Advice for a South African Trauma Support Centre

Like the others, I think quick wins are hard to come by. I can see the attraction of on-line as a way of reaching millions of people without leaving your post, but even on-line, the old fundraising rules apply : people give to people, and you have to cultivate the relationship to make it work.

I like Howard's Facebook suggestion, and your own website must (as others have said in different words) make it easy for people to give you money, but there will be no substitute for having somebody work the web, to ensure you are not just a passive presence.

I'm assuming you've looked at Trusts and at other charities with similar interests.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Gerry

Have you really reached every possible donor locally?

Fundraising further afield for smaller charities is difficult. As noted on a similar thread recently, the UK has a huge number of charities and international development is pretty much saturated - yes, there are overseas charities who have a good profile over here. But they have had to make a concerted effort at it. If you can access communities that are likely to have a higher interest (expats, as Howard suggested) then probability of success is likely higher.

I'm not saying that online fundraising or fundraising in the UK is a *bad* thing - my concern is that you are focussing overly much on this avenue and possibly missing closer opportunities/easier wins.

Philip,

What is the problem that you are having raising money online? Are people not coming to your site? Are they coming then not donating?

What is your donor base? What ways are you making them aware of the option to donate online?

There are many reasons that the online marketing might not be working. Sometimes the problem is with the website and sometimes it is with other factors, related more to how you are cultivating your donor base.

If it is with your website, then you will need to be looking to the content and navigation on the website, for instance as mentioned in the suggestions made by Howard. If it is with how you are cultivating your donor base, then that falls more into general fundraising skills.

Best wishes,

thanks for the advice

My apologies in that case for my mistaken assumption.

Focusing on the online route, I would ensure that your existing website offers online donation options (credit/debit card) plus print-out/downloadable forms and a telephone number where people can make credit/debit card donations. (Don't forget to indicate the hours of the day that this is likely to be staffed).

Consider offering multi-currency donations, Paypal, Google Checkout or other options that might be relevant to an international audience. I'm assuming that one key audience of yours is ex-pat South Africans.

All the above depends on whether you have your own website and full control over it e.g. for updating and amending.

If you don't, or even if you do, given your urgency, do consider exploring some of the social network sites such as Facebook to see if a) there are any existing related groups that you might communicate with b) there are any other South African nonprofits using Facebook in a way that you could successfully emulate. Then consider creating your own group on Facebook for your organisation. It can prove a very low cost and rapid method of gaining interested potential supporters, complete with the facility to email to them and to promote any (fundraising) events you have.

Other than online, I'd certainly recommend focusing on grant-seeking opportunities.

Hope that is useful.

Hi I am the director of the charity in question: not a part time fundraiser and was hoping for some advice on raising funds in the UK market, hopefully from professional fundraisers who have experience in the UK market.

This forum is for professional fundraisers, rather than for people who fundraise in their spare time for their favourite charity/ies. So, my first suggestion is - contact the charity who you are aiming to support. They will almost certainly have advice on how to fundraise for them and be used to helping people keen to fundraise for them.