Non-profits are setup to fail. 1.5 million exist in the United
States today and the number continues to grow. For funding, many
non-profits rely on a grant pool that over time has remained constant,
not nearly matching the increase in demand. To exacerbate the growing
need for more funding the world’s economy collapsed in 2008 and is
showing only meager signs of recovery.
A reliance on grants and the reality of a shrinking pool of money
have created a ‘can’t fail’ mentality for non-profits. If a program is
funded through a grant and the non-profit reports the funded program as a
failure, the funder will most often choose to go somewhere else: find a
successful program to fund. A cycle of waste develops as non-profits
choose to report only successes, for fear of losing the money. In the
end, broken programs receive money while potentially successful programs
sit on the shelf and gather dust.
Innovations in non-profit fundraising techniques have helped
non-profits succeed when others have failed even as traditional revenue
streams have dried up. Social media spaces like Facebook can make the
specter of raising money a whole lot easier by spreading your
fundraising goals over a larger pool.
With over 677 million registered users worldwide and Facebook fundraisingsearches
up 85%+ the Facebook community is an incredibly fruitful space for
getting your message out and attracting donors. You can share links to
your fundraiser on your friend feed, message or email your friends
directly, participate in groups and much more to gain exposure and raise
money and supporters for your cause.
Facebook fundraising is a very simple process that can oftentimes be
covered with minimal staff, allowing your resources to go towards
creating truly successful programs.
And once your friends are informed of the good you are doing they can
act as a bullhorn, letting even more people know about what you’re
doing. Your message can quickly jump on the exponential bandwagon in
short order go viral. In no time you can have people from across the
globe reaching out and helping fund your cause.
Boiled down to its essence non-profit fundraising is
about recognizing a cause, developing a message around that cause and
getting that message out to the people who can best support you in
affecting positive change around that cause.
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