High ROI Fundraising

Dear readers,

Among you, there are members of synagogues, churches, PTAs, sororities, and non-profits. What are the best fundraisers your organization does? What are high return for the investment of time?

Live Auctions? Silent Auctions? Fancy dinners? Themed dances? Competitions? Passive fundraisers? Sponsorships? Live auctions of sponsorships? Candy bars? Catering? Bar nights? A night on the town? Progressive dinners?

I have my first board meeting next week and am already on my first fundraising committee. I want new ideas or old ideas that work well for you. Obviously it is for use with our synagogue membership, many of who are already big givers to plenty of organizations. How do we encourage people to give when they have never given beyond dues or to reallocate more monies to the shul?

Or how do we take an existing fundraiser and breath new life into it? Does buy back the drive work well for NPR? Can people shorten the 5 year fundraising efforts by making bigger donations now? (Although our current 5 year program includes honoring Rabbi and Lotte Schaalman, so I’m not suggesting that we shorten it.)

Is it exclusivity? Is it program matching? It is setting up monthly debits so it is easy for people to do?

What has worked the best for your organizations?

Sincerely,

Accidentally Jewish