Raising money from people who care about your project also helps to make you more self-sufficient.
Donations
Let people know that you are looking for donations and make it easy for people to donate. For example, you could use online donation services or payroll giving (see below).
If you are a charity, don’t forget to set-up Gift Aid. This increases the value of donations by allowing you to reclaim basic rate tax on donations where the donor is a taxpayer.
Crowdfunding
If you need to raise an amount of money for a specific reason or a project, you could try crowdfunding. This is where you seek small donations from numerous individuals rather than a few funders. There are several online crowdfunding platforms (see below).
Membership and friends schemes
Membership subscriptions can be a good ongoing source of income and can generate a sense of ownership in an organisation.
However, you need to consider what level of fee the people you work with can afford without it putting them off taking part, and whether the income you can raise is worth the work you will need to put in running the scheme.
Alternatively you could think about a ‘friends’ scheme where supporters give you a financial commitment in return for a benefit (e.g. reduced rates for events).
Sponsorship
Friendly local businesses may be interested in sponsoring you in exchange for a bit of local publicity. They might offer goods and services rather than money.
Other fundraising ideas
Don’t forget about jumble sales, coffee mornings and sponsored activities like fun runs. Have a brain storm for new ideas – something new and wacky can often grab people’s imagination and be surprisingly effective.
Where to go for information
- Fundraising Fundamentals (Charities Aid Foundation)
- Institute of Fundraising
- Payroll Giving (gov.uk)
- Gift Aid (gov.uk)