February: Strategies for Increasing Financial Viability

To hear a recording from the morning call, click here.

To hear a recording from the evening call, click here. 

Outline for Ask the HAA call on Fundraising

We’ll discuss five effective ways Clubs and SIGs have raised funds to support the goals and objectives of their organizations: charging dues, raising revenue through events, asking for donations, including targeted solicitations, corporate sponsorship, and revenue sharing. 

Collecting Dues

- Make it easy to say yes to by demonstrating return on investment  and be clear what dues will be used for

- Offered tiered membership structure, with related benefits: discounted pricing, member-only events, member-only access to certain content, etc. (Harvard Club of Chicago, Harvard Club of San Francisco, Harvardwood SIG)

- Send a dues invoice to all alumni (Harvard Club of Dallas)
- Send a letter to alumni listing past contributions of that member, so they can see how much and how often they have given (Harvard Club of Western Pennsylvania)

- Grant voting rights only to dues-paying members as a way of incentivizing members (Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus SIG)
- Consider direct-debit system for automatic dues renewal (Harvard Club of UK)

Generating Revenue through Event Fees

- Add a small fee to the break even costs for most events to generate operating capital/offset unexpected expenses
- Charge a higher premium for popular events/signature events that get strong attendance (Harvard Club of Maryland)
- Hold events at spaces with no room rental charges, so more event income can go to Club/SIG treasury (Harvard Club of Maryland)
- Ask for donations to Club/SIG with each event invite
- Use collaborative events (with other Clubs/SIGs or other Ivies) to share event costs (Harvard Veterans SIG, Harvard Women in Defense, Diplomacy and Development SIG)
- Use anniversary events and other organizational milestones to galvanize force to raise funds (Harvard CItyStep SIG)
- Leverage HAA programs like GNN to procure discounted/donated food/drink to be sold at event (Harvard Club of Washington DC)

Targeting Asks to Specific Individuals or for Specific Programs

- Identify a project that connects to the mission of your Club/SIG or engages a particular passion of members and ask interested individuals to fund that project
- Identify members with capacity and make a targeted ask to underwrite operational expenses or fund a particular program (Harvard Club of Monterrey, Harvard Club of Beijing)
- Think about community outreach aspect that individuals may want to impact through their funding (Harvard Club of Birmingham)

Corporate Sponsorship

- Leverage relationships of local alumni for corporate underwriting for events and programs or for in-kind donations (Harvard Club of Mexico)
- Identify organizations whose corporate philanthropy aligns with your Club/SIG’s mission (Harvard Black Alumni Society)
- Identify organizations that wish to target the demographics your Club/SIG gives them access to (Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus)
- Be very clear that no corporate sponsor is eligible to receive any contact information of any Harvard alumnus unless that alumnus has specifically indicated that he or she is willing to share their personal information with the sponsor. In this case it must be an opt in scenario and not an opt out option.
- Be very thoughtful about how you put the name and image of Harvard in relation to that of the sponsors.
- Align with Harvard Trademark Program Guidelines: http://trademark.harvard.edu/pages/use-of-harvards-name

Revenue Sharing

- Take advantage of programs that donate a percentage of your purchases to your Club/SIG (Harvard Club of Washington DC, Harvardwood)