Mindful Fundraising – Part 4

Imam Zijad Delic Interview part 4

While fundraising, does asking and asking over and over again pay off? Some people argue that people get turned off by an imam constantly asking for donations, but if people still end up giving, then isn’t it worth it?
The simple rule is, if you don’t ask, you won’t get anything. But how should you apply it?

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Giving Tuesday and your Islamic School

Giving Tuesday and your Islamic School

If you are the principal of an Islamic school, a staff member, a board member, or simply a concerned parent, you likely have to think of different fundraising initiatives throughout the year. Yes, Ramadan may be the time of year during which you have your biggest fundraising campaign, and it rightfully is the best time of year for that. But, Ramadan’s timing is not entirely within one’s control; it may take place during the summer, winter break, or fall within an exam period.

Enter Giving Tuesday!

Giving Tuesday takes place around the same time every year. Not only that, but it takes place during the fall semester when most people, particularly parents, are at work and not away traveling. This provides a very good opportunity for you to capitalize on the publicity Giving Tuesday naturally has and to showcase your Islamic school to the wider community, and bring in some donations while you’re at it.

Even if some parents in your local community have decided not to send their children to an Islamic school, you can still show them the great work you’re doing.

Maybe that’ll encourage them to, at the very least, support you financially, if not consider switching their children over to your school in the future. Here are three recommendations to consider when planning a Giving Tuesday campaign:

  1. Develop a story to be the main theme of your Giving Tuesday campaign. Ideally, you would want to present it in a short 1-2 minute video. However, if you have a limited budget, then you can still present your story in the form of graphics and text. Whatever media you develop, make sure it can be easily shared online.
    Select a story that showcases the impact your Islamic school has on its students. For example, you may want to highlight the positive environment Islamic schools provide children. For some ideas of videos from Islamic schools, see https://youtu.be/d0RsDoRXy14 and https://youtu.be/VmqliUE1ec0.
  2. Get staff members and parents involved in the marketing of the campaign. Parents are usually asked to donate to their children’s school on various occasions throughout the school year, such as during city-wide fundraising campaigns for breast cancer research as well as during Ramadan. So, rather than marketing the Giving Tuesday campaign directly to parents, it is more effective to involve them in its marketing, thereby reaching a wider audience. Most parents, if not all of them, are on social media, so by encouraging them to ‘tag 5 friends’ on Giving Tuesday, for example, your campaign can go very far online.
  3. Use a reputable crowdfunding platform. Because your main target audience are potential donors within your city as well contacts of parents who could be anywhere in the world, people may not be very familiar with your school’s website. Therefore, set up a page for your Giving Tuesday campaign on a reputable crowdfunding platform such as LaunchGood, GofundMe, or Facebook, and refer your online traffic to it. Many people already have accounts set up on these platforms and so the process of donating on them is a lot easier.