Motivation is a critical factor when it comes to the successful completion of any task, big or small. With the right levels of enthusiasm, it’s possible for teams to reach their goals at a gallop — while remaining energized and focused throughout.
For nonprofits, raising the necessary funds on time is clearly an essential aspect of making sure your fundraising campaign is successful. Since your fundraisers are the ones battling it out to solicit funds for your cause, it’s likely that their motivation levels will dip after a period of time. And this is natural — they’re humans, after all, and constantly trying to raise money can get pretty exhausting after a while.
This is why it’s up to organizations themselves to motivate their fundraisers and ensure they remain inspired throughout your fundraising campaign. While encouraging your fundraisers may seem like a difficult task, rest assured that it’s not. The following tips will show you how to motivate them in creative ways to keep them excited about fundraising.
Fundraising Games
You should definitely consider setting up some fundraising games to keep things fun and light. We’ve all heard the old adage All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, let’s modify the quote a little: All fundraising and no play makes Jack and Jill dull fundraisers! The reason games work is because they give fundraisers just that little something extra to look forward to while working. At the same time, these games help to build a bond among volunteers, which ultimately helps your cause.
But what games can they play, you ask? Well, there are so many simple yet fun ones to choose from.
The Banned Word Game
Your team chooses a word that everyone is banned from saying throughout the day, whether it’s while fundraising on the phone or talking to each other. Each time someone says the culpable word, a count is kept on a large whiteboard for everyone to see. The person with the highest score at the end is deemed the loser and has to take everyone out for lunch. (Pro Tip: make the game even more fun by ensuring that the word is something unavoidable, such as “fundraising” or “donation”!)
Shoot the Hoop
Each volunteer is assigned a fixed number of sponge balls, and a basket is placed in front of each person. After a volunteer gets someone to make a donation, they get to throw three balls into the basket. A leadership board is maintained and at the end of the day, the volunteer with the highest number of balls in their basket wins a prize.
Misplacement
When a volunteer goes for a bathroom break or simply to stretch their legs, the other volunteers either:
- Misplace an item on the missing person’s desk,
- Add a new item to the desk, or
- Leave the desk unchanged.
When the volunteer returns, they have to figure out if anything is different and what it is that is different. At the end of the day, the person with the most accurate guesses gets to be taken out for ice cream by the others.
Keep Them Informed
As a fundraiser, knowing the impact of the hard work you’re doing should be a great boost as opposed to being in the dark. Nonprofits can and should leverage this simple fact to generate motivation among your fundraising volunteers. Use different channels like text messages or email to get the word out and highlight your progress.
By knowing that your campaign is on an upward trend, your fundraisers are sure to be enthusiastic. An effective tactic here is to mention how close you are to your goal. When they’re close enough to reach that magic number, volunteers are likely to double their efforts. After all, no one quits when the finishing line is in sight, right? Send out texts like, “Hey Rodrigo, guess what? We’re almost there! We’ve raised $100,000 so far and just need another $10,000 to reach our goal.”
With tools like CallHub, these tasks become even easier since you can simply schedule your text messages in advance and send them once you reach your milestones.
To keep things fun and creative, use compelling images to show your progress on your website or social media. A fundraising thermometer is a good way of motivating fundraisers for one final push towards reaching your goal.
Communicate Regularly
Interacting with fundraisers regularly, right from when they join to when they start fundraising, is key to keeping momentum and motivation levels on the rise. Make it clear to them what their roles and responsibilities are and how the funds they raise will be used towards impacting a cause.
Give volunteers a way of getting in touch with you in case they have any concerns or queries they’d like addressed. CallHub helps you do this by letting you rent a phone number that you can publish on your website, which fundraisers can text. By making sure to respond to their messages, you’re showing that you care about them and are prepared to listen and act upon their suggestions. This goes a long way in actually motivating them to work towards your cause and also ensures that you retain them in the long run.
There are different channels you can utilize for communicating:
- Text messages: To send campaign updates and motivational messages. Tools like collective texting are great for maintaining conversations with your fundraisers.
- Phone calls: To personally thank fundraisers for their efforts or wish them well on their birthday or fundraising anniversary.
- Email: To demonstrate campaign impact and goals reached.
- Webinars: To indicate the do’s and don’ts that fundraisers should follow.
Use Leaderboards
A little bit of friendly competition never hurts anyone and is a great way of keeping enthusiasm levels high. Infuse a sense of competitiveness among your fundraisers by making use of leaderboards, with the top fundraiser (or fundraising team) winning a prize for their efforts. You can give out prizes or badges every couple of weeks or months to ensure motivation levels don’t waver.
The best part of maintaining a leaderboard is that it also helps to foster a sense of community around your team and cause, which keeps the drive to fundraise up and running. If you’re making fundraising calls, CallHub lets you maintain leaderboards that show fundraiser ranks based on the number of calls they’ve made. This helps you assess the fundraising “race” and determining who is closest to winning the prize.
Celebrate!
What’s one good way of recognizing hard work? Celebrating your efforts, of course! As you reach important milestones in your fundraising journey, make sure to acknowledge them. Celebrating every little step of the way keeps the zest alive within your group and gives them a reason to continue fundraising on a regular basis for your cause.
Recognizing your volunteers’ work by hosting fun events will increase enthusiasm levels among your fundraisers. You could even scale up the level of your celebration as you get closer to your goal:
- On reaching 25% of your goal: Send an email or text message congratulating fundraisers on their work and reminding them how important they are.
- On reaching 50% of your goal: Host a barbecue party in one of the organizers’ backyards. Make it a costume party to see who can dress up in the goofiest costume.
- On reaching 75% of your goal: Organize a team dinner in a nice restaurant.
- On reaching 100% of your goal: Rent an auditorium and have a grand party with fundraisers and their families. Alternatively, you can organize a team outing.
As author J.D, Crighton said, “You have the power to motivate and inspire. Let your enthusiasm shine.” Keep this quote in mind and use the above tips when galvanizing your troops to fundraise!
Image credit – unsplash.com