Here are a few ideas for fundraising that I posted on CharityChannel (www.charitychannel.com) this morning.

Start a Monthly Giving program. This is a great way to increase a donor’s annual giving and their loyalty to the organization at the same time. I’ve seen folks who were giving one $100 gift a year join a monthly giving program at $25 per month (which becomes $300 per year).

Hold a House Party. Ask Board members, vounteers, and donors to hold house parties for their friends. Have a staff person do a short presentation  about the organization’s mission, followed by a testimonial from the evening’s host.  You can give guests the chance to give that night (or not), but definitely get their contact information! I’ve seen this strategy work very well for small organizations that need to increase awareness.

Hold a “non event”. Create a fictitious event and send out “invitations”  asking people to buy “tickets”  to this event that they won’t have to attend.  It’s essentially just a direct mail piece, but works well.

Hold a “Change for Change” event. Ask local civic groups, church groups or businesses to  collect spare change for you on a particular date or week (every Tuesday in May or June 1st for example).

Not all of these will work for every organization or in every situation.  Hopefully, these ideas will spark your thinking and help you create a new idea of your own!