6 innovative nonprofit fundraising ideas

For most nonprofit organizations, fundraising is a constant priority.

Finding ways to keep money coming in is essential to keeping the lights on, retaining employees, and furthering your goals.

Traditional methods such as direct mail campaigns, knocking on doors, and benefit events are still an effective way of soliciting contributions from businesses and private individuals alike. However, there are plenty of new online avenues nonprofits can explore to generate funds.

If your nonprofit does not already have an online or social media presence, this is a great reason to get started. Otherwise, you might miss out!

1. Crowdfunding

Over the last few years, crowdfunding has become an effective way for organizations of all stripes to raise funds for their products or projects.

The process is simple. To crowdfund, an organization or individual simply sets up a campaign page with a fundraising target. Then, the crowdfunder shares the page with their larger network of contacts to help raise the money.

There are a few different crowdfunding models. There’s the keep-it-all model, which means that a fundraiser gets to keep whatever they raise, regardless of if they reach their goal. Then there’s the all-or-nothing model, which, as the name suggests, means that a fundraiser has to reach their goal in order to receive any of the money they raise.

Popular crowdfunding sites such as RocketHub and Kickstarter allow users to pitch their idea to the public, set a target amount for their fundraising goal, and then spread the message through social media to drive traffic to a campaign.

Some crowdfunding platforms, like Fundly, specialize in a variety of campaign types, including nonprofit and charity fundraising, while others, such as FirstGiving, were built specifically for nonprofits.

There are many crowdfunding platforms to choose from, so it’s important to browse and select the one that will work best for your organization. To get a better feel for the crowdfunding platforms available to you, check out this list of top sites, which will give you a high-level overview of the top crowdfunding websites.

Once you’ve picked your platform, use your fundraising savvy to make the most of the new reach your campaign will afford you.

2. Giving Library

The Giving Library is an online resource for philanthropists looking for worthy causes to support.

Nonprofit organizations can apply to become part of the ‘card catalog’ of the library and are then eligible to receive secure donations from individuals or organizations looking to donate to agencies that meet their specific interests.

Agencies in the library are organized into groups – Arts and Culture, Education, Environment and Animals, Health, Humanitarian, Civil Rights and Liberties, Government and Public Policy, Science and Research, and Other.

The benefits? You can use your Giving Library page to advertise your organization’s purpose, while exposing your organization to individuals or foundations looking to contribute to your cause.

Also, during the Giving Library’s ‘Share to Give’ campaign, you receive $5 every time someone tweets about your Giving Library campaign.

Nonprofits can apply to become part of the Giving Library by filling out a form on their website.

3. Google Ad Grants

As we know, Google has long been more than the search engine you use to settle the office argument about who won the Oscar for best picture in 1981. They’re also building smart homes, web browsers, and operating systems.

However, they are also known for their social conscience and have a Google Ad Grants campaign via their Google for Nonprofits program, where nonprofits can receive the equivalent of $10,000 per month in AdWords advertising.

This will almost certainly help increase your organization’s online visibility while guiding interested individuals to your site and to your cause.

Eligibility requirements include holding valid charity status and maintaining a functioning website with ‘substantial content’ – governments, hospitals, schools, childcare centers, and universities are not eligible, however.

4. Brackets for Good

Unconventional fundraising campaigns can generate news coverage, as was the case with the Brackets For Good campaign for Indianapolis nonprofits that made headlines.

Brackets For Good executive director and basketball fanatic Matt McIntyre organized a March Madness-style ‘tournament’ of 64 local nonprofits, who would then compete in an online donation campaign toward winning the ultimate grand prize of $10,000.

Each dollar donated to an organization online counted as one point, with each ’round’ lasting a week.

Though a contest pitting nonprofits against each other may potentially be off-putting for some, the campaign succeeded in generating interest in donating to local nonprofits and garnering all-important news coverage.

As McIntyre said, “We came up with the idea to help raise awareness about the nonprofits that exist in our own backyard.”

And that’s never a bad thing.

5. Reddit donating 10% of ad revenue

Social networking site reddit announced that it will be donating 10% of its advertising revenue to non-profit organizations chosen by the site’s users.

In a blog announcing the initiative, reddit said they “intend for all ad revenue this year to benefit not only reddit as a platform but also to support the goals and causes of the entire community.”

Essentially, reddit will ask their users at the end of the year to nominate their favorite nonprofit, an election will be held, and then the top 10 vote-getters will receive a proportion of the ad revenue being distributed.

Like Google Ad Grants, nominees must be 501c(3) organizations.

There’s no real way to ‘apply’ for this, but if you have a strong social media presence, you can urge your followers to nominate you. Another good reason to increase your online presence!

6. Bitcoin

Bitcoin is something of a buzz word these days. The virtual currency has made headlines for its rapid increase in value and increasing popularity as a secure way to conduct transactions online.

Some nonprofit organizations are adopting the currency early, in hopes of attracting a different brand of donor.

One such agency is Capacity Waterloo Region in the high-tech hub of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, who recently began accepting Bitcoin donations online.

As detailed in this article in the Waterloo Region Record, the organization was hoping not only to open up a new donation stream but also to interest other nonprofits in accepting Bitcoin as well.

As the organization’s director of operations Andrew Wilding said in the article, “We want to give as many options for people to donate to us as we can. We’ll keep it going as long as they exist.”

Bitcoin may be something worth looking into for nonprofits looking to widen their donor base.

Written by Neil McDonald