blueprints

210 | toolkit: an idea, a pencil, and paper
Find In-Kind Resources
If someone offers you a venue and a sound system for no fee, that is
considered a resource provided in kind. Your partners may have other skills
and resources to bring to the table as well. For example, partners whose
operations already include advertising and public relations may be willing
to provide those services for you. The same may be true of recording, photography,
and any number of other services that might enhance your program.
A local hotel or motel might provide free rooms; a restaurant might
donate meals for visitors. As you consider what you need to make your program
happen, remember that asking for in-kind donations can be an excellent
way to let people help you without writing you a check. In-kind donations
can be as valuable as any others, if not more, because they save money
and both create and demonstrate community involvement. Make sure to
get documentation from the in-kind donor that describes the donation and
verifies its value.
Find Money
You will probably need to ask for money. Notice, though, that we put
money last. This is because it’s hard to determine just how much you will
need before you know what partnerships, volunteer staffing, and in-kind
resources you already have in place. However, even if you have free space,
free advertising and other services, and a volunteer staff, you will need
money. Artists make a living from their work and both need and deserve
to be paid for it. (This is one value driving the work of everyone involved
in this book.) You may not be able to pay market rates at the beginning,
and some writers, if they believe in your project or believe they have
something beyond money to gain by participating, may accept reduced
fees. But your goal should be to pay all artists something and to pay them
as near to market rates as you can, with a very few exceptions we’ll go
over later.
Fortunately, funding sources are out there. As we said earlier, local arts
councils and other organizations might be able to chip in for honoraria on
an ad-hoc basis. Most arts councils and humanities councils also give formal
grants to nonprofit organizations involved in literary programming. (Note
that there is a process involved in becoming a nonprofit organization for tax
and grant purposes, which we address in part 2 of this Toolkit. You can also
find useful websites about how to undertake this in Nuts, Bolts, and Widgets.)
In addition, most states and many communities are homes to private