Despite the challenges of 2020, Americans donated a record of $471.44 billion to charities, a 5.1% increase from the year before. That philanthropy helped nonprofits across the country stay above water, expand their missions, and continue to support their communities through a pandemic.
Nonprofit fundraising is critical to the success of nonprofit organizations. Without philanthropy, many nonprofits would not be able to exist, let alone make an impact on the world.
But philanthropy is much more than just keeping the doors open. It creates a healthy organizational culture, helps supporters feel connected to their communities, and gives people a tangible way to support the causes they care about.
Below, we've outlined a few ways that fundraising positively supports nonprofits.
Fundraising Sustains Your Organization
Simply put, nonprofit donations are an investment in your organization. Almost all nonprofit organizations rely on gifts and in-kind donations to cover their programmatic and operational expenses. This can include anything from project equipment to rent, staff salaries, and transportation for volunteers.
While this adds pressure, it also provides excellent opportunities for storytelling. Donors love to hear how their support helps nonprofits continue their programs and expand to serve even more members of the community.
Fundraising Helps Spread the Word About Your Organization
Nonprofit fundraising is also a great way to publicize your organization and its cause. The more people who know about your nonprofit, the more support you are likely to receive. Fundraising events like galas, races, festivals and auctions help keep existing supporters engaged and tap into new networks.
Supporters who are thoughtfully engaged in events and campaigns are more likely to consider donating their money and time. That's important because, along with gifts and in-kind donations, most nonprofit organizations rely on the efforts of volunteers.
Fundraising Opens the Door for Volunteers
Fundraising for nonprofits is a great way to welcome a new set of volunteers. Fundraisers, giving drives, and community events attract new supporters and help more people learn about your organization. Plus, if somebody is already supporting your organization's cause as a donor, chances are, they might be interested in volunteering, too.
When people see how you're working to make a difference, they'll be more inclined to donate their time by volunteering–particularly if you're able to demonstrate how their engagement makes an impact. Using a nonprofit CRM like GivePulse to track volunteer hours, you can easily demonstrate impact using our intuitive visualization tools. And your volunteers will be able to see their hours adding up, too, so they can immediately understand how they are supporting your mission.
Fundraising Helps Nonprofits Expand Their Reach
Along with enriching your community, fundraising helps nonprofits expand their reach. By raising more money, nonprofits can invest in new programs, resources, and people, accept more volunteers and reach new communities in need of support.
If you have bigger goals for your nonprofit program, a fundraising campaign can be a great way to raise funds and support.
Invest in a Nonprofit CRM to Support Your Fundraising Efforts
Fundraising is vital for nonprofits for many reasons. If you're looking to invest in your fundraising efforts, a nonprofit CRM is the way to go. GivePulse offers an all-in-one donor, member and event management system to help you track and increase engagement with your donors, board members, and volunteers.
You'll be able to securely store all donor information, track gifts, and accept donations using the industry's lowest transaction payment processing system (1% per donation). And by removing administrative burdens, you'll have more time to be out in the community meeting new donors and planning new fundraisers.
From tracking nonprofit gifts to organizing donation drives, GivePulse can help you level up your fundraising strategy.
Schedule a demo with our team today to learn how we can help you simplify nonprofit giving and maximize community impact.
About GivePulse
GivePulse's mission is to enable everyone in the world to participate and engage in lifting their community to new heights. We do so by providing a platform to list, find, organize and measure the impact of service-learning, community engagement, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and volunteerism.
Founded in 2012 in Austin, Texas, GivePulse works with 650,000+ groups, including colleges and universities, nonprofits, businesses, K-12/school districts and cities and municipalities. Together, we connect millions of people in an effort to create positive social change.
Start making a difference today by visiting www.givepulse.com.