Individual and community donors

Different types of people can be approached for support to a campaign: the campaigners themselves and members of their social networks; participants in campaign events; community members (in campaigns with a community mobilization component); visitors to the campaign web-site and other members of the target audience; segments of the “general public” that may have an interest in the campaign theme.

There are numerous techniques of mobilizing individual grants and maintaining productive relationships with individual donors. Many campaign communication tools can for instance be used in fundraising to catch potential donors’ attention in many different ways. Letters, websites and public events can include a fundraising component: letters and websites may invite readers to make a donation by filling in a form; activists may collect cash donations or addresses for future contact at campaign events.

Example: Urgent Action Fund Africa, based in Kenya, hosted a successful fundraising event in Nairobi. The group invited businessmen to attend the event and make a donation to the group in honor of their daughters. This campaign was successful both in reaching locally based donors and in securing financial support for the group. (Global Fund for Women, 2007)

Bear in mind: In many countries, laws delineate the scope and nature of public fundraising activities. Before collecting public donations, specialist advice on locally appropriate fundraising techniques should be sought and official guidelines and legal requirements be well researched.

Community donors

In campaigns that include community mobilization, raising financial and in-kind contributions from the communities involved can give a boost to the campaign – both in terms of available resources, and in credibility. Effective networking at community levels, seeking to involve a wide range of businesses, associations, clubs, faith-based and other groups, is a key condition for success.

Example: Tewa, a Nepali women's fund that focuses on building democracy and peace, has been successful in mobilizing hundreds of local Nepali volunteers to raise funds from their local communities. The volunteers received training and mentoring from Tewa, and subsequently raised over $15,000 for the organization. (Global Fund for Women, 2007)