Giving Tuesday: A great time to consider your association’s fundraising efforts

The season of giving is an ideal time to think about your association’s fundraising efforts, which drive valuable non-dues revenue.  

Here are some helpful ideas about how to get the support you need to turn your members into donors. 

By Christine Bergeron, Marketing Coordinator, Community Brands

Fundraising can be an effective way to generate non-dues revenue. And what better time to think about fundraising than the days leading up to Giving Tuesday – the Tuesday following Thanksgiving each year when organizations encourage people to donate during the season of giving? 

The importance of non-dues revenue
Let’s take a quick step back and consider the importance of non-dues revenue: In the 2021 Association Trends Study by Community Brands, people who work at professional membership organizations say that membership dues and meetings/trade shows provide the majority of their organization’s revenue. But they still must supplement with other non-dues revenue.  

Non-dues revenue is an important part of any association’s financial health. It provides a stream of revenue outside of membership dues, allowing you to smooth out fluctuations in the economic cycle. It helps you maintain budgets and continue to provide members with the benefits they expect, such as valuable content and professional education opportunities.  

The support your association needs for fundraising
If fundraising is part of your non-dues revenue generating plan, it’s essential to have an association management software (AMS) system that supports fundraising activities. For example, it should help you: 

• Manage donor data 
• Manage fundraising campaigns 
• Process gifts efficiently 
• Track the success of your fundraising efforts 

How YourMembership association management software supports association fundraising
YourMembership association management software helps you manage fundraising campaigns and track donations. Using YourMembership, you can:

• Easily create and manage multiple fundraising campaigns that turn members into donors  
• Configure predefined donation levels and monitor campaign goals 
• Give your members the option to make a pledge or donate online in real time  
• Track and measure donation history for each member (and non-member) 
• Send personalized email pledge reminders, donation acknowledgements, and receipts 

As an all-in-one membership management software, YourMembership includes multiple specific fundraising capabilities – built right into the AMS system – to make fundraising easier for your organization. These capabilities include: 

• Manage donation and fundraising campaigns​ 
• Add/edit donation funds​ 
• Create/manage custom donation fields​ 
• Create/manage recurring contribution/donation options​ 
• Set minimum and maximum donation amounts per fund​ 
• Set pre-defined amounts on per fund basis​ 
• Process credit card and pledged donations​ 
• Mass email members who have donated by multiple criteria​ 
• Export donation information​ 
• Set campaign goals for each donation fund ​ 
• Show fundraising progress through visual progress meter​ 

Learn more.
Fundraising might seem like a tall order – especially when you have a small staff and time is tight. But with the right software in place, you can easily turn members (and non-members!) into donors, helping you generate the non-dues revenue you need to further your mission, be a better advocate for your industry, and deliver the valuable benefits your members seek.  

Find out more about how the all-in-one YourMembership association management software for small to mid-sized associations can help you generate non-dues revenue: Explore YourMembership AMS.