Community organizations are nonprofits that operate within a single local community. They are essentially a subset of the wider group of nonprofits. Like other nonprofits they are run on a voluntary basis and are self funding. Even within community organizations there many variations in terms of size and the way they are organized. Some are run like mini-businesses, with written constitution and a board of directors (also known as a committee), while others are much smaller and are more informal. A nonprofit organization (abbreviated NPO, or non-profit or not-for-profit) is an organization whose primary objective is to support an issue or matter of private interest or public concern for non-commercial purposes. ... A community usually refers to a sociological group in a large place or collections of plant or animal organisms sharing an environment. ... This group of political volunteers is working to promote voter turn-out. ... A committee is a (relatively) small group that can serve one of several functions: Governance: in organizations too large for all the members to participate in decisions affecting the organization as a whole, a committee (such as a Board of Directors) is given the power to make decisions. ...

Examples

Amateur sports clubs, school groups, church groups, youth groups and community support groups are all examples of community organizations. Typically community organizations such as sports clubs are run on a fairly formal basis with full scale accounting procedures in place, whereas the local cheerleader group will be less formal. Look up amateur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Cheerleading is recreational activity and sometimes competitive sport involving organised routines including elements of dance and gymnastics to encourage crowds to cheer on sports teams. ...

Fundraising

Fundraising for community organizations is very different from that of charities and the larger nonprofits. Charities typically receive the bulk of their money from donations. Donations such as these rarely account for much more than 5% of a typical community organization's annual total. A charitable organization (also known as a charity) is a trust, company or unincorporated association established for charitable purposes only. ... A nonprofit organization (abbreviated NPO, or non-profit or not-for-profit) is an organization whose primary objective is to support an issue or matter of private interest or public concern for non-commercial purposes. ... Donation is a gift to a fund or cause, typically for charitable reasons. ...

There are many reasons why community organization fundraisers have it a little harder than their charity counter-parts. Obviously community organizations have a lot less resources at their disposal than the bigger nonprofits and charities, but the main reason is that the benefits of charities are much more obvious than those of the typical community organization. For use in social policy, see the article social welfare. ...

Community fundraisers can overcome this disadvantage by taking a people-focused approach to their fundraising. Relationship building is a key part of the people-focused approach. Relationship building communicating the benefits that the organization offers to the local community. Open days and other such events are very valuable relationship building events.

See also

• Campaign finance
• Donor recognition
• Fundraiser
• Fundraising
• Online fundraising

Campaign finance refers to the means by which money is raised for election campaigns. ... With origins in the early 20th century, a donor recognition wall (also known as a donor wall or donor display) is typically a wall-mounted display found in a centralized location of a hospital, university, museum, library, worship facility, or other nonprofit institution. ... A fundraiser is an event or campaign whose primary purpose is fundraising. ... Fundraising is the process of soliciting and gathering money or other gifts in kind by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. ... Fundraising for Non-profit organizations and membership organizations has traditionally required a combination of personal requests, direct-mail asks, telephone solicitations and special events. ...

External links

• Community Organization Fundraising
• VolunteerForum.se - For both Volunteers and Organizations.