Six Weeks to a Perfectly Executed Fundraiser…FUNDrive® Style
Written by: Ladaska Burton, Marketing Manager—FUNDrive® Digital, March 13, 2019
In a perfect world, we have plenty of time to plan every fundraising event. We have all the resources needed and the event is pulled off without a hitch. This is not a perfect world and the FUNDrive® team knows sometimes time is of the essence. Read below for our guide to executing a successful clothing drive fundraiser in as little as six weeks.
Week 6: Schedule Your Event
Reach out to your FUNDrive representative as soon as possible and schedule your drop off date. Getting the time on the schedule ensures the drop off location is available to accept your collection and gives you a date to communicate to your organization and community.
Week 5: Assemble Your Team
Now that you have a drop-off date, it’s time to assemble your team. Assign each person a responsibility and start to develop your plan of action. Make sure everyone understands their responsibilities and establish check-in dates to make sure everyone is completing tasks on time. When you’re short on time, you can’t afford to lose momentum due to miscommunication. Here are a couple team roles that can help move your project along:
Team Leader—this is the person working with the FUNDrive representative to make sure details of the event are solidified and all paperwork is completed. They will filter all necessary information to the rest of the group and serve as the primary contact.
Marketing Lead—the person in charge of communicating with your group and advertising the fundraiser to the community. It helps if this person is social media savvy.
Collection Lead—this is the person that coordinates how, when and where collections are made. This person can establish places for storage during collection, arrange the items to be transported to the drop off location and should be present the day of to make sure items are delivered successfully.
Historian—This person’s sole job is to document every moment of this journey. They should always have a camera ready to capture key moments. This can also be the point person for compiling images others take and sending them to the FUNDrive Marketing and Social Media team once the event has concluded.
Week 4: Communicate the Event Internally
Make sure the Marketing Lead has access to the FUNDrive Marketing Toolkit. There they will find posters and flyers ready for use as well as easy to understand how-to videos. Communicate details of how the event will run and distributed materials they can share with their network.
Week 3: Spread the Word to the Community
Make it your organization’s priority to tell everyone they know about your upcoming fundraiser. Hang posters in places like grocery stores, coffee shops and other high traffic areas. Pass out flyers and garbage bags to friends and neighbors to make collection a breeze. Post to social media and reach out to traditional media through press releases. If you have a digital support base, send the details of your fundraiser in your email newsletter to make sure everyone is preparing for the event. Sometimes working under a theme like a Decluttering Challenge can be helpful to get people started.
Week 2: Start Collecting
It’s time to start accepting donations for your nonprofit from the community. Kick off collection week with email reminders and social media posts. By this time, you’ve decided whether you’re collecting by piecemeal and storing at a set location or expecting supporters to bring their donations to a drop-off location on a set day and time. Your Collection Lead should be checking in with members of your organization throughout the event to make sure collections are going well and tracking to goal.
Week 1: Wrap Up Collections, Time to Deliver!
You’ve made it to the end and now it’s time to deliver all collected items to your local Savers® or Value Village® store. Your Team Leader and Collection Lead will accompany the items to the drop off location and verify the weight and final payout. Make sure you smile pretty for the picture with the huge FUNDrive check!
Post Event: Evaluate, Schedule and Refer
It’s over! Way to go. Take a moment to celebrate with your team on a job well done. Take note of what worked and what you’ll do differently next time. Speaking of next time, go ahead and schedule your next fundraiser with your FUNDrive coordinator. You can share this date with the community when you announce your final amount raised and thank them for their support. The last thing to do before you rest up for your next event is to share your experience with other nonprofits that may be looking to raise funds. You can share their contact information with your FUNDrive coordinator and earn additional funds through our Referral Bonus Program*.
There you have it. Six weeks and done. Make sure to reach out to your local FUNDrive® coordinator and get started today!