There are many organizations that take to the street corner to raise funds for their cause or special project. I recently found myself stopped at a busy intersection near The Avenue at White Marsh Mall in Baltimore County, MD. If you've ever been there, you know busy is an understatement. So it's an ideal location for fundraising. So it was not surprise to see a group of young men in basketball jerseys and their chaperone out on each corner. They were each carrying a red bucket.
One young man walked down the median in my direction but never looked my way or uttered a word. So I motioned for him to come over and asked, "What are you doing?"
He said, "We're raising money for a trip to Myrtle Beach."
Knowing that was not the full story, I asked, "Why are you going to Myrtle Beach?"
He said, "We're going to play in the tournament."
Being a professional fundraiser, my heart went to this young man who clearly had not been prepared to fundraise. I reached into my purse and handed to him the first cash I found -- a five dollar bill.
His face lit up with a huge smile. He thanked me for my donation and wished me a good day. I wished him and his team good luck and drove away.
As a Do-Gooder and a fundraiser, I was predisposed to the idea of supporting his team. But what if I wasn't? Like the other drivers, I would have tried not to make any eye-contact and anxiously wished that the light would hurry up and change.
It isn't easy to walk up to anyone, but especially a stranger, and ask for money. A sign and a bucket are not enough to prepare volunteers (of any age) to effectively engage motorists who likely have little or no direct connection to your cause. Whether you're a basketball team, soup kitchen or other group who takes to the street corner to raise money for your cause, training and coaching is critical to your fundraising success. You do your front line solicitors a disservice by sending them out ill prepared. The would-be donor sitting behind the wheel wants to hear a succinctly stated case for support. Your solicitors should be trained on what to say and on how to say it (with a smile, of course).
Perhaps if that young man had walked up to me and told me the name of his team, that they had played hard and made it to the tournament in Myrtle Beach, and given me specific reasons why they needed to raise money (i.e., charter the bus, certain members don't have support from home), I may have dug a little deeper into my purse.
Michelle Nusum-Smith, an experienced nonprofit leader, consultant, coach and trainer, is a self-proclaimed “Do-gooder who helps do-gooders to do good.” Michelle is the owner and principal consultant at The Word Woman LLC, a nonprofit consulting company. She has nearly 20 years nonprofit experience, including program development, financial management, fundraising (including grant writing and individual donor cultivation), human resource management, marketing and public relations, board relations, and event planning.
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