Now that we have taken a look at the best fundraising strategies, it is beneficial to discuss the different types of ways that you can fundraise for your organization. This next installment covers best fundraising ideas.

#1: Organization Events

As previously mentioned, your competitions are probably the most commonly used fundraising tool. Registration fees, if set high enough, not only cover the costs of your event, but also will bring you money for future use. While competitions are a good way to raise money, there are additional things that you can do to increase your capital. It's also easy to ask for donations during registration. Members are already paying for registration, so it is easy to ask for donations at the same time if you ask in an effective manner.

#2: Sponsorship

Sponsorship is another way to fundraise. While sponsorship is more of a partnership, both you and your sponsors will benefit from it. Sponsors love to expose their name through advertising, and will pay to do this. Also, sponsors tend to donate things in order to get their name out there, so this will help to eliminate costs especially if you are running a fundraising event. Event Manager allows you to add a sponsor banner on your homepage as well as create a dedicated sponsor page for your event. Be sure to enable this page and create links back to the sponsors website for more information.

#3: Paraphernalia

Selling paraphernalia for your organization, either at a competition or in general is a good fundraising tool. It tends to be fairly cheap, and if you can get your sponsors involved by advertising their logo onyour paraphernalia, it is even better for you. Great examples would be: t-shirts, hats, stickers, posters, etc. Some event management software providers also give you an online store to sell your event goods.

#4: Online Fundraising:

Sometimes you may want to simply set up a fundraising campaign with your members by asking them for donations. This can be done by adding fundraising options in your Event Manager store. People like being ableto donate easily, so if they can enter their personal information and charge their credit card, they will be more willing to give money to you. We suggest making a donation field using the fees page within Event Manager. This way, when users are registering for your event, they have the option to make a donation at the same time. Make sure you let your donors know what they will be receiving if they give you money, so that you can ensure that you will receive enough donations.

I would recommend looking at this presentation on the seven deadly online fundraising mistakes (and how to avoid them), especially if you are not all that familiar with how online fundraising works: http://www.slideshare.net/Firstgiving/7-deadly-online-fundraising-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them.

#5: Charity Events:

Although we have already covered different aspects of charity events, fundraising is essential if you are dealing with a charity. Not only are you raising funds for yourself, but you are also raising money for the other organization. The aforementioned tactics and fundraising ideas can help when you are benefiting another group besides your own. Asking for donations in addition to registration fees and requiring a minimum donation amount in order to participate in an event can help increase resources.

I recommend visiting this website for information about fundraising in general as well as for charity events: http://www.usafundraising.com/charities/3.html

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Note about this article: This article is part of a newsletter series from Compete-At.com. Compete-At provides online event management and online registration for sports.