Solarthon 2008 - Fundraising Tips

Raising money for a cause you care about can actually be a lot of fun. It's a great excuse to catch up with folks, and talk to them about an issue that's on a lot of people's minds these days - renewable energy. Remember, the purpose of this event is to raise both money and awareness, so every conversation, letter and email is important.

Here are a few resources and tips to make fundraising easier:

• Create a personal fundraising page at FirstGiving. You can customize the page and use it to send email to friends and family and track their donations.
• Send a personal letter or email to let folks know why you care about renewable energy for communities in need. Here's a sample (in Microsoft Word format) to use as a reference, but your own words are the best.
• If you want to give prospective donors more information about where their donations are going, you can share statistics from our website to help quickly demonstrate GRID Alternatives' impact.
• Post a sponsorship flyer in your company lunchroom or community bulletin board, or circulate it around your office or community.
• Many companies offer donation matching programs that can double the value of your sponsors' donations - don't forget to ask them!
• Get creative! Check out this list of 125 fundraising ideas at AIDS LifeCycle, or make up your own. Remember, this should be fun!