Let’s discover two fundraising eventualities. College A and College B are each holding month-long read-a-thon fundraising campaigns to cap off the top of the college yr. College A asks college students to gather flat donations of $10 from their family and friends. College B makes use of the pledge fundraising mannequin and asks college students to gather $3 pledges for every hour spent studying from their sponsors.
Ultimately, each colleges are profitable—however College B raises extra money and has higher participation from college students. It is because the scholars knew that they might elevate extra to help their faculty just by spending extra time studying.
This information will discover how your faculty or nonprofit can use pledge fundraising to increase its influence by breaking down a number of the prime ceaselessly requested questions (FAQs). Let’s start.
1. What’s pledge fundraising?
A pledge happens when a donor guarantees to make a present of cash, items, or providers that will probably be delivered to the group at a later date. Donations, however, are paid instantly. Typically donors use pledges to stagger bigger funds, breaking them into extra manageable funds (e.g., pledging to present $1,000 over six months).
However how does this course of work in follow? 99Pledges’ information to kid-friendly fundraising concepts illustrates how your group can weave this fundraising methodology into your subsequent marketing campaign:
- Work with a pledge fundraising software program supplier to arrange donation pages for members.
- Encourage your members to share the donation pages on-line.
- Individuals accumulate pledge donations from family and friends, often corresponding with a unit of distance, time, or amount (e.g., $1 per automotive washed throughout a automotive wash or $3 per mile jogged throughout a jog-a-thon).
- Observe pledges utilizing your fundraising software program.
- Acquire proceeds as soon as the occasion wraps up. Your software program ought to mechanically ship reminders and accumulate funds from donors.
Needless to say pledges are completely different from month-to-month giving initiatives. Month-to-month or recurring giving signifies that the donor has enrolled in your sustainer program and agrees to donate a selected greenback quantity every month (e.g., $25 every month, on repeat). Whereas a donor could pay some pledged donations in installments, this doesn’t make them part of your month-to-month giving initiative.
2. Why settle for pledges?
Pledge fundraising is an efficient methodology for nonprofits, colleges, and different fundraising organizations as a result of it:
- Is extra versatile. Improve your donors’ experiences and safe extra donations by providing them alternative ways to donate. For instance, throughout a walk-a-thon they might select between giving pledged donations for every mile walked or donating a flat price. Flat charges enchantment to donors who know what they need to donate whereas pledges will be higher for individuals who can’t or don’t want to donate instantly.
- Can improve donors’ capability to present. Not all your supporters can afford to present massive quantities at one time. Nonetheless, pledge donations give them the choice to pay towards a bigger sum over a number of months. Whereas your group received’t obtain a direct main present, these small donations add up.
- Offers extra alternatives to steward supporters. With pledged donations, you’ll have at the very least two alternatives to attach with them: once they make the pledge and once they donate. In the event that they plan to meet the pledge in a number of funds, you will have much more possibilities to point out your gratitude. Ship donors heartfelt thank-you messages and share the influence that their contributions need to steward the connection.
Pledges are additionally a good way for donors to offer focused help to the causes or tasks they care about most. For instance, an afterschool program may use a sports activities workforce fundraising concept like a baseball hit-a-thon to boost cash for its workforce sports activities program. When donors pledge to donate to this marketing campaign, they’ll know precisely the place their funds are going.
3. How are pledges collected and processed?
There are numerous alternative ways to handle pledged donations, and it’s as much as your group to determine what works greatest. Nonetheless, there are some suggestions and greatest practices to observe that may maintain the method working easily:
- Use pledge fundraising software program that may observe pledges and fundraising progress throughout your marketing campaign.
- Settle for a wide range of fee strategies like bank cards, PayPal, ApplePay, and GooglePay to make donating versatile and handy for donors.
- Leverage on-line donation pages. Since pledges are sometimes collected by peer-to-peer fundraising, take into account making a donation web page for the entire marketing campaign and permitting members to create particular person pages.
- Select a fee processor or fundraising platform that’s secure and safe. Usually, these suppliers are PCI compliant and make use of safety measures like information encryption and two-factor authentication.
Moreover, you’ll have to be sure you’re asking for these donations in an efficient manner. As a result of some donors is probably not acquainted with pledge fundraising, clarify how the strategy works in your asks. In case your group is holding a peer-to-peer marketing campaign, share some primary fundraising suggestions and advertising supplies with members.
4. What occurs if a donor doesn’t fulfill their pledge?
Sadly, pledge attrition can occur in nearly any marketing campaign. Nonetheless, a median of 84% of occasion fundraising pledges are fulfilled, so you may relaxation assured that this isn’t a rampant concern that may significantly influence your success. To offset any anticipated losses, set the expectation that you simply received’t obtain roughly 10% of the entire quantity pledged.
In lots of circumstances, pledging to donate is just not legally binding. Because of this one of the simplest ways to curb pledge attrition is thru preventative measures. Begin with clear communication—be sure that donors perceive what pledging to donate means, inform them once they might want to make the fee, and ship out reminders.
Moreover, some fundraising platforms require a donor’s card info to course of the pledge. This manner, your nonprofit can mechanically accumulate the agreed-upon quantity on a selected date (and neither you nor the donor will neglect about it).
5. How can your group encourage donors to pledge once more?
You’ll have to make efforts to steward your group’s relationship with donors to make sure they pledge once more sooner or later. To take action, arrange a gratitude system that features components like:
- Sending donors thank-you messages. Share an electronic mail or handwritten letter expressing your gratitude for his or her help. eCardWidget’s information to thanking donors recommends including private particulars like the quantity donated, centering the donors’ influence, and guaranteeing your message matches the present quantity.
- Creating donor recognition partitions. Recognition partitions are mounted, public shows in your facility that characteristic the names of your prime, most loyal donors. These partitions honor the donors’ contributions, bodily signify your group of supporters, and make these featured really feel deeply linked to your trigger.
- Giving prime donors public shout-outs. Determine the donors that pledged the biggest quantity, contributed for the primary time, or have joined in on probably the most pledge campaigns. Then, ask in the event that they’d wish to be featured in your web site or social media. Take into account asking them a couple of transient questions on why they help your trigger. You’ll be able to characteristic their solutions within the put up.
In case your nonprofit or different group shares an influence or annual report, take into account including a piece that acknowledges impactful donors. Unfold consciousness of your pledge fundraisers and increase supporter retention by including a particular part to focus on the influence of pledge-based fundraisers.
Pledge fundraising permits your group to present its supporters a distinct approach to contribute to your trigger. The flexibility to make smaller donations over time or sooner or later can increase your donors’ capability to present. Unit-based pledges can empower members in charity races, dance-a-thons, and different occasions to go the additional mile in the course of the marketing campaign.
To inspire each your donors and members to do extra to additional your mission, take into account implementing pledge fundraising into your subsequent marketing campaign.
In regards to the Creator
Rodrigo Ramos
Rodrigo Ramos is the Supervisor of Buyer Success at 99Pledges, the #1 on-line fundraising platform for colleges, sports activities groups, music teams, and extra. 99Pledges offers organizations with an easy-to-use, web-based resolution to handle and drive success in fundraising. The platform’s strong performance can help easy pledge drives in addition to performance-based campaigns (e.g. enjoyable runs, walk-a-thons, read-a-thons, and so on.).
