- Member dues and fees
As a nonprofit, you can get your revenue through membership and take advantage of the membership dues. Developing an effective membership model allows your organization to get regular revenue that benefits your charity and your members. You can seek the help of membership management software to keep track of member dues and send membership renewal reminders.
- Events
Whether in person or virtual, events are among the top ways to raise funds. They provide you with a great opportunity to bring your community together, give updates on projects to the supporters and introduce new faces who can be volunteers, donors or collaborators to your organization. The majority of your income will come from making sales of tickets in return for fun, educational experience and refreshments for your attendees. If you host a bigger event, you can incorporate a silent auction for additional revenue or secure scholarships.
- Selling of merchandise
You can sell merchandise to generate revenue to pay for different activities for your nonprofit. Like for-profits, nonprofits can significantly benefit from selling things like t-shirts, publications and jackets. Although this should never be your main source of revenue, it brings in some good amount that can fill some areas. Members of your community will support you by purchasing t-shirts or other merchandise. Furthermore, it becomes a marketing strategy when people wear branded merchandise and walks around town. Just look for information from IRS on how merchandise will be taxed.
- Individual donations
Donations are the main revenue stream for many nonprofits. You can also take advantage of this option, considering many people would like to reach out and help a community. A single donor can donate up to $20 annually to the organization. However, these contributions can may not be reliable from some donors. This means you need to look for more donors to ensure you get the revenue you need to run your operations. Make it easy to donate in person over the phone, via mail, and through online methods. Furthermore, you need to encourage donors to give monthly and create efficient donation forms to give them an option. Make a maximum effort by sending special appeals at least once a year and give options to make donations in honour of a person or a given occasion.
- Major gifts
According to research, 80% of funds are donated by only 20% of donors. These are the major donors giving major gifts to the nonprofits. However, what is considered a major gift? For some, a major gift is one that is $1000 and above. However, for others, a major gift is worth above $10,000. Regardless of the size, these gifts can be in cash, gifts of securities or legacy gifts that are willingly given to an organization. Unlike small individual donations, securing major gifts can be complicated and require establishing a relationship with a donor. Therefore, before you can even think of implementing a major gift program in your organization, you first need to show what you have done before and what it will do.
