proprietorship, partnership or a corporation than you do if you are a charity or a non-profit organization.

3.) Instill passion in others - Once people see the passion you have for your organization's cause, it becomes contagious! When I talked passionately about my quest to become a Winter Olympian people's eyes lit up when I spoke. Their brows raised and they smiled - they were touched by the passion that I had

I remember the early days of my fundraising. I was an aspiring Winter Olympian and a young man inexperienced in the ways of the world - let alone the fine art of fundraising. After struggling financially in my first two years of competition, I realized I needed to devise a new plan for fundraising.

Initially I began the same way as any amateur athlete would: I put together a nice portfolio full of wonderfully spun phrases on how I was going to be an Olympian and all I needed was the support of ABC Corporation. I followed up and followed up and had conversations with many people who thought what I was doing was great - but they had no idea who I was and had little interest in supporting an unmarketable amateur athlete.

Had I continued on that route, I would have starved my way out of competition! I barely received enough money to pay for rent and keep the cupboards stocked. Portfolios are a small tool in the entire fundraising process - NOT the entire fundraising process itself. Yet this method, or a slight variation, is one of the most commonly used methods of trying to fundraise.

Every organization looking to fundraise can follow this three step path to fundraising success:

1.) Forge relationships - People aren't just going to hand over hundreds or thousands of dollars to you if they don't know who you are, what you are doing and then developing a reason to believe in your cause. Relationships are the key to any sort of marketing and sales - and fundraising is no different.

2.) Change your business structure - This may seem a little odd to see in a fundraising article. However, you offer your donors more benefits if you are a sole-proprietorship, partnership or a corporation than you do if you are a charity or a non-profit organization.

3.) Instill passion in others - Once people see the passion you have for your organization's cause, it becomes contagious! When I talked passionately about my quest to become a Winter Olympian people's eyes lit up when I spoke. Their brows raised and they smiled - they were touched by the passion that I had

un phrases on how I was going to be an Olympian and all I needed was the support of ABC Corporation. I followed up and followed up and had conversations with many people who thought what I was doing was great - but they had no idea who I was and had little interest in supporting an unmarketable amateur athlete.

Had I continued on that route, I would have starved my way out of competition! I barely received enough money to pay for rent and keep the cupboards stocked. Portfolios are a small tool in the entire fundraising process - NOT the entire fundraising process itself. Yet this method, or a slight variation, is one of the most commonly used methods of trying to fundraise.

Every organization looking to fundraise can follow this three step path to fundraising success:

1.) Forge relationships - People aren't just going to hand over hundreds or thousands of dollars to you if they don't know who you are, what you are doing and then developing a reason to believe in your cause. Relationships are the key to any sort of marketing and sales - and fundraising is no different.

2.) Change your business structure - This may seem a little odd to see in a fundraising article. However, you offer your donors more benefits if you are a sole-proprietorship, partnership or a corporation than you do if you are a charity or a non-profit organization.

3.) Instill passion in others - Once people see the passion you have for your organization's cause, it becomes contagious! When I talked passionately about my quest to become a Winter Olympian people's eyes lit up when I spoke. Their brows raised and they smiled - they were touched by the passion that I had

money to pay for rent and keep the cupboards stocked. Portfolios are a small tool in the entire fundraising process - NOT the entire fundraising process itself. Yet this method, or a slight variation, is one of the most commonly used methods of trying to fundraise.

Every organization looking to fundraise can follow this three step path to fundraising success:

1.) Forge relationships - People aren't just going to hand over hundreds or thousands of dollars to you if they don't know who you are, what you are doing and then developing a reason to believe in your cause. Relationships are the key to any sort of marketing and sales - and fundraising is no different.

2.) Change your business structure - This may seem a little odd to see in a fundraising article. However, you offer your donors more benefits if you are a sole-proprietorship, partnership or a corporation than you do if you are a charity or a non-profit organization.

3.) Instill passion in others - Once people see the passion you have for your organization's cause, it becomes contagious! When I talked passionately about my quest to become a Winter Olympian people's eyes lit up when I spoke. Their brows raised and they smiled - they were touched by the passion that I had

to hand over hundreds or thousands of dollars to you if they don't know who you are, what you are doing and then developing a reason to believe in your cause. Relationships are the key to any sort of marketing and sales - and fundraising is no different.

2.) Change your business structure - This may seem a little odd to see in a fundraising article. However, you offer your donors more benefits if you are a sole-proprietorship, partnership or a corporation than you do if you are a charity or a non-profit organization.

3.) Instill passion in others - Once people see the passion you have for your organization's cause, it becomes contagious! When I talked passionately about my quest to become a Winter Olympian people's eyes lit up when I spoke. Their brows raised and they smiled - they were touched by the passion that I had

proprietorship, partnership or a corporation than you do if you are a charity or a non-profit organization.

3.) Instill passion in others - Once people see the passion you have for your organization's cause, it becomes contagious! When I talked passionately about my quest to become a Winter Olympian people's eyes lit up when I spoke. Their brows raised and they smiled - they were touched by the passion that I had for the endeavor I was undertaking.

This is just the start. Building a solid fundraising team, raising the profile of your organization and even pulling off a major annual event are other factors to successful fundraising.

Many organizations will spend thousands on impersonal and rather annoying methods of raising money. They use the volume approach - whether it is making 1 million telephone calls or sending out 1 million mailers - they try to hit as many people as possible, never knowing if they will get a cent.

There is a better way to fundraise. I have been down both roads. The fundraising experience I've gained along the way has been invaluable. As a single athlete, I was able to raise $50,000 a season once I had perfected my fundraising plan. Anyone can do it - organizations and individuals alike. The only thing that has to change in most cases is the perspective of how to raise money.