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Paralegals and Advice Offices

Fundraising

It is the job of the fundraising committee to plan how the organisation will raise money and to see that everyone does what they promise to do.

When people give money to an organisation they want to know that there are structures to make sure that the money is properly used.

Bookkeeping records must be kept to show clearly what money is collected and what money is spent.

The law

The law that has replaced the Fundraising Act is the Nonprofit Organisations Act. It encourages organisations to register with the Department of Welfare if you raise money from the public or from funders. It is not compulsory to register.

Being a registered organisation may help you to get benefits and contacts, and it may be easier to raise money because of greater accountability. Only organisations with a proper constitution and regular audits can register.

To register as a fundraising organisation, apply to the Director of Nonprofit Organisations.

See Non-profit organisations and the Nonprofit Organisations Act

See Resources, for the address

Raising money

• Most organisations with members have a membership fee called a subscription.
• You can charge a fee for some or all of the services you provide, or sell your publications. You can charge more to people who can afford it, and less or nothing to people who don't have much money.
• You can collect money from people in the street, or have public fundraising events, such as raffles, parties or suppers, cake or jumble sales, fairs, and so on.
• You can ask for donations of money or things (for example office equipment, or items to be prizes for fundraising events) from churches, businesses or other organisations.
• If your organisation needs funding, you will have to approach a big funding agency for a donation. You will have to draw up a funding proposal or a project proposal.

See Writing a funding proposal
See Writing a project proposal

Fundraising events

There are many different fundraising events you can use, like fetes, cake sales, jumble sales, film shows, discos, dances, talent shows, plays and so on. Some are easy to organise (like a cake sale) and others are much more difficult (like a fete).

Always work out very carefully whether an event will be profitable. For example, T-shirt sales often run at a loss because you have to buy the T-shirts and they are expensive.

The support of everyone in the organisation is necessary for the success of any fundraising event. Fundraising events also help build the organisation.

Planning a fundraising event

Step 1: What to do?

• Decide how much money you want to raise
• What resources do you have available? (time, money, people)
• How much is the event going to cost you to run?

Step 2: When to do it?

• What date for the event?
• What time of the day will the event happen?

Step 3: Where to do it?

• What venue will be suitable?
• Is the venue easy to get to?

Step 4: What extras to offer?

• Will you offer refreshments?
• Will you offer a place where people can leave their children?

Step 5: Publicity

• What kinds of publicity will you use? (pamphlets, posters, banners, stickers, newspaper advertisements, radio, and so on)
• Where will you advertise, for example where will you distribute your pamphlets?
• When will you advertise?

Step 6: Who does the work?

You will need people to do the preparation work and to work on the day.

Without committed workers no fundraising event can be a success. There must be a co-ordinator who takes overall responsibility. But there are also hundreds of small jobs and the co-ordinator cannot do them all. The co-ordinator must delegate many of the jobs. His or her job is to make sure that everyone else does what they promised.

Step 7: Evaluation

When it is all over the money is counted. Then it is important to ask:

• What did you do right?
• What did you do wrong?

Writing a funding proposal

Here is a list of things that must be included in a funding proposal:

• Name and address of your organisation
• Background and motivation (why you are asking for funds)

Give the reader (funding agency) some information about when the organisation was formed and why it was formed. It is always useful to give figures in your motivation for funding, for example, for a literacy programme 9 million people who cannot read, or 50 telephone calls every day from people asking for legal advice.

• Aims of your organisation
• Description of activities for the past year or two

Send your annual reports

• Plans for the future
• Organisations you have worked with

It is often useful to list the organisations your organisation has worked with. If the funder has heard of them, then it increases your credibility.

• Description of the structure of your organisation

You could enclose your constitution.

• Income

• money received in the past from different agencies
• money receiving now
• ways in which the organisation has raised money itself

• Budget

List the expenses and income you think you will have in the next year.

See The budget

Keep your proposal brief, direct and simple. Plan what you want to write and make the proposal interesting.

Send your proposal with a covering letter.

If you receive funding, always send letters of thanks.

See Planning a report, on reports to funders

Writing a project proposal

A project proposal is more specific than a funding proposal. It deals with a special project for which funding is needed and not funding for the whole organisation.

Here is a list of things that need to be included in a project proposal:

• Name of the project
• Motivation or reasons for doing the project

Use statistics if possible to support your reasons.

• Aims of the project
• Description of the project
• Timing

You need to say how long you think the project will take, and when it will begin and end.

• Budget

You need to write down all the expenses of the project, and add them up so the reader can see how much money you will need for the project. Also include any income that the project may generate itself.

See The budget

Keep your proposal brief, direct and simple. Plan what you want to write and make the proposal interesting.

Send your proposal with a covering letter. If you are applying to a funder for the first time, include some of the things you include for a funding proposal, for example information about your organisation.

If you receive funding, always send letters of thanks.

See Planning a report, on reports to funders