Key Focus Areas and Opportunities:
 

I. Matching Funds + Crowdfunding Campaign: 

Since you have so many program alumni, it would be advantageous to launch a team fundraising/peer-to-peer fundraising campaign that mobilizes that community. The idea is for trip leaders, schools, and program alumni to leverage their own social networks to promote your fundraising campaign. In turn, Israel & Co. will also use the momentum and excitement of the campaign to reach out to your own networks via email, social media and calling etc. 

 

Your campaign could be executed in one of two ways:
 

Option #1: 30-day team fundraising/peer-to-peer campaign encouraging trip leaders and schools to set-up their own school's team fundraising campaign page e.g. Harvard will have their own campaign page and recruit their trip alumni to help reach the goal (Birthright example).
 

 A 30-day campaign is a great framework for you to reach-out to your wider community for them to set-up team fundraising pages (e.g. trip leaders from each school) that can be used to mobilize their own social network to donate.
 

For the launch of the campaign itself, another powerful tool is to gather volunteers for a physical launch party (if possible).

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Option #2: Matching Funds/Crowdfunding Campaign in the framework of a 24-hour giving event (Mayanot World Center example).  

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A 24-hour campaign brings together tens or hundreds of volunteers in a shared phsyiscal space to make calls to prospective donors as one big group. Volunteers will have shifts of 2 - 4 hours throughout the fundraising campaign. You can have multiple call centers across the country and in other regions.

Launching a 24-hour campaign (or 48 hour campaign) has one main power: to mobilize your volunteer network to actually show up and give their time. The reason a 24-hour event has this ability is because it is a novel and exciting event, which people more easily want to be a part of. Secondly, it is easier for people to conceptualize in their mind that they can give one day out of the whole year to your organization. Lastly, if you do a good job ramping-up the excitement around the event (e.g. decorate your building, post photos of your campaign committee in “team t-shirts;” make community announcements etc.), then you will be much more likely to mobilize your volunteer corps.

 

Yosef Coopersmith already spoke with you and based-off the details you shared, it sounds like doing a 30-day campaign is the more appropriate option. However, we wanted to share the 24-hour approach as an option so you can be fully aware. 

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The value-add of securing volunteers (whether through a 24-hour campaign or a 30-day campaign) for your fundraiser is tremendous:

 

Fundraising Power:
They are better at fundraising from smaller donors than nonprofit staff because they are part-and-parcel of the community. This means people will feel more intuitively inclined to give knowing that their own peer is asking for funds.

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New donors:  
​Part of the request from volunteers is that they reach out to their own friends, family, and colleagues. You can get many new donors by doing this.

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Regardless of the model you select, it would be valuable to combine either approach with a Social Media contest. 

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Our recommendation is to do 30-day fundraising campaign given the huge untapped potential of your alumni network and the reality that you have a fairly extended and diffuse network. 

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II. Summary of Recommendation:

Because Israel & Co. has a strong staff and the ability to prepare their own materials, we recommend the 5% Rocket Fuel Package. Below you can find all the resources and services that comes with this package. 

 

Alternatively, since your online fundraising is so nascent, you could start with the Pay-As-You-Go pricing and then make a decision about membership after your campaign. 

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