What is Forever Funding?
Forever Funding™ is a term coined by Go & Give to define long-term perpetual fundraising. Get the fundraising help you need with Forever Funding™.
Most fundraisers are short-term or seasonal. For example, GirlScout cookies are only sold in January-March, Poinsettias are only sold during Christmas, a Haunted House is only done in October, Mulch Projects have to occur during the first of spring, etc.
As a result, these short-term, seasonal fundraisers have a limited time frame. So, if you don’t make all your money during the season, you have to wait for another seasonal event before you can try something different.
Anytime Fundraisers
There are fundraisers that are not seasonal and you can pick them up almost any time of the year: yard sales, silent auctions, chili cook-off, Bingo night, 5k run, etc. However, these are still events, and each often takes group planning and participation. Plus, they are not perpetual.
Long-Term Fundraisers
In contrast, other fundraisers can continue throughout the year. For example, a Flag fundraiser is where you sell homeowners a year’s subscription to post a flag (you supply it) in their front yard during each of the national holidays; Veteran’s Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, etc.
This lasts the entire year, but the payment still only comes in once or so a year–even though the coordination to set up the flags is a constant effort.
Forever Funding
Another type of fundraiser allows you to make money continuously throughout the year. This is Long-Term, but it can also be perpetual. So, you sell once, and it only needs a few reminders (automatic emails, an occasional flyer) to keep going.
It can be run alongside any short-term fundraiser, especially if it is mostly on autopilot.
However, this type of funding may not have predictable revenue available when you need it. For example, if you need money fast for a specific event (camp, a teacher gift, etc.), they won’t work–since the money may not come in immediately.
Tell Me Why?
So, why would you want a perpetual, long-term fundraiser?
To build a general fund that covers the gaps (not every fundraiser earns enough to pay for everything), or to pay for events that are forecasted in the future. Plus, if it is a viral fundraiser (you can share with others), then it can eventually grow to cover more and more projects.
Boy Scouts
When I was a scout leader, we would have fundraisers each year to pay for some of the big events, like the annual Philmont trip (assuming we won that year’s lottery). A 7-10 day trek could easily cost over $1,500, plus the transportation and the gear–so there might be a $500 shortfall.
Many of the scouts (or their parents) could absorb the $500 shortfall, while others could not. This is when a Forever Funding fundraiser could help–to help reduce the burden.
High School Band
I also had four of my five kids in the high school band. Each year they would do a memorable fundraiser–the kids remembered the experience, the parents remembered the cost.
The Rose Bowl costs each band member $2,800 (plane, food, lodging, transport for 2 semi-trucks of instruments, band director and assistants, etc.)–our rule was each kid had to pay at least half of the cost (builds character ;-).
With over 200 members of the band, this event would cost over 1/2 million dollars!
Mulch
One of the fundraisers was mulch–sourcing and buying the bags of mulch, plus spreading and the delivery lasted for over a month.
It included most of the band students, dozens of their siblings, over 100 parents, an army of trucks each weekend or evening, rakes, shovels, blowers, wheelbarrows, brooms, gas, transport, and insurance. It was a complete startup company!
Flags
The team also did the long-term flag fundraisers (putting hundreds of flags in yards for each of the patriotic holidays). But this required flyers, students selling the annual service door-to-door (no, we didn’t get the city soliciting license), sourcing and buying the flags and poles, pounding the plastic pole inserts into the lawns (hoping we didn’t hit a sprinkler).
And then the coordination of dozens of students with trucks to set up and then take down all the flags (plus dealing with missed homes and complaints). It helped–but again, it was a LOT of work, and took almost professional level-coordination.
Still Short
There were more sales for poinsettias (sourcing, warehousing, distributing, returning cash), cookies, raffles for parking spots–the list went on. It required a complete “professional” committee.
And we were still short! I had to fork out over $1,000 (how many times can we delay the braces!!). Chaa Ching!
Finally–Relief
Enter the long-term, perpetual fundraiser–Go & Give.
There is nothing to sell (not that costs money–only “switch and save”), and folks that already traveled (business, personal, family) only have to switch URLs or phone apps, and book their travel like normal.
They save an average of 30% off the public rates, use a similar service with similar inventory they are alreadly used to (uses Priceline, part of Bookings Holdings–the world’s largest travel group), and part of all their travel goes right into your fundraiser account.
It helps cover a portion of the gap–sometimes enough to sponsor some of the normal kids (whose parents were not executives).
The Commitment
It only takes 1-2 people a few minutes to sign up, about an hour to log into the system (with help from an assigned fundraiser manager), import the group database (every big group has one) into a hyper-secure online system, press accept… and, aside from an occasional paper flyer, it is DONE. Most everything is automated.
It is an easy fundraiser to add–with absolute minimal effort. Over 15,000 groups and individuals have already experienced the benefits–so it is proven to work.
Life is good! Click HERE to sign up!