The Fundraising Houseparty: How to Party with a Purpose and Raise Money for Your Cause - 2nd Edition
Fundraising Without Fear: How to Throw a Fundraising Houseparty Ah, the fear of the ask! We have all been through it, whether as a board member, or part of a nonprofit staff. One way to ease the fear of the ask is through a fundraising houseparty. One that I worked on when I was with a large university that had a nationally known writer's program included rounding up a handful of our better known writer/graduates, and pairing them with volunteers who were willing to host a party. The results were delightful evenings with our writer/stars that culminated in considerable support for the university. In that case, tickets to the parties were sold to the participants, the price of which constituted their donations. That is a variation on the typical fundraising houseparty as described by Morrie Warshawski, an arts consultant and writer, in his fun-to-read book, The Fundraising Houseparty: How to Party with a Purpose and Raise Money for Your Cause (2nd edition). The process is simple and to the point:  People receive an invitation to come to a party at a private home.  The invitation makes it clear that the evening will be a fundraising event.  Participants arrive and are served some refreshments.  Participants sit through a brief presentation.  The Host or a Peer--someone articulate, enthusiastic and respected by participants--stands up and asks everyone to make a contribution. Now that is simple enough to garner a sigh of relief as you realize how non-threatening this process will be for you, the host, and the donors. Warshawski's little book (only 58 pages!) takes you through all the steps in detail...those details having been developed through Warshawski's experiences with many clients. And there are a lot of details, from the invitation list and finding hosts, to how the invitations should read. Warshawski leaves nothing out -- he even discusses parking and signage. The book includes some valuable helps such as a pre-party checklist, a sample script for the host, a houseparty brainstorming worksheet and, my favorite part of the book, examples of real letters and invitations for house parties. Warshawski has simplified giving a fundraising party to a recipe that anyone can follow. If you do follow it, you are virtually guaranteed success. By Joanne Fritz January 3, 2008 --About.comJune 9th, 2011  FUNDRAISING FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR LIVING ROOM  With online fundraising and social media causing a riot in the nonprofit sector it s worth remembering a basic approach that worked even before fax machines were in vogue: Asking people in person to make a donation. Seems sort of quaint, doesn't it? Morrie Warshawski has recently published his classic book The Fundraising Houseparty as an e-book available from his website and at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iTunes. Do you have board members who tell you repeatedly that they want to help fundraise, but who never seem to follow through? This may be just the guide to inspire them to action. Do you have an eager volunteer whose enthusiasm you haven t known how to channel? Asking her to host a fundraising house party might be the right way to engage her. This handy, quick-read book is packed with motivation and the practical nuts-and-bolts outline of how to plan for and throw a fundraising house party that delivers new supporters to your organization. As Morrie reminds us, Individual donors account for approximately 87% of donations for all nonprofit endeavors and most of these individuals are not people of tremendous wealth, but rather middle-class citizens without a lot of disposable income.  At Mission Minded we ve noticed a trend amongst smaller and mid-sized nonprofits recently: Some seem to just now be noticing that they have very few email addresses for donors or prospective donors. Perhaps it s new interest in social media calling this to their attention. Or the threat of discontinued funding from institutional donors. If your nonprofit has traditionally relied on a small group of foundations, or has had a single benefactor underwriting your work, there will inevitably come a time when developing an individual donor program will be required. And one of the best ways to grow your list of prospects is by using email and social media. But where do you start if you don t have email addresses, online friends or followers? A fundraising house party is not only a good way to raise money on the night of the event. It s a way to meet more people to add to your roles who, in turn, can help you add even more contacts to your list. It takes time to successfully build an individual donor program and fundraising house parties are a terrific way to start. --Mission-Minded blog