Let’s face it; Fundraising is tough. There are thousands of nonprofits, schools, churches and other organizations in your community that also want financial support from the same people you’d like to have as your donors. We’ll help you understand the challenges in fundraising, but we’re also going to give you a few brilliant tips to overcome the difficulties of raising money.

What Makes Fundraising Difficult?

The following are some of the most popular reasons that people who work in charities say it’s tough to raise funds.

• Prospects and donors don’t have a clear understanding of the services and impact that a charity has in a community.
• Donors don’t know the measurable results an organization is making in their town.
• Leadership within the organization does not have a clear vision, which makes it difficult for fundraising and marketing teams to communicate in marketing.
• Donors are tired of constant requests for money from multiple groups, such as the schools of their children, religious organizations or peer requests at the office.
• Board leaders don’t want to fundraise. Period.
• It’s difficult to get high-quality volunteers to help support a cause and give of their time, talent or treasure.
• Donors only want to give to direct program costs, and they don’t want to support nonprofit operational expenses, which are necessary for a high-quality operation.

There are probably more reasons you can think of about why fundraising is difficult these days when everyone is so busy, and resources are limited. But, one last difficulty that is also a common complaint is the information overload of donors and prospects. In the digital age when thousands of messages appear in front of donors each day, it’s hard to cut through all of the noise!

Brilliant Tips to Overcome Fundraising Difficulties

Each day, the team at Funds2Orgs works with our partners and help them see that there’s always a way to raise money, despite the challenges.

Tip 1: Change of perspective for volunteers. When you have volunteers, including board members, you have to get them in the right mindset to help you. How can you get them helping you raise money? The first thing you need to do is help them understand that they are notasking for themselves when they reach out to the people they know asking for their support for your cause. Board members are notorious for not wanting to ask people they know for donations. However, when they are clear that you need their assistance, so does the cause you’re serving, and they are not asking for themselves, but for a worthy issue, it helps volunteers to overcome the fear of making a fundraising ask.

Tip 2: Everything is an opportunity. Every aspect of your work can be presented in such a way that it will get support. You just have to think about it differently. If you’re seeking general operating help, the way you position it and make the ask matters. If you tell donors that you need their general support, that might not excite them. However, if you inform your community of donors and volunteers about the impact when you’re making the ask, that emotional tug at the heartstrings can make all the difference. So, instead of asking for annual support, ask your donors to help you ensure that the 250 kids you serve in your after-school program, or the 50 adults who participate in your job retraining program have the resources they need for the next month, quarter or year-ahead (and then make it a point to explain what the resources mean, specifically).

Tip 3: Tell a story. One of the best things you can do to raise money for your cause and overcome the fundraising challenges is to get really good at telling your story. People give to people, and the charities that raise the most money are excellent at storytelling. Take your cause and tease out the stories that tug at the heartstrings. When people donate, the first thing that motivates them to do it is that the reason to give moved them emotionally. The statistics and facts about what you do only serve to help your champions rationally justify the emotional decision. So, take every opportunity to tell your story well and in a compelling way, whether it’s in long-form writing, a social media post or even a tweet.

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