Establishing a Time Frame
Three other factors influencing your decision on a fundraising activity will be time, money, and resources. An urgent need such as raising money to help the victims of a hurricane will present a time element that limits your ability to do much advance planning. In such cases you will think, “What can we do tomorrow?”
In nonemergency situations, however, you will need to set your goals and plan your activities based on a variety of parameters. You will be able to control some of these, but others will be set for you by the nature of your organization, by available resources (including a site), or by those individuals helping you plan the fundraiser. For example, the time frame for building a roof on the community center might be three months because winter weather will delay construction. You will need to plan your fundraising activities with enough preliminary time for contractors and builders to assess the situation and work on the problem. The status of the current roof will also factor into your planning. Is it a potentially dangerous situation that needs to be addressed before a disaster occurs, or a matter of touch-up work and sealing to repair an old roof that's still sturdy?
Consider every possible factor when determining how much time you will have to stage a fundraising event or activity. It's better to have too much time than too little. However, planning too far in advance may cause you to lose the momentum and support of many of your members.
You will build a time frame around what warrants your attention. Ultimately, you would like to plan a fundraising activity with enough time to rally your membership, handle all the details, make the necessary arrangements, and spread the word. The complexity and scale of the activity you are planning will factor into your time frame. No, it doesn't take months to launch an effective bake sale. On the other hand, a bikeathon through the city of Los Angeles will take more than a few days of planning and promoting.
