Fundraising is an interesting beast. The
premise is basically: I want _______, but I don’t have the money to pay for it
so let’s ask others to pay instead. That alone is weird – “hey stranger, pay
for me!" And let's be honest, you have to be a little mad to do it. :p
What is fundraising? Simply put, it is
raising funds to pay for a need that can’t otherwise be afforded. Fundraising all
comes down to 1 or more people asking others to pay for something. It can be
done on a small scale like an individual asking for donations to pay for their
every day expenses, like a homeless person or somebody that needs a surgery or
is going to run in a marathon for a cause. Or it can be done on a large scale,
like a non-profit needing funds to support their cause and programming. It’s
important for the people asking for the money to believe in their own cause or
need and for them to show others there is a need and want to give. What we’re
hearing is it’s a salesman role. The truth is a request for money by somebody
or many somebody's is not hard to find. So you do need to SELL why somebody
should give to you. Every person asking for money or donating to something has
different values in what they think is worthy enough to GIVE. Fundraising is about
selling and giving! That’s weird!
The 3 Broads are somewhere between a
nonprofit and an individual. We are 3 individuals raising money for ourselves
to volunteer with First-Hand Aid to deliver medical supplies. We decided we
wanted to go to Cuba to volunteer, but none of us had the money to do it so
we’ve turned to others to help. Whoa! We’ve been on this journey for just under
a year. And we have grown and changed and stopped and restarted and had to
reorganize and refine as we’ve gone. We had an idea and are figuring it out as
we go. The idea didn’t actually come from us; it came from another gal that is
no longer working with us. We’ve had some road blocks and we’ve learned so much
in this short time we’ve been working together. Like we’ve said, it’s weird and
we’re learning. We’ve learned God/The Universe has a sense of humor. The 3 of
us have a fun, interesting connection (learn more at Meet the Broads, posted11/3/15) and we never thought in 2016 we’d be deepening our friendship and
creating something bigger than just our friendships – 3 Broads AbroadVolunteering. Each of us came to the table from a different point in our lives,
needing or wanting something different and yet we each found what we were
looking for in each other and in this journey together.
We’ve learned that an idea is just an idea
unless you put a lot of hard work into it. Sometimes hard work is pounding the
pavement by asking for donations or reaching out to everybody and their grandpa
for help. Sometimes hard work is researching and organizing and putting things
together. And sometimes, hard work is just staying present and motivated.
Fundraising is hard work! It’s a job. It’s a part time or full time job
depending on what you’re going after so you better be prepared. We’ve learned
that you do need to be a salesman so depending on your personality, values, and
ability this might be a little challenging. You’re essentially putting yourself
on the line and being vulnerable to others. For the natural salesman this isn’t
that difficult, but for some it is. Lucky for us, we have a mixed bag with the
3 of us. We’ve learned not only is it hard work, but different skills and
attributes are needed. There needs to be creativity, ingenuity, and thinking
outside the box, but there also needs to be organization and planning. There
needs to be discipline and follow through. There needs to be every little
detail and nuance that is required to run a business. Whoa, a business!? Yes, a
business. We aren’t just a homeless person asking for $1.00 to buy a coffee. We
are 3 Broads asking many people and businesses to give over and over and over
again. We’ve learned that will get old really fast. It’s a constant process of
planning events and opportunities to give so that people will want to continue
giving and showing up for us. It’s important to reach out to the people you
know so they’ll want to help just because they know you, but also to reach out
to people that don’t so you don’t burn your family and friends out on wanting
to give and help. We’ve learned that social medial is our friend. The more
people that know about you, the better. The more people you reach, the stronger
connections are made and the more outreach is done without needing to pound the
pavement yourself.
We recently sold a wine refrigerator that one of our cousins
donated. We sold it to an employee, Courtney at XTOPOLY. Courtney was buying
for her boss. Courtney’s boss also writes a pretty awesome blog on wine – I like this grape and they showed interest in 3 Broads Abroad because they are
community and charity driven and we have a wine event. Through a donated
refrigerator we made a great connection. We’ve learned it’s a small world, or
at least Southern California is. When we called Barnes and Noble about a
donation and/or fundraising event, the manager in Orange had already heard
about us because of a garage sale we previously had. We’ve learned there is no
small fundraising opportunity. It can be very small like recycling or throwing
a garage sale and asking others to give you items for these or big like an
actual event – We’re hosting one next week at District Wine in Long Beach
05.01.16. If you aren’t already planning to go, you should! Of course there’s also everything in between,
like restaurant nights or selling Angel game tickets. Fundraising is an
adventure with a lot of twists and turns and a lot of different people and
organizations. It’s complex and like we said, it’s weird. We will continue on
until we’ve raised enough money to volunteer in Cuba and we’re sure we will
continue learning. We hope you stay with us as we go deeper into the rabbit
hole, otherwise known as fundraising!
