this would give you all the information required to form your fundraising strategy. Moreover, if you could find the answers to these questions, it would be a good indicator of how ready you are for the fundraising.
Here are a few questions that every nonprofit manager must ask before making a fundraising pitch.
1. One should zero down on all the people that one needs to consult or ask regarding the fundraising pitch. Have all the key decision makers been cultivated or not?
2. Figure out on the person who would be doing all the asking. Who is the person best suited for it? Should there be another member to assist the asking team? The person doing all the asking would be the face of your nonprofit. Therefore this is a really important question.
3. The platform that the fundraising pitch must take place on? It could be online, mobile or offline. You need to form a separate strategy for each one.
4. What would your pitch be exactly about? Discuss your campaign here and draw a link between your donor’s contribution and the impact that it makes.
[Some of the essential components of a nonprofit fundraising deck are a. asking what the real problem is, b. Stating clearly the vision, c. The approach you are going to take to resolve the problem, d. Key team members and their skills, e. Answer why is it the right time now if the problem has been around for long, f. Define your target audience, e. Your fundraising goals and how the funds will be utilized.]
5. How could you convince the donor in question to make the donation? Share a story which makes them feel passionately about your campaign.
6. Have you studied their preferences in detail before going about the ask? What is it that the person feels passionately about?
7. What could be the possible reasons that might be detering your potential donors from giving?
8. Does the person that you are asking for funds have enough resources to donate? Allow them to volunteer for your nonprofit, gift items, etc. if they have financial constraints.
9. What are your donor’s expectations from your nonprofit? What is the change that they would like to see?
10. What are the ways through which you could make your donors long term supporters of your nonprofit? How accessible is your fundraising site? Have you made it easy for them to give?
These are a few questions which should be on any nonprofit manager’s mind before going about their fundraising pitch. Adapting your strategy based on the answers you get would be the key towards successful fundraising for nonprofits.
