Associations are generally not particularly wealthy. Therefore, when you embark on an associative project, it is always important to consider the financing aspect before embarking on the adventure. Financing the activities of an association with your own funds will very quickly put you out of business, unless you are a patron as rich as Croesus. We have therefore reviewed the sources of funding that will allow you to ensure the sustainability of your association. Focus!
Raffles: a preferred method of financing for your association
Organizing a raffle is, in more ways than one, one of the most interesting ways to find cash to finance the activities of your association. As a reminder, a raffle is a game of chance at the end of which only a handful of participants can win prizes from the crowd that has registered. It is therefore primarily a fun activity. Then, the sale of raffle tickets can also be the way to carry out a major awareness campaign on the causes that your association defends. It should also be noted that thanks to personalized raffle tickets, it is possible to gain some visibility for your activities or to do a bit of publicity for one of your sponsors. Organizing a raffle could therefore be a godsend.
However, if you want to obtain satisfactory results, it will first be necessary to invest in lots that can attract a lot of people and motivate them to participate.
In this sense, it is recommended to multiply small batches and to entice the public with ONE main batch on which all minds will be riveted. The last element that will be of paramount importance for the success of your tombolo will be the number of tickets sold. It is then up to you to motivate your salespeople as much as possible. Offer them bonuses that they will appreciate to motivate them to sell more. For example, you can offer them a certain percentage on their sales.
Self-financing
The association can also participate, itself, in the financing of its activities through its adherents and members. The first possibility is the payment of entry or membership fees for new members. When registering a new member in an association, it is quite logical to ask for a sum (which must remain reasonable) as an entry fee. It goes without saying that this sum can only be collected once; on first registration.
That said, there is another payment that you can claim on a regular basis from your members in this same process of self-financing, it is the membership fee. Membership fees primarily reflect the involvement and commitment of members in the activities of the group that they all form together. They can be annual, monthly or even weekly. The ideal would be to provide in the statutes of your association the periodicity, the amount and the due date of the payments.
Another equally conceivable option is to organize commercial or festive activities that will be the place to raise money thanks to the various profits made. Being able to self-finance at a certain level is a necessity. In fact, finding sponsorship can be made much easier by the fact that you already have a certain amount of money that you can bring to the table.
Obtaining subsidies and sponsorship to finance your equipment
All regularly declared and registered associations can benefit from subsidies provided they support a work of general interest. This grant can be requested from the municipality, department, region, state and even from Europe. That said, it is equally important to know that the grant does not have to be monetary. In fact, it can also be a material donation or support offered for the smooth running of your activities.
The law leaves the latitude to the public funder to grant or not a subsidy without having to present the slightest explanation. However, in the event that a subsidy is granted to your association, you are obliged to produce a report as well as an activity report to the organization which granted you this subsidy. As you will therefore have understood, the subsidies have no counterpart except for a balance sheet describing in detail the use that has been made of the aid provided.
When the aid provided has a counterpart, it is no longer a donation and even less a subsidy, it is sponsorship. The structure or the person who sponsors you then hopes by bringing you its help (whatever the form) to get better exposure or a little publicity. We therefore leave the framework of the gift since it is a question here of a partnership.
The use of donations
Donations, in all their forms, are another very interesting source of financing that companies can use. In fact, they will not necessarily be monetary in nature. It can be a donation of furniture, crockery or even free services. The association can just as easily launch an appeal for donations. It must also be said that with the emergence of the Internet and social networks, this form of crowdfunding has become a real godsend for many associations.
Indeed, it is now possible to launch pots online in order to raise money in order to finance a project. The sum will have to be predefined and it is necessary that the kitty presents to some extent the project that it supports or that it describes the situation that it wants to correct with these funds. Practically, each contributor who comes into contact with your pot takes the time to read a short video or a text that you have produced in order to describe your needs as well as the objective to be achieved.
If he feels in a charitable mood, he can agree to make a donation that can freely range from one euro to hundreds or even thousands. In exchange, and in a purely symbolic way, the associations generally offer key rings, t-shirts or even caps. We then speak of crowdfunding and it is also very important to note that in the event that the defined sum is not collected in time, each donor simply recovers what he has given.
Thanks to the specialized platforms that exist today, you therefore gain funding, but not only. In fact, the project or cause you are defending will gain enormously in visibility and credibility. Crowdfunding is then a godsend for associations because beyond the financial campaign that is carried out, it is an excellent way to create a community around your project.
