Recently,
I had been thinking about a better way to explain to charities and those
fundraising on how to understand who Sponsors are and why they sponsor, who the
guests are and how to attract them and last but not least, who their volunteers
are and their role.
Suddenly,
I realized (based on a book and video by Dan Pallotta) that the best way would
be in terms of a business but more importantly a store. As soon as I could, I used this at a meeting
with a client planning their fundraising event and it’s as if everyone there exactly
understood much better. In order to be
successful, as Dan says, charities must think like a business in order to be
competitive.
In
reality, a charity is a business and in fact, many of the tasks it does as a whole
is business related. So with that, here
we go.
First, we
are going to use these terms as if you were opening a business or a store:
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Event Planners are now known as “Business Consultants
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Sponsors and Donors are now known as “Investors and Vendors.”
- -
Guests are now known as “Customers.”
- -
Volunteers and the charity staff are now known as “Salesmen.”
In order
to open a business and in this instance, we will think of it as a Store, let’s
call it the “Charity Store.” We first
must understand our store opens only once a year (we only host one major
fundraiser each year) and is only open (4) hours (the length of your
event). We only have (4) hours to make
enough money to maintain our business throughout an entire year.
Many
businesses owners understand that they must spend money to make money –
however, in the charity sector, charities think exactly opposite to their detriment. Do you understand and agree with this? Or do you think getting everything for free
is the successful way to operate? Do you
think the highly successful businesses in your area do the same as a charity? Many Businesses owners understand that even
though they want to open a business and be successful, they don’t understand as
much as they should. Retailers and Restaurant
Owners often hire professional consultants who will come to their store and
design it, train their staff on how to be successful sales people as well as develop
a business plan. They stay with the
business as it ages to continue to improve it.
Have you ever seen TV Shows such as “The Profit” or “Restaurant Takeover”
or “Bar Takeover”? The stars are consultants
helping the businesses improve and often thrive. Do you know how to properly plan a
fundraiser? Are you a highly successful
fundraiser and are highly educated on the current trends of fundraising? Do you know what makes Sponsors…sponsor at
high levels? Do you know how to entice
your guests to make large donations and what makes them place high bids? Do you understand all the aspects that go into
a highly successful fundraiser? Do you
think you should higher an expert charity fundraiser or a Charity Fundraising
Event Planner who is also an expert Charity Fundraiser?
If we are
just starting our business or taking it to the next level, you will need
Investors and Vendors. In order to
attract Investors, we first have to learn what the investor wants out of their
investment. What’s the best way to learn
this? By simply asking them. Your “Investors (Sponsors)” will want
Marketing as their primary concern. Come
up with a Marketing Plan for your Sponsors before you even approach them. If you are already a well-established charity,
your potential “Investors” is already right in front of you – your Vendor
list. What’s a Vendor you ask? Open your business checkbook and see who you
pay on a monthly basis. Those vendors
have been reaping the benefits of doing business with you for as long as you
have been in business, approach them while reminding them how long you have
been paying them and then tell them about your event and you would like them be
a sponsor.
In regard
to your “Investors” being Donors, businesses which donate items, present them
with your Marketing Plan for your Sponsors and Donors. As with most charities, they simply take the
items and whatever they make on selling them, that’s enough. However, what will set you apart from the
rest is that you truly “Care” about their business.
If both
your “Investors (Sponsors) & Vendors (Donated Items)” voice their opinion
about when they donated to another charity and how it did not help them, ask
them why? What were they not happy with
when they did? Then ask them how you can
best drive business to them and even further, how you can get them closer to
purchasing items from their businesses.
Let’s
talk about your business “Customers.”
Whenever a new business opens up in town, people automatically flock to
it to check it out. But we first must
understand how they found out about the “Grand Opening.” They found out through Marketing and
Advertisement. Do you think the business
owner who wants to truly be financially successful only does a small amount of Marketing
or Advertisement? Absolutely not. They hire top rated marketing companies who
develop and advertising strategy. They
then develop commercials as well as beautifully designed signs, print ads and
billboards. They run their ads over and
over and over again, nearly bombarding you their potential customers with the
advertisement. They feature all the
great items they will have in their store and tell you how there are limited quantities
available. They spare no expense when it
comes to advertisement and they don’t just advertise every once in a while,
they repeat it over and over and over again until their store opens.
As a
charity planning a fundraiser, you must do exactly the same as a business
hosting a Grand Opening. You must develop
a marketing strategy along with planning on how to best gain the attention of
everyone in the area in which you reside or are located. If done correctly, you will gather the
attention of everyone in the entire country…but do you know how? You also must have the correct marketing
materials as well as made the correct decisions on what you need to have at
your event in regard to the venue, menu and the items there for sale (to bid
on).
Then,
lets talk about your “Sales People” in your business – your volunteers. If you sales people are not trained properly
on how to be friendly and the art of the “Up Sell”, then your business will
most likely flounder. You have to find “Sales
People” who are Rockstar’s !!! The
better sales people you have, the better you will ultimately perform. They must be trained and also involved in your
marketing strategy. Switching over, are
you volunteers Rockstar’s? Are they
trained Salesmen and Saleswomen? Many
times, charities just go after “People” without ever interviewing them about
their sales skills. You must have
vibrant, friendly volunteers who are not afraid to talk, joke around and Sell
Sell Sell.
If you do
it correctly, your business will thrive and you will make an enormous amount of
profit. However, if you do it incorrectly,
doing things that contradict successful business practices, you will be closing
your doors quickly.
Charities
MUST, absolutely MUST, adopt the same business practices as the “For Profit”
sector in order to survive, be relevant and prosper. They will never be able to fund their missions
without successful fundraising.
If you
would like help from the most well known charity fundraising Experts in North
America, contact BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising at www.BWUnlimited.com or by
calling 443.206.6121. BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising is the only full scale charity fundraising event planning company
in North America with a proven, successful track record and in business with 12
years. Call us today.
