Donations And The Credit Crunch

"Do you think financial gifts will be affected by the credit crunch?" Helen asked me.

Hmm.  I wasn't sure.  So I thought about it for a second.

A recent trend has started in our neighbourhood.  My neighbours and I have started sharing our leftovers.  Clothes, magazines we've already read, tubs of food, biscuits... any surplus and we're handing it around like the Red Cross.  Only just last week my neighbour Paul offered me a huge pack of bacon that someone else had passed onto him!  Certainly in my neighbourhood the credit crunch seems to have inspired a sense of community and sharing.  

Giving makes us feel important.  So even if we feel more cash-strapped right now, we still want to give.  We still want to feel important.

So how can we use this in terms of fundraising?

Well, gifts in kind are definitely on the up.  Instead of asking for cash, why not ask for donations in kind instead?  Here are some suggestions:

-a donated bicycle to help a cash-strapped student save thousands on tube fares

-two free hours in a large hire room twice a week to rehearse for a fundraising event

-use of a computer, printer and stationery to send out three hundred sponsorship letters

No-one likes to see waste and no-one wants to be mean.  Normally, if a person or business can help, they will.  But you need to point them in the right direction!

To get ahead in these hard times, why not review your fundraising needs from an in-kind-er perspective?