What Makes Fundraising Difficult & What You Can Do

November 5, 2018

Let’s face it; fundraising is tough. Thousands of nonprofits, schools, churches and other organizations exist in your community. And they also want financial support from the same people want as your donors. So, in this post, we’ll help you understand the challenges in fundraising. But we’ll also give you a few brilliant tips to overcome the difficulties of raising money.

What Makes Fundraising Difficult?

Some of the most popular reasons people who work in charities say it’s tough to raise funds include the following:

  • Prospects and donors don’t have a clear understanding of the services and impact of a nonprofit in a community.
  • Donors don’t know the measurable results an organization is making in their town.
  • Leadership within the organization doesn’t have a clear vision. As a result, it makes it difficult for fundraising and marketing teams to communicate through marketing.
  • Donor fatigue with constant requests for money from multiple groups.
  • Board leaders don’t want to fundraise. Period.
  • It’s difficult to get high-quality volunteers to help support a cause and give of their time, talent or treasure.
  • Donors only want to give to direct program costs. In other words, they don’t want to support nonprofit operational expenses. But general funds are necessary for a high-quality operation.

 

More reasons exist which you could think of as to why fundraising is difficult these days when everyone is so busy, including limited resources. But, one last difficulty—and a common complaint—is the information overload of donors and prospects. In the digital age when thousands of messages appear in front of donors each day, it’s hard to cut through all of the noise!

Brilliant Tips to Overcome Fundraising Difficulties

Each day, the team at Funds2Orgs works with our partners and help them learn of ideas to raise money, despite the challenges. So, now we’ll share some tips for fundraising challenges you may face.

Tip 1: Change of perspective for volunteers.

When you have volunteers, including board members, they need to get in the right mindset to help you. How can you get them to help you raise money? The first thing you need to do is remind them they are not asking for themselves. When they reach out to the people they know, they ask on behalf of good cause. As many know, board members often don’t want to ask people they know for donations. However, when they have to know you need their assistance for the cause you serve. So remind them they don’t ask for themselves. Instead, its for a worthy cause. Doing so helps people overcome the fear of making a fundraising ask.

Tip 2: Everything is an opportunity.

Every aspect of your work should get presented in such a way that it’ll get support. Therefore, if you seek general operating help, the way you position it and make the ask matters. But, if you tell donors you need general support, that might not excite them. However, if you inform them about the impact you’re make, that emotional tug at the heartstrings makes all the difference. So, instead of asking for annual support, ask donors, for example, to help ensure the 250 kids you serve in your after-school program, or the 50 adults in your job retraining program have the resources they need. (And then make it a point to explain what the resources mean, specifically).

Tip 3: Tell a story.

One of the best things you could do to raise money for your cause and overcome the fundraising challenges is to get really good at telling your story. People give to people, and the charities that raise the most money excel at storytelling. So take your cause and tease out the stories that tug at the heartstrings. When people donate, the first thing that motivates them is emotional. The statistics and facts about what you do only serve to help your champions rationally justify the emotional decision. Thus, take every opportunity to tell your story well and in a compelling way.

 

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