Richmond unveiled The Fighting Tiger Fund on Thursday, asking supporters to donate money to the club to reduce its $4.5 million debt and raise at least $1.5 million to invest in its future.
Hardwick told SEN radio on Thursday morning it was time the club took charge of its future.
"Effectively what we're doing at the moment is existing," he said.
"What we actually want to do is succeed."
Hardwick said the club was appealing to its fans to become members and to help financially as much as they could.
"Help us win a flag. We can see by footy expenditure, [that] what clubs spend directly results in success," he said.
"But at this stage, with the limited funding we've got, we constantly run into road blocks. We need to stop making compromises as a footy club, stand up, be in charge of our own destiny and go forward from there."
The Tigers have a young list which Hardwick believed was capable of success but he said it was vital for the club to spend money developing the group or the opportunity might pass them by.
"We believe the time for us to strike is now," he said.
"With (Trent) Cotchin, (Brett) Deledio, (Reece) Conca, (Jack) Riewoldt and (Shane) Edwards, all those players coming through, we actually want to give them the best chance to play in a successful side.
"It's a bit like any business venture really, you need to invest first before the dividends start to come."
Richmond CEO Brendon Gale echoed Hardwick's comments, saying the club must move now or risk falling behind an increasingly competitive market.
"The FTF is about the future of our club," Gale said.
"The brutal fact is, that right now, our debt position means we are unlikely to deliver the critical resources required to win premierships."
Hardwick said one of the top priorities for the club was establishing its own reserves side so it could focus on development rather than winning games.
"The future of our players needs to be in our own hands," he said.
"We've got an outstanding relationship with our affiliate Coburg, but they're trying to win. What we're trying to do is develop best players for the Richmond footy club.
"We need to take that into our own hands and actually get our players playing a certain way, getting coached right. In effect we're probably robbing development to win football games where it should be the other way around at this stage at the lower level."
Talkback callers to SEN's breakfast show Morning Glory were critical of the timing of the Tiger's campaign.
In the past weeks Queensland has been hit by devastating floods and Cylone Yasi, while many Victorians have also been affected by flooding.
Hardwick admitted it was a difficult time to launch the campaign in the wake of the natural disasters.
"By no means do we discourage giving to the flood [appeal], because it's a terrific cause and we need to get all those people back on track," Hardwick said.
"The one thing people can do for the Richmond footy club, for all those Richmond supporters out there, if you can become a member that's our biggest
lifeblood."
This is not the first time the Tigers have turned to their supporters for financial assistance.
In August 1990, the club successfully launched the Save Our Skins campaign in a bid to raise $1 million by the end of October that year or else face extinction.
