I’m so aware than many of our members not only want to make savings on their costs but also need to fundraise to support their activities.
At the start 2019, I presented some thoughts and ideas on alternative fundraising at our annual trade show and conference. The full session was recorded and is available here:
In this blog I’ll share some of my thoughts on this area and some from our members.
A huge choice for fundraising and donors
Those who attended the session fed back their creative ways of current fundraising, including personal appeals to local businesses, running campaigns on social media and becoming part of Amazon’s Smile scheme .
However the fundraising sector is getting crowded and donors are changing how they give. The Charities Aid Foundation’s 2018 report on UK Giving (https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2018-publications/uk-giving-report-2018) found that the “total amount given to charity increased to £10.3 billion” and this was “driven by fewer people giving more”.
Additionally, “The number of people who gave to charity either via donations or sponsoring someone in 2017 decreased from the previous year – led by the decrease in sponsorship.”
Charities must be increasingly competitive in their fundraising and our members are no exception in this.
Save to invest
Currently for every pound spent fundraising, on average £4.16 is generated. So, although it could seem counter-intuitive, actually investing in your fundraising activities is more likely to bring in more funds.
However you have to work much harder to achieve this than say at the turn of the century where a £1 spend on fundraising would yield £5.50.
So how could being a member of the Christian Supply Chain help with your fundraising activities?
£30k towards £300k
Recently one of our members shared that their annual fundraising amount is approx. £300K per year. Although they have a huge supporter base, it takes them about four months of effort to reach this sum and of course it’s an ongoing concern each year.
We recently had a good conversation with them and encouraged them to think differently in how they were focussing on their fundraising targets. We set them a goal to save £30K in their purchases and agreed with their finance team this sum could be transferred into their fundraising initiative for the following year. It’s easier to fundraise when you have funds already especially if there’s matched funding on offer.
Of course, they could investigate making savings themselves across their buying, reviewing contracts etc. and testing the market, but this can be hugely time-consuming and with no guarantee that you’re going to get the best deal.
Thankfully that’s where we were able step in, as we’ve already tested the market and have guaranteed discounts, service levels and secured pricing for our suppliers. In one instance the member was already using one of our suppliers, we managed to save them a further 22% with the same supplier.
In the end we helped them save more than the target and are helping them track those savings through their charity
So for one of our members reviewing their purchases became a route to alternative fundraising.
If you would like to generate savings to boost your fundraising we’d love to help, please get in touch.
Steve Hallett