3 Tips for Convincing Your Committee to Try New Fundraising Ideas
Regardless of whether your organization is large or small, pushing new, innovative fundraising ideas through your committee’s approval process can be a daunting task. It’s true some organizations are more streamlined or receptive than others, but without the due diligence necessary to ensure your big idea is the right one to be executed, your battle could be lost before it’s even begun.
No matter how inspired you think your big charity fundraising idea might be, there are always plenty of people who will prefer to do things the old-fashioned way – to stay stagnant, recycling old ideas again and again. But, when it comes to hosting exciting charity events donors look forward to attending each year, the old-fashioned way often results in significantly reduced fundraising profits over time.
Before you pitch your groundbreaking concept to revolutionize your organization’s next fundraising event, follow these three simple steps for successfully pushing your big idea through your committee’s approval process.
TIP #1: Know Your Audience.
Depending on the size of your organization, pitching a new idea might mean a casual conversation among friends and neighbors, or it could mean going in front of a firing squad of complete strangers. Under either set of circumstances, remember, everyone’s motivated by something.
Maybe some members of your organization’s event planning committee are concerned with the investment your big idea might require. Make sure you’re confident in the return on investment your idea will generate for your organization. Not all fundraising ideas can be guaranteed, but alleviating some of these concerns by being prepared with detailed explanations (as I’ll discuss in Tip #2) is an important part of the approval process – both for you and your committee.
It might be the case that some members of your committee are afraid to make potentially risky decisions because they have personal stakes in the charity fundraiser’s success. Be sure to come to the table prepared with clear, thoughtfully reasoned explanations about how the idea you’re recommending will be worth the risk.
Perhaps some folks on your committee just say “no” to everything. We all know these kinds of people, and depending on how powerful a force they are in the overall group dynamic, these individuals can be intimidating. The key here is to convince the rest of the group to get behind your big idea. If the naysayers are an extremely powerful force, this will be tough, but with the right idea, it’s far from impossible to earn support from the group as a whole.
TIP #2: Become an Expert.
Every day, we’re tempted by new ideas, in both our personal and professional lives. No matter what industry we work in, what town we call home or what our personal interests are, we’re always tempted by exciting, new ideas. The challenging part is having the wherewithal to distinguish the good ideas from the not so good ones.
Consider the idea of adding a charity auction to your event, for example. Maybe your organization has never hosted an auction fundraiser before, sticking mostly to more easily projectable events, like dinners and other revenue sources that rely largely on total attendance numbers, rather than the quality of the guest list. Since you’re the person with the big idea of adding an auction to your fundraising event, there’s only one thing for you to do: become an expert.
Ask questions like, “How much do similar organizations raise at their auctions? How do they do it? What should our goals be? How will we gauge our success?”
Research these questions, talk to other charity event planners who have experience with auction fundraisers. Understand the answers to these questions and other potential questions or objections that might come up. Preparedness is essential to any successful pitch.
TIP #3: Sell the Benefits.
Becoming an expert will help you answer many of the questions you’ll inevitably encounter, but often, the way we say things is just as important as the content of what we say. That’s why selling the benefits – not the idea itself – is the final crucial component to making your fundraising ideas happen.
If you wanted to work with an organization like Autograph Store Charity Fundraising on your charity auction, for example, the case you’d make to your committee wouldn’t be centered around how cool the charity auction items available are. Rather, it would be about selling the benefits of working with an organization that offers a zero-risk, all-reward program featuring auction items that can’t be found anywhere else.
As tempting as it may be to rely on autographed guitars and once-in-a-lifetime experiences to sell a charity auction concept on their own, what your committee is concerned with is how your big idea will help increase fundraising revenue for their organization.
The truth is gaining that all-important committee support for your big fundraising ideas can be a tremendous challenge. But, if you take advantage of these tips and come to the table prepared, you’re a critical step closer to success.
Tips on Finding The Best Export Management Solution Company Online
Export and import are two important factors in any international trade business. Whether you are exporting your products to other countries or importing and promoting the products of your overseas clients, you need the services of a professional export management firm so these services are dealt with strategically.
Export management firms work as intermediaries between firms and help the exporting company to market its products to importing countries. The export management firm works as the export arm of the exporting company in the foreign land. They can help in exporting, marketing and promoting your products; setting up distributor channels, finding sales representative, introducing you to the right connects, so on and so forth. However, finding a trustworthy export management company can be a difficult task. Here is how you can search for an export management firm online.
Many export management companies now operate through their websites and therefore it is now rather easier to find export management companies online that otherwise. Searching online will help you in saving your crucial business time and effort.
Search engines: If the export management company has a website it is probably been indexed by the search engine and hence you can simply search them online to find more about their services. With the sophisticated search engines you can further customise your search based on your geographical location and other such specifications. This will further help you narrowing down your range of search.
Ask friends: If you have peers in other exporting firms, you can ask them for references. Getting the names from friends not only saves your company time of searching, but also helps with finding a reliable export management company.
Directories: There are several directories available online which will list the names of businesses with their contact details. You can look up the online yellow pages for export management companies. Information on these sites are often accompanied with customer reviews, which can be a good source of information too. These reviews can help you in deciding about the quality of service of the company.
Reputed sites: If you already know some reputed export management companies you can visit their sites to learn more about their services. But you need to make sure that you are visiting the sites of trustworthy export management companies only. If you are not sure about the reputation of a company, you may take time in doing the background search before engaging their services.
BBB: The Better Business Bureau site is another good option to find a good export management company. The BBB site also registers the complaints and grievances of the customers against a company and also rank it based on its performance. Hence, it is easier to find a reputable export management company through the Better Business Bureau site.
The export management firms work in close contact with the clients; manufacturers, farm and distributors. They play a very important role in today’s intertwined economy where we can’t ignore the importance of expanding our businesses overseas. Sometimes the export management company may also hold the title of the product that they export and hence it is extremely crucial that the export management firm is carefully chosen.