10 Methods For Fundraising Outreach

December 02 2022, by Planet Green, 6 min reading time

Here are 10 ways that successful fundraisers have built their network of participants and have exceeded their expectations in their Cash for Cartridges Campaigns.

You’ve got a target fundraising goal and you’ve laid out a plan to reach it. It’s time to start your outreach and to ask your network to participate. Here are ten ways that successful fundraisers have built their network of participants and have exceeded their expectations in their Cash for Cartridges Campaigns.

1. Direct Emails

This goes without saying, but direct contact is the number-one way to reach people and ask for their participation.

Gather your list of people whom you would like to contact and prepare your email. Be direct with your intentions. Explain in brief that your organization is raising funds for a specific date, and you would like their help. Explain that it costs nothing; they can print a free shipping label to send in their ink cartridges at www.planetgreenrecycle.com.

Let them know that they can submit:

- Empty Cartridges
- Expired Date Cartridges
- Even those old unopened cartridges they bought for machines they don’t have anymore.

“It’s funny,” one partner shared with us. “I was talking about our campaign to a friend, and he told me that he has a bag of 30+ cartridges next to his front door. He knew he couldn’t throw them into a trash bin but he simply didn’t know what to do with them, so he kept saving them in a bag. That bag alone fetched us just over $30 in fundraising cash. He was happy to finally let them go.”

Always tell your contacts if they don’t have anything to send in today pass your email on to others who may have cartridges to send in. The more people forwarding your email the more opportunity you will hit someone with ink cartridges needing to be recycled.

2. Events - Cartridges For Admission

Have you thought of using cartridges as the ticket price for an event your organization is showing? Guests can bring cartridges instead of buying a ticket at the door.

Marilynn Casey, a schoolteacher at a Connecticut Middle School shared, “We have an annual holiday event where the students put on a play. Typically, we charge $5 a ticket and all the parents attend. We usually sell 250-300 tickets. This year we shared our campaign and sent the students home with a flyer explaining that instead of buying tickets, we would grant both parents seats if they brought their empty ink cartridges. The night of the event, we sold about 30 tickets for cash and gave more than 250 seats to attendees in exchange for their ink cartridges. We raised over $2800 for our fundraiser just with the cartridges.”

3. We share a page on your website

If you’ve got a website, you can make a page about your fundraiser that participants can share with their colleagues to get them involved. Include all the important details and include your Program ID Number with a link directly to Planet Green Recycle where they can print their FREE shipping label.

Roger Donovan of East Bay Catholic Charities shares, “We put a page on our website, and we shared our goals and the easy way participants can help. That website page was shared by our congregation, their families and friends and before we knew it, friends were sending in cartridges from across the country on our behalf. I highly recommend making a page on your website.”

4. Face to Face Discussions

We meet people we know daily at work, in the grocery and even while walking the dogs. Every opportunity to share your fundraiser will increase your participation. Talk about it with people you meet. You’ll be surprised how many people have cartridges at home they have never thrown away. Those cartridges equal fundraising cash for your organization.

5. Call on the phone

Personal contact is always the best way to get results. While it isn’t recommended that you call strangers to ask for help, but sometimes emailing and social media don’t get the direct contact you're looking for. Call that select handful of friends you know and trust and talk about your fundraising efforts. Share your goals and let them know how easy it is to mail in their inks free. Ask them personally to share your campaign on their social media and with their network by way of email.

Jennifer Gwynn tells us, “I called my sister in Washington and told her about it. The next day she emailed everyone in her Real Estate Office and in turn, some of them shared that email with other offices. We gained 78 participants from that one phone call. Absolutely astounding!”

6. Send a text

If you’ve got a webpage on your site, share it with your friends with a text. A simple message stating you’ve got a fundraiser and a link will give them an opportunity to see it and take part. Texts share just as easily as emails do.

7. Business to business partnerships

It can’t hurt to ask a neighboring business to give an assist on outreach. After all, everyone uses a printer and another business you have regular relations with might be willing to share your fundraiser within their own network. Be sure to give them the clear-cut information they need, the link to print free shipping labels and your Program ID so you get credited.

8. Print and hang flyers

Regular foot traffic areas mean lots of eyes on your flyers. The pinboard at the grocery, the window at the local bank or general store and even in the front window at your school where parents come and go. A printed flyer can include a QR code that people can use to quickly get the link to print a free shipping label to send in their inks from home or the office.

Jeff Enfield, owner of a high traffic tire replacement garage shared, “I posted a flyer for my sister's fundraising event at the school she teaches for. We have easily 200 people a day coming and going and almost everyone read that flyer. Our customers started sending in their inks for her school.”

9. Social Media Campaigns reach a LOT of people

Make some posts for Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. We’ve found these sites get a lot of interaction. Try to be consistent with your image designs so they can be recognized across all social media sites and always include text with your Program ID and a direct link to www.PlanetGreenRecycle.com where participants can print free shipping labels. Social media posts can be shared easily, ask your network to do that and watch your participation grow.

10. Be consistent

Today your participants might not have cartridges, but next week they might. Don’t let your campaign slip their mind. Send another round of emails and social media posts as a reminder and encourage them by sharing your proposed culmination date for your fundraiser, or if it’s ongoing, remind them every other month that they can keep sending ink cartridges in free. Never let your outreach be one-and-done. Be consistent with your communication and always ask friends and associates to share your campaign. Recycling ink cartridges is good for the planet and great for generating funds for your program on a continual basis.