Friendraising

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Friendraising is a form of fundraising that involves befriending an organization or individual for the purpose of supporting the financial aspect of a charity, nonprofit group or other community benefit organization.

Contents

Concept

Relationship fundraising, which is characterized as a fundraising approach that focuses on the development of a "unique and special relationship […] between a charity and its supporter" was first discussed in 1992 by Ken Burnett, who proposed that charitable institutions move towards dealing with donors as individuals, looking at their unique donation histories and motivations. [1]

The concept of friendraising involves a single organization or individual following a setup of guidelines and principles to establish a meaningful genuine and quality relationship with another person within the community, a business or organization. As a concept, the friendships that are established are purely authentic, regardless of financial prospects. The purpose of the relationship is to add value to the organization. As such, the relationship is meant to be endurable and supportive of itself, other organizations, and the community it serves. [2]

Practice

Some ideals friendraising may uphold for optimal success involve polite persistence, passion, and a plan. [2]

Controversy

Controversy stems from incidents where the organization exercises undue influence over a vulnerable person with the aim of benefitting from that person's estate after their death. Controversial friendraising practices include driving potential donors around (to doctor's appointments and the like), collecting prescriptions, providing referrals to lawyers for the drafting of wills, repeated and frequent home visits and other activities that involve befriending the person and enmeshing the organization's representatives in the donor's personal life. [3]

Over the last 10 years, the term 'friendraising' has been linked to more positive fundraising terms like 'peer-to-peer' fundraising, where fundraisers reach out to their peer network for donations when they are doing a walk, run, a-thon or any of a number of participant-based fundraising activities. Friendraising is now regularly used when describing how fundraisers get their friends to help raise funds for a worthy cause, similar to peer-to-peer.

Related Research Articles

A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charitable trust</span> Irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes

A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes and, in some jurisdictions, a more specific term than "charitable organization". A charitable trust enjoys a varying degree of tax benefits in most countries. It also generates good will. Some important terminology in charitable trusts is the term "corpus", which refers to the assets with which the trust is funded, and the term "donor", which is the person donating assets to a charity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Way</span> Nonprofit organization

United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016.

A foundation is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable activities. Foundations include public charitable foundations, such as community foundations, and private foundation, which are typically endowed by an individual or family. However, the term "foundation" may also be used by organizations that are not involved in public grantmaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fundraising</span> Process of gathering voluntary contributions of money or other resources

Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gather money for non-profit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for for-profit enterprises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charitable organization</span> Nonprofit organization with charitable purpose

A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being.

Matching funds are funds that are set to be paid in proportion to funds available from other sources. Matching fund payments usually arise in situations of charity or public good. The terms cost sharing, in-kind, and matching can be used interchangeably but refer to different types of donations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street fundraising</span>

Street fundraising consists of various ways of asking for donations on behalf of a charity. Those asking for donations may be paid employees of the charity, or they may be volunteers.

A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 501(c) nonprofit organizations in the US.

Direct mail fundraising is a form of direct marketing widely used by nonprofit organizations in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia-Pacific to acquire new donors or members and retain the level of their contributions or dues as part of a fundraising program.

Network for Good is an American certified B Corporation software company that offers fundraising software and coaching for charities and non-profit organizations. The company was founded in 2001 by America Online, Cisco Systems and Yahoo! and has processed over $2.2 billion in donations since inception. Network for Good charges between 3% to 5% transaction processing fee for donations, in addition to any subscription fees that the charity might incur. Transaction processing costs may be covered by the donor or by the nonprofit organization.

A foundation in the United States is a type of charitable organization. However, the Internal Revenue Code distinguishes between private foundations and public charities. Private foundations have more restrictions and fewer tax benefits than public charities like community foundations.

Grassroots fundraising is a common fundraising method used by political candidates which has grown in popularity with the emergence of the Internet. It has been utilized by US presidential candidates like Howard Dean, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and most recently, Bernie Sanders. Grassroots fundraising is a method of financing the campaigns of candidates who don't have significant media exposure of front runner status, or who are perhaps in opposition to the powerful lobby groups which influence the political party nominating process. It often involves mobilizing local communities to support and meet a specific fundraising goal or to donate to the campaign on a specific day. Grassroots fundraising can also be a method for organizations to get as many people as possible to help accomplish their goals. This method encompasses the efforts to reach out to the community being served and gaining connections and resources for one's campaign.

A charitable organization in Canada is regulated under the Canadian Income Tax Act through the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

School fundraising or school fund raising is the practice of raising money to support educational enrichment programs by schools or school groups mostly known from the United States. One of the most prevalent practices in the United States is product fundraising. Schools and other non-profits raise $1.7 billion each year by selling popular consumer items. Eight out of 10 Americans support these types of programs. In addition, schools and school groups such as their Parent Teacher Organization and Parent Teacher Association find many creative ways to raise funds—from bake sales, dinner events, auctions and school carnivals to more aggressive advertising, affinity programs, grant writing and straight forward donation requests.

GlobalGiving is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the United States that provides a global crowdfunding platform for grassroots charitable projects. Since 2002, more than 1.1M donors on GlobalGiving have donated move than $530 million to support more than 28,000 projects in 170 countries.

Crowdfunding is a process in which individuals or groups pool money and other resources to fund projects initiated by other people or organizations "without standard financial intermediaries." Crowdfunded projects may include creative works, products, nonprofit organizations, supporting entrepreneurship, businesses, or donations for a specific purpose. Crowdfunding usually takes place via an online portal that handles the financial transactions involved and may also provide services such as media hosting, social networking, and facilitating contact with contributors. It has increased since the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.

Charity assessment is the process of analysis of the goodness of a non-profit organization in financial terms. Historically, charity evaluators have focused on the question of how much of contributed funds are used for the purpose(s) claimed by the charity, while more recently some evaluators have placed an emphasis on the cost effectiveness of charities.

Philanthropy poses a number of ethical issues:

Charity Intelligence Canada (Ci) is a registered charity that does charity assessments of over 750 Canadian charitable organizations, to allow donors be informed when they donate to charities, and to promote transparency, accountability, and results focus in the charitable sector.

References

  1. Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay (2004). Fundraising Management: Analysis, Planning and Practice . Routledge. pp.  142. ISBN   0-415-31701-0.
  2. 1 2 "The Six P's of Successful Friend-Raising". The Georgia Center For Nonprofits. 2013-09-10. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  3. Dwight Burlingame (1997). Critical Issues in Fund Raising. John Wiley and Sons. p. 253. ISBN   0-471-17465-3.