blueprints

Tools for Framing | 229
porting you. Donors want to know that you will be there and doing good
work they value for the long term. It can take some time, and a certain
amount of buy-in, before people feel comfortable writing even the first
small check, much less offering a substantial donation. If you do no more
than break even your first time out, consider the effort a win, and start
applying any lessons you learned from it to your next fund-raiser.
Raising money from individuals requires accountability, even if you
don’t have to provide them with final reports. If you’re passing a hat or putting
a jar out for dollar bills, make sure to thank everyone orally at the event
for donating—it doesn’t hurt to attach a sign saying Thanks! in as many languages
as possible to the hat or jar. Beyond this, anyone who writes you a
check should get a note of thanks and a brief explanation of how you will
use donated money. As your organization grows, consider mounting a web
page or creating an annual letter reporting on your activities and publicly
naming and thanking your supporters. Saying thank you is not only good
etiquette and good business but also helps you keep in touch with your
donors and cultivate relationships with them.
If you have the good fortune to find an individual donor willing to
make a major contribution, reach out to this person in appropriate ways. Of
course, you don’t want to give over your program to a donor, but if it’s possible
to include a donor in a reception or a dinner with a poet or to invite
the donor to observe a poet’s visit to a school classroom, for example, do so.
Tap Foundations and Corporations
In Nuts, Bolts, and Widgets, you will find information about how to
locate private foundations and companies that give grants to arts and nonprofit
organizations. There are many good resources online and probably
also available at your local library.
While you are still relatively small and local, focus mostly on the foundations
and businesses specifically devoted to funding programs in your
area. The big national foundations and corporations tend to fund big
national programs. If your program might appeal to foundations that fund
programs in education or some other fields in addition to or beyond poetry,
check those out as well.
As with the funding agencies discussed above, look for possible funders
whose missions and values align with your own so you can emphasize the
overlaps in your application. Remember, foundations and corporations
look for worthy projects to underwrite, but they already know what their