Native Plant Fundraiser: 8-Week Plan to Bloom

• Email/newsletter: Tell your supporters what you’re doing - raising funds through native plant sales with Garden for Wildlife by the National Wildlife Federation. This a great time to introduce all the wonderful benefits of native plants to your community - save time/money, restore habitat, help conserve water and soil, and keep the watersheds clean. There are also physical and mental health benefits for kids and adults!
• Printable: Tell your supporters exactly how to support your fundraiser - order plants using your unique sales link. Customize one of our pre-made flyers for your organization. 
• Social Media: Week 1 is a great week to address what’s important to your supporters. We have eye-catching images ready to go on the Fundraising Resources page that mention physical/mental health, impact of nature on kids, rebates/incentives, cost/time savings, and impact on wildlife. We send you a suggestion but you can use whatever images and messages you feel would work best.
• Call to Action: Use this first week to decide which messaging will work best for your supporters - environmental engagement, benefits of saving time/money, support the org by doing something good/help us reach our goal. Use this message at every opportunity! Not sure? Try a message that resonates with you. 

Target Metric: Your goal this week is to add 25+ supporters to your fundraising campaign.

• Email/newsletter: Remind your supporters to order plants right now - make some specific suggestions of plants you love; explain they can support birds, butterflies and/or bees; GFW makes it easy to select plants by postal code, sun exposure, soil type, and wildlife support. Share what you are planning to order or post pics of your own native plants!
• Printable: Use the “value calculation” flyer to show how economical native perennials plants are v. annuals. Other key talking points:
  • Annuals require replanting each year which costs us both financially and with our time; you end up paying for extra dirt in larger pots because most annuals have shallow roots but the retailers want to sell you a “large” plant; most annuals are not beneficial to the environment and often are from tropical areas 
  • Native plants are perennials that are planted once and then come back more abundant year after year with minimal care requirements
  • Native plants are acclimated to your climate so they require less water after they’re established; no pesticides or herbicides are needed (in fact that’s highly discouraged) because native plants do exactly what you need them to do - they attract a variety of species, those species take care of each other
• Social Media - use the Did You Know? post about baby birds/caterpillar consumption. Engage supporters in online conversion by asking them to post their favorite backyard bird; talk about how native plants promote biodiversity, help keep the watershed clean, create healthier soil etc. 
• Call to Action: Use facts and data as a call to action. Share data points to show people how much impact urbanization has on native species. Creating pollinator pathways is critical for biodiversity and ultimately human health. Need more resources or ideas?
  
  Here are some ideas to get you started:
  • Since 1970, the US has lost nearly 3 billion birds. Native plants offer food, shelter, and security. - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
  • 10 things to do to save the pollinators - we need pollinators for food production, pest control, and healthy ecosystem regeneration. - National Wildlife Federation
  • The US has 4000 species of native bees that have co-evolved to survive with specific plants. No plants = no bees = no plants - it’s a destructive cycle. - Xerces
  • Got garden pests? Many native plants offer defense against insects and deer. - Garden for Wildlife 
  • Deer issues? Many native plants are deer resistant and can act as deterrents if planted strategically. - Garden for Wildlife 

• Target Metric: Your goal this week is to add 25+ more supporters to your fundraising campaign and reach 10% of your goal in sales (or $300).

• Email/newsletter: Ask supporters to share your unique sales link with 5 family members and friends; they can live outside of your immediate area because this is not a geographically limited fundraiser (review the GFW service area) 
• Printable:  
  • Ask supporters to post your flyer in common areas such as breakroom bulletin boards, coffee shops, retail counters, etc. (with permission)
  • School? - use the printable postcards to hand out at drop off/pick up to inform parents/caregivers of your fundraiser
• Social Media: Create a sample social media post that can be shared by your supporters on their own social media and/or talk about how gardening and being in nature has been shown to enhance social connections. 
• Call to Action: Create a short email script to share with your supporters asking them to copy and paste into emails; make sure to add a QR code/unique sales link.
• Target Metric: Your goal this week  is to add 50+ supporters to your fundraising campaign and add another 10% of your goal in sales to your campaign.

• Email/newsletters:  Ask your supporters to identify upcoming community events to spread the word about your fundraiser - e.g., farmers markets, fairs, book sales/bake sales, etc. 
• Printable: Spring? Use the spring pre-order flyer to encourage your supporters to plan now, save time later. Fall or holidays? Edit a flyer to encourage fall planting or gifting.
• Social Media: If allowed, post on neighborhood message boards in addition to your weekly social media reminders on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn, etc. Access our downloadable social media posts and either use our copy or your own. You can post the shareable about how planting native perennials is a great way to save time and money in the long run. Native plants require less work than annuals and cost less (by year 2!).
• Call to Action: Ask local businesses that own property to convert a portion of their landscaping into native plants; have them buy through your fundraiser. If they don’t own property, they can add native plants in large planters. Also, gift cards are available in increments as low as $25 - these make great appreciation gifts for employees, loyal customers, vendors, or friends.
• Target Metric: Your goal is to add 25+ supporters to your fundraising campaign. Review your current sales to your fundraising goal. Ideally you have added another 10% in sales toward your goal. 

• Email/newsletter: Community gardeners, master gardeners, retirement villages/communities are great people to contact regarding adding native plants to their existing landscapes; also houses of worship are great contacts to help support your fundraiser either through converting part of their landscaping, adding a native remembrance garden or by sharing your information with their congregation.
• Printable: create your own flyer or postcard directed toward the audience of your choice (see above). 
• Social Media: Post a new message about your fundraiser using one of our images or one of your own making. People love good trivia! The “Did you know?” posts are great entry points to start a conversation. Creating a community of native plant enthusiasts will keep your fundraiser top of mind!
  • Suggestion: the pre-drafted social post about Social Connection would be a good match for this week.
• Call to Action:  Ask your supporters to consider gifting native plants to their places of worship, local schools or community centers, friends or family. Spread the native plant joy! 
• Target Metric: Your goal is to add 25+ supporters to your fundraising campaign. Add another 10% toward your fundraising goal.

• Email/newsletter: Many people want to help Mother Nature and they think recycling and composting are the extent of what they can do. That’s a good start but we don’t always see the benefits of our efforts - native plants are the opposite! The more you plant, the more you see the results. There will be more songbirds and more beneficial insects/pollinators showing up year after year. 
• Printable: Having other people help you spread the word makes your workload lighter while giving your supporters a way to be helpful in a low commitment way. This is the fun part! Promote art and photography contests, provide writing prompts, or invite supporters to share stories about native plant impacts! You can use it all to help draw awareness to your campaign.
• Social Media: Have your supporters share success stories, photos, and benefits of adding natives to their landscape. Posting pics of their favorite plants, backyard birds, butterflies, and bees is a great way to show tangible results of your efforts. You can also use the social media shareable about how contact with nature improves our physical health. 
• Call to Action:  Ask your supporters to commit to planting a minimum of 3 native plants in their landscape. Garden for Wildlife offers single species packs that supporters can add to existing landscapes. 
• Target Metric: Your goal is to add 25+ supporters to your fundraising campaign through community engagement. Add another 10% toward your fundraising goal.

• Email/newsletter:  Use your message this week to talk about how small changes, like adding native plant species to existing landscapes, can make a big difference for native bee, bird and butterfly species. Add a personal story about the pollinators or other wildlife that you enjoy in your own backyard.
• Printable: Revisit a drop off/pick up line hand out and/or take advantage of a community event in your area to hand out an informational flyer about the benefits of planting native species. We have an infographic available on the Resources page that can be shared with interested supporters. 
• Social Media: This is a great week to share about how conserving and cleaning our freshwater supply is critical to wildlife survival AND our survival as humans, as well. Every little bit helps when it comes to planting native species! Use the social media shareable about water-wise gardening rebates.
• Call to Action: Help clean the watersheds that provide our drinking water!  Native plants have deep roots that allow rainwater and storm runoff to sink deep into the ground. That ground water passes through soil, sediment and rocks which helps keep it clean. In addition, those deep roots help store carbon below ground giving us more leverage in the fight against detrimental climate change.
• Target Metric: Your goal is to add 25+ supporters to your fundraising campaign. Add another 10% in sales toward your fundraising goal.

• Email/newsletter: If you haven’t given an update on progress toward meeting your fundraising goals, now is the time! A status update can refresh interest in your campaign and get people on the “sidelines” to take action. 
• Printable:  Create a “It’s not too late to shop!” flyer to prompt those who haven’t supported your fundraiser to take action. Ideally, you should put a timeline on when you’d like to meet your goal. Add plant suggestions for your postal code. Make it easy for your supporters to decide what to plant!
• Social Media: Use your printable to create a compelling social media post. Use a photo from your organization to show your supporters who they are benefiting. 
• Call to Action: Thank your supporters for helping you meet your goals. If you're still a little short or want to maximize your fundraising efforts, provide a timeline for when to meet the goal - e.g., "we only need $200 more to meet our goal, can you help us get there by X date?" 
• Target Metric: Reach 75-80% of your initial goal. Keep adding supporters to your campaign by revisiting the messages and techniques that worked for you over the past 8 weeks.