How businesses can raise money for good causes

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By Rosana Beechum

Businesses that support great causes form better partnerships with their customers and surrounding communities. It also shows that the business cares about much more than its profits by taking time and money to raise funds for different charitable projects, causes, and charities. Typically, a business can raise funds by organizing fundraising events, but the field has broadened in recent years. There are now numerous ways for businesses to raise the funds they need to support causes and projects they believe in. Here are a few of them.

Create a separate product

Creating a specific product and selling it to raise funds for a project or cause is a great way to raise funds. This works well for businesses because you already have the means to produce a separate product, and you do not have to invest more time and money putting this production in place. Creating a separate product does not only work for small businesses because anyone can do this as long as they are already creating a product. Once you have the product, you can share it on social media, and you will find that people will want to buy the product if they understand you are doing this for a great cause.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has become incredibly popular as it is a convenient way to raise funds and donate to great causes. Businesses can start crowdfunding pages and reach thousands or even tens of thousands of people. Crowdfunding is very efficient, but its main advantage is that it requires very little from you. All that is required is that you create the crowdfunding page, adding enough detail so people understand the causes you want to support. You also need to use the right language to convince people to donate. Lastly, do not forget to leave a way for people to get in touch with you if they would like more details about the causes you are fundraising for. If several thousands of people see the page and a sizable number of them donate a dollar or two, you could raise thousands of dollars very fast.

Partner with a fiscal sponsor

Businesses that want to raise tax-exempt funds can launch a separate nonprofit entity and raise funds and support their causes that way. However, doing so is a time-consuming process that can take up to a year and cost a business a lot of money. Instead of doing it this way, businesses can partner with a fiscal sponsor. A fiscal sponsor offers their nonprofit status to entities that need this status to raise tax-exempt funds for their charitable causes or projects. Fiscal sponsorships benefit businesses in that they make it easier for businesses to raise funds for their causes, provide financial management and oversight for all projects and provide other administrative benefits.

The best thing about fiscal sponsorships is that they can last as long as you want, for single or multiple projects, and there is no commitment required of you. You can also enter into these arrangements as you wait for nonprofit status to be approved or for a nonprofit entity to be established. To better understand how fiscal sponsorship works, check out this expert guide to fiscal sponsorship provided by Givebutter. Givebutter provides various fundraising tools for anyone who needs to raise funds.  The tools also help these organizations track progress and activity, engage their supporters, and raise funds faster.

Host a virtual fundraiser

Fundraising events are still the best way to raise the funds you need. However, in-person fundraisers are expensive and time-consuming to organize. Additionally, some people may not be open to spending several hours in a closed space with hundreds or thousands of people.

Virtual fundraisers solve all these problems while still allowing you to raise the funds you require. There are numerous platforms to help with this. You need to find some volunteers and a social media manager to help spread the message about the fundraisers. You can also organize some small perks for those that donate over a certain limit or those who commit to recurring donations.

Setting up a virtual fundraiser means you have a platform that is flexible enough to include additional events. For example, including a small auction alongside the fundraiser, can lead to more money being raised in addition to some donors receiving something in exchange.

Host a class

Hosting a class is great for businesses that provide services as that means they have something to teach. You could arrange for your employees to teach something they are experts in. For example, they could help teach taxes or investing to younger audience members. Attendees would pay a small fee and the option to make additional donations can be left open.

Fundraising as a business is different from doing so as an individual or nonprofit. However, businesses can still raise funds for amazing causes and projects if they get a little creative.

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Rosana Beechum is a dedicated writer who works hard to create quality content for her readers, particularly on topics she’s passionate about, such as raising money for charity and building a supportive internal culture

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