Putting the FUN into FUNDRAISING by fundraisingtins.

If you are involved with a charity, sports club, religious group etc. you are likely to need to raisie funds on a regular basis for your group.  Fundraising is therefore a necessity but it does not have to be a chore and ideally should be fun for those who organise it and for those who take part.

Fundraising can take as many forms as you can think of, but before going down the hard way what about the easy way? It may be that your group qualifies for a grant from the Lottery fund or from one of the other Grant Giving Organistaions or the Government.

If you are a registered charity you may be able to get permission to collect in a local shopping centre, in the street, or by going door to door. (check out our other guide). Contact your Local Authority about the necessary permits.

Why not enquire about engaging the services of a professional fundraiser? Yes they will want a percentage of the money they manage to raise and be aware that while they will come up with the ideas, they will expect your members to do the work. So why not  start by looking at the talents of the poeple that make up your group?

It is likely that your members will already pay a subscription to belong to the group, and occasionally during the year you will be able to ask them for extra donations. Unless you have a very large group or very generous members, it is unlikely that this will meet all your needs and you need to be carefull not to take advantage of their generousity. That said, if you are a registered charity, enquire about Gift Aid whereby you can claim from the Tax Man up to 28p of every £1 donated. This costs the giver nothing so is certainly worth doing, and who would not relish  the thought of free money from the Tax Man?

While you cannot ask your members to be giving constantly, you should certainly use their expertise. Perhaps you have gifted and enthusiastic fundraisers in your midst, just waiting to be asked. You may know local businessmen (or women) who will readily share their contacts or ideas, or members with talents that you can harness.

But where is the fun we were talking about? Well the general public are interested in many things and are willing to pay to take part in things they enjoy. So why shouldn`t your group profit from tapping into this? How do you know what people enjoy? That is simple, by asking your members what they like doing in  their spare time. If they enjoy sport, or entertainment or have particular hobbies, chances are that other people are intersested in similar things.

Often we don`t know what talented people are in our midst. So ask! You will be amazed at the range of interests. But how do you turn this into cash?

Well some will be prepared to make or grow things for you to sell, others will organise events so that those who like dancing or sport can take part, others will be good cooks who can do catering for events while yet more will be able to do talks on their hobbies or interests and get people to pay good money to attend. The best bit  is that all this comes for free while raising those funds!  Because those who attend are taking part in  things they enjoy, they don`t mind paying for it, time after time.

So the first thing you have to do is find out what your members like doing and what skills  and expertise they have. Put the two together and you will have a whole range of fundraising ideas just waiting to be tried.

These are just some ideas see our other guide for  50+ fundraising ideas.

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