In 2018, Forbes Magazine’s William P. Barrett compiled a list of the 100 largest U.S. charities. This elite group received in incredible $49 billion in gifts all together. As this year sprints to the finish line, it’s hard not to wonder which organizations will come out on top in 2019. Will the list remain the same? Will new organizations rise and make a huge impact? We’ll have to wait to find out! Below, you’ll find the top 10 U.S. charities from Forbes’ 2018 list.

1. United Way Worldwide
2. Feeding America
3. Americares Foundation
4. Task Force for Global Health
5. Salvation Army
6. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
7. Direct Relief
8. Habitat for Humanity International
9. Boys & Girls Club of America
10. YMCA of the USA

The fall fundraising season has finally arrived! That means now is the perfect time to start thinking about your organization’s charity fundraising events! Follow these five simple steps to find volunteers for your upcoming fundraisers.

1. Social Networking

Networking, whether one-on-one or on the web, is the consistent go-to resource for successful volunteer sourcing. Of course, part of that networking has to be social media networking! If you don’t already have a social media presence, creating a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account for your organization is a great start. When looking for volunteers using Facebook, post information that include keywords like Charity, Fundraiser, Volunteer, Community Service, and other similar terms. You can also post in public Facebook groups to optimize the number of people viewing your posts. When looking for volunteers using Instagram and Twitter, use topic-specific hashtags and keywords that help your potential volunteers search for information on areas in which they are interested. And, don’t forget to be include compelling messaging and images in every post! Social media networking is a great way to create awareness about your cause and cultivate volunteers for your charity fundraisers.

2. Document and Exhibit Accomplishments

Showing off awards or any other documented achievements can be highly appealing to potential volunteers. It’s important to also prominently promote volunteer opportunities that your organization has to offer. This will make it clear you’re looking and encouraging volunteers to join your fundraising team.

3. Participate in Recruitment Conventions

Give an informational talk about your organization at local high schools and colleges to ramp up volunteer opportunities. Be sure to give students ideas about how they might be able to contribute as a volunteer, and what they could gain from their experience at your organization. You can also set up stands at local fairs and music festivals to help recruit volunteers and spread the word about the work you do for the community.

4. Advertise Your Organization Locally

Make flyers advertising your interest in finding volunteers, and post them in public places. You can post these flyers in coffee shops, grocery stores, local retail stores, parks and many other venues. You should post your flyers anywhere they will be visible to the eye of the public — your potential volunteers!

5. Promote the Benefits to Volunteering

If you have some funds budgeted for finding new volunteers, consider throwing a party, a meet-and-greet or some other small gathering. This will give the people who might be interested in volunteering an opportunity to meet you and the rest of your team. Potential volunteers will see the community you’ve developed, and have the time to learn about the opportunities you have available in a casual setting.

Booker T. Washington once said, “Those who are the happiest are those who do the most for others.” Giving can easily be defined as doing the most, and years later, science proved Mr. Washington right. Giving has been shown to help the human race receive the one thing more valuable than money, time or material possessions… happiness.

In fact, psychologists from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management conducted experiments to test this theory. Participants were given $5 every day for five days. They were then randomly assigned to spend the money on themselves or on someone else. The average study showed that the participants who gave away their $5 were happier than the ones who spent it on themselves.

Isn’t it amazing that when we give cheerfully on the outside, we gain something beautiful from within? Simply seeing a smile on someone’s face, makes us smile. It’s a win-win scenario. If you don’t believe us, give it a try! You might just change the world.

1. Host a Silent or Live Auction

Charity auctions are a classic way to raise money for almost all fundraising events. This timeless format creates a fun and exciting component for your attendees and donors. Picture this: A crowd is drawing and people are competing left and right to see who can outbid whom! People appreciate unique auction items, especially when they can successfully fundraise with them. You can offer interesting artwork, once-in-a-lifetime travel and experience packages, entertainment, music and sports memorabilia, and so much more. Organizations, sponsors and donors can provide the auction items that best fit your audience. For example, sports memorabilia would be perfect for a sport-oriented event!

2. Create an Early-Bird Discount Incentive

Filling up Google calendars has never been so easy! Your supporters’ schedules are crammed with work events, family affairs and social gatherings. Have you ever heard someone say, “Hold on, let me check my schedule first?” It’s as though whoever schedules something with you first wins! A profitable fundraising event needs a healthy attendance. This means you need to get the attendees to mark their calendars ahead of time. One way to do this is by creating an early-bird incentive.

Try offering ticket discounts for the first 50 people to sign up or perhaps five free raffle tickets to the first five registrants. Have fun with it — be creative!

3. Use Social Media as a Marketing Tool

There are millions and, on some platforms, billions of people using social media every day. Social networking has become a powerful tool for obtaining news and information. Many people find things out through Facebook or Instagram before they even flip on the news. This powerful resource could help you produce more awareness and a higher attendance that brings a greater profit for your fundraising efforts. In order for this strategy to work, it’s important to know the age range of the people you are trying to reach. The majority of people using social media today fall within the millennial and gen X populations. If this is your target audience, consider using these photo and video-friendly platforms as a way to get the word out. 

Create colorful imagery and videos with minimal text to grab the attention of your viewers. Network giants like Facebook have made it easy to advertise and promote events by allowing you to create free event pages. You can also purchase ads or boost posts on Instagram, so more people see your promotion. Once you’ve done the work on social media, you’ll have a place for people to refer to and find out more information. The best part is that social media is easily shareable and can spread like wildfire. 

What are you waiting for? Give it a try!

4. Connect with Sponsors

Making real connections with people is so important. It’s when the real self of one person meets the real self of another. What better way to raise more money for your fundraising event than by making genuine connections with people who can help? Meeting new sponsors will not only give them the opportunity to support a local cause, but it will also boost your credibility. It can increase marketing possibilities and open the door for other sponsors to take notice. It is also important to continue the relationship with sponsors that you have already worked with.

Focusing on relationships with care and effort could be the difference between a good event or a great one!

5. Email, Email, Email!

Emailing can go a long way with little to no cost. It’s important to compile emails from interested fundraiser attendees, as well as previous attendees. This will make it easy to blast out an email campaign when you’re ready to start marketing your event. Emailing is a great opportunity to also reinforce the mission of your charity and the specific event you’re putting together. 

Be authentic in your email outreach! Think of it as a simple heads up or a reminder for people.

Your charity fundraising initiatives are incomplete without considering the growing influence and opportunity afforded by millennials, both today and into the near future. Millennials are defined as individuals born after 1980 who came of age in the early 2000s, and contrary to popular belief, this younger generation is positively increasing the charity donation scale and sharing their wealth.

Today, there are two primary contributions millennials make: The first is by impulse, for example checking out at a grocery store counter and being asked to donate a dollar to a cause. The second is by focusing on domestic and local issues. The big question is how do you engage millennials to donate to your nonprofit now and for years to come?

1. Focus on your cause instead of your organization. Millennials tend to care more about specific causes than organizations’ defined brands. If your organization raises funds for children, focus on that service when communicating with the younger generation, not only the details about your organization.
2. Be flexible with your opportunities to contribute. Encourage millennials to donate and volunteer on their own terms. You don’t need to eliminate your entire established framework for accepting volunteers and donations, but loosen the reins a little. Millennials respond better to flexibility than they do to forcibility.
3. Maintain an active and engaging social media presence. Millennials tweet, post and snap their entire lives. Increase your social media clout, and your millennial supporters will be more likely to share information regarding your good work with their social networks. Highly engaged millennials can be marketing machines for your fundraising ideas!
4. Encourage volunteering. This may be the best way to attract millennials and hold onto them for the long term. Millennials often prefer getting involved to simply donating money – so accept the donation of their time! This may be the most effective way to reel in their support for the next 10, 20, 30 years.
5. Millennials are impulsive buyers and donors. They donate quickly when they feel inspired or when they gravitate toward a cause. Try and vamp up your inspiration, by posting pictures and videos of the work you do – make it motivational and inspirational to potential donors and volunteers.
6. Stay in touch. This goes for all donors, but especially for the younger generations. Millennials want you to remain in contact with them, and that means more than once a year. Think about a monthly e-newsletter that keeps supporters informed and up to date on all the work your organization has been doing.

As millennials grow their influence and financial security, it’s critical charity fundraisers invest the time to develop and implement strategies to engage them for the long term. With a little extra work and some social media, you can tap into this blooming generation. Be creative, be innovative, and last but not least, be focused!