Archive for the ‘Fundraising’ Category

Sustainable: 5 Fundraising Goals

1) Be sure about the organisation’s aims and priorities

2) Be sure the priorities are realistic and achievable

3) Be sure of targeting a relevant customer base

4) Be sure of the funding success

5) Be sure to have shared responsibility for fundraising

Coffee Joe says the environment, culture, society, economy are all part of being sustainable. Look after your own life, help create a viable community, foster relationships with locally-owned businesses that offer fairly traded goods at fair prices. Do as CJ and research which products will assist poverty-stricken, farmers in other parts of the globe; He buys carefully to ensure that his money goes into their pockets.

To Coffee Joe, fundraising should be like a well told story – it has a great beginning, a plot or cause, a setting and an ending. The basics of writing can be applied here. Discover your target audience, offer them a satisfying outline of what you expect to happen, have photos on hand to show where it will take place and deliver a happy ending.

CJ emphasizes that the cause or project has to be something the consumer can identify with, can visualize that they are making a difference, and feel the group is authentic.

Tags: Fairly Traded, organic, sustainable
Posted on March 11th, 2010 in Fundraising | No Comments »

Sustainable: Linked to Fundraising

Coffee Joe has heard the phrase sustainable more and more lately. But what does it really mean? And how does it relate to fundraising? CJ is all about the environment, helping others and wanted to find out more.

According to the dictionary, it means being able to be sustained for an indefinite period without damaging the environment, or without depleting a natural resource; renewable.

Coffee Joe says to be sustainable, every fundraising group, whatever its size, can use planning and management. A thinking strategy creates imaginative solutions, provides direction and helps to move the fundraiser forward. Remember the use of recyclable, reusable or earth-friendly products will have your customers coming back, time after time. Offering items such as organic coffee, tea or cocoa, something people use every day, will make your fundraiser sustainable. In turn, the organic farmers who treat the land in a responsible manner, will be able to maintain and support not only their families and the community now, but in the future, their children and their children’s children as well.

Planning for the long-term will set up a fundraiser’s future and is the first step towards being sustainable.

Tags: fundraiser, Organic Coffee, sustainable
Posted on March 4th, 2010 in Fundraising, Organic Beverages | No Comments »

Fair Fundraising: Lean and Mean

Coffee Joe says organizations call him several times a week, begging for his donation. He has been very generous many times, but now there’s a common problem. The last few years have been lean, money’s tight, so how can he decide who gets how much?

Someone suggested that CJ should think about which causes are really important to him. The church for sure may be one, and perhaps an organic coffee, tea and cocoa fundraiser could be the other one. In a recession, these are the causes which will need as much as Coffee Joe can afford to give.

They will benefit the most from his donations, and he will feel better having a closer connection to his passion for helping others. Definitely, organic beverages are the answer. You are offering products that are used by everyone you know, the price is reasonable in terms of helping the environment and buying organic helps the coffee farmers to be paid a fair price for their labour. Something we can all relate to. It’s win-win all around.

Fair fundraising for the planet.

Tags: coffee, Fundraising, organic, tea
Posted on February 25th, 2010 in Coffee Farming, Fundraising, Organic Beverages, Organic Coffee | No Comments »

Organic Fundraiser: Teach Your Children

Cookie Dough? Chocolate Bars? Coffee Joe says these are not quite healthy choices. Teach your children early enough and they will make better decisions. He says for their next fundraiser, go organic. Organic beverages would be a good first step.

CJ knows they will not only learn about the world beyond their doorstep, it will give them a sense of connection with faraway countries and people. They will find out about the earth at large, how to be stewards of the future by using and thinking organic.

Coffee Joe says children learn by watching, doing as we do, and listening to what we say. Begin teaching them about the water they use, the amount of electricity, and the benefit of growing green, organic plants. By listening to us talk about the organic way of doing things, they will be ready to adopt this living style as they grow up.

CJ wants you to try organic coffee, tea and cocoa for your next fundraiser. Teach the children.

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Coffee Joe says: Like everyone else who makes the mistake of getting older, I begin each day with coffee and obituaries.

~Bill Cosby ~

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Tags: fundraiser, organic, Organic Coffee, tea
Posted on February 18th, 2010 in Fundraising, Organic Beverages, Organic Coffee, cocoa | No Comments »

Fundraising: 5 Ways to Win in a Recession

Coffee Joe is aware that in fundraising, the recent setbacks in the economy have caused major difficulties. Donors are putting fundraisers at the bottom of their priority list, and volunteers are increasingly harder to find. What should a fundraiser group do?

1) Organize an online website for donations. Today, the internet is mainstream and with this access, people will donate more online.

2) Emphasize that buying your organic beverages is a twofold investment. The donor will be helping the organic farmers and making a healthier choice for themselves.

3) Stay current with your donors; stress that during a recession, investing in fundraising is a time when it’s the most needed. Let them know where the money is going and why.

4) Don’t change your strategy, stay focussed and strong. Patience, hard work and motivating your volunteers is most important.

5) Concentrate on the small donors rather than depending on the largest ones. The large donors who gave in the past when all was well, will be the first to decline, while the others will still keep on giving.

Tags: coffee fundraiser, Fundraising, organic
Posted on February 11th, 2010 in Coffee Farming, Fundraising, Organic Beverages | No Comments »

Green Fundraising

Okay, Coffee Joe says do you realize that if you keep running your fundraiser the same way year after year, you’ll never get a different result?

He wants you to try organic coffee, tea or cocoa for an exciting and unexpected fundraising experience. CJ knows that your customers will thank you; they can indulge in a familiar and daily habit, all the while helping and aiding the organic farmers and their communities on a direct basis. For example, school children are very earth aware, so using this type of fundraiser will involve them at an early stage – early enough for them to try and make a difference.

Use Farmer First, Fairly Traded and certified products; there is no grey area, the money goes directly to the farmers. This helps the environment and the global economy. The more we make these conscious choices, the better off everyone will be.

All this from making a green choice; after all, it’s the organic way.

Tags: cocoa, Fairly Traded, Farmer First, Organic Coffee, tea
Posted on February 5th, 2010 in Fundraising, Organic Beverages, Organic Coffee | No Comments »

Fundraising Follow Up

In fundraising, Coffee Joe says following up with your customer is an important step to repeating success. For example, after a couple of weeks have passed after a coffee fundraiser, CJ suggests sending out a follow up letter or email to the customer inviting feedback as to the success of this coffee fundraiser.

Questions to ask could be:

1) Did the order arrive safely and in a timely manner?

2) Was our level of service and quality of product what you expected?

3) What did you like about the fundraiser the most?

4) Would you order differently next time?

5) What else would you change and why?

You might mention that your company would like to share this as a testimonial on your website with others. CJ says to make sure the fundraisers know that it only takes a minute to reply, and your company would appreciate their participation. Also, have your company respond to any problems and make any changes requested by the fundraisers.

Even if you have only one or two customers who are willing, it will at least give you an overall impression of what they thought about their experience.

Tags: coffee fundraiser, follow up, fundraiser, Fundraising
Posted on January 26th, 2010 in Fundraising | No Comments »

Fundraising: 7 Ways to Motivate Volunteers

When Coffee Joe surveyed several fundraising groups, he put together a list of how to keep the volunteers happy and interested enough to follow through to the end with current projects.

Fundraising volunteers work better in groups.
Get volunteers together once a week for fun, no selling.
Give a small token of appreciation to volunteers.
Reward top production, but also low producers too.
Let volunteers know how much they or their group has raised and where the money is going.
Hang a poster with the fundraising goal. Show progress daily.
Find out why each one of your group is volunteering. To help? To put on a resume? For a social time? Make sure these needs are being met.

CJ remembered this quote:

Appreciation can make a day–even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary! ~Margaret Cousins~

Tags: Fundraising
Posted on January 20th, 2010 in Fundraising | No Comments »

The Rotary Club

What is a Rotary Club? By definition, the stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide compassionate service, encourage high ethical standards in all occupations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

An important dimension of Rotary’s commitment to the environment is long-term, sustainable development projects. Such projects, for example the organic coffee, tea and cocoa production, promote economic and social progress that both decreases poverty and protects the environment for future generations. Activities that will help these organic families, communities and nations break the cycle of poverty that destroys the environment and the humans involved.

Rotarians lend “seed” money, resources, and knowledge to start the process. Once a project begins, most of the responsibility shifts to the locals. Rotarians provide the structure and training that enables the project to continue. Organic farming is an area where the Rotarians are beginning to get involved in. The force of their group will go a long way to aiding organic farmers and their communities. A further step in the right direction would be for the rotary club to provide charitable assistance at origin for the growers, the workers, and their families. In addition, it would encourage sustainable agriculture and organic farming which is a “green idea”.

Traditionally, small coffee growers have not been fairly rewarded for the coffee they grow. In particular because it is grown without pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers, it makes for the better long-term health of the environment and for the consumer.

Rotary clubs, who live by the motto “Service Above Self”, subsidize a variety of projects including those related to alleviating hunger, promoting education, and providing potable water in many third world countries. Organic coffee is expensive to buy, but up to now, only a minimal amount of the profit goes to those who grow it. The rotary clubs are starting to provide a necessary link to those organic coffee farmers.

Posted on October 19th, 2009 in Coffee Farming, Fundraising, Organic Coffee | No Comments »