April 15 –April 16, 2013
I. The Basics of Fundraising a. What is fundraising? i. Raising money for a cause or project ii. Includes building a prospect pool, asking for money or in-kind donations, meeting donor expectations, clearly defining needs and resources, thanking the donors (stewardship), events, public relations, and monitoring and evaluation iii. Most important aspect: relationships, which can take time to develop b. Why is funding diversity important? iv. Chair example: If a chair only has one leg, it is unstable and will fall over. The more legs a chair has, the more stable it becomes. Same for an organization, if an organization has a sole funder, their success is determinant upon the stability of that relationship and continued funding. The more funders an organization has, the more stable they are. If one funder pulls their support, the organization does not collapse. c. Think about your organization for which you are fundraising (hand out index cards for everyone to write their answers) v. What is their mission? vi. What is their vision? vii. Why do they exist? viii. What would happen if this organization didn’t exist? ix. Why are you here? x. Can everyone from your organization, your community, your beneficiaries, your donors, etc clearly define the mission of the organization and is it basically the same? xi. Is the financial support you have received in the past and are looking to secure in the future in line with your mission? xii. Look at yourselves as a public benefit organization d. Presentation of the Organization xiii. Are you all working towards the same mission? xiv. “Elevator Pitch” 1. Clear and concise description of your organization, its work, and its value 2. Thirty seconds to two minutes (one of