Sunday

Volunteers from the advocacy organization are stationed at various locations around a community where they expect to find a sympathetic audience: outside of five grocery stores, near the doors of three liberal Protestant churches, and near a coffee shop in the middle of a large shopping mall. Their intent is to inform people that the local school board has eliminated sex education in the schools, substituting discussions of abstinence. Their literature contains information about the poor results of “abstinence‐only” education, with evidence of higher rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease in places where such a policy was implemented. They ask people to do a few things: sign up for an e‐alert for more information, come to school board meetings when the issue is being discussed, and bring the issue up in their local PTA. They show people samples of a kit with fact sheets and suggested actions to get the school board to reverse this decision. They give people a card with a URL where they can download a copy of the kit. Because they want to focus on education, not fundraising, they don't ask people to become members of the advocacy organization, and they don't have a donation jar out at any of their locations.

The volunteers enlist a lot of the people to sign up for the e‐alert, and enough of them are either parents or teachers that the group makes its goal to gather a certain number of names. Most interesting, however, is that over and over they hear this refrain: “I'd be happy to contribute some money,” or “How can I become a member of your organization?” or “Is there anything I can do if I don't have kids in the school system?” The teenagers they encounter all have a different refrain: “This policy is so messed up,” and “My mom says it's stupid.” One suggests to her friends: “Maybe we could do a car wash or something to help raise money.”

Monday

Talking over the experience from Sunday's efforts, the volunteers conclude that although they met their goals for talking to parents and teachers, they missed a great opportunity to involve a lot of other people, particularly those who might make a donation. They decide to revise their tactics for the following weekend.

The Next Sunday

Once again the organization's volunteers spread out around the community with the same literature, but today they also have membership forms, a jar for collecting donations at each location, and business cards with their website and social media addresses and information about membership. The mall volunteers, using the wireless capacity of the coffee shop, set up two laptop computers so that people can look at their website and join online. They also prepare a special handout for teenagers. This Sunday, they sign up 30 members at $35 each, receive two checks for $100 each, and later download the names of 10 new people who joined online. In addition, their jars have collected nearly $200. With only slightly more work, they continued their educational and advocacy push, but this week they also raised more than $1,500.

Tuesday

The executive director of the reproductive rights group attends a lunch meeting of the chamber of commerce. The owner of an office supply store greets her and wishes her luck in the important work her organization is doing. He hands her his card and says, “If there is any way I can help, let me know.” She calls him later that day and asks two things: “Can our volunteers set up their information station in front of your store this Wednesday? And would you consider donating or deeply discounting office supplies for us?” She adds the second half of the question on the basis of her experience on Sunday. Yes to both, he says. A 50% discount on office supplies for a year saves the organization more than $2,000.

Thursday

The public policy director of the reproductive rights group meets with staff from a number of other organizations concerned in one way or another with reproductive rights issues. Some work in social service agencies, some work in education, and others are involved in advocacy. The purpose of the meeting is to prepare a joint statement to the press on the school board issue and to compare notes on their other work.

All the organizations are feeling stressed about money. “Is there anything we can do together to help all our fundraising that won't take much time?” someone asks. Ideas are bandied about, but the simplest one is for each organization to make sure their website has a link to all the other organizations' sites. There is no clear income from this action, but each organization now has heightened visibility for very little work.

Friday Night

The development director meets friends for dinner and a movie. One friend says that her mother saw the volunteers from this organization outside her church but didn't have time to stop. Does the development director have anything with her she could give her mother? Of course she does: she has the business cards created for last Sunday's work, and she hands one to each of her friends. By the following Tuesday she has a check from her friend's mother for $500.

In Person. Any board member, staff, or volunteer talking with people about your nonprofit can hand them generic business cards about your organization with the organization's name, website, and address, but no one person's name. People handing out the cards can write their name on the card and circle the website address. People should be encouraged to hand them out like candy.

Most Staff Have a “Signature” on Their Outgoing Email. Where appropriate, add a line that says, “You can help—donate now at www.ourgroup.org.” Board members can add to their personal email signature: “Visit my favorite nonprofit at nomoreplastic.org.”

Everyone who is on Facebook or uses social media generally has some kind of profile. Encourage everyone in your organization to add your organization—with a link to its home page—to their profile.

Voice Mail. On your organization's voice mail, be sure that one choice is, “For information about how to donate, visit our website, www.goodgroup.org, or leave your email address at the tone and we will send you information.”

In other words, make fundraising part of your message—these soft asks will offend no one and will help raise money.

Publications. Many organizations produce brochures, reports, booklets, and even books. All of these should contain information about how and why to give. If someone is downloading the information from your website, ask in the download process for the person's email address and permission to add their name to your organization's email list. Make sure it is easy to order these materials online, and if you have your own online gift store, add a donation line on the checkout page.

Other Opportunities

• Let people know that money is one way they can help if they want to.
• When people email with questions, include in your answer to the question a hyperlink to your website's donation page.
• When you visit your major donors, ask them for names of people they think would be interested in giving.
• When giving a speech, tell people how they can help, and be sure to mention making a gift and telling others about giving.
• Use birthdays, weddings, Christmas, Hanukkah, and other holidays to suggest that people make a gift to your organization in lieu of a present, and even raise money from friends in honor of the day.
• During staff meetings, ask people to report how they included fundraising in something they did or why they decided not to include it.

Learning that there are far more opportunities to ask for money than we have realized goes hand‐in‐hand with learning when a fundraising pitch would be out of line. By sharing information like this, you will also learn where fundraising pitches simply are not worth the time or the money, and where they really pay off.

Here are more examples from a variety of organizations:

A theater sells sweets, coffee, tea, wine, and soda before every play and during intermission. Near the cash register sits a jar with a notice that change dropped in will go to one of the theater's programs. Every night, people drop in an extra $30–50.

A program serving homeless people has an art program. Some of the homeless people who participate create attractive works. From time to time, local galleries have displayed and sometimes sold the art. Several people have asked if the art pieces are available on note cards or T‐shirts they could buy. In response, the organization creates a series of note cards using some of the images from these art works. Boxes of cards sell out quickly, so the program reprints them and offers them on its website and promotes them on Pinterest. These cards become a small but reliable income stream and a further source of visibility, which leads to other donations.

A garden store donates most of the plants, seeds, and compost for a youth program's organic garden. Located in a well‐trafficked area, the organic garden has a small display board thanking the store for its support and giving more information about the garden. As a result, customers often praise the store owner for supporting the garden. The owner decides to mobilize that praise by having this message printed on the bottom of the store receipts: “Looking for a great cause? Go to www.youngsprouts.org,” which increased the organization's online income.

By doing an opportunity inventory, almost any organization can raise more money with only a small amount of extra effort.