Fund-raising has become a mandatory part of almost all projects, from building community centers to renovating shopping centers, fund-raising is a central component of virtually every project.
With the rise involving social media and more accessible funding sources, it has become even more important to be well-organized and efficient in your fund-raising efforts.
If you do not currently prepare yourself and your team for fund-raising, you may be surprised at how quickly your project can go wrong. Failure to develop effective fund- raising methods may cost you money when it comes time to fundraise for your project.
This can make the difference between a successful campaign and a failure that costs you money due to underorganization. If you are still struggling with this topic, this article will go into detail about how to prepare for and run a successful fundraiser.
Prepare your project for marketing
After you have collected more information from the community and received feedback from neighbors, the next step is to prepare your project for fundraising. This includes conducting a quick call to gauge interest and help spread the word about your shopping center project.
If this sounds like something you are ready to do, there are many ways to fundraise. You can consider putting up a few signs, hosting an open house, or hosting a fundraiser event such as a bake sale or horse race. Any of these will give you ample opportunity to reach potential donors!
When calling potential donors, be prepared for some difficult questions. Answer them honestly, address the problem(s) they see with your project (if any), and explain how your project can fix them.
Identify prospective investors
Before any major funding campaign gets underway, it is important to identify potential investors. Investors can be local, national, or even international.
In this article, we will discuss some of the steps you can take to meet these investors and establish trust. After all, what’s in it for them?
When seeking investment for your shopping center project, there are several things that the investor should consider. Some of these things are described in this article and bullet point. Do not spend a lot of money trying to provide these things to the investor unless you have the budget for them.
Prepare a marketing plan
It’s the 21st century, and we live in a world where physical shops have online shopping carousels, phone apps that find stores in your area, and online shopping malls.
It’s easy to get swept up in the speed of today’s technology and not take the time to plan your marketing campaign. A well-funded marketing campaign will go a long way into bringing in memberships and shoppers.
To help you prepare for your marketing campaign, create an audience list of all your memberships that are registered at least monthly, as this will help you gauge whether or not people are coming out to shop and buying items. Create ads and posts that appeal to their specific needs, such as fun finds or products they would use in a scenario.
Add incentives such as coupons or specialties to further drive membership growth, such as offering memberships at lower rates before season events.
Identify key criteria for investors
before any project can be classified as financially stable, it needs to be evaluated for potential investors. There are several ways to evaluate potential investors, including cost per unit investor (CPEU), total investment required (TRADECO), and financial assessment (FAA).
As with all things related to investing, focus makes a difference. If one person sees a project as worthwhile but someone else may not, they may not give enough money to make the project successful.
That is why it is important to have many different people contribute their parts to the fund-building process. If you do not, you might end up with only one person who truly values the project enough to invest in it.
To help determine if a community project is worth investing in, the following criteria should be identified.
Ensure your project meets their goals
When planning a fundraising campaign, it is important to meet the goals and expectations of your donors. This includes checking their emails regularly, speaking with them about their goals, and ensuring they are receiving updates on progress.
Donors are more likely to donate if they feel satisfied with the outcome of their donation. If your project does not meet its goal, you may have a duty to contribute the remainder of the funding needed to complete your project.
Approach potential investors directly
If you are planning to invest money into the shopping center project, be aware of the fundraising landscape. There are many organizations that offer funding grants and programs to help with your project.
Some of these include: The San Jose City Department of Planning and Community Service; Silicon Valley Leadership Exchange (SV LEA); South Bay Business & Development Council; and Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) Summer Business Plan Competition.
If you are already involved in the fundraising process, be prepared for some difficult conversations. You will have to justify your investment to someone, and how it will benefit their organization. This can be a little hard when you are already being asked to give more, but keep trying!
If you were not able to invest money into the project, look for ways to support it financially thousand thousands of dollars.
Seek a broker or advisor
Having a broker or advisor on board during the fundraising process is a great way to help guide you through the process. A lot of times, these folks will help you find people with similar projects to your shopping center, which can cut down on some of the frustration.
Some may even help with post-project support such as helping you schedule community meetings or organizing Community Fundraising Nights to promote your project. As a Seller, this help can be both organizational and financial as the fundraiser must pay for their services.
As your project gets closer to funding, having a good Christian-based motivation may help keep you motivated. An Example might be if I were asked to raise money for my church’s renovation, I would want to do what was asked of me in order to keep motivated and involved in the process.
Many investors look at projects based on their location and size. If your area is not typical of what they look for in a project, they can be influenced by this funding source.
Comply with regulations
Even if you have the financing in place, you still need to follow local regulations and court cases that address charitable donations and fund-raising. In most cases, your project must be supported by a commercial donation or sale of stock, or by public funding through tax credits or grants.
Some fund-raising campaigns are explicitly meant to raise money rather than policy change, such as a campaign to save the shopping center you love. In these cases, local government may not play a significant role in supporting the campaign.
If your campaign targets a specific cause or person, also look up whether they have been publicly recognized for their involvement with the campaign.
