The Ultimate Guide to Fundraising for Pregnancy Centers
At FundEasy, we specialize in helping various charities and organizations reach their fundraising goals. Our fundraising software for nonprofits gives you the edge your ministry needs to create professional campaigns, invite supporters, and track donations.
One of the many types of nonprofits we assist is the local community pregnancy center. Here’s the ultimate guide to raising funds for your pregnancy care center.
What Is a Pregnancy Center?
If you were to listen to pro-abortion activists, you would think a pregnancy center is akin to a medieval castle’s torture chamber. The abortion promoter often refers to them as “fake clinics” and insists their goal is to shame women into submission.
The truth is that a community pregnancy center is one of the few safe locations for a woman to discuss her unexpected pregnancy options freely. According to CareNet, a pro-woman, pro-family organization, “Pregnancy Centers are local, nonprofit organizations that provide compassionate support to women and men faced with difficult pregnancy decisions.”
Unlike abortion clinics, pregnancy centers do not charge women for their services and do not financially profit from a woman's decision. These centers receive no federal funding and rely solely on the generous donations of individuals, churches, and businesses in their communities.
Clinics that promote abortion as “just one of many services” fail to mention that the cost of an abortion is much higher than its other amenities, such as a urine pregnancy test or STD testing. Naturally, if a clinic earns more by offering one service over another, it will be more inclined to promote that service.
Pregnancy Centers provide free pregnancy tests, material assistance, and education. Most centers also offer free ultrasounds, STI testing, and many have an entire medical staff to provide other health screenings.
FundEasy has helped world-changing nonprofits raise more than $1 billion.
For every abortion clinic in the United States, there are four times as many pregnancy centers, so fundraising for these organizations becomes a vital part of a pregnancy center’s annual activities.
A center can receive donations from simple fundraisers, like easy crowdfunding, to extravagant yearly galas. The event a center chooses depends on the “manpower” available and the budget required to pull it off. Follow this guide to choose the best fundraiser for your pregnancy center.
Pregnancy Center Fundraisers
FundEasy makes crowdfunding for nonprofits easy. All you need is your nonprofit’s name or EIN, and you’re ready to set up an account.
Do you have a specific fundraising need? Perhaps your center’s building needs some repairs, or you want to update your ultrasound machine. Crowdfunding is the answer, and we provide it for free!
We make our crowdfunding setup simple with an easy-to-follow guided tutorial. In less than 10 minutes, you can set up a professional crowdfunding page that explains your project and financial goal.
Click image to view Crowdfunding Demo
You can even display your progress toward your goal with our animated Fund-meter. Every gift fills the thermometer a little higher, so donors see the real-time impact of their donations. Build urgency through your crowdfunding page as the clock ticks down on the allotted time to donate.
“Life is not scripted. Conversations with our donors should not be either.” — Lauren Semple
You’re given a direct link to your crowdfunding campaign to share on social media, websites, emails, texts, and even with a QR code. Plus, you can send personalized email invitations to donors to request their participation. We make it easy to get the word out.
Automatically send donors a thank you note and receipt while tracking your overall progress on your dashboard. FundEasy’s fundraising software directly deposits donations into your center’s bank account. It couldn’t be easier.
Other Crowdfunding Ideas
Consider some of the other ways your pregnancy center could use crowdfunding:
Virtual Auctions - Auction donated items online. By creating your auction online, you have a larger pool of bidders. Consider asking for donations of custom artwork, cooking classes, gift baskets, signed sports memorabilia, spa days, or travel packages. The bigger the prize, the bigger the overall bid.
Needs-Based Fundraisers - The Bible says, “You have not because you ask not.” If your supporters don’t know you have a specific need, they can’t help you. Be detailed and proactive. Let them know how much it will cost and ask boldly.
Pick-A-Date Fundraisers - Besides national holidays, there are days and months set aside for medical causes. Your center could use a crowdfunding campaign in April to raise money during STI Awareness Month, in May for National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, or in August for National Breastfeeding Month.
Or pick a random date and have fun raising money during Plant A Flower Day, National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, or Chia Pet Day.
For more information, read “How You Can Raise Money Via Crowdfunding.”
Enable your supporters to do even more for your pregnancy center. Use our peer-to-peer fundraising software for special events or general fundraising.
Perhaps you’re not sure what peer-to-peer fundraising is. If you’ve ever donated to a friend’s birthday fundraiser for a specific charity, you’ve participated in peer-to-peer fundraising.
Birthday Fundraisers are a great way to get your supporters involved in your center. Early on, ask your supporters to provide their birthday month. By keeping the birthdays of your donors in your preferred Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, you can send out an email at the beginning of every month asking those donors to set up a birthday fundraiser for your center.
Click image to view Peer-to-Peer Demo
With Zapier, FundEasy’s software integrates with CRM systems such as SalesForce, Keap, and Hubspot. Read “Should I Use My CRM for Event Management?”
It’s the perfect tool to get supporters involved in your ministry and raise money.
FundEasy provides your pregnancy center with an event Peer-to-Peer web page. Your page includes your goal, event description, and a leaderboard of top fundraisers or teams. As the nonprofit, you define the branding for your fundraiser and choose what’s communicated about your pregnancy center.
Participants register directly on your page and receive their own page to begin fundraising immediately. Encourage them to customize their page with photos, videos, comments, a welcome message, and updates—the more personalized they make their page, the more activity they will see.
“Fundraisers should use pride, not apology, when asking for a gift for a charity that is doing good work.” — Henry Rosso
They can also create a friendly competition by starting a team or challenging others to beat their fundraising goal. The leaderboard lists participants and their donations in real-time.
Other Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Ideas
Consider some of the other ways your pregnancy center could use a Peer-to-Peer fundraising campaign:
Walkathons
5Ks
Cycling Events
Bowl-a-Thon
Trivia Event
Game Night
Golf Tournament
Built-in social sharing makes it quick and easy for participants to share their page. FundEasy’s software integrates with various apps like Gmail, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Amazon. There’s no limit to how you run your campaign and who you can reach.
Click the image to view Attendance Demo
Usually, an annual gala or banquet is a pregnancy center’s largest fundraiser. It also requires the most work. Between event promotion, registration, meal planning, seating charts, and receipts for donations, a gala requires some savvy know-how.
The best event management software for nonprofits is Attendance. FundEasy prides itself on having software created by Event Planners for Event Planners.
“Fundraisers Are The Catalysts Of Change.”
A pregnancy center can host various events depending on the time of year, the amount needed to be raised, and the availability of volunteers.
More low-key events include:
Host a dog or car wash
Host a talent show
Host a trivia night
Have a pancake breakfast
More involved events include:
An annual banquet with dinner, auction, and guest speaker
A gala with dinner, concert, and guest speaker
An 18-hole golf tournament with hole prizes and lunch
A chili cookoff with multiple entries, entry fees, and awards or trophies
Host a pub or dessert crawl with numerous bars or restaurants, sell tickets or booklets that receive a stamp or punch and include a t-shirt
Galas or banquets can range from black-tie events to a downhome BBQ. Get volunteers involved by offering them recognition in your program as honored guests if they sell a certain number of tickets. Solicit local businesses to provide auction items or provide event space at a discount in exchange for advertising in your program.
Ensure your event ticket price covers the cost of dinner, the speaker, and the amount you wish to raise. Plan on having envelopes at the tables for additional donations when the evening’s program is completed.
For more theme ideas for your gala or banquet, read “5 Creative Ideas to Make Your Fundraising Banquet Memorable.”
Attendance provides excellent event registration for nonprofits. You can create professional, mobile-friendly event web pages with registration, schedules, maps, and social sharing.
Use your registration form to gather as much information as you need. Ask for t-shirt sizes, meal choices, seating or foursome requests, and more. Once you’ve put your web page and registration form together, send branded emails to your entire list of donors.
If you are coordinating a dinner, Attendance helps you build a diagram of your event floor plan, complete with dinner and silent auction tables, speakers, podium, and beverage stations. If you’ve added table sponsors, let them manage their guest’s details, such as contact information, meal choices, and seating arrangements.
Attendance has a built-in name tag and mailing label printing tool. You can quickly check in guests, record no-shows, register walk-ins, and fill open seats. It even lets you efficiently manage both online and offline registrations.
Once the evening is over, get quick access to event summaries like deposits, final meal counts, transaction reports, and more. Your guests receive peace of mind knowing their online payments and sponsorships are secure. Your center receives peace of mind knowing the deposits go straight to your organization’s bank account.
Always Say “Thank You”
It goes without saying, but no matter what type of fundraising event your center considers, be sure to find creative ways to thank your participants. Whether they’ve given money or time, they deserve to be recognized.
Integrating with a solid CRM service allows your center to send personalized thank-you emails to donors and volunteers. Segment donors by the event, amount, and commitment they’ve made. For volunteers, note the event and their role in pulling it off.
Give them solid numbers after the fact. If the event raised a profit, tell them how much and thank them for being a part of your success. If you were raising money for a particular item, be as transparent as possible. Include photos of the item and a timeline for when you plan to either begin or complete the project.
Celebrate them by using “you” instead of “we.” Everyone wants to be recognized for their contribution. Whenever possible, speak directly to the donor or volunteer. Try handwriting notes to make the thank you even more personal.
Use social media to celebrate those who made a difference, or add a page to your website that mentions their contribution. Once again, use your CRM to your advantage. By asking early for their birthdate, you can send birthday cards as a reminder of how special they are to your organization.
For top donors, consider a night of sharing. Invite a few to the center for dessert and ask them for ideas and feedback. Or, consider opening one board meeting to allow major donors to give input. There are many ways to engage donors, and giving them a unique, personal thank you goes a long way to building rapport.
With over 17,000+ events made easier for nonprofits, FundEasy has a proven track record. If your goal is to simplify your event planning, don’t wait to add FundEasy. Custom plans are available depending on your fundraising needs. Schedule an appointment to speak to a representative today.
If you'd like to learn more about our Peer-to-peer, Attendance, or Crowdfunding products, please reach out! We'd love to chat.
Also, if you haven't joined already, we have an exclusive Facebook Group just for our customers! If you are a current FundEasy Customer and would like to join, go here to learn more and request to be added!
Madison Hull
Marketing Specialist
This article was inspired by our customers and written to encourage your fundraising efforts. Although we work with nonprofits and events daily, our team members are not Event Consultants. We encourage you to consult with your event consultant, executive team, and/or affiliate organization before making any major changes to your events.
