Charity Fundraising

[Psycho]

Hi,

Could someone please answer me the following questions:

1. How does one go about starting an organisation that employs salesmen to fundraise for leading and unknown charities via door to door selling?

2. How hard is it for a small charity fundraising organisation to get contracts from leading charities like Save The Children?

Any other advice and help regarding starting a charity fundraising organisation will be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks for all your help.

PS You may get a sense from my post that I am a little bit naive. You would be correct to assume this. I have for last couple of weeks been thinking about what I want to do with my life and have come to the conclusion that I want to help people who are less fortunate than myself. I have 1 brothers and 1 sister and both of them have some sort of mental disability so I have had first hand experience of how painful life can be for people who are not as fortunate as myself.

PPS Also please bear in mind that I am 19 years old. Another reason why I may appear to be so naive.

[Billmccallum]

promoting unknown charities can be highly problematic as most people prefer to give to an organisation they know or have heard of, so going with a known name is the best option.

As you have experience of the issues, then going to MIND would be a good option. http://www.mind.org.uk/about/the_network

Visit your local centre and have a chat with the manager, explain how you want to help and see what they say.

[JonM]

To answer your questions.

1) Actually not very difficult. You should definitely adhere to the Charities Act 2006, and theoretically join the Institute of Fundraising and Fundraising Standards Board but there's nothing stopping you.

2) It depends upon many things including your offer, track record, ability to deliver etc. It is also competitive and there are a high turnover of organisations as many find that it is not as easy as they think to be a success in this business!

As for general advice I would suggest that you get some experience first both in terms of actually doing the work yourself (i.e. knocking on people's doors) and management. The companies and people you would be up against have been doing this for many years and it will be tough for you to compete against them. Slowly does it!

Also note that charity fundraising is tough and extremely stressful. People expect you to succeed and that ain't always easy!

[Psycho]

I have gained some experience of fundraising door to door. I know how hard it can be.

[Psycho]

What about selling items (vouchers, stationary, chocolate etc) door to door and giving a percentage of all total profits to charity? Is this a valid idea do you think? This can differentiate me from my competitors.

[Shani]

No doubt initially you'll face many problems. and i am completely jonM he answered very well.