Top 5 Tips For Fundraising And Spreading Awareness For Foster Care Agencies

Fundraising and spreading awareness for foster care agencies can be a challenge; it takes trial and error to successfully engage others or persuade them to make donations, but bringing attention to the stories and struggles of foster youth is always worth the extra effort!

When you need the community’s help to support your foster care agency, start by thinking about the heart of what your organization is determined to accomplish and articulate it clearly. From there, proactive action and careful planning will guide you in the right direction to raise funds and spread awareness.

Below are our top 5 tips for fundraising and spreading awareness for foster care agencies:

Be Intentional And Goal-oriented With Your Marketing Strategies

A successful fundraising campaign needs a clear marketing plan, strategy, and goal(s). Unfortunately, we cannot expect others to simply care about a cause, such as a foster care agency, regardless of its importance. Instead, people need concrete reasons that justify why their time and donations are necessary to improve a child’s life. 

Set goals for your marketing strategies; ask yourself what results you want most from them. Think beyond awareness and donations as well, and then ask the following questions: 

• Why should people care in the first place?
• Who are the people you need to speak to most? 
• What are the specific actions you want people to take? 
• How can you make connections with them? 
• What marketing resources and strategies can you utilize? 
• What methods of communication does the target audience respond to best?
• What is the most unique component about your foster care agency?
• What resources should you gather and prepare? 
• How will you implement your strategy?

Once you determine answers to the aforementioned questions, you can develop marketing strategies and marketing collateral that resonates and connects with your audience. For example, social media and the internet make connecting with others easier and more accessible than ever before. You can take advantage of relevant hashtags on Instagram, blog about the success stories of former foster youth that benefited from the support of local fostering agencies and experiences of a Resource Parent, or share news coverage about your foster care agency on your website! 

Think of a marketing strategy as a lighthouse that illuminates the way through the darkness; you can trust it to guide you all the way home and to a stable foundation. 

Become An Active Participant In The Community

If you engage with the community, they will engage with you. Research the ongoing or upcoming events in your area to learn about the current issues, causes, or celebrations that could use additional support–or simply, another person willing to learn why they should care. Take the time to understand and experience what your community values most. Working alongside your community paints a detailed picture of how to connect with them. These connections become a network that can lead you to meet even more people. 

Collaborate With Organizations Outside Of Foster Care Who Share Similar Goals

You are not alone in wanting to improve the lives of children, and every human being for that matter. Collaborate with other organizations that seek to make a long-term and meaningful impact on a person’s quality of life, such as soup kitchens, homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers, etc. For example, as a Riverside County foster care agency, you can collaborate with a nonprofit rehabilitation center to organize a fundraising event for National Substance Abuse Prevention Month (October). Doing so focuses on educating Resource Parents and families on addiction problems in foster youth. You can both spread awareness of your goals by nurturing foster youth and helping addicts overcome substance abuse. The collaboration creates a mutual and beneficial relationship that enables both parties to help more people and introduce them to additional resources such as Riverside Child Protective Services.

Host Fun, Family-friendly Fundraising Events

Hosting a fun, family-friendly fundraising event is always a fantastic way for the community to connect with you in person. Provide others with the opportunity to meet you, engage with you, and ask questions about your foster care agency in person. Fundraising events are the time to demonstrate to others why your cause matters in your environment. They allow you to meet prospective Resource Parents and encourage them to attend orientations, listen to community stories that otherwise wouldn’t have been shared with you anywhere else, and simply have fun with loved ones. The photos and memories from these events would make for fantastic marketing material in a foster parent newsletter too! 

Volunteer Your Time For Speaking Engagements

Speaking engagements give you a public platform to speak candidly about your cause to an attentive audience. A great place to start is by keeping track of national holidays and months related to foster care and children–and even general national holidays because people will naturally gather together! Then, find opportunities to speak about your foster care agency when the aforementioned holidays or months are in your favor. Finally, determine which places or organizations would most welcome your presentation–like an elementary or high school in May–which is National Foster Care Month!  

In closing, any awareness or donation about your cause will make a difference. However, it would help if you took the time to plan a strategy that best connects and communicates with your community. Successful fundraising and awareness don’t happen overnight. It takes time, careful consideration, and prioritizing how to make the most meaningful and long-term impact on others.