The April deadline approaches! Now is the time to evaluate where you are in your fundraising and make a strategy:

• Under $1,000 raised: First, don’t panic. You can do this! Likely you: 1) haven’t started or 2) half-heatedly started… sent one letter, no phone calls; mentioned it to a few people, but didn’t follow up; posted something on facebook, no follow up.

It won’t be easy to raise $4,000 in a month, but you CAN do it. You must, however, commit to spending up to two hours a day fundraising. Send out another round of letters and follow up every single letter with a phone call. This is the KEY to getting people to give. The first few calls will be awkward, but after that you will hit your stride.

Don’t be afraid to ask. Remember you are not asking people to give you money to buy a sandwich, you are asking people to give to Camp Shriver and help children with and without disabilities. People enjoy having a chance to give!

Choose one of the following strategies below and implement one each week. This will take time and planning on your end, but it WILL get you to your goal.

 

• $1,000-$2,000: You’ve done well, but you have a bit to go. Likely you’ve sent your letters and made some phone calls. Now re-energize your fundraising with a few events.

March Maddness is a great time to run a tournament. $20 an entry and split the pot with the winner. If you can get 10 office mates to participate, that’s $100 for the winner and $100 for Camp Shriver… If you can get 25 of your friends, family and co-workers to participate, that’s $250 for the winner and $250 for Camp Shriver! And I bet you can convince the winner to donate a $100 of his winnings back to Camp…

Dinner at your house! Hold a festive dinner (tex mex night with margaritas, pizza and wine, fried chicken and beer) and charge people a donation, from $25–$50. With a dinner for 12 friends, you can raise between $300 and $600 in one night!

Raffle off your old gift cards! Do you have an iTunes gift card, but your iPod is busted? A restaurant gift card from a well meaning relative to a place you’ll never go to? Sell $5 tickets to 20 people and raise a quick $100!

 

• $2,000–$3,000: You are getting there, but you are worried people are getting tired of hearing from you. Don’t worry about them! They know why you are asking and they’ll get over it. Continue to call/email everyone who hasn’t given yet. Be funny and lighthearted, but keep asking!

Use your upcoming 21-miler as a way to reach out and engage those donors who have been meaning to donate, but just haven’t yet. Can you get 21 people to donate $21? That’s $441 right there!

 

• $3,000-$4,000: The last push!

For that one last push to get to $4,000 I have two suggestions: Try everything above again, even if you already have, with the explanation – “I am so close, one more dinner/raffle/drive will put me over my goal! If you have been planning to give, now is the time! If you have given, even a small gift can shut me up forever! Be generous!”

The second suggestion is empowering other people to be fundraisers. Reach out to your closest friends and family, tell them how close you are, and ask them to help: do they know 5 people who can give $21 for your $21 miler? If you ask 5 people to give $21 and ask each of those five to find five more to give, that’s $631!

In fact, if you asked those 20 people who bought a $5 ticket to your raffle, to sell tickets to 10 of their friends, that is $1,000 right there.

 

And please, call the office if you need support and ideas – that is what we are here for!

I’m going with a similar image from last week, as I think it is just what we need :

 

 

I know you can!