1. Don’t Be Shy!

You are not asking for money for a personal spa vacation. You are asking people to join you on a mission for a worthy cause to benefit others. So have confidence in your cause and don't be afraid to reach out to friends, family, collegues, businesses, radio stations, local newspapers, and anyone who can help with your cause.

2. Know Your Mission

No one will give you money, if you don’t know why you are asking for money. You must know your mission and be able to articulate it well. In order to know your mission, however, you must first commit yourself to the volunteer program. Beyond Travel recommends that you submit your application and $300.00 deposit before beginning your fundraising activities.  BT will not allow its name or logo to be used for your fundraising efforts if you have not officially enrolled in one of its programs. Nor will it provide you with an assignment or mission. In the past it spent much time and resources coordinating and planning with partner communities only to have the volunteer, who had committed in name only, change their mind, wasting resources and disappointing partner communities.

You may also do background research on the problem for which you will be volunteering. BT also sends background information with the volunteer assignment, so that volunteers get a clearer and informed understanding of the problems they are tackling.

3. Set a Goal

Before beginning your activities, you should know how much you want to raise. Are you fundraising just to cover your airfare and program fee?  Are you also fundraising to support partner communities?  Whatever aspect of your trip you choose to fundraise for, set an overall target and a specific target for each fundraising activity. Let’s say you want to raise $2,000 to cover airfare, program fee and for a donation. You can decide to raise $1000 by hosting a car wash and the other $1000 through your online networks.

4. Diversify

Don’t stick to one activity for your fundraising efforts. Diversify! The way by which people and potential donors interact with each other varies and so should your efforts to reach them. Think of the many ways you reach out to your friends and family: online interactions, face-to-face, mail, text, etc.  Your activities can mirror these platforms too:  create a facebook page for your fundraising efforts and link it to the BT Partner donate now page (for donations directly supporting partners only); host a house party for friends and family, where you explain your cause (be sure to keep your costs low, by making it a pot-luck).  That’s why it’s important to have a plan and to start early.

5. Be Creative

The more interesting your activity, the more likely you are to get people to give. Doesn’t mean you should compromise getting your mission across for the sake of cheap thrills, however. Take it as an opportunity to bring out your creative side. Use photos, stories, personal accounts. You know what motivated you to sign-up for this trip, don’t be afraid to share it and present it in an interesting format.

 6. Use Your Networks.

If you were to sit down and make a list of all the people you know directly or indirectly, you could possible go through two reems of paper. Most of us have an extensive network of friends, family, co-workers, classmates, church members, teammates that is just waiting to be tapped into for a fundraising cause. Maybe you know someone who owns a business that could sponsor your trip, or members of a congregation willing to give you donations, etc. Your network can also serve as an invaluable source of emotional support, ideas and volunteers for your activities.

7. Make it Easy to Give and Give Donors Options

Some people won’t give, because they don’t want to go through hurdles to give a buck.  Inform donors of the many ways they can contribute to your cause. Be sure to list site URL’s, mailing addresses and phone numbers on all informational material.   Inform your donors that they can pay by check, money order and credit card. They can even pay online via Beyond Travel’s online donation portal.

Others won’t give because they don’t feel comfortable to hand you $500.00 after meeting you for the first time.   Give your potential donors options that meet their budgets and level of trust. A donor might not hesitate to give you $25.00 after hearing your pitch the first time around, but may run after hearing you ask for $500.00. Also offer donors something in return. Donors may not hesitate to pay for a service or item, because they know its going towards a cause and they are getting something in return- a win-win situation. Organize a garage sale; give dance lessons-as long as you make donors feel comfortable giving.

8. Start Early and Budget Your Time

Keep this in mind: it’s never too early, but can often times be too late to start your fundraising activities. Running a successful fundraising campaign takes time and planning. It is difficult for Beyond Travel to extend dates and make changes to plans to accomodate late fundraising activities. These will often result in additional costs for Beyond Travel, BT partners, and host communities.  Start as early as possible and budget your time. Create a calendar to accomplish necessary tasks and stick to it. Enlist help if you have to (Remember those networks?)!

 9. Be Specific

Don’t leave it up to donors to decide what or how much you need. Be specific about your fundraising goals and provide donors with specific dollar amounts and/or lists of requested items.  Be sure to update your targets and give potential donors option on how they can help you achieve your fundraising goal.  

10. Keep Your Overhead Low

What’s the point of fundraising, if most of the money will go into paying for overhead incurred organizing your fundraising activity? That’s why it’s important to plan ahead, budget for each activity, and choose the most cost effective, and if possible, free activities. You may also consider sponsorships from local businesses. These could save on all sorts of costs based on what the sponsor could provide to your event or activity. Always offer the sponsor something in return, such as a mention on your event flyers. Ask for sponsorships early, sometime 6-8 months in advance and send Thank you cards. Just because an activity is low cost doesn’t mean it won’t reap big bucks for your cause.

P.S.:  Don’t Be Discouraged!

Like everything else in life, you will be met with some rejection. But that is by no means any reason to get discouraged and to give up! Keep going with vigor, passion, and intelligence until you meet your goal. You’ll be surprised at how far you go!