SCCC MARCH 2019A

CASH FLOW FOR NON-PROFITS
What do you think of the whole domain of raising
money to support an organization, a cause, a vision? Do
you think it’s a world only available to a select few with
certain credentials and experience who charge a lot of
money to help you raise funds? Do you think there are
secret keys or certain unknowable things you must do
in order to raise money? Do you think that the
knowledge of these things is locked away in the brains
of others, not you? And even if you know something
about raising money, do you think you have what it
takes to be successful at it?
What if I were to tell you that there are a few
important things to know about raising money or fund
raising and being good at it, they are not secrets and
are available to anyone with a passion for a cause.
The first thing is to know what you want. Specifically,
what do you need money for? Is it to support long-term
growth of your organization or group? Do you want to
launch a new program or project? Do you want ongoing
funding to keep the lights and air conditioning on? Be
specific on how much money you need and what you
need it for. You also want to review what funds are
already coming in and where they are coming from.
Once you have this information you can create a
fund-raising budget or the income part of an overall
organization budget. For example, your overall income
from various sources may be budgeted at $50,000 per
year, and the new fund-raising budget for a specific
program or project may be budgeted at $5,000 giving
you a total income budget of $55,000.
The second thing is to find out where you are going to
look for this money.
The first place you want to look is at your existing
resources. Do you have regular donors who support
your organization or group? Do you have regular
membership fees that you can count on? Do you have
board members and volunteers who are dependable to
provide funds as needed? Have you already received
grants from service clubs or civic organizations or
foundations? Do you have corporate sponsors for
special events? Do you dig into your own pockets
from time to time to bridge the gaps between
income and expenses? Do you receive in-kind
resources such as publicity, printing or goods or
services specific to a program or project?
The second place you want to look is into your
community. What service clubs or organizations are
in your community that don’t know about you yet or
that you haven’t talked to in a while? What funds
are available from your local city or county such as
block grants or community improvement
designation funds? Who do you know that works for
a local company or corporation? What organizations
have a similar mission to yours that you could
collaborate with? Who in your community is raising
funds successfully that you could talk to? Who are
your community leaders and movers?
Then what you want to do, once you’ve identified
people and groups, is to talk to those people and
groups. Why are they successful at what they do?
Who do they know? What could we do together
that would expand our community outreach and
resource development? Polish up your public
presentations to be brief, compelling and concise,
and make appointments to present to groups. The
most important aspect of these conversations and
presentations is to say what you want and what it’s
for and to be passionate about your organization’s
vision and mission.
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