One of the greatest challenges faced by NGOs is fundraising, especially the ones which are at its grassroots level. Small NGOs have limited reach and thus to fundraise successfully it should work on its exposure. The following steps discuss fundraising for NGOs successfully.
Step 1: Determination of the Needs of the Ngo
NGOs should first determine their organization’s needs before they reach out to the donors and apply for funding. One can’t ask for help without knowing why and where do they need help. The NGOs should review their area of work, scope of work, their current budget or deficit. They should also account when and for how long they need the funding. Based on these needs of the NGO they should target their donors, who possibly work in the same area /region, match the timeline of the funding project, etc.
STEP 2: Reach Out To the Donors
Fundraising for NGOs can be done in various ways-
- Follow up with the donors helping other NGOs doing similar work. Usually NGOs list the names of their donors in the website or the annual report. Many of the donors have a specific area of interest, check whether they are interested in funding a project in your area of work.
- Most of the donors propose their funding once or twice a year; one should be aware when to send an application of request for the fund. Do not send it when donor is not available to fund.
- Crowdfunding is a practice of funding a project by raising small amount of money from a large amount of people. The NGOs can cater to crowdfunding by sharing their stories and projects online in websites like Impact Guru, where it is shared with millions of viewers who can be converted as potential donors. Crowdfunding which is very different from banking loans uses connections amongst people and emotional sentiments to collect funds rather than borrowing money with a rate of interest.
Step 3: Follow Up and Persist
Fundraising is a cumbersome and a long term endeavor. It takes days to covert a person into a potential donor. The success comes after some turmoil. Being persistent and following up with the probable donors is a very important task. It is a slow process but quitting won’t help. Perseverance and patience are the keys to fundraise for NGOs successfully especially in crowdfunding.
Regular follow up would irritate the probable donors and one might lose them. So a standard of once or twice a week follow up should be maintained. If the NGO is rejected they must ask for the feedback so that they can improve. Be persistent. In the world of crowdfunding India is just waking up and can achieve a lot with this technique!