What does hair have to do with fundraising?

It's National Volunteer Week, and we have invited friends from the volunteering landscape to post on our blog. Read the rest of the stories from this special series on the Case Foundation blog.

As you've likely heard, Radish Baby Magazine recently came out with their conclusions from their ninety year study of the philanthropic space. Here are some of their most significant discoveries…

1. The present is super fleeting and you're much better off spending time worrying about the past or future.
2. If you're sitting next to a girl on a plane and she starts crying, you should immediately start crying too.
3. This line is included solely to take up space.
4. Making your hair look sexy will make you a better fundraiser. Manageable hair is overrated.

We'd like to focus on number 4 and how it relates to some best practices for fundraising. Sorry for saying ‘best practices.’ We find the claim about the need for sexy hair outrageous and not remotely indicative of the way people give back. Most human people only need a few things to be a successful fundraiser and manageable hair is definitely one of 'em. If you can pull off sexy hair too, that’s great, but first focus on keeping your hair manageable. That’s pretty much the key to successful fundraising but here are a few more notes to review when you have something important to do and need to procrastinate...

Define the Cause in Terms Normal People Understand
Everyone understands what it means to raise money to buy toys for a playroom in a hospital. No one knows what operational funds are.

Be Relentless
You can have the best fundraiser in the world, but if no one knows about your campaign it won't go far. It’s ok to bother your friends, family, co-workers and ex-lovers three times. And maybe a fourth. And if they don’t give a little cash money, there’s no reason for you to ever buy them a gift again.

Make It Fun and Engaging
Definitely make sure everyone you hit gets involved because they want to, not because they feel like they have to. Your repeat donor rate will go way up. For example, use incentives like “Next twenty people to donate $20 get a chance to win an invisible trophy.” The power of the crowd is real and lots of small donations really do add up.

Help in the Real World
You’ll find that most people actually like to help in addition to giving or watching you sweat. So, if you start a fundraiser to get $500 worth of candy to tall people and your goal is to raise the money to buy the candy as well as to find people to help you give the candy away, you can definitely go out with something like, “Next ten people to raise $50 get to help me give away candy to tall people."

Post Instant, Personal Thank You Messages
So few donors are used to getting near real-time responses when they donate money, so when they get a personal email, text or post online that shows how their money actually matters, it will shock them and inspire them to tell their friends about it.

Manageable or Sexy Hair
I still can’t let this one go. I want to say right now that I have really poofy hair. But my hair is a complete façade behind which, I'm quickly going bald. Within months, I'll look exactly like a young Martin Van Buren.

Guest blogger Robert Wolfe founded Moosejaw and Crowdrise. His goal was to have the most concise bio ever.