19 Apr 2008 No Comments
Going the extra mile, raising the extra dollar (and 20 cents)
Back when I was in business school, pricing was always a matter of great interest. Can you really make more money at $3.95 than at $4.00? Does "buy three, get one at half off" really motivate anybody? I don’t know if I got definitive answers, but I do know that I’m not going to fall for "ten cents each, two for a quarter" ever again.
I was reminded of this when I found Kerry Hall’s fundraising page. She’s running the Boston Marathon to raise money for Reach out and Read, an organization that fights illiteracy. And Kerry is doing two really interesting things to get more donations and to get slightly bigger donations. All fundraisers can learn from these easy online fundraising tips:
1. Ask for a larger amount. In fundraising, you’re asking for money for a good cause, so its already easier than selling a product that people might not want. So why not ask for higher donations? Not everybody will be willing or able to pony up more, but some will. Kerry suggests that people give $26.20 instead of $25.00 because the marathon is 26.2 miles long. It’s not a very logical reason, but you can see from her page that lots of people have done it, and that translates to 3% more donation for just asking.
2. Attach a benefit to the amount. By attaching a particular measure of good work to a donation, you can make the connection clearer between your donor’s payment and the good done in the world. Kerry states that the $26.20 donation can provide ten new books and that $112 can provide books for a family with four children. Part of successful fundraising is connecting donors and causes, and showing how the money gets used and how it delivers benefit can make a real difference.
Good luck to Kerry and everybody else running the Boston Marathon on Monday. And to everybody else raising money for good causes, we hope Kerry’s example gives you some good ideas about how to make the biggest difference you can.
