Fundraising Tips and Tactics

Great Way to Fundraise — Personal Fundraising Pages!

Whether you register for the Mississippi River Challenge online or by mail, you can set up a personal fundraising page which makes collecting pledges hassle-free. This page includes a photo, your own statement about why you are paddling the Mississippi River Challenge, and an image showing your progress toward your fundraising goal. If you register online, this page will be auto-generated for you. If you register by paper, please indicate on your form whether you would like an online paddler page or contact Kristin at 651-222-2193 x19 to get your page set up.

Fundraising Help

Why raise the money?

Great cause, great organization.

The Mississippi River is the reason the Twin Cities came to be. It provides drinking water for area residents, is a huge part of our culture and a popular recreational destination, a migratory flyway for over 40% of the continent’s waterfowl and millions of songbirds, home to many rare and beautiful species, and provides countless scenic vistas.

Friends of the Mississippi River addresses the many threats to the river’s health in a multitude of ways: land conservation and restoration, water quality work, building community stewardship, working on issues around river-friendly development and public access, watershed wide stormwater standards and more. The organization has been around for 18 years working successfully and strategically — and for the last eight years the Mississippi River Challenge is one of the key ways we raise awareness of the river and raise funds for our work to protect it.

Your attitude:

You are asking people to support something very important, enabling them to be involved at a grassroots level in work that matters, especially if they live here. Even if the people you are asking to support you don’t live here, the Mississippi is a nationally recognized and internationally known treasure and an ecological resource of incredible significance. Protecting it can and should matter to people everywhere. If you are confident when you ask for support, people will see that. Be relaxed and use the style that works best for you. Also be prepared to spend different amounts of time with each ask. Some people may need or want more information than others.

Share your passion for the event and the cause and help people feel good about supporting you!

Developing your plan:

1. Set an attainable fundraising goal and then break it down into smaller goals and daily action steps. A timeline can be very helpful.
2. Make a list of who you are going to ask first, and have a second tier ready to go. Remember that you are going to ask people to give at the time you are asking them; this will save you work tracking down unpaid pledges.
3. Keep track of your progress and congratulate yourself for reaching interim goals.>

How do you ask?

First, remember that you do have to ask! Use a personal approach — people are giving to you as much as, or sometimes more than, they are to the cause. Don’t forget things like asking people close to you to ask their connections for you and to ask people if their employer will match their gifts. Take pledge forms and fundraising information everywhere you go!

Don’t sell yourself or the cause short. Try not to decide for people what they should pledge — suggest that they make a pledge that is significant to them, and if asked about a suitable amount reiterate why protecting the river matters. Then ask them what they would feel comfortable with giving. You may want to remind them that this is a tax deductible contribution.

The primary way to raise pledges is to ask everyone — use networks, holiday card lists, e-mail lists, social networking sites, etc. Here are other ideas:

• make your own pledge first
• host a party and ask people to make a contribution as their admission fee
• conduct a personalized letter or e-mail campaign. (With letters, include a stamped return envelope addressed to you. With e-mails provide a link to your personal fundraising page.)
• take advantage of a holiday, anniversary or birthday (June is National Rivers Month!)
• make a presentation at your church or rotary club or other organization you are associated with — and ask someone from FMR to help you
• create a button that says something like “Ask me about the Mississippi River Challenge!”
• hold a garage sale, bake sale, car wash, dog wash, pancake breakfast, or other fundraiser
• have an auction
• go door to door in your neighborhood — introduce yourself as a neighbor concerned about a community resource
• get publicity — get an article in your community paper or post something at your local community center or coffee shop
• make a display (with a donation jar) to put at your workplace or businesses you frequent regularly
• find a business (your employer or another business you frequent) to sponsor you for a significant pledge — you can wear a t-shirt advertising their sponsorship or devise other creative ways to give them recognition

Thank your sponsors!

We will send them a thank you letter or email and tax receipt, but they are pledging for you and need to know you appreciate it. And don’t forget to let them know how the weekend went, and how much money you ended up raising — they will be happy to know that they were involved in a successful effort.

Don’t feel discouraged or rejected by a “no.”

It’s rarely meant personally. Just accept it graciously and move on to someone else who may be more able to give. If you get discouraged, contact Friends of the Mississippi River staff — we can help you get enthused again!

Questions?

Contact Heather at Friends of the Mississippi River: 651-222-2193 x20 or through FMR’s web contact form.

Forms & Flyers

 Pledge Form – Use this for recording offline pledges you receive and include it when sending pledges in to Friends of the Mississippi River. PDF (144 KB)

 Fundraising Tips — Tips and approaches to asking for pledges. PDF (130 KB)

Sample E-Mail Appeal

Items in [brackets] should be tweaked to fit the specifics of your participation.