Grassroots fundraising is the starting place for all kinds of fundraising. Every organization has a group of people that are close to it and that is the best place to start. Think about who those people are, they are the volunteers, the past donors, past staff or in some places clients. Is there a group of people that is part of your history like a body of students? Keep in touch with these people and communicate with them regularly. If you just launched a new program or built a new building let them know about it.
When you are communicating with these individuals let them know what your needs are and what they cost. We call these equivalences. If you are trying to launch a new program to help 100 people, say something like, with a gift of $25 you can help 5 people in this new way. Make your equivalences specific and understandable. Another great tool is to get donors plugged into monthly donations. Many people think that they cannot give $1,000 but if they are giving $85 a month they will give more than a thousand every year.
As you’re donor base grows and you start developing regular campaigns you can start to create your major gifts program. If you find that you have an individual that only gives $100 a year but they have the capacity to give quite a bit more this is a great person to approach. The best approach is to set up a time to meet with them. Thank them for their gifts, talk with them about your organization, do this through stories about people that you are helping, and then ask them for a specific gift. I would connect this gift into a current significant need, make sure that they understand how important to the organization this need is (and how it helps the people in your stories). (Also use board members to make these visits or partner with your board members… I’ll talk about this more in another post… I will also talk in another post about “prospecting” and finding new persons to approach.)
So that is just a few thoughts about grassroots fundraising. I imagine I’ll go into more specific detail on many of these topics at a later time. Let me know if you have a specific question.
Posted by Jason 
