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Marketing Fundraising: The Importance Of Term Paper

' At occasion-style fundraisers charities will often offer some sort of prize, small or large, to people who buy a share of a 50/50 raffle, or buy a dinner. These prizes may include a chance to win a desirable prize, like a car, or simply be a T-shirt that identifies the owner that he or she is a donor, and spreads awareness about the cause. Besides encouraging people to donate, such tangible awards for donation create a sense of involvement with the donor, making the organization's cause something that they can wear with pride across their chest, or as a bumper sticker on their car. But even with these 'give-aways' the demographic target must be kept in mind. A diaper bag for a children's charity as a prize would be appropriate if the target audience is mostly parents, just as a chance to win a day at the spa would be appropriate if the target audience was mostly female. The charity must show that it appreciates the giver, by acknowledging the giver's identity.

The number of persons being solicited by the fundraiser must be of some concern as well. For example, a wide target audience that demands small donations from middle-class persons will require a wider 'net,' even if the demographic is segmented by age, gender, and region, than a fundraiser attempting to solicit much larger donations from a narrow audience, which often must depend upon a much more personal appeal. (for very large solicitations, for example, some fundraising auctions will...

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An additional, related concern is overlap -- who else might be soliciting donations at this time of the same 'faithful' base. Unlike in a for-profit competitive market, two competing non-profits might bow out from soliciting donations from the same donor groups, in deference to their mutual cause (Kotler, 1997: 56) the time of the year may also influence promotional strategies, as wealthy donors may be eager for a tax deduction in April, while poorer people who do not usually contribute may be willing to donate around the holiday season.
Most charities use a wide range of donation strategies, combining solicitations from large donors with mass mailings, form letters with events. Ideally, casting a wide net is ideal, but even the most broad-based organization must have a clear target audience in mind, to make the use of limited resources effective when constructing a fundraising event.

Works Cited

Kotler, Phillip. (1997). Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations. New York: John

Wiley.

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Works Cited

Kotler, Phillip. (1997). Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations. New York: John

Wiley.
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