Table of Contents:

Getting Started
Terms and Definitions
Requirements for Success

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Introduction
The success of any charitable organization in fulfilling its mission depends on its ability to access human and financial resources. This section looks specifically at developing non-dues revenues.

First, we must understand a clubs other key revenue source – dues. Dues revenue covers the costs of personal activities and benefits enjoyed by a member. These include such items as lunches, social events or direct expense related to these or similar activities. Examples of benefits provided to a dues paying member include the ability to vote, hold office and to participate in Sertoma activities beyond the club level. Dues are not paid to allow someone to participate in service.

Non-dues revenues are those generated to support the service and philanthropic activities of the club. An advantage of non-dues revenue activities is that it provides a means to access the financial resources of many stakeholders through-out a community. The ability to generate non-dues revenue will not only allow a club to fulfill its mission, but also increase its ability to access additional human resources through new volunteers.

Getting Started
The start of a successful program begins with careful consideration of six questions. The questions should be addressed in the following order.
1. What are we raising money to support?
2. Why is it important – what difference will it make?
3. How much do we need to raise?
4. Who do we have to help raise the money?
5. Who would be interested in supporting this effort?
6. How will we raise the money?

The sequence is important. The need (what and why) will and should define the amount, be it for a one time project, ongoing annual support, or a multi-year project for capital or endowment needs.

The number of volunteers and the resources available to assist in the fundraising effort impacts both how and how much funding the club can raise. Is the defined amount reasonable for the current membership to raise? Do the strategies being considered require more volunteers or investment than available? If not then readjust, it is OK to stretch, but be realistic, a small success is much better than a large failure.

Not always an easy question to answer, but it is important to have a sense of who would support your event or activity. Not everyone is going to share your passion for the mission. Make it a priority to have a sense of who, how many and how capable and willing those individuals might be in supporting your mission or activity.

Finally, after all else is discussed, you can now define the best "how to" generate non-dues revenue. Careful evaluation and planning based on these six questions will greatly increase the potential for success.

This manual is designed to help a club with planning and evaluating sustainable non-dues revenue programs. Used in conjunction with the Sertoma "How-To Guides" and other resources, clubs will be able to develop more effective and successful revenue programs.

Terms and Definitions
To assist in making this a user friendly manual, it is important we share a common language. The following provides a brief description of terms and concepts covered in this manual and the majority of publications or trainings addressing the subject of generating non-dues revenue.

Non-Dues Revenue: All forms of revenue generated by the club other than dues and fees associated with individual membership.

Earned Revenue: These are revenues generated by the club from a tax-exempt exchange for goods or services. Sales of food (concession stands) and compensated efforts (parking cars at events) are two examples.

Contributed Revenue: These are revenues generated by the club from a tax-exempt exchange that can provide a charitable tax deduction for the contributor. These are typically what are thought of as "fundraisers" and would include special events, direct solicitation and charitable gaming.

Gross Proceeds: Also referred to as revenue, gross proceeds is the total dollars generated by an activity.

Net Proceeds: Also referred to as income, net proceeds is the total dollars generated by an activity, less all expenses.

Direct Expenses: Those costs that were incurred just to conduct a specific income producing activity. This topic is covered in detail in the Treasurer Manual.

Indirect Expenses: Those costs incurred in support of income producing activities, but not specific to one activity. An example is a portion of the cost of general liability insurance that covered multiple events. This topic is covered in detail in the Treasurer Manual.

Stakeholders: Stakeholders can be individuals, businesses, government agencies or other not-for-profits. They have an interest or "stake" in your club or its programs. For a club, members are a key stakeholder. Not all members of a community will qualify as a stakeholder for your fundraising activity, and each of your stakeholders is a stakeholder in other organizations or events.

Fundraising Formulas: There are several evaluation tools used in the fundraising community. Return on Investment (ROI) and Cost per Dollar Raised (CPDR) are two of the most common and should be used to evaluate and track a club's activities. See Resources in this section for more details.

Requirements for Success

Vision and Mission
There is no more critical requirement for success in creating a non-dues revenue program than having a clearly defined vision and mission.

A club must have a vision, or purpose of why the club exists. This needs to be specific, not just "service to mankind." That could be used to define any of the more than a million charities in the United States. The purpose states how the club serves mankind, such as "through support of organizations and individuals involved with speech and hearing concerns."

The mission defines how the club fulfills its vision or purpose. This is important as non-dues revenue is generated to support the activities of fulfilling the mission. Mission, like vision, needs to be specific. Examples might be "to provide a number of scholarships each year;" or "to provide program support for SYZ Hearing Center", "purchase equipment for a school;" or "to provide education and awareness programs on preventable hearing loss."

Community Awareness and Understanding
Defining vision and mission is essential, however, without the community being aware of your vision and mission it is of little value. Research shows that one of the reasons people support a cause is their belief in the mission and values of the organization. Awareness of the mission is the first step in creating a belief. Special events provide a unique opportunity to help build awareness that provides a foundation for future solicitation activities.

There is a direct relationship to the amount of time and money one will contribute to the level of awareness and belief. So it is not enough to work just on making the community aware of your mission and vision. The club must develop an understanding of the many stakeholders in the community from which it seeks support. Is there enough general awareness to support a new event? Is there enough belief among some groups to support a major gifts event or solicitation? Do you know who they are and how to market to them?

There will also be those who will not share in the vision or mission of the club. For your mission, these are a "non-donor group" and it is not an effective use of time or resources to solicit gifts or involvement from these members of the community. Understanding your community and the stakeholder groups is an important requirement when planning and building a non-dues revenue program.

Time and Money
Developing non-dues revenues requires an investment of time and financial resources. The number of active members and the available financial resources will define the number, scope and type of activities appropriate for your club. The time and money invested is a critical benchmark to evaluate the success of any effort. A club must learn to evaluate and control the return on their investment (ROI).

For example: A club commits 100 man-hours of time, and invests $1,500 in expenses in a fundraising project. After the project is complete the club generates less than $500 in net non-dues revenue to support the mission. Many volunteers would feel their time is worth more than $5 an hour or that in addition to their time, or that for every dollar spent, only $.033 was raised to support the mission. Poor ROI can have devastating affect on your volunteers, so plan carefully when investing your limited time and money.

For success, be sure you are prepared. Have a clear vision and mission, make sure you know your potential stakeholders and they are aware of you, and finally make wise investments of time and money by carefully evaluating and selecting your projects.

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