Fundraising Cycles

Case Development and Donor Recruitment

The first step of fundraising is to make a case to attract potential donors for support. This is, to inform donors about the aim and objectives of the institution, the contents of the project, what achievements are planned, the time scale, and the potential benefits. It is also important to include how much money is needed and how the money is going to be used. The proposal should also include how the donor's participation could make an impact on or contribute to the project or appeal.

The objectives of the fundraising could include raising funds for annual expenses (long-term, stable, and developmental goal); maintaining organizational assets (infrastructures and facilities); or a specific, short-term project (such as relief aid after a major disaster).

Donor recruitment is treated as a long-term investment. As the resources used in fundraising may not always see a return, it is important to recognize key donors and identify appropriate fundraising activities. Individuals, small and large companies, and governments are all potential funding sources for disaster relief. To identify individual donors, it may be useful to decide in advance the categories of individuals who would be appropriate to contact, or to analyze donor information and select prospects from an existing database. Identifying individual donors may be a more challenging task for fundraisers because individual donors could be less interested in disaster relief or crisis events. The perceived nature of the host government in a disaster, delays in accepting international aid, or unfair distribution within affected communities could all prevent the public from supporting a specific disaster relief appeal.

Researchers Roger Bennett and Rita Kottasz indicate that it is more effective to use indirect appeals—such as television or media advertisements—than direct appeals such as mail or personal contact when fundraising for short-term relief after a major disaster, as the extensive news coverage of dreadful events and tragedies can often encourage donors to contribute.

Businesses give to charitable appeals for a number of reasons. Fundraising experts Nina Botting and Michael Norton argue in their book The Complete Fundraising Handbook (2003) that these include expressing goodwill to the local community, enhancing the company image by linking to certain appeals, or simply giving way to government pressure or wanting to reduce taxes. However, most companies are more concerned about local causes, and hence donate more to their local communities or home countries than to disaster appeals in developing countries. There are several methods to engage corporations with relief appeals, such as cash support, sponsorship, in-kind assistance, voluntary contributions from employees, employee secondment (temporary in-house employee transfer), and joint promotions. In return, companies normally expect a joint commercial promotion or advertisement.

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