Many fundraising ideas can
help you raise cash, but no
other singular activity
during your benefit auction
will have more financial
impact than the cash appeal.
It can be such a cash cow
that one of my clients has
no live auction and only
conducts an appeal!
The appeal goes by various
names: gift from the heart
... cash call ... raise the
paddle / paddle raiser ...
community gift ... fund a
need ... or even -- as one
of my client's says
(tongue-in-cheek) -- "the
shakedown." Whatever you
call it, there is a strict
protocol to follow if you
want to be successful.
Here are seven pointers.
* Select a single item or
cause to fund. You will
confuse your audience if you
have a laundry list of
activities or items. I saw
an appeal flop at one school
because they insisted on
raising money for three
items. Some members of the
(tipsy) audience became
confused and thought they
could choose which item they
got to fund. Ugh! Keep it
simple by keeping it
singular.
* Advertise the appeal.
Just as you would advertise
a silent or live auction
item, you should advertise
the appeal. Talk it up prior
to the gala... put it in
your catalog ... highlight
it in your program ...
ensure it has its own
display table in the silent
auction (see photo).
Showcase it!
* Describe the need.
This can be conveyed in a
heart-wrenching video, a
heart-warming live
testimonial, or via a short
plea from someone close to
the need who can succinctly
describe its impact. Guests
need to understand where the
money is going, and how it
will help the cause.
* Offer several different
pledge levels so everyone
can participate. The
appeal is the "group gift"
of the gala, but not
everyone is going to be able
to give at the same level.
By offering four to six
different levels of pledges,
you ensure everyone in your
crowd can give and feels
good about it.
* Begin by asking for the
most amount of money (your
highest giving level), and
end by asking for the least
amount of money (your lowest
giving level). This is
simple psychology. Asking a
guest to pledge $100 seems a
modest request after they
have just witnessed other
guests pledging $1000.
* Ask guests to raise
their bid card to make their
pledge public. With few
exceptions, public pledging
will raise more money than
silent pledging. Pledges
written on notecards and
collected by volunteers just
isn't as effective. When a
guest watches a neighbor
raise his bid card, there is
subtle pressure to do the
same.
* Announce the total of
what was raised. Guests
are always curious about the
total, and my experience has
been that even when the
money raised hasn't been as
spectacular as privately had
been hoped, guests don't
know it. "Wow, we raised
$25,000! " a guest will tell
me (even though we hoped for
$35,000...), "That's
WONDERFUL!" Announcing the
total inspires guests; they
feel good about their
participation. You'll likely
even collect a few more
donations as guests
check-out.
