Today we bring you another nonprofit fundraising Best Practice in Action from our weekly series.  Each week, we’ll highlight an organization that has done an incredible job of promoting its online fundraising efforts with Firstgiving and show you how to do the same.  This week’s Best Practice is…

Give your fundraisers one final boost of encouragement one week before your event date.

Our friends at the Lupus Foundation Connecticut Chapter were one week out from their annual fundraising walk.  Knowing that many donors wait to give until the event date is close at hand, Lupus Foundation sent out the following email to all their walk participants:

With Walk for Lupus Now just one week away, we’re in the final stretch to raise funds and make this year’s Walk our most successful yet. If you haven’t done so already, send a final email to friends and family that have not yet contributed asking them to donate and to forward your message on to others they think could help.

Help us spread awareness of Lupus AND the Walk for Lupus Now! We greatly appreciate your participation and fundraising efforts, and hope you’ve found the process to be fun and rewarding.

Quick Tip - Change the language in your final email to reflect a sense of urgency. Let people know you’re almost to the day of the event and that any and all help is greatly needed and appreciated. Remember, each walker who raises $100 or more will receive a T-shirt on Walk day.

Thank you for your continued efforts and we look forward to seeing you at the Walk for Lupus Now!  Please feel free to contact the Chapter at xxx-111-1111 or address@nonprofit.org email.

Note that this email itself expresses thanks for support of the Walk for Lupus, reflects a sense of urgency, and also reiterates the importance of reaching the fundraising goal.  In other words, the Walk for Lupus event organizers are leading by example.

Result?  Here’s what Lisa, Lupus Foundation’s CEO had to say:

“We surpassed our goal.  We reached $58,200.  Exciting news in a tough economy.  I think it was the online giving and the weekly emails that really helped bump our numbers.”

So, to recap:

Most nonprofits see a surge in donations during the week leading up to the event.  Take advantage of the momentum generated by your event, and remind your fundraisers to send out a final ask to their family and friends.

Happy fundraising, and here’s to raising more money than you ever thought possible!

Share your own success stories of fundraising Best Practices in Action by sending an email to bestpractices@firstgiving.com.

Welcome back!  It’s time to sweep up the pine needles or scrape the wax off the mantelpiece and get back to work.  Everybody has a new lease on life in the new year, and nonprofit organizations are no different.  Each one has a fresh budget and fresh bills.  There are fundraising letters to write, fundraising events to plan, and programs to execute.  Here are some things to get you started if it all seems daunting:

Get your ducks in a row. A little extra time planning now will save much hassle later.  When are your major fundraising events and what are the critical lead times and milestones?  Are these items on everybody’s calendars?  Are you ready to remind boards and volunteers to make sure things happen smoothly?

Identify strategic fundraising opportunities, and map out the dependencies to take advantage of them.  What conditions - political, economic, demographic - are favorable to your organization?  What assets - volunteers, technology, marketing - do you need to take advantage of them?  Turbulent economic times will definitely transform your fundraising efforts, but they don’t have to defeat them.

Communicate.  Get your lists in order and use them.  Don’t be shy about emailing your supporters, but make sure that not every message is an ask.  Share what’s happening inside your organization, provide some valuable or at least interesting information, and people will be lots more interested in participating in your organization’s events and programs.

Need more kickoff fundraising ideas?  November’s recorded Webinar, Nine things you can do right now for fundraising success, is still pretty timely, and for some more email fundraising ideas including list-building, check out next week’s session, Advanced NPO email fundraising: building your email list.

I love the idea of using your talent and passion in efforts to make a difference. That is exactly what Tommy Knox is doing with his gift to play the guitar. In efforts to save the environment, protect endangered species and help needy children he is offering to dedicate any song, of your choice, to those who donate $10 or more to one his fundraising pages. He has two separate firstgiving.com pages for two difference charities; World Wildlife Fund and Children’s Hunger Fund. He then posts your song of choice on youtube.com. Check out his latest dedication to Cody—Tommy’s rendition of Three Doors Down, “Here Without You.”

I have been quite impressed with the eclectic charity fundraising ideas I’ve come across here at firstgiving.com. We usually like to blog, digg and tweet about them. Several of my favorite creative firstgiving.com pages that we’ve noted were reallocating birthday and wedding gifts towards a cause or charity, the gift of Symmetry and Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Obviously the ideas do not have to be completely new or original; it can be an old idea spruced up like Alex’ Lemonade Stand. But I have noticed that with a little bit of marketing through social media networks and a clever fundraising idea, you can raise a lot of funds and awareness for any cause you care about. Great idea Tommy! Rock on buddy, rock on.