To tell you truth, fundraising is hard! I fully commend the organisations and people who do this on a full time scale. For instance it is really competitive to break into the charity market with most commercial companies already allocating a proportion of their budget to key national charities. Local community fundraisers need to think innovative and creative but I now appreciative the work behind each donated dollar is tough business. Fortunately I have been lucky to get some great breakthroughs but help is still needed. I am currently knocking on the doors of my local shops to request Product or Voucher Donations for auction items or gifts at my events.

My recommendations are:

•  If you can meet people face-to-face is 100% better than email and phone calls. By meeting people you can build rapport rather than the higher risk of your email deleted or cold calling.
• Prepare a flyer of your fundraiser and if possible complement it with information of sponsors who are already supporting you to build credibility.
• Be persistent but start small. Give yourself a goal to contact a minimum number of stores a week.
• Post your applications early. Some companies may take over a month to respond.
• Follow-up. If you have contacted a company for support and have not heard a response in a reasonable time, follow-up with a phone call.

To tell you truth, fundraising is hard! I fully commend the organisations and people who do this on a full time scale. For instance it is really competitive to break into the charity market with most commercial companies already allocating a proportion of their budget to key national charities. Local community fundraisers need to think innovative and creative but I now appreciative the work behind each donated dollar is tough business. Fortunately I have been lucky to get some great breakthroughs but help is still needed. I am currently knocking on the doors of my local shops to request Product or Voucher Donations for auction items or gifts at my events.

My recommendations are:

•  If you can meet people face-to-face is 100% better than email and phone calls. By meeting people you can build rapport rather than the higher risk of your email deleted or cold calling.
• Prepare a flyer of your fundraiser and if possible complement it with information of sponsors who are already supporting you to build credibility.
• Be persistent but start small. Give yourself a goal to contact a minimum number of stores a week.
• Post your applications early. Some companies may take over a month to respond.
• Follow-up. If you have contacted a company for support and have not heard a response in a reasonable time, follow-up with a phone call.