Fundraising When You’re Not A Charity

You want to raise funds but are not a charity, and you intend to raise funds for a cause that is not a charity either. Can you do this? Absolutely! This is a classic example of the crowdfunding campaigns everyone has learned to associate with crowdfunding, and trust us, the options are as broad as they are high.
At GoGetFunding.com we have so many different campaigns that even we needed to break them down into categories, so that everyone can see what they could use crowdfunding for. Here are just some of our most popular categories:

• Animals & Pets
• Community
• Family
• Funerals & Tributes
• Medical & Healing
• Personal

What is so brilliant about crowdfunding is you do not need to be a charity to launch one of these campaigns, you do not need to be raising funds for a charity for one of these categories. In fact, you do not even need to be raising funds for someone else at all. These categories are for you, too!

So how do you create a campaign for one of these categories, if you are not a charity? Here are some really important things to remember:

• You need to identify what type of campaign you wish to have. Do you want a target? Do you want a deadline? Can you identify which category best fits your campaign type?

• You need to be clear about what you are raising funds for. Vagueness is a big turn-off. Be precise about why you need those funds and how you have calculated what you need.

• Research and plan. You need to work at your campaign. This could be your one shot. Anyone can create a campaign in a matter of minutes, but if you want donors give to your cause, put effort into creating something informative, visually appealing and engaging. There are so many great features you can add to encourage interaction (which works both ways).

• Be realistic. Don’t be blinkered by all the viral crowdfunding stories you hear. Expect to work hard (we recommend spending between 3 – 5 hours a week working on, promoting and sharing your campaign in those early weeks). Understand that most campaigns can take several weeks to gather momentum.

• Use skills you have, or invite others to help. We have seen campaigns transform once other team members come on board and inject skills, motivation, enthusiasm to a campaign.

• Be giving. Even though you are asking for money, remember to give something back – whether it is a personal thank you, the option of a reward, or the promise to share your funds with a charity or organisation close to your heart. Generosity breeds generosity. If you are giving, others will want to give too.

 

Charities are fundraising every day of the year. So what if you are not a charity, but want to raise funds for a charity close to your heart? What do you need to know?

First and foremost, if you are not a charity, you cannot raise funds as a charity. This may sound obvious, but can be confusing particularly if you are raising funds for a charity.

For example; you are taking part in a sporting challenge to raise funds for a recognised charity (such as The Red Cross), even though you are specifically raising funds for a particular charity, you are not a representative of that charity, you are an individual raising funds for that charity – a subtle but very important difference.

This means you cannot claim charitable status, cannot offer tax relief on donations received and are not eligible to have any accounts that are identified as being available solely for registered charities.

However, if you plan to raise funds for a charity, get them on board too! Ideally, we would recommend at the very least approaching the charity to let them know what you are planning to do. There are several reasons for this:

• They may be willing to allow you to connect their bank or PayPal details direct to your campaign, meaning your donations go direct to them.

• If donations are going direct to them, they may be able to offer tax relief to donors and can also handle receipts.

• They may be willing to provide promotional material such as T.shirts, wristbands, pins etc

• They may give you permission to use their logo on your campaign

• If a member of the public contacts them to query the validity of your campaign, the charity is aware and this helps improve the trustworthiness of your campaign

• They may be able to offer helpful tips and support

• They may help with promotion of your campaign by posting it on their social media pages and newsletters (particularly if they are a local charity).

Don’t forget to plan ahead. Charities can take some time to respond to queries, so make sure they are aware of your plans as soon as possible, so that on your launch date you are an organised, professional-looking campaign owner, ready to answer any queries your donors may have.

If you want to start raising funds, watch this video and in just four steps, find out just how easy it really is: