Funding your Mission A beginners guide to raising the money that you - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Funding your Mission

A beginner’s guide to raising the money that you need

Outcomes for today

• The ability to face the elephant in the room
• A way for you to identify your needs
• Tools to help you meet your needs
• Basic information about how to create and

implement a plan

• Provide resources for more information
• Enthusiasm for moving ahead with your

fundraising plans

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.

• Hank Rosso

Why is it the elephant in the room?

• People don’t like to talk about

money

• People don’t like to ask for money
• People have a hard time separating

asking for a cause versus for themselves BUT..

• We need money.
• We don’t have it.
• We need to ask for it.

Conquering the elephant

It is ….

• necessary
• asking for your organization
• people giving to
• rganizations that support

their causes

• your job to ask
• their decision

It is not…

• a necessary evil
• asking for yourself
• people supporting you
• your job to determine how

much they will be willing to give

• your job to fear the ask

IDENTIFYING YOUR NEEDS

In good times and bad, we know that people give because you meet needs, not because you have needs.

• Kay Sprinkel Grace

Where am I going?

The first step in planning a trip is knowing where you want to go. From there you can plan your route. Same goes with fundraising.

• What do you need money for?
• What is the value of the thing

that you are asking money for?

• How much money do you

need?

• How will getting what you

want help your organization?

Creating your map

• Establish the need and desire for the project

use assessments, testimonials

• Define the desired outcomes use

specific measurable goals

• Describe the methods you will use to achieve

the objectives go step by step

• What credibility does your organization have?
• nly, largest, oldest, newest

• How will you evaluate the success of the

project? Be as specific as you can. Offer assessments, timelines

• What is your budget? Provide as much

detail as you can. Consider everything.

• What is the future of the project? Of your
• rganization? Is this an ongoing

project? How will you sustain funding? What is next?

TOOLS

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

• Wayne Gretzky

Fundraisers v Fundraising

Fundraisers

• Selling something
• Raffles
• Events
• Sponsorship
• Runs/Walkathons/Dance-

athons/Rock-athons Fundraising

• Annual giving
• Major gift solicitations
• Grantwriting

Selling

Pros

• Very successful on college

campuses

• Low cost items
• Can be great advertisement

for your cause

• People can support you

with just a few dollars Cons

• You have to have something

to sell

• Doesn’t raise a lot of money
• Can be time-intensive
• Not going to fund your
• rganization for big things

Things to consider with selling

• Make it unique
• Make it coordinate with your mission
• Don’t shoot yourself in the foot
• Meet a need or make it cool
• Are there partnerships you can make?
• Use it as an opportunity to inform and

advertise your mission

Raffles/Events

Pros

• Can raise a lot of money
• People are willing to take a

financial risk to win something

• They feel that they walk

away with something for their money

• Brings people together
• Disguises fundraising

because it is fun Cons

• TONS OF WORK
• Often very expensive to run
• Need an understanding of

IRS rules for receipting

Direct Solicitation

Pros

• Builds relationships
• Communicates your needs

without a carnival atmosphere

• Has the ability to cultivate

long-term donors

• Has the potential to fund

your organization for the long-term

• Renewable and sustainable

Cons

• Mailing costs
• Needs some experience
• Need to maintain a

database of donors

• Need to ask people directly

Grantwriting

Pros

• Allows you to spend the

time to carefully craft your message for your audience

• Can raise significant money
• Targeted audience already

committed to your or similar causes

• Allows you to research their

giving extensively Cons

• Takes some experience
• Lots of competition for

funds

• Takes time: to create the

proposal and to hear results

• Requires research

Elements of a grant proposal

• Executive summary Brief, 1 page, asking amount
• Organization information history, mission
• Problem/Need/Situation Description
• Work plan/Specific activities what are you doing?
• Outcomes/Impact of Activities measurable
• Other Funding no one wants to be the ONLY
• Future Funding how will it be sustained?
• Evaluation how do you measure success?
• Budget
• Supplementary materials see what they request

Answering the questions

• Who are you?

History, mission

• How do you qualify?

Non-profit

• What do you want?

Amount, project

• What problem will you address and how?
• How will measure your results? Be specific
• How does your funding request comply with the

grantmaker’s purpose, goals and objectives?

IMPLEMENTING A PLAN

To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.

• Mother Theresa

How do you find people to support you?

• Start with yourself and those within your
• rganization
• Go to people closest to home (other

students, professors, families, etc.) and then work out to include those further in geographic scope

• Look at who is supporting similar
• rganizations as yours
• Look at corporations who support your

mission

• Use the Internet
• Use fundraising sources such as Foundation

Center or Guidestar

• Make new friends

Then what?

• Case statement
• Create a calendar
• Prepare any written

materials

• Know thy donor
• Communications

DO IT!

Then?

R.E.A.L.

• Research
• Engage
• Ask
• Love

Go to Slide 1.

RESOURCES

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. –Winston Churchill

Web resources

• www.guidestar.org
• www.foundationcenter.com
• www.philanthropy.org
• www.afpnet.org

Literary resources

• Larissa Golden Brown and Martin John Brown, Demystifying Grant

Seeking: What You REALLY Need to Do to Get Grants (San Francisco, 2001).

• Susan L. Golden, Secrets of Successful Grantsmanship: A Guerrilla Guide to

Raising Money (New York, 1997).

• Grantsmanship Center, Program Planning and Proposal Writing (Los

Angeles, 1981).

• Cheryl Carter New and James Aaron Quick, Grantseeker's Toolkit: A

Comprehensive Guide to Finding Funding(New York, 1998).

• Deborah Porter, Successful School Grants: Fulfilling the Promise of School

Improvement (Pittsburg, Tex., 2003).

• Joan Flanagan, The Grassroots Fundraising Book: How to Raise Money in

your Community (Chicago, 1995).

• Jay Levinson and Chris Forbes, Guerilla Marketing for Nonprofits: 250

Tactics to Promote, Motivate, and Raise More Money (Canada, 2010).