revolutionary fundraising ideas

Our friends over at The Chronicle of Philanthropy are throwing a wonderful webinar—FUND-RAISING IN THE RECESSION: Surviving the Recession—10 Ideas for Raising Money. Great idea. Really long title. One huge problem: Ummm…there’s a recession (or as we prefer to call it, “that economic disturbance that shall not be named”).

The comments on their blog have run along the lines of “Have you lost your mind? $165 for a 1 hour webinar??” In fairness, that’s a Hoots and Thomas paraphrase, and there may be more positive posts by now. See for yourself.

This seems to us to be a classic example of how the “big guys” don’t get what life is like for the “little guys.” That’s not a negative statement directed at anyone, but it’s a fact. The logic in the Chronicle’s marketing material was focused on what a great deal this is: you can have as many people crowded around the phone as you want for your $165. Most small organizations are thinking: “Yikes, that’s $16.50 an idea, I could only afford 3 of them,” or “Whoa, I just slashed my development budget, how do I add in $165 back in?”

We have a couple of thoughts about this:

1. You can’t be everything to everyone. The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a great idea, but it’s clearly targeted at the larger organization. We’re betting they thought they were delivering a great value—and they are for the niche they are trying to serve. We can image they’re a little taken aback by the critical comments. Think about your work, you can’t please every possible donor. You have decide who you are and who you’re trying to cultivate. And you have to keep focused on your core. The Chronicle of Philanthropy isn’t trying to reach small charities and ministries with this webinar…

2. We’re thinking of throwing a free webinar for small charities. We love to throw parties. This sounds like a great opportunity to meet some new people and help out some deserving organizations. We not only understand fundraising and marketing, we know some national experts who understand how to help small organizations. And hey, we’re revolutionaries, so we’ll probably host our webinar on the same day and the same time as the big guys’ event. We already have commitments from a couple of our partners and friends to help us out in this growing Oneicity revolution. We’ll see who else wants to join in. We’ll keep you posted. It’ll be a blast and it will help you raise money in this tough time.

Oh, and we’ll offer 12 ideas for fundraising in a recession. And yes, we’re revolutionaries AND trouble-makers, but we give great value.

So, what do you think? Are you on board? Would you sign-up for a free webinar focused helping small ministries thrive in a recession? Would you refer a friend? Let us know.

Hoots and Thomas




(photo credits: vsqz)