Fundraising Triumphs and
Keeping Members Engaged
for the Long Haul!
Fundraising Triumphs and
Keeping Members Engaged
for the Long Haul!
Suzi Carter
540-416-2667 (COOP)
foodcoopinitiative.coop
Telling your story
What is fundraising?
Fundraising
= relationships
Why do people give/join?
• Because their friend joined
• Because you asked them
• For their own reasons!
So what? How does this
apply to co-ops?
Who are you engaging?
Potential members:
• “Just browsing”
• “I’m waiting until you’re open”
• “You’re a bunch of hippies”
• “I don’t eat healthy”
• “I love what you’re doing! But I
don’t have the money right now.”
• “I’m here with my friend.”
4 Cornerstones in 3 Stages
4 Cornerstones in 3 Stages
Membership growth?
Membership fantasy?
Membership plateau…
Endowed relational capacity
…only gets you so far
vs. Earned Relational Capacity
Moving people to take action
Shoring up infrastructure
Shoring up infrastructure
Taking stock: research, listen
Set goals and tell everyone
• Why are you doing this?
• Plan it
• Test it
• Simplify it
• Use traditional and new forms of media
Decide your activities
• Who’s your team?
• Where are your members?
One-on-one
House Parties
Small events
Big events
Collecting info, building momentum
Leveraging media
Evaluating Activities
• Did it build membership/loans?
• Did it drain our energy or resources? (ROI)
• Was it worth it?
• Who could do it next time?
• What did we learn?
• Did the press cover it?
• Was it fun?
• Was it the right thing to do?
• Did the board love it? Did members love it?
• Did it bring goodwill to our co-op?
• Did it attract past the core?
Other Ideas
Other Ideas
And ideas that flopped
Lessons learned
• Use templates
• No such thing as bad press
• Work with and through your members
• Always think, “Who can do this?”
• Use your university
• Break up small tasks into smaller tasks
• Event toolbox and 3-prong spiel
• Make friends with media; become a connector
• Don’t do anything alone
• If you don’t announce it, it never happened
• Admit mistakes, ask for help
Remember Your Role
REPEAT:
I WILL NOT DO EVERYTHING.
Iron Law of Organizing
Never do for someone else what
s/he can do for herself/himself.
Job of the Organizer
• Identify and recruit the people
needed to do the work of
starting the co-op
• Give them the tools they need
to be successful
• Keep them working together
effectively
Thank you!
Suzi Carter
540-416-2667 (COOP)
FoodCoopInitiative.coop
Questions?