I-Open
  • Home
    • Main Page
    • Principles
    • Leadership
    • Backgrounder
    • Membership
    • Donate
    • Newsletter
    • Subscribe
    • Submit Your Blog Article
    • Contact
  • OSED
    • The Innovation Framework
    • Civic Forums
    • Strategic Doing
    • Strategic Initiatives
    • Testimonials
    • FAQs
  • Connect
    • News
    • Blog
    • How To
    • Research
  • Engage
    • Abundant World Day
    • Movies
  • Store

How To

How To Raise Money To Survive And Thrive

4/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Just why and how do organizations raise money?  Like most endeavors in the world of capacity building, fund raising is an art form.  In this blog article, I’ll focus on the reasons and mechanics of doing this.
Picture
Underexposed Cotton Candy by Alice Merkel. On Flickr.
How To Raise Money To Survive and Thrive by Tom Romito, Facilitator

Just why and how do organizations raise money?  Like most endeavors in the world of capacity building, fund raising is an art form.  In this blog article, I’ll focus on the reasons and mechanics of doing this.

Many organizations struggle trying to achieve their goals because their efforts are fragmented and unfocused.  They don’t have much money, their leaders are tired, and they have no plan for the future.  Some have the attitude that if they could just get a grant, everything would be okay.
Organizations like this may also be faced with inertia.  They know they need to raise funds.  Why don’t they?  They don’t know how, nobody wants to, it’s so hard. 
If your organization is like this, there are a few principles of fund raising you should know about if you really want to survive and thrive.  They comprise a fund-raising strategy.  Having one is especially important when the economy gets tough and funders pinch their pennies. 
Here’s What To Do:

  • First, study your past performance in fund-raising.  Find out if you raised enough money to accomplish your objectives.
  • Second, evaluate the receptiveness of donors to your fund-raising techniques.  Research who was responsive to your requests.
  • Third, assess your fund-raising methods.  Find out if you used traditional techniques referred as “earned income”.  They include annual appeals, fund drives, grant proposals, and direct requests to big donors.
  • Fourth, form a fund-raising committee to launch or renew your methods, and get as many people involved in the effort as you can.  Make sure they try these things: Find ways to cut costs in the production and distribution of your annual appeal. Organize a fund drive.  Write grant proposals, send someone to training to get that experience, or hire a professional to do this for you. Develop relationships with potential big donors and ask them for large donations.
How To Develop A Fund-Raising Strategy by Tom Romito, Facilitator
In the video above, I outline the steps an organization needs to take to develop a fund-raising strategy, whether they think they do or not. I show you how I lead people through a process of developing strategies to break down barriers, evaluate and maximize methods, and how to identify potential funding targets to achieve the organization's goal. 
  • Lastly, identify your fund-raising targets.  Determine what projects you need to fund, how much money you need to do them, and where you can get the money.
If you do these things, you’ll do more than just survive during the hard times.  You’ll thrive and have enough money in the bank to accomplish your objectives under any circumstances.
Share Your Experiences!

Share your successes and failures raising money for your organization, community or business start-up. Add your story in the comment box below. We'd like to hear from you! 
Picture
Tom Romito, Facilitator, and a Director, I-Open, helps organizations build capacity to survive and thrive with Team Building, Action Planning and Strategic Planning. Tom is also interested in Climate Change Effects on Reforestation, Wetlands, and Birds and Other Wildlife. Learn more about facilitation techniques at Tom's website Tom Romito, Facilitator and follow him on Twitter @ThomasRomito

Support I-Open
Ensure education, economic and workforce development services such as knowledge sharing, communications and engagement for a network of community and economic developers. Send your donation to I-Open by clicking on the secure PayPal donate button below.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    How To

    Articles to help you grasp new practices and tools in Open Source Economic Development.

    Archives

    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015

    Categories

    All
    Alice Merkel
    Brainpower
    Bruce Waltuck
    Change
    Civic Forums
    Civic Networks
    Communications
    Content Marketing
    Conversations
    Entrepreneurs
    Facilitation
    Fundraising
    Giving Circle
    Interviews
    Justice
    Katherine Readey Chilcote
    Ken Homer
    Language
    Management
    Meditation
    Network Economies
    Nicole McGee
    Open Source Economic Development
    Pop-Up Shop
    Prosperity
    Social Intelligence
    Social Media
    Start-Ups
    Steve Banhegyi
    Storefronts
    Strategy
    Stress
    Terms
    Tutor/Mentor Strategy
    Urban Revitalization
    Volunteerism
    Youth Careers
    Youth Education

    RSS Feed

    Copyright © 2005-2015 I-Open. I-Open publishes under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-
    No Derivative Works license. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.