WORLD MERIT Fundraising Guide Page 1 Important Adivce: Essential steps, Where to fundraise, How could you fundraise Page 2-5 SDG specific fundraising suggestions PAGE 6-8 How to: Plan, Do, Review Events, Crowdfunding & Donor Drives
Asking for help: Email - Global Fundraising Team at HQ - Q&A every day! check social media for weekly times Platform - Chat with other members of World Merit for ideas Essential steps Define the SDG for yourself; think more specifically, a UN target or a fact maybe, something you are passionate about. The United Nations has pages for each SDG here Use your talent and connections, World Merit is all about local action on global issues World Merit branding can help showcase your SDG, making your fundraising tangible. Join, help out or duplicate local initiatives. Remember, people want to help! Explain the change they are supporting by giving you money. Use research to validate your standpoint. Local statistics will help people relate to the cause. Reach out to your network and see if any professionals are able to donate time. Both raising awareness or taking action can be a platform for fundraising. Tangible projects with mutual benefits for both audience and SDG tend to be successful. Think of ways to raise extra money during any event: Drink and snack stand during events, think what is relevent to your audience. Sales stand; make small items to sell relevent to your SDG, ask local busness for marketing items such as pens or notepads you can sell. Raffle, make or collect items to then sell raffle tickets to win. Where to Funrdaise Examples of places you could hold an event, volunteer, offer your skills. Universities Schools Community Centers Sports Centers Religious Centers Hospitals Refugee Camps Relevant organizations Local business Sports Centers Your home or street How could you fundraise? Some ideas of how to raise or earn money, suitable for any SDG: Domestic jobs in your local community. Cutting a hedge, mowing the lawn, clean the house, walk the dogs, grocery shopping. People are happy to pay for your time. Host a Night in, think about a theme; karaoke, cinema, party. People donate what they would have spent on a night out. Auction off donated items; ask the local football team for a signed item, local busness to create a hamper. Or your time; a day of manual labour, a home cooked meal. Bake Sale - a great platform for raising money and opening discussion around the cause. World Merit are holding a Global Bake Sale on 31st March, take part HERE 1
An event to help people find their talent, to take forward and encourage development, positive environment. An event evolving the community, world cafe, open discussions, information sessions Get sponsored to spend time with the homeless, or elderly, or anyone below the poverty line. Host a dinner, among friends or people from your neighborhood, made from food that would have been thrown away, by a restaurant or shop. Spend time in a food bank, ask for sponsorship Sell coffee, low set up cost, high revenue Sponsored to spend time at a health center, care home - research existing example Cliniclowns Have a stand in/outside a private hospital, explain to people who can afford better healthcare what their money could support. Toy drive - collect donated toys, ask people to buy one, you then take them to children. Consider in-kind donations; find somewhere that can donate a bulk of toys. Get sponsored to spend time in a school. Collect old books, ask schools and library s then have a book sale. Organize an educational conference, sell tickets Organize extra-curricular activities, could be aimed at wealthy families who can then pay for their child to attend, use pay it forward, they pay for an extra child who can t afford it. Hold a conference/panel discussing ways to tackle equality. Volunteer at events already tackling the issue, be sponsored for your time. Exchange your skills for sponsorship, approach a Women s Organization and offer to work for them for a donation. 2
Have a water stand similar to a lemonade stand. Buy bottled water in bulk, sell for a profit and suggest pay it forward. Hold a conference/discussion to raise awareness, suggest shorter showers, cistern bags etc. sell tickets to attend. Volunteer to clean public toilets for those without, example a homeless shelter, an orphanage, refugee camp. Be sponsored for your time spent there. Host a conference/discussion about ways of using cleaner energy and reducing energy use. Educate people on simply unplugging, turning lights off, shutting the fridge door, shutting windows when heating is on. Create a documentary, hold a screening. Educate people, through a conference and/or (panel-) discussion about economic spending. This is supporting local business, and lowering your grocery bills. Educate people about CV writing and presenting themselves for a job. Pimp your Linked In event, this is potentially a fun evening showing people how to develop their linked in page. Taking good profile pictures and use of the correct language can really make a difference. Collect old phones, ask for someone to sponsor a phone, pay for it to go to someone in need, similar idea could be used for computers Make solar lights out of plastic bottles, use this innovation and sell them to raise money. You could think of other items to create and sell that are innovative. Hold an activicty event, get teams building structures out of random objects. Research ideas online, one is building the highest tower possible from spagetti! Gather a group with as many differences as possible (age, sex, disability, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic) Hold a session on unity come out with a mission statement, find people to support this process. A session about the level of acceptance of LGBT in your community and end this workshop by letting people sign a pledge to accept everyone and speak up against hate. 3
Organize a city clean-up; get sponsored for your time. Run a community event, educating on ways to improve sustainability. Organize a panel with municipalities, citizens, local councils, farmers, learners, start-ups, Be sponsored to not use a car for a set amount of days, encourage family and friends to also take part. Cycle or walk instead. Do a tour of your local city, create a treasure hunt, find all the green areas. Collaborate with local supermarkets and farmers, hold a local conference to discuss ways of improving responsibility. Host a dinner made from out of date food. Host a dinner for people who would normally eat alone, cooking together uses less energy and produces less food waste. Organize an informational walk in a specific nature area, educate people on developments within that area. Pop quiz evening, informative questions showing how much the planet is effected and how easy it is to make changes reducing Climate change. Organize beach clean-up and be sponsored for your time and possibly by weight of collected waste. Collect waste and create art. Organize an auction off the art. Sponsor a tree. Find an area that has been affected and get people to pay for you to plant a tree. Sponsor a crop with your community. Have a gardening day where you plant food. People could sponsor an area of the garden. You can then sell the crops, or host a dinner evening where people pay to eat. Educate children; sell seed packets to children so they can learn at home where food comes from and how to care for crops. 4
Get sponsored to spend time at a refugee camp. Set up a global café, bring together people from different cultures. Promote understanding for peace and justice. Host a conversation evening where people buy tickets, you provide stationary. Then write letters to government to raise the community voice. Hold an education evening; teach people how to use the internet. Involve a library or community center who have public access to computers. Hold English lessons, help engage them in world merit. Use it to teach them about the SDG s in general and the UN s fight for sustainability. Host an evening, invite local businesses have SDG themed tables and talk about how working together they can improve business sustainability. An event for children, ask what they want for the world. Organize engaging activities, drawing, writing, playing. Promote youth to engage in world merit. NEXT STAGE: Review Awareness Leadership World Communities Self Responsibility Plan Do 5
event plan TYPES OF EVENTS When chosing your event, think beyond the obvious and aim to have more than one way of raising money. If you are having a bake sale, sell drinks and run a raffle too! LOCATION Think of a great location for your event which you could ideally use free of charge. Examples: University Campus Community Centre Music Venues CHOSING A DATE It s important to plan ahead of your event, being organised is key to sucess. People need time to add your event to their diary so dont forget to get invites out early. WHAT DO YOU NEED You may require materials such as signs, banners and t-shirts for your event. Try to get these donated to keep costs to a minimum, don t forget you a raising money so set a budget and stick to it. HELP Volunteeres are essential to the smooth running of your event, from marketing to setting up on the day. Family and friends are a good choice but think of your local youth community who may want to gain experience. MARKETING There are many ways to market your fundraiser. Consider all of the options in your local community, and how you can get the word out to as many people as possible. Newspapers Radio TV emails DO Make sure you brief your volunteers on any questions that may arise including what World Merit is and what you are trying to achieve. You are acting as representatives of World Merit so make sure everything is professional. We are always looking for new members so don t forget to encourage new people to join our community. It is a good idea to take photographs of your event and upload them to social media channels, this will increase awareness and may even result in additional donations after the event. review Think about what went well and what did not. This will allow you to develop skills and make your next fundraiser more successful. Consider sitting down with your mentor to discuss this, your team and volunteers will also be able to help. Use this time to take care of any tasks that aren t yet complete. Can you submit an article to your local newspaper in order for them to publish the results of your fundraiser? Were all of your donors and volunteers properly thanked? 6
CROWDFUNDING PLAN Tell your story and why you are appealing for public support. Show the difference that people can make from giving you money. Highlight the benefits! Make sure you include strong imagery and consider recording a video about why you are fundraising - a personal touch goes a long way! DO Send out an email to your entire network, telling them about your exciting project and how they can pledge. Use social media: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Tweet a few times a day, retweet other peoples messages and respond to tweets to keep the momentum going Hold a launch event and get people along to find out a little more about what you are doing. Why not set up a few laptops and try and encourage people to make their pledge? Share your widget: You can put your project anywhere on the web with your widget. It s a great device for people to see how much you ve raised. Just copy the code and paste it in your blog/website/forum and watch people click. Why not approach some larger websites and ask them to do the same? Consider Using Rewards Rewards can often help people go to the next level when donating! This could be anything from a personalized thank you note / post card, a shout out on social media, a small gift or use of your skills. For example if you are a photographer, offer a free photoshoot! We are working with a fundraising platform called Total Giving which provides The World Merit Charity with 100% of the funds you raise (minus a small charge for the transaction). You can make your own page through this site to raise your funds and have them sent directly to World Merit. Review So your crowdfunding campaign may have come to an end and your target successfully reached but it doesn t stop there. Update people on how much you raise when your campaign finishes Keep them informed on the progress of your project - you can do this via the project update page on your project page Let people know when they are likely to receive their rewards Update them on future events / projects outside of your crowdfunding campaign: Build your community for the future, not just now 7
Donor Drive PLAN You probably already know some companies, organizations, people or institutions that are aligned with World Merit in their mission. Create a list in an order starting with those who are more likely to donate at the top of the list and less likely at the bottom. Include their contact details, phone number and email are the most important. Work your way down the list, the more people you contact the higher the chance of you getting sponsorship. Who may want to invest? Local companies and organisations: approach local companies, organisations or SMEs that you have a connection with e.g. you work for or have previously worked for. Social investment funds and corporate social responsibility: research social investment funds in your country and look at corporates with budgets for corporate social responsibility Universities: Some Universities will provide students with funding for courses and experiences. NGOs: approach an NGO that you have a connection with or an NGO whose aims align with World Merit. BE PREPARED Refer to the Wolrd Merit Mision Vision Values when you are contacting people, use them to strengthen your approach. Maybe concentrate on something that applies personally to them or relates to their business. Like the crowdfunding, you can offer DO Arrange If someone has recommded a potential donor, ask them to send an introductary email. Follow up quickly with a personal message and more information about why you want to meet. When emailing directly, use the templates as a start point for a personal email.attach brochures, videos and photos to help get your message accross. Make sure this is landing on the right desk. If you don t receive a response, call the person in a few days time. You can leave a Voicemail, checking if they had received your email. Prepare Practice a pitch, make sure you know all the relevant information regarding World Merit, the project you are fundraising for and the company you are going to visit. Consider answers for any questions you think they might ask. Meeting Look and act professionally, you are acting as a representative for World Merit. Don t be scared to ask for what you need, but be aware of the persons responses, act accordingly to their level of interest. Follow up Send a follow up email summarising what you discussed at the meeting. If the person agreed to contribute, send them details of how to make their donation. This should be done through World Merit s Total Giving page. Information on how to set this up is at the back of this brochure. If you haven t recieve a response within a couple of days, call them to check how things went, don t be afraid to ask for feedback to help improve your pitch. REVIEW Take note of any feedback given to you by people you contacted, both those who donated and those who didnt. Try and figure out where you could have improved your approach, and highlight points that you did particularly well. You can then use these to fine tune your pitch for next time. Don t forget to keep in touch with anyone who did dontate, send updates from your projects and from World Merit. 8