Operating a nonprofit organization in a small town can be wonderful. County fairs, a close-knit community of donors, and servicing the people you live amongst are all great incentives. However, encouraging donations when you rely on a smaller pool of donors can be challenging. We’ve curated these small-town fundraising ideas to inspire and assist your efforts!
Effective fundraising helps you meet your organization’s financial needs while fostering a spirit of unity and engagement. Let’s explore small-town fundraising, whether it’s in support of your nonprofit, or community group; these ideas will offer inspiration and practical tips to get you started.
Neighborhood Events
They’re the cornerstone of community fundraising and offer a unique opportunity to bring people together while supporting your cause.
In small towns, neighborhoods are a great way to raise funds and awareness. From block parties to bustling yard sales, or outdoor movie nights, tailor these events to fit your cause and the needs of your community.
Block Parties
Hosting a block party is a great way to raise funds for your organization while bringing your community together. They don’t need to be onerous or involve heavy planning or a large amount of money. Make your event as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Consider including activities like food stalls, music or other live entertainment, games sections, and raffles to increase the fun! Block parties are a fantastic way to raise funds.
4 Steps to organize a great block party:
- Secure the necessary permits: Make sure you have the required permits from local authorities. You’ll need to apply once you have confirmed your dates and secured a location suitable for your event.
- Rope in the whole community: When planning an event for your community, it’s important to ensure they’re involved in as much of the planning process as possible. This can help you increase event attendance and secure volunteers to help with the workload when planning and on the day of the event.
- Diversify your fundraising activities on the day: While ticket sales to the block party will likely be the primary source of income for your event, don’t forget to include other fundraising to keep things interesting. Consider approaching the community to donate their time and expertise. They can help manage stalls like bake sales, craft markets, game stations, and more. Don’t forget to use digital fundraising tools like text-to-give or the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk to make fundraising at your event a breeze.
- Promote, promote, promote: Probably the most important step to plan for – you need to promote your event well in advance! Leverage tools and resources like local bulletin boards. But don’t forget about your organization’s social media profiles. Word of mouth is also a powerful tool to ensure your event gets the foot traffic it deserves.
Here are some practical themes or ideas to make your block party unique:
- A foodie affair: Use food as a theme when planning your block party, perhaps it’s a sweet treats event, a global food market, or a beer fest. Enlist the help of local supporters and businesses to offset the costs of securing all the food items yourself.
- A benefit concert block party: Connect with local musicians in your small town to host a battle of the bands or themed music event, include different stages, and have attendees select the winning band.
- A games day: Everyone loves a good scavenger hunt, obstacle course, or tug-of-war event! Pair it with food stalls and you’ll have a winning concept for your block party!
Yard Sales and Flea Markets
Small towns are drenched in charm. One of the staple events synonymous with life in a small town are markets and yard sales. With limited access to large department stores, people rely on the community for everything from freshly baked bread to a new sofa. Your organization can make the most of this by rallying your supporters to host a flea market and a yard sale. It’s a wonderful way to raise funds and declutter at the same time!
4 Quick steps to help you get started:
- Gather up the goods: Start a donation drive that appeals to your community members to donate items they no longer need, consider criteria like the type of goods, the ideal condition they should be in, and how you plan to collect and store them before the event. Ask community members to donate items they no longer need.
- Organize and price your items: Depending on the type of goods you plan to sell, you will need to consider your venue, and how the items will be arranged. For example, will you use a community hall and scatter the goods in different themed sections? or will you have a market with stalls? Pricing is important! Remember your sales will become part of your fundraising target, you want to price things fairly so they sell, without cutting into your bottom line. Arrange the items attractively and price them reasonably to encourage sales.
- Consider your ticketing options: Will your yard sale be a ticketed event? If yes, you’ll need to decide how to sell these – online through your organization’s website is a great option. This way you can encourage your supporters to donate if they’re unable to attend on the day.
- Get the word out: Possibly the most important aspect of your planning process is marketing. Ensuring enough people know about the event will make all the difference between a successful event and one with low attendance. Advertise your market or yard sale via flyers, social media, and community newsletters.
Outdoor Movie Nights
There’s something so magical about an outdoor movie night. Warm summer evenings, picnic blankets, and a classic movie playing on a big screen with friends and family all around you. They’re fun and relaxing and a wonderful way to bring your supporters together for an evening of community while also supporting your cause.
This one hosted by ITS HUH Ministry, is a great example of how to sell tiered tickets for an outdoor movie night.
5 Things to consider when planning your outdoor movie night:
- Lights, camera, action: Well, maybe not cameras, but you will need to consider things like a projector, a great sound system, and a large screen or blank wall.
- The right outdoor space: To set the perfect scene, your outdoor movie night needs to be in a setting that stands out. Choose a spacious, well-known local area like a park, courtyard, or even a central parking lot.
- Your fundraising strategy: Naturally you’ll need to sell tickets or an entry fee, but think about additional ways you could maximize your fundraising income. Things like snack sales, drinks, or blanket rentals are great ways to increase your event revenue.
- The check-in process: Once you’ve figured out your fundraising game plan, it’s time to think about your ticket sales and the check-in process. Did you know, that with Donorbox Events each ticket has a numeric code and a QR code? To check an individual in at your event, scan the QR code with a smartphone or camera scanning app.
- Promote it around town: Like with all events, your marketing and promotion plan will determine the success of your event. Reach out to your supporter base. Enlist the help of local organizations like schools, and churches, and don’t forget about your social media platforms.
Here are some fun themes to amplify the excitement of your outdoor movie night:
- Celebrate the classics: Screen a popular classic movie, host a black-and-white movie marathon, or plan multiple screenings of Disney classics.
- Make it themed: Consider themes like Superheros, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, or Books-turned-movies to add a unique touch to your event.
- Picnic style: Increase your fundraising income by selling pre-packed picnics on the night or encourage attendees to bring blankets and picnic baskets.
Community Potlucks and Dinners
People have gathered around meals since the dawn of time. There’s just something about sitting down and sharing food that truly solidifies a sense of community. Invite your donors, supporters, and members of the community to a fun dinner or bring-and-share potluck event.
They’re a great way to build connections with your donors while raising funds, take a look at this example from Charleston GOOD. They hosted this potluck dinner and included an online donation link to encourage increased support.
3 Key steps to organize a sensational potluck or community dinner:
- Your guests: The most vital part of your event, your guests and dinner attendees will not only contribute towards the food that will be shared but also the atmosphere and overall vibe of the event. Ensure you’re planning invites and communications well in advance so everyone is invested and excited to take part
- Your table: The venue for your dinner or potluck event must be able to accommodate the size of the event, it should be appropriate for the season, a summer event would lend itself well to outdoor eating but a fall or winter vent would need an indoor space. Reach out to local organizations like community halls, churches, or restaurants to help secure the perfect venue.
- Your entertainment: While food is always enough, it might be worthwhile to plan for some additional entertainment, perhaps pair your dinner with a silent auction, a talk from your founder, a raffle, or a quiz, to help keep attendees engaged.
Local Business Partnership Ideas
Operating a nonprofit organization in a small town brings you close to your donors and your supporters. It also provides the perfect environment to foster great relationships with local businesses. Building strong partnerships in your community can aid your mission and your fundraising efforts significantly.
Companies and organizations in your small town are well-placed to provide your nonprofit with much-needed financial support. These partnerships can also help you strengthen community ties. Research the businesses in your town that best align with your mission and pitch collaborative projects with them. This will create innovative fundraising opportunities that ultimately benefit your work and the greater community.
Sponsorships and Donations
When it comes to nonprofit and business partnerships, sponsorships are a tried and true resource. They don’t always need to take the shape of financial contributions. In a small-town setting, you might find that you have better luck securing in-kind donations, or other forms of non-monetary assistance.
Let’s look at 4 important steps to creating rewarding partnerships:
- The ask is important: While a spray-and-pray approach might work for some, in a small town, a personal touch is vital. Spend some time researching a list of potential businesses and partners to approach. Tailor your ask to who they are, how they work, and what they care about. Ensure that their business and your mission are aligned.
- Package your appeal in an attractive way: Now that you know who you want to approach and what you’d like to ask, it’s time to create a sponsorship packet designed with your potential partner in mind. Your sponsorship packet should work like a menu that your potential partner can easily understand and select how they can best support your organization.
- Keep the lines of communication open: Once you’ve met with your potential partner, don’t expect an answer right away. Financial decisions, big and small, take time. There’s a good chance that the person you pitched will need to chat with various stakeholders before a decision can be made. With that in mind, remember to keep those lines of communication open. Invite the business to tour one of your programs. This way they’ll see how funds will be used. Remember to share impact reports and keep them in the loop about events that might interest them.
Here are a few partnership types you could include in your pitch:
- Event sponsorships: If you have a big event coming up or would like to plan one with a specific partner in mind, create a sponsorship proposal that outlines different tiers and benefits that local businesses can assist with.
- In-Kind Donations: In-kind donations are a fantastic way to offset the high cost of hosting events, campaigns or even running your programs. Reach out to local businesses and request assistance with securing goods or services instead of financial donations.
- Gift Matching: Donorbox has partnered with Double the Donation to help you raise more from corporate matching gifts. 360MatchPro by Double the Donation seamlessly integrates with Donorbox donation forms. It’s a great way to simplify the corporate matching process for your donors and grow your revenue.
Shop Local Campaigns
Cause marketing can be a great first step in forming strong relationships with local businesses. These partnerships benefit for-profit and nonprofit organizations and can lead to long-term donor relationships and sponsorships. A wonderful way to leverage the unique opportunities of running a nonprofit in a small town is to run a shop local cause marketing campaign.
3 Key factors to consider when planning a successful shop local campaign:
- Collaboration is key: Like with any partnership, you’ll need to properly research who you approach. It’s important to work with local businesses that match your mission and are willing to collaborate to create something special for your supporters.
- You’ll need great incentives: Most of your supporters and established donors won’t have any trouble supporting your cause marketing campaign, but individuals new to your organization might need an extra incentive. Chat with your partners and include things like discounts on future purchases or raffle entries to help boost sales.
- Get the word out early: Creating a buzz around your collaboration will be an important step in ensuring your campaign’s success. Use your organization’s social media platforms. Create a joint communications plan with your partner as part of the cause marketing agreement, and leverage your existing supporter base to drum up excitement before the launch.
Stuck on how to structure your cause marketing campaign? Here are some fresh ideas:
- A Shop Local Week: Why limit yourself to one day, when you could organize an annual shop local event that runs for an entire week? This could be limited to one partner or several stores in your small town. Include special deals, meet-the-maker events, and more.
- Design a loyalty program that supports your cause: Work with your partner to design a unique loyalty program that supports your cause. For example, if your organization is an animal shelter, approach your local grocery store and pitch a campaign that seems one bag of cat or dog food donated for every bag purchased by a customer.
- Design custom merchandise: Partner with local stores and local artists to design merchandise that communicates your cause and the incredible work you do. Whether it’s t-shirts, mugs, or tote bags, this is a great way to generate funds and increase your brand visibility.
Community Engagement Ideas
Community is the backbone of the nonprofit sector, organizations like yours have mobilized for years and years under the belief that through collective action, we can make the world a better place. This sentiment is especially true when operating a nonprofit organization in a small town.
When your community is small and close-knit, relationships and personal connections feel so much more tangible. By involving your community in meaningful activities and events, your organization can build lasting support for your cause. Let’s look at some great ways you can bring your community closer to your cause.
Volunteer Days
Community volunteer days are a fun way to bring people together in the name of your cause. Plus, volunteerism is an important part of our society. It helps organizations like yours raise awareness, build capacity, and give the members of your community a chance to take collective ownership of the issues that matter most to them.
Planning a volunteer day doesn’t have to be challenging, here are 4 things to consider:
- Define your needs: Often organizations enlist the help of volunteers without properly considering how these individuals will be contributing to their organization. Don’t make this mistake. Before you send out your call for volunteers, define the roles they will fill, and how you will support them. Also, consider what your retention plan for future volunteer days will be.
- Recruit incredible volunteers: Easier said than done, we know! However, there are many tools at your disposal today to streamline the process of recruiting volunteers. Take advantage of your existing supporter base, your social media platforms, local media, and community networks.
- Don’t forget to fundraise: Every volunteer is a potential donor, this is why Donorbox has partnered with POINT to help your nonprofit convert volunteers into donors. POINT offers powerful, free volunteer management tools that help you engage and mobilize your volunteers.
3 Practical ideas for small-town Volunteer Days:
Host a community clean-up: Whether it’s a beach, park, river, or specific neighborhood clean-up, enlist the help of your volunteers to clean up a part of your town and give back to the community supporting your organization.
Set up a community garden project: A community garden is a great way to beautify your small town, and if you decide on a veggie garden, it can also form part of a vital feeding scheme. Look at this example from Community Shares of Mid Ohio. Their Garden For All is designed to alleviate hunger and provide nutritious food to vulnerable members of their community.
Conclusion
Your small town has the power to catalyze significant change for your organization and the people your mission supports. The close-knit community and strong local ties make hosting events, forming partnerships, fundraising, and engaging your supporters rewarding.
Remember, when fundraising in your small town, you’re not alone — Donorbox is here to support you with a suite of robust tools and features designed with your nonprofit in mind. From events and ticketing to our Donorbox Live™ Kiosk and integrations with organizations like POINT and Double the Donation, we’re here to help you make a lasting impact!
Sign up today and start fundraising like never before!
Be sure to check out our Nonprofit Blog, it’s filled with useful tips, fundraising ideas, and resources!
Nicole Human
Nicole’s professional background is rooted in the nonprofit sector, where she’s honed her skills in communications, marketing, and fundraising. She has extensive experience in various fields, such as social media, content strategy, public relations, and more. Nicole has a deep passion for writing, editing, and gaining knowledge about the many causes that tirelessly advocate for essential societal change.
Nicole Human