After he and his wife experienced the frustration and hassle of running fundraisers as Slim Chicken franchisees, Charley Donaldson co-founded DonationScout to make the process seamless. On this edition of Give An Ovation, he and Zack Oates talk why restaurant fundraisers are important, some best practices, and how DonationScout can help. Here are a few takeaways from their chat:

1. Fundraisers Can Make You Money

You may be wondering, how does a fundraiser for another organization make your restaurant money? There are two ways. Directly, you can expect a 20% – 30% margin off of revenue from the event, which usually leads to around $500 dollars in incremental revenue. Indirectly, fundraisers lead to brand awareness and build brand champions in your community.

2. Be Involved In Your Community

As Charley put it, “Community involvement and being a good community citizen – that’s absolutely something that should be in your playbook if it’s not now, and it’s a lot easier than people think.”

3. Think In Advance

Restaurateurs can be hesitant to fundraise because of the hassle and administrative burden. But with proper planning and help from software solutions like DonationScout, many problems can be mitigated. You can streamline the process by teaching the organizations you work with best practices and rules of the road.

4. It’s An Easy Sell

It’s simple to start doing events because there’s no downside for organizations like high school bands, churches, or little leagues. It’s a win-win!

5. Set A Goal

Ready for a challenge? Try and do an event within a month. The best days are weekdays and DonationScout can help with off-prem fundraisers as well. Why not?