Street Fundraising – How to Get Attention

Street fundraising is the most personal form of raising funds for your charity. Interacting with potential donors on a grassroots level is a crucial aspect of this activity. As a non-profit, street fundraising can generate a significant share of funds for your cause provided it is implemented effectively.

At Direct Dialogue Initiatives India, we take pride in offering end-to-end professional services to your NGO. Our trained street fundraising professionals are adept at attracting one-time and regular donations from the general public.

With its large population and constant chaos, Indian streets are bewildering for anyone not used to its buzz. The visual and aural noise out here throws many challenges to effective street fundraising, which relies on one-on-one communication between a fundraiser and a potential donor.

So, how can your street fundraising team attract attention in such a scenario? Here are three proven methods that help your charity achieve its fundraising goals on the street:

• Visibility

Street fundraisers need to stand out amidst the cacophony of an average city street in India. For starters, a fundraising team needs to have identical t-shirts and identity cards issued by your charity to visually pierce through a crowd of people. All of us normally stop and feel curious if we see 5 people in identical clothes on a busy street. Apart from clothes, a unique costumed mascot, placards, posters, banners and leaflets also help in drawing attention.

• Location

Even in a busy metro like Mumbai or Delhi, certain public spaces such as parking zones, entry/exit of stations, and outside popular markets offer some convenient locations that are suitable for your street fundraising team to garner attention. Choosing the right location will determine steps on how to get attention while raising funds for your charity. Ideally, the fundraising team must also be positioned to face the side from where maximum prospects are approaching.

• Verbal and non-verbal gestures

Good eye contact will make or break your interaction with a potential donor, long before you’ve even started your verbal pitch. Having a genuine smile and believing in your non-profit’s cause will generate confidence in a prospect. Street fundraising professionals always approach a prospect from the front, never from the side or the back. Adding a dash of humour while introducing your non-profit’s cause is known to be a great way to grab attention from the get-go.