Saturday, December 20, 2008

Fundraising Help!

We certainly appreciate the current economic situation, and how difficult it has become for non-profit and school organizations to raise funds. We'd like to tell you how our program can support your fundraising efforts.

First, we are here to support you by offering you our advice for FREE. We have years of experience standing in your shoes, so we know how it feels to struggle to raise funds.

Second, fundraising can evolve into many things within your organization to raise awareness. You can utilize your skills and understanding of the environment to support your monetary goals. For instance, you may want to couple your fundraising efforts with several eco-friendly activities to which you do all the planning. You can spread the activities out over six to seven weeks. By doing this your serve two purposes:

1. You keep your fundraiser on the mind of the organization's supporters.

2. You impact your organization in a way you may not have done before, since previously you may have just relied on monetary contributions to support extra resources needed within the organization. You or other committee members probably have much to offer that hasn't been tapped in the way of planning activities to support the staff. They will undoubtedly appreciated the extra support at a time where they are probably feeling the pinch due to the lack of monetary resources available to them.

Finally, choose wisely. We offer items that people can justify purchasing in a tough economy. Our green fundraising program items are selected according to quality, longevity and value. We realize there are cheaper alternatives in some cases, but unfortunately many of those products will cause you to have to reach in your pockets to replace them in a short period of time. Of course, we always believe it is important to consider whether or not the item is helping to protect and sustain our environment's resources.


Monday, December 8, 2008

Raising Funds in a Sluggish Economy!

We've had the pleasure of speaking with many PTA boards, Booster Clubs and Non-profit fundraising chairpersons over the holiday season. In those conversations, we often hear how hard these tough economic times are on your fundraising goals.

Don't fret. Take a deep breath, and believe in your supporters. In times like this, people will undoubtedly scale back on many things including what they contribute to some fundraising efforts.

We have several important notes you may pass along to your supporters to help you steadily towards your fundraising goals:

1. Ask your supporters to re-think their normal holiday shopping habits. You may want to ask them to reconsider spending the fuel to head out to the shopping mall or big box store. They can easily shop for their entire family from the comfort of their home via their computer by hitting one site - www.ecolabelfundraising.com.

2. Ask your supporters to re-think their shopping strategy so that it covers practical areas of their family life. In other words, you may suggest that they buy their child a new lunchbox rather than toys they may not enjoy for as long.

3. Tell your supporters that you know and empathize that times are tough, which makes you especially grateful if they support the school, church or non-profit. You do appreciate it, so why not let them know?

4. With all honesty, it a budget-savvy to avoid the bustle of the shopping mall or big box stores. By shopping for your organization, they are better able to avoid getting caught up in the holiday hub-bub that often guilts people into over-extending themselves.

5. By driving from store to store, grabbing lunch here and their while out holiday shopping, costs can really add up! People often overlook those built-in costs to holiday shopping.

We'd love to hear your tips for fundraising in a tough economy! Email your tough-economy fundraising tips over to us at myfund@ecolabelfundraising.com.