When I think about how I came up with the skills to motivate my fundraising team, I remember a team I was on years ago. The fundraising leader knew exactly what to do to make us excited, which ended up exciting our contributors. I never felt so inspired and motivated to sell as I did in that fundraising team. Looking back now, there were five reasons why that particular fundraising team motived me more than any others did.

About the Fundraiser

I was part of a religious group looking to do a mission trip to El Salvador. We delivered hygiene products, and taught people basic skills for brushing their teeth. We also had a dentist come with us to check teeth and perform cleanings and tooth extractions for those needing them.

The money we raised from the fundraiser helped us pay for our plane tickets, where we stayed, food and the supplies we donated to the people we helped.

#1: Involvement in All Steps of the Fundraiser

When my group decided to do a fundraiser, we all participated in it. The first part was to decide whom we wanted to target. We knew that our church members would be the focus, but we also extended our vision to other counties, as well as other religious groups. Once we knew the audience, we discussed what they would most likely want to buy.  Since our fundraiser was in October, we decided to sell religious items, and special gifts people could give to their loved ones on Christmas. I remember we became excited about the products we knew people would absolutely love to buy from us, such as the beautiful wooden crosses with scriptures imprinted on them, and scented candles with a loving message printed on them.

The last part of setting up the fundraiser was talking about how we would convince people to buy from us. We knew how important our mission trip was to the people of El Salvador, so we wanted to show others how important it was too. We decided to come up with a skit that included information about how disadvantaged the people of El Salvador were, and how much their dental and physical health would benefit from our mission. It was fun to be creative about how to present our organization’s vision.

We also talked about when the best time was to ask for a contribution. We decided it was after we talked about how beneficial our mission would be to everyone. Once we had their attention and hearts in the matter, we knew we would have a better chance of getting them to buy our products.

#2: Having a Goal in Mind

We needed approximately $900 per person to pay for the transportation, accommodations, and supplies. We already had about $500 per person from the money we received from parishioners. We also received many donations for supplies from area dentists. We needed to make $300 per person to meet our goal.

We displayed this goal on the office wall. We also placed markers on the way to the goal to give us smaller goals to meet along the way.

Our fundraising team leader came up with the idea to give everyone a personal goal. Each of us had to raise at least $300. Having this goal in mind was perfect for me. I knew all I had to do was get to $300, and the rest would be bonus.

#3: Incentives Along the Way

The fundraising team leader decided to give an incentive to the person selling the most, and to the people who reached their personal goals. The incentive for being the highest seller was much more luxurious than it was for reaching the personal goal, which made wanting to beat everyone else out much more motivating.

By the way, the highest seller received a weekend getaway to a cabin resort. The personal goal incentive was a gift certificate to a nice restaurant in our local area.

#4: Frequent Meetings for Updates

We met each week during the six-week fundraising event. The leader would congratulate us on our accomplishments for the week, which always seemed to make me feel good about what I was doing for the organization. She would also ask if anyone had any questions. This was a great time to bring up contribution issues, and receive advice on how to handle certain situations. I know I always left the meeting with many new tricks up my sleeve that made the next week much more successful.

The meetings were the most encouraging out of everything we did. Seeing progress made each week, correcting problems we had, and remembering the reasons why we were raising money were great motivators.

#5: Accountability Partner

This was one of the best motivators for staying on path. Each of us had a partner who would call every couple of days to check in on how our week of fundraising was coming along. I enjoyed this little chat with my partner. We would compare how much we made so far, and talk about all of the interesting people we had met over the last two days. We always left the chat with positive remarks to one another about how well we were doing, and how we’ll be at our personal goals in no time.

My little secret is I became a bit competitive with it. Every other day, I would wonder if I beat out my partner, especially when I scored a decent contribution.

Successful Fundraising Comes from a Motivated Fundraising Team

That year, we raised more money than we ever had before, and we had been fundraising for five years for other mission projects. Now that I am a fundraising leader for my daughter’s school, I use all of the above ways to motivate my team. Try them for your next fundraising event to see how well they work for your team.

How do you motivate your fellow fundraisers?

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