Return on investment
Equally, charities should cost out the fundraising activity and make sure that the time, energy and resource required to deliver it is worth the effort. Events are a prime example – they can be good but expensive. In-kind support from local businesses or other community groups – such as free room hire or free refreshments, can make them much more manageable.
Similar principles apply when considering the return on investment of other fundraising tools and techniques, such as databases and staff.
If you're a small charity and you have no paid members of staff it may seem disproportionate to invest in a fundraising staff member. However, if you're a larger charity with ten or more staff, it's likely to be worth investing in a member of staff to be a designated fundraiser.
The key is to analyse your need, research the value the team member or database could add, and then assess how much time and resource is required to enable the investment to deliver more income for you. For instance, volunteers give their time for free but if you have to spend a lot of time recruiting them, training them and managing them, it may be more cost effective to invest in a member of staff who knows what they're doing.