We often receive requests at FundsforNGOs to support individuals, families or groups who are in need. It is a common problem around the world that cannot be solved by forming an organisation and applying for foreign grants. In these situations are more urgent and local solution needs to be found.
People and families can fall into hardship for all kinds of reasons. From a poor harvest to having to pay medical bills, to an accident to natural disaster, life can cause serious problems for people all over the world that they may not able to resolve on their own. So what can an individual alone do to help a person or family in need?
Holding a fundraising event for your cause is a local solution that can be created with limited resources that can provide an immediate income boost to your cause. Instead of any donations or profits made at an event going to an established community organisation, the money will be given directly to the person or group in need of support.
Fundraisers can be powerful, timely support systems for people in need. In some situations the income raised through the event may be the only source of money available to the family. This makes any contribution vitally important with the ability to make an immediate impact on their lives and wellbeing.
Contrast this with applying to a charitable foundation and it becomes clear how valuable individual, local fundraising events can be. Financial assistance requests made through grant proposals can often take three months or more to be decided upon, by which time it may be too later. Another challenge that individual or family causes face is that they are often ineligible for grant funding themselves, rather they will need an appropriate organisation to apply for support on their behalf. One more reason for favouring local fundraising efforts over grant funding is that most charitable funds will not support individuals directly and by the time any proposal has been appriased several months later, the families situation may be very different.
In an urgent local situation where there does not appear to be any organisation, company or government that is able to offer support then we highly recommend taking matters into your own hands by staging a local fundraising event. It may sound difficult but if you follow our suggested plan you’ll be able to quickly raise valuable funds to support your cause.
1. Find a venue
2. Set a date
3. Invite you and your beneficiaries friends, family, colleagues and neighbours
4. Make some posters detailing the event and hang them around the local area
5 Speak and write to companies based in the area to ask if they can support your event or fundraising
6. Ask your friends to cook so that you can sell food at your event
7. Ask everyone who comes to donate a prize which can then be either raffled or auctioned off
8. Arrange for someone to speak about the cause you’re fundraising for and ask the audience to put their hands in their pockets to support the cause.
9. Speak or write to your local media including radio and newspapers so that as many people as possible know about your event
10. Arrange some entertainment to keep people happy whilst they are at your fundraiser
You can find further ideas with our guide to alternative fundraising by clicking here. Do you have any tips on supporting local people in need cheaply and quickly? Share your experiences and knowledge with the FundsforNGOs community in our comments section.
