Mazarine: Charlotte, why did you go to Uganda originally?

Charlotte: I came to Uganda with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) on a two-year placement as the Marketing Development Manager for the Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF). It was my dream job: marketing elephants! But when I say it’s my dream job, making it all happen can be a real challenge at times.

I’ve wanted to live in Africa since I was a teenager and always wanted to do VSO (the British version of Peace Corps). Twenty years after my first phone call to VSO, I’d finally acquired the skills and the life experience to help me spend two years living in and contributing to a developing country.

On a good week, we’d go on safari. (I still have to pinch myself!) It’s a day’s drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park and we would usually include an impromptu game drive. Reconnecting with the field projects is crucial, and of course fun!

Most of the time however, I wrote funding proposals, reports to donors and developed our Facebook page. My role was to raise UCF’s profile, fundraise, communicate with donors, help develop the local team’s skills – and fundraise some more! There were weeks when my job, plodding away on the laptop, was as routine as any other office worker’s, but then I remembered: I’m in Africa! And I’m helping protect elephants!

The VSO philosophy is sustainable development through sharing skills. This year I recruited a Marketing Officer who I continue to mentor, thus passing on my marketing skills to the local team. It means my VSO placement should have a long term, sustainable impact on UCF.

A key part of the role was sharing skills. Western IT skills, for example, are typically much more advanced than the average Ugandan’s and people tend to learn from each other (passing on the mistakes as well as the learning). You can really increase a person’s productivity through sharing simple PC skills that the average Westerner takes for granted. VSO teaches you to show people how to do things for themselves. It’s empowering and quite humbling to be a part of it. There have been some very frustrating and challenging times over the past three years but I can look back now and see some big improvements in terms of efficiency, team morale and organisation profile. It makes me smile to think I’ve been part of that.

Mazarine: What do you like best about Uganda?

Charlotte: That is such a difficult question, there are so many ways to fall in love with the country! Ugandans are wonderfully friendly people, and they will put themselves out to greet and welcome you. The countryside is beautifully diverse, the weather is (generally) fantastic and the country has the most incredible biodiversity: gorillas, chimps, elephants, lions, leopard, giraffe and zebra and 1,060+ species of birds. It really is paradise on earth.

Ugandan kids

The pace of life is slower: the work culture, travelling to meetings (because of the terrible traffic and enormous potholes) and even the time it can take you to cook dinner (after you’ve haggled for your purchases then boiled and filtered your water). The internet can be slow or off for days, people are sick more often, heavy rains can prevent people getting to work, the electricity can go off without warning – it can wear you down! But, people take the time for each other, it’s a simpler way of life. Modern life is so stressful – the choices I’m faced with when I travel home to the UK boggle my mind!

Mazarine: What have you found blogging helps you do?

Charlotte: I started my personal blog so friends and family back home could keep up to date with my adventure as a volunteer. I’ve often kept a diary when I travel so it was the logical thing to do. Blogging quickly became my biggest pastime. It was a way for me to process and try and make sense of the new world around me and gave me some creative time out from the formal proposal and report writing for UCF.

Over the past two and half years, promoting my blog via Twitter and Facebook has allowed me to connect with bloggers worldwide, which has helped me develop my creative travel writing. (My blog has appeared on Lonely Planet since 2009). After my VSO contract finished, in October I joined a Ugandan travel company. Conservation and tourism work hand-in-hand in Uganda, so it was a natural step for me. I can continue to support UCF in my spare time too, an added bonus. (I joke that I’ve been promoted from being a paid volunteer to an unpaid one!)

Blogging and social media have given UCF a global platform. It puts us up there with the biggest and the best, it’s made everyday communication with our donors simpler, and has given our fans the opportunity to interact with us on their terms.

Mazarine: What is your take on fundraising internationally in Africa? Tips? Tricks? Must dos? Must not dos?

Charlotte: It’s the same as anywhere in the world  - never take your donors for granted. Befriend them, get to know them, keep them up to date with everything you’re doing, even if it’s a photograph with a good strapline. There are many organisations out there who would love to support successful projects, and innovative ideas, you just need to find them. Often these recommendations can be made through existing donors.

UCF gets the majority of its funding from the West, thus it’s crucial that we have a good Internet connection and are able to maximise social media. It took me two years to get the hang of using Twitter in Uganda, the system distrusts users from Africa, it seems, and thought I was a hacker! (I had to ask my sister in the UK to log on for me. This reactivated my account and since then I’ve been able to have access again). Once I got the hang of it, it’s been the best medium for networking.

Travelling to the UK every six months also gives me an opportunity to get up to date with the latest technology trends. Much of the technology is not available in Africa; if it is available, it is much more expensive and has limited resources. Virtually everyone in Uganda owns a mobile and we are actually quite advanced in terms of SMS use for marketing and financial transactions using mobile phones. This is because very few people have bank accounts and, outside the cities, people don’t have computers or Internet access. So there is technological innovation, and it’s interesting that it’s taken a different direction from the West.

International donors have standards that developing countries may find very difficult to achieve and maintain. This relates to use of English language, good grammar, timekeeping, financial transparency, ability to use different computer programs, presentation skills. This does mean that small and local NGOs are at a huge disadvantage and simply don’t qualify, in terms of resources, to submit a winning funding application. It means that English language skills are much in demand, so that does give plenty of opportunities for Westerners who would like to support project funding overseas. If you get it right however, money from the West can go a very long way in a developing country.

Ideally you should always aim to get some of your revenue locally. This gets better local buy-in for your project (brownie points for advocacy campaigns, long-term survival of the organisation more likely, etc), and means you’re less at the mercy of foreign currency regulations, global recessions etc! That said, the Ugandan shilling has devalued so badly (current inflation is 30%) that funding from international donors is going even further than normal. We can’t expect this to last for long though, and it’s certainly not a fundraising strategy.

The average Ugandan doesn’t have much spare cash. Everyone goes to church and many will people will pay a tithe (possibly 10% of their salary will go to the church). This money is supposed to support those in the community who are in need. Charity fundraising is generally on a small scale, but big companies do sponsor various types of events and causes.

Mazarine: For projects donors will never visit, how do you create a connection to your mission?

Charlotte: Few of our donors have had the ability to fly out to Uganda to meet our projects. Our reports include lots of photographs. We bring back data on stories from the field, invite them to our events and speak to them on the phone. Our reports are very colourful and full of lots of big photographs and data that shows the impact of what we’re trying to achieve. We feature lots of people – and of course wildlife! We also include quotes, from members of the community, the wildlife Rangers, etc. This really brings our reports to life. All our reports include live links to our website and Facebook and Twitter and we always encourage people to engage with us online.

Uganda Conservation Foundation

If we had the money, we would make video too – and I’d certainly recommend that to anyone trying to make a connection. For us in Uganda, the other issue is Internet connection. It’s so slow that uploading videos is not something that we can do regularly, it just takes too long. However, the Internet infrastructure is slowly improving.

Mazarine: Do you fundraise from the local community as well? If so, how do you find your language shifts from talking with overseas donors versus talking with local donors? Do you ask for different things? Do you try to connect them with the mission in a different way?

Charlotte: We do fund raise from the local community, but predominantly from the corporate community, many of whom are westerners.

We have a corporate membership program, and we accept in-kind sponsorship as much as cash donations. Having these business friends whom we can call in favours from, is incredibly useful. A note of warning though, this feelgood factor doesn’t always give you the best service. There is a feeling that paying clients get a better service than we do, but if your cash strapped small organisation, it might be enough to keep you going.

In terms of Ugandans, their support is very important, as these people are the ones that can effect behavioural change in the long term. Our language very definitely changes, as do our messages. For example, most of our international donors are conservation organisations, thus our message is heavily focused on wildlife and habitat management, protecting human populations in order to protect the wildlife populations.

To local subsistence farmer communities in the national parks, the messages are different: we want to protect you and help lift you out of poverty and are investing in your community through education and income generating projects (beekeeping, digging of elephant trenches, slashing of the Bush). In return, communities are warned that the penalties for poaching are higher than they were before, but it does mean that you, your family and your livelihood will be better protected (from crop raiding animals) by the wildlife Rangers.

For the average Ugandan who lives in Kampala, for example, the message is that tourism is the number one foreign revenue earner. The majority of tourists come to Uganda for the wildlife. This wildlife is under threat but you can help protect it and thus help develop your country. We encourage people to be proud of their heritage. Many people don’t have money to spare to give UCF. That they hear our message is more important than them supporting us financially. You would simply not think of asking them to become members but you would refer them to Facebook, something which Ugandans are really crazy about!

Mazarine: Do you also run the volunteer coordination/recruitment and events for the Uganda Conservation Foundation? If so, do you have any tips for people who are asked to do too much?

Charlotte: We do not recruit volunteers, generally speaking. We have had one full-time VSO for two years at a time, three times in our history.

Many people approach us, asking to do voluntary work, but they’re not usually clear about exactly what it is they’re going to offer us and I’m afraid represent more work for us than opportunity. A volunteer has to be managed in the same way as a paid member of staff.

In terms of being asked to do too much, if you’re coming to an organisation and have a good skill set, it might be assumed that you can do all kinds of things. Have your role as clear as possible in your mind, and on paper, and communicate this with your colleagues. Do this more than once! Don’t rush to do everything, allow people the chance to try. VSO quite clearly warns us that we are unlikely to achieve the same amount of work as we would back home. You are working in a new culture with many limitations, so you have to reduce your expectations of yourself. It can be frustrating, it really can!

Mazarine: What’s one thing you wish you had known before you started in the NGO/Charity/Third Sector world?

Charlotte: I wish I’d appreciated how much free support is available online. I wish I had connected with you three years ago!

(Aw! Thank you Charlotte!)

Mazarine: How do you do marketing in your job? What resources and tools would you recommend for someone starting to market a charity in Africa?

Charlotte: Network as much as you can, attend external meetings, join groups, socialise.

Make Twitter your friend – this is the best way to meet people who are doing the same thing as you, same job in a different country, or related organisations in the same country as you. They will give you ideas and connections, and keep you going when you’re struggling.

Invest in an Internet dongle, a decent laptop, a Skype headset and a digital camera. Back everything up regularly!

Use Facebook to connect with your fans. Write a blog – and write it regularly. Spend time tagging it well and do some research on how to promote a blog. There are tons of free resources available to you. Have catchy subject headers, for example, and include at least one eye-catching photographs each time you post. Integrate everything so that news appears simultaneously across all your social media.

If you have a budget, considering using SMS for targeted messages. In Uganda, these have been particularly successful for encouraging people to have HIV testing for example.

I have a design and print background, and I was lucky enough to have an ex-colleague who developed some free report, presentation and newsletter templates for us. Having a professional, consistent image immediately improved our profile with our donors. You can download some fantastic free templates online and customise them with your organisation colours. If you can then insert photos and distribute by e-mail, your costs are very, very low.

There are thousands of charities crying out for decent marketing in Africa. There are some fantastic initiatives and it can be difficult for people to know which one to support. Keep your objectives clear. Report regularly to your donors and communicate with your supporters.

Mazarine: Do you also do grantwriting? If so, where do you go to look for grants for Uganda?

Charlotte: Proposal writing has been a key part of my job. Most of our funds are from existing donors, and they in turn recommend new donors for us to approach. We research donors that support similar organisations to our own, in Uganda and in other African countries. We also approached the big aid agencies, like the European Union the US Fish and wildlife service, etc.

Although UCF came into being to protect elephants, over the past 10 years in operation, we’ve widened this to cover poaching, human wildlife conflict, conservation education and livelihoods of subsistence farmers. Put your creative hat on and think how your projects touch on different issues, and different groups of people. One project may have many different areas of influence and impact; try and work out what these are. Understanding these will give you ideas on new people and organisations to approach.

Mazarine: What is your plan for the future? Where would you like to be in 5 years?

Charlotte: I was not the first VSO who wanted to stay in Uganda and first extended my contract by six months.

I now work for a travel company based in Kampala. I’m hoping to develop my travel writing further and in 2012 I am writing a ‘coffee table book’  about Uganda. This is due for publication in October.

Whether I’m based in Africa or back in the UK in five years, I know that my heart will still be in Uganda and that I will be working in the travel business. I feel there are tremendous opportunities for helping develop and promote tourism – across East Africa.

Thank you so much Charlotte! Even though I too have volunteered and done grantwriting overseas, I did it in Indonesia, and it was a very different time than it is today! I learned so much about international fundraising, marketing, and volunteering from your interview. Thank you! (if you have any questions for charlotte, or if you’d like to learn more about volunteering or working internationally, please visit her blog, Diary of a Muzungu, or follow her on Twitter @CharlieBeau)

Are you fundraising for Africa? Read this! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 23, 2012.

Huh? What’s the deal?

Well, let me back up. When I was just starting out fundraising, I thought that fundraising was grantwriting. I was afraid to appear stupid, so I did not ask basic questions of people around me or teachers at the Foundation Center. I just walked around thinking this for a good three months as I got into the fundraising field. When I started working for small nonprofits I realized that they were asking me to do events, marketing, branding, and more, and then I thought, huh, maybe this fundraising thing is a lot more complex than I thought it was going to be!

So through the years, I’ve been learning more and more about fundraising, learning about marketing with this organization, learning about appeals and online fundraising with that. All the while, in the back of my mind was a thought, “What can I do to take this knowledge and help other people who are just starting out or who have some gaps in their knowledge like I did?”

So, I wrote this book. You probably know about it.

And it was pretty successful, so I started teaching webinars and workshops for nonprofit professionals with the Center for Nonprofit Organizations, the Texas Assocation of Nonprofit Organizations, CharityHowTo, and others. Then I thought, “But how can I scale my impact more?”

A few months ago, Desiree Adaway interviewed me for her coaching program and afterwards I asked her, or maybe she asked me, I wonder if we could do something together!

And then I talked with Pam Grow, who had just done a virtual workshop with Sandy Rees, and they all said, YES! Let’s do something together to help more nonprofits raise money! a lot of nonprofits can’t afford a full fundraising department, or even to hire consultants like us. But perhaps there’s a third solution.

We thought,

What if we could teach people via continuing education what we would recommend that they do anyway? What if we could combine our brainpower and help people use all of our experience, skills, and knowledge to become the rockstar fundraising dream team that they needed to help get their cause the most money possible for their cause, and build relationships with donors that would sustain them for years?

We wanted to make a place where people could come and figure out how to do fundraising better, with forums and a teleseminar with all of us. It should be called:

Fundraising Rockstars: 50K in 30 Days!

So, we got to work.

Desiree Adaway contributed some interviews, worksheets and more from the Partnership Playbook with Pam Slim.

Sandy Rees contributed some expertise in the area of online fundraising, grants, appeals and stewardship.

Pam Grow contributed her grants knowledge and stewardship knowledge, and got us all together to help us brainstorm on phonecalls, and

I contributed my knowledge about sponsorships, appeals, my hands-on how-to worksheets from my book, and more.

After months and months of work, it’s finally done!

You can click here, because today, we open the doors to help more people raise more money for their causes, and become fundraising rockstars!

We’ll help people one-on-one in the forums, as well as do a tele-conference call in November to check in and answer questions too.

We are not going to make this available forever however. We are all doing multiple things, with multiple clients and speaking engagements and projects, and we need to stay focused on these things as well, so on Friday, September 30th, at midnight, our sale will end.

Fundraising Rockstars is here!! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on September 15, 2011.

What have people been saying about it?

Now, onto this week!

It’s Grants time!

But first, if you don’t already follow them, please follow Sandy Rees and Pamela Grow, subscribe to their blogs, and just get on that, because they know SO MUCH about grants!

Now, if you’re like me, you have grants heaped on your plate along with 100 other things, like marketing your nonprofit, events, major gifts, house parties, appeals, etc. Oh yeah, and social media too.

All of which could be full time jobs in and of themselves! So sometimes when you go to look for grants it’s hard to remember everything.

Which is why we created this Android App to help you do it.

So now you’ll remember each step and it will be super easy to stay on top of your grants!
And for $1.99, it’s like, so worth it.

So, you can buy Wild Grants! in the Android App store!

If you’ve downloaded it, please leave a comment here or a review at the app store, we are always trying to get better, and this is only our second app, so we know we’ve got a ways to go!

PS. Also, you should follow Desiree Adaway. Because she rocks at nonprofit management!

Do you need some grants? We’ve made an Android App to help you. originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on August 26, 2011.

What does your board report look like?

Are you a consultant? Does your board report look like a CYA thing? Whether or not you have a good relationship with your boss, it’s good to know what people expect. And if they have no expectations? What do you give them then?

Ever wanted to know what other one-person development shops do?

Time for radical transparency!

Here’s my board report.

ACO July 2011 Board Report
Mazarine Treyz, Development Director
Activities for end of June and beginning of July

Appeal progress
Wrote draft 1 of appeal letter and emailed to board member for editing.
Read “The 7 faces of philanthropy” book about how to get more people to give to ACO.

Grants progress
Did more grant research with NOZA database
Added grants to the grant application calendar (attached)
Applied to the X Foundation online
Met with Program Director of X Foundation, applied to X Foundation

Survey and Workplace giving progress
I need to know if and when we are going to be able to go into Dell children’s hospital, Need to know who, what they will play before I can apply for this

Graphic Design and Branding
Met with designer to talk about graphical standards for ACO, hex codes, logos, etc.
Nonprofit Brand Report from Harvard University Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations

“A nonprofit brand can often serve as a moral compass for the organization, helping to facilitate choices about which resources and partnerships to pursue in order to increase organizational capacity and effectiveness.” -Excerpt from this report

Sponsorships
HEB is good to approach because 29 people shop there
ATT because 9 people get their service there
UFCU 8 people bank there
Blackerby 11 people shop there

Next steps for July and August:
Finish and send out appeal letter for next season
Apply for grants with no deadline
Would like to meet with website committee on ways to get more donations on the website. Would like to go speak at workplaces about ACO with 1-3 musicians to do a little concert. Would like to move mailing list over to Aweber and add names from June concert. Work together with PR/Business Manager to highlight our players in the newsletter

Workplace Giving/Possible sources of Board Members
Apple computers
The State capital
PPD, Inc.
Freescale Semiconductor
Dell Children’s Medical Center

What does your board report look like? Does it look like this? Are you required to give information? Or different information?

What does your board report look like? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on July 26, 2011.

“Since 1997, the Packard Foundation has awarded 1,392 “organizational effectiveness” grants to an array of groups, most of which have annual operating budgets of $1 to $10 million, and operate in the human services, environmental conservation, population, and arts fields. Packard recently surveyed 274 of these grantees from 2007-2009 (grant amounts ranged between $7,000 and $160,000) and analyzed the responses from 169 (a 62% response rate) to ascertain the outcomes. Grantees that concentrated on improving fund development capacity reported inferior longer-term outcomes compared to those that focused on strategic planning, organizational learning, or leadership succession.”

I’m glad he addressed the fact that funding fundraising does not help as much as funding leadership succession and organizational issues. If you want to take a look at the wiki this research is being compiled on, it’s here.

If you invest in your fundraising professional, and then they leave, and then you get another one, and then they leave, you may want to ask yourself, why, in a down economy, are my fundraisers leaving or being fired?

Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) - 1922 Two Women Running on the Beach

What makes fundraisers run away from nonprofits is bad leadership.

There. I said it.

I would like every single foundation reading this to understand this. If your board is checked out or your senior leadership says, point blank, “I am not interested in fundraising” then no amount of funding fundraising is going to keep a good fundraiser there. There’s really not a lot you can do when your leaders refuse to fundraise, and put all of the pressure onto you.

I wish that this study had actually interviewed people who were no longer fundraising at the organizations where they had “invested in fundraising” and asked them what they thought. I think they would have had quite a different response about why funding fundraising wasn’t a success. It wasn’t that they didn’t need continuing education, or more people helping them. It was that they were not given enough power within the organization to make a dent in the organizational structure, management, and communications.

If you crack open Dan Pallotta’s book, Uncharitable, he recommends that ALL people in the nonprofit think of themselves as fundraisers, or brand ambassadors for the organization, and comport themselves as such. This can take the pressure off the fundraising professional and increase revenues exponentially.

I would like to see a study where funders look at creating structures inside an organization, that is standardized systems for each section of the nonprofit, to help people get their work done more quickly, and then help them plug into areas of fundraising that they are comfortable with.

I would like to show every nonprofit staff person that fundraising is everyone’s responsibility.

It is incredible to me how in so many nonprofits people don’t seem to want to accept that if fundraising doesn’t happen, their mission will not go forward, and then they won’t have a job. It should be foremost on everyone’s minds, and everyone should be pulling together to get more donor relationships for the nonprofit.

I think the answer should be, not fund fundraising OR organizational strategy and leadership succession, but we should fund fundraising AND strategy and succession planning.

What do YOU think?

Do you think that a study where only 62% of participants responded could have valid results? Do you think that funding fundraising is less important than succession planning? Do you think that everyone should be a fundraiser?

PS. Want to come to my webinar on July 15th about monitoring your online reputation? It is gonna be awesome. Go here.

Asking foundations to fund development staff is a waste? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on July 14, 2011.

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Thanks for writing!

As far as I know, usually American think tanks are funded by a few rich people who believe in the think tank. Sometimes this makes kind of a joke think-tank that simply parrots the ideas of the rich person. So, I am glad you are creating a think tank that helps create clear political dialogue.

Look for funding in other countries
If you have approached people, corporations, foundations in your country in vain, it is definitely time to go where people appreciate your work. If you are getting recognition in Poland, London, and in the Ukraine, I would focus your international fundraising efforts there. For funders, you might want to look to the UN for development money, or the Soros Foundation, they care very much about international government, as well. You could also check into the Gates Foundation.

Research other think tanks
Look at who funds think tanks in Spain, or think tanks in France or the USA. Would they be interested in funding you as well? Get the annual reports of 10 think tanks that you admire, and start researching the names, addresses, emails and phone numbers of these major donors.

Social Media Outreach
Also, if you want to get more exposure for your ideas, I would start a blog and a twitter account, and find out who the influencers are on Twitter for think tanks, and get them to write about you. In this way, you can gain more amplification for your ideas, and more exposure for your need for help.

Areas of improvement
I looked at your website, and I noticed several things that are missing that would make me want to take action.
1. Large pictures.
2. Snappy headlines.
3. A clear call to action.

Take a look at http://Kiva.org. Their call to action is simple and clear, and they have changing pictures all of the time about the people that they are helping. Because you are a think tank, it may seem too abstract for people. You have to make it REAL. Visceral. Make them understand the consequences of your nonprofit NOT being there. Make them feel the pain of democracy obstructed. Speak to their fears. Speak to their needs. Speak to their joys. And then ask them to give.

Also, take a look at http://plannedparenthood.org. Their giving page helps people give in many different ways. It could be useful to rethink your donation page that way as well.

Also, look at http://imamuseum.org. They have a dashboard that helps you see how they use the money, each of the different things that they are doing.

Also, look at http://mercycorps.org. They make it very clear what they are doing, with lots of pictures, and give you lots of ways to get involved. There are little articles all over their site on how to give.

The Networked Nonprofit, by Beth Kanter, has a case study that might prove useful for you.

Wildlifedirect.com, based in Nairobi, Kenya, started with 7 blogs in 2007 and raised $350,000.

As of 2010 they have 73 blogs, all about different animals and habitats, and they have increased their donations four-fold. They use their rangers to blog about the animals, and even though most of their donors will never visit Africa and have no tangible connection to their cause, they have managed to thrive by providing consistent specific and transparent content about what they do.

So you see, having several blogs making issues real for people can be very powerful and can be a real source of money for your nonprofit.

Make a plan
I would also make a fundraising plan, and I would use my book to help you make that. My book is $40, and it’s $8 international shipping. it has all of my experience and advice inside it, and a CD too, full of editable templates that you can use to start making more money right away for your cause. You can buy it here.

Go where people can hear you.
It’s incredible how numb and uninterested people simply go along because they do not have the vocabulary to describe their experience, and so cannot at first name and then claim what is happening to them, and then envision a better way of life.

Rankism
Once I learned about Rankism, by Robert Fuller, I found a vocabulary to help me speak to people who were numbed and uninterested, and it helped them to understand what was happening, to name and claim what was going on.

I have made a few blog posts about it:

Change your Language, Change your life
18 ways to demand dignity
What rank is your boss playing? (What Copenhagen can teach us about power)

And I devoted a large section of one of my book’s chapters to this subject, because I think it so important, when agitating against oppression, against a corrupt and unjust system, to learn the language that will set you free, to become a persuader and an activist.

As you know from your think tank, there is nothing more powerful than ideas, except possibly the vocabulary that expresses those ideas. Vocabulary, in my opinion, can expand awareness to new levels of consciousness.

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Do you know how think tanks get funded? Do you have any advice for this think tank? Have I left something out?

Is there an incredible nonprofit website that I should be telling this reader to look at?

Please leave a comment and help us out!

Reader Questions: How can I get funding for a think tank? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on April 21, 2011.

“Hey, can you research a grant to help us get a computer lab and computers for our nonprofit?”

And I said,

“Here are the 7 different places that you can get free donated computers from!”

and he wrote back and said,

“No, seriously, we need a GRANT to get a computer lab, and the computers!”

And I said,

“So, you think that getting a grant is like dialing for dollars huh? That a grant will just plop into your lap and Boom you’ll have a computer lab? I’ll look for you, but here’s something you should know, first.”

You can look for grants for two weeks, spend another two weeks writing the proposal, and still only have a slim chance of getting the grant.

When I first started fundraising, I thought that all we had to do was get a grant, and then we would have it made. But in reality, all of the grants that we applied for did not get funded. And I felt bad that I had been paid but they had gotten no money from grantors out of the arrangement.

This is the usual error with small or fledgling nonprofits. They think that fundraising = grants, when, as you and I both know, grants are only a TINY piece of a much larger pie. See the pie chart below. This ain’t just a fancy metaphor!

Here’s a graph that explains how things get funded with nonprofits. 13% of money comes from grants, 75% comes from individuals.

GivingUSA Individuals versus Grants

And this graph shows which causes get money. These two graphs come from GivingUSA.com.

grant priorities

When I last looked into computer lab grants, in 2009, it would take over 6 months to even hear back if a proposal got a chance to go to the second round of the approval process for granting.

If you need money for programs NOW, I doubt that a grant would deal with your more immediate need.

Unless you or your board know someone at a foundation or fund already, you would be better off at looking at who can be major donors, and then asking them for the money for the computer lab, and getting donated computers in the meantime.

You should know the lay of the land, know which foundations are accepting proposals, which are not, which have scaled back their giving due to Depression 2.0, which foundations your board members and staff have connections to, and more.

Before going to look for a grant, ask staff and volunteers and board if they know anyone who knows anyone at a foundation. Chances are, someone will know someone.

Grants CAN make a difference for your nonprofit’s bottom line. Grants are useful in many ways. Grants should not be a stand-in for ALL fundraising activities, or depended on long-term for operation funding. As you can see, the majority of money comes from individuals. Even project funding could be much more easily obtained from individuals than from foundations.

I’ve got a sample grant proposal below that can help you make your next proposal more compelling. You CAN get grants, as long as you are willing to wait.

Here’s a free place to find grants.

What Grants Can, and Can’t Do for your Nonprofit originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on April 11, 2011.

darwin fish!

Hi Mazarine

I am grants manager at the Charles Darwin Foundation in the Galapagos Islands. Raising and managing millions annually through grants, but most of it is restricted to specific projects and we do want to increase our unrestricted/general operating funds (doesn’t everyone?). What would you suggest?

Thanks so much for your interest

Freda
—————————————————–

Dear Freda,

Thank you so much for writing!

Here’s a special metaphor just for the Darwin Foundation. Evolve or die. So, what this means is:

Imagine a nonprofit depending mainly on grants and one annual event to survive.

Does this sound familiar? This is how a LOT of unstable nonprofits operate.

So, how do you get more STABLE with your multiple income streams?

What direction should you go in?

If you are offering social services, I would recommend getting government contracts to offer comprehensive services with a couple of sister agencies in your city.

If you are doing scientific research in the Galapagos, that’s a bit trickier.

You could try trademarking the Darwin name and being able to collect lucrative use-rights from the Darwin fish stickers that seem to be everywhere these days.

I understand it might be difficult to get people worked up about the Galapagos, since there aren’t that many people out that way.

One thing that you could do is start to facilitate phonecalls with donors so they can talk to people doing the work in the field on the Galapagos, so even if they can’t physically go there, they can start to understand the issues, and feel connected with the work that’s going on.

You could also get speaking engagements at local corporations and start to build those relationships, get volunteers, start to build relationships with big universities with serious scientific research, and start to partner with their fundraising offices as well.

What about your board? Do they have the means to give large sums to the Darwin foundation? If not, do they have rich friends they could ask? They should be spearheading a fundraising effort, and just because they seem reluctant, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be involved. EVERYONE CAN DO SOMETHING.

If you REALLY want to get a lot of unrestricted funding, the BEST way to do that is start to build your major gifts office. Which means, board first, everyone needs to give, get, or get off. That’s how that works. If they aren’t giving, they need to be connecting you with people who CAN give.

How can you find donors who would be willing to give large, unrestricted sums to your nonprofit?

Glad you asked!

The Short Answer is: Research your ASS OFF

The Long Answer Is
You need to learn who your sister agencies are in the field. Who else is doing this work?

How do they get their unrestricted funds? Do you have an annual report from them? Does it list their donors? That’s a place to start!

Another place to go is to Guidestar.org, where you will see their board members listed on their 990 form.

You can start to google their names and see where they work and then if their workplaces are interested in groundbreaking biology research, you can start to connect with them and see if they’d be interested in lending an executive for your board. That can help you build a relationship.

Otherwise, think of natural strategic partners for the Darwin Foundation, people who would lose a lot if your organization went away tomorrow. Is it the society of biology researchers? Is it another corporation? How can you start to work those relationships and help get more and more people to give? You might be able to create natural resonances between what they care about and your cause.

Finally, why not brainstorm with your list of top 200 donors in front of you, and see if you see any connections between these donors?

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Reader Questions: How can you get unrestricted funding? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on February 14, 2011.

> Thanks so much for your follow up. Ours is a nascent nonprofit, established
> in August 2010. As a brief backgrounder, I’ve spent the bulk of the previous
> four months establishing the legal structures, building a board and
> a network for supporting long-term growth. I have a media/advertising
> background (both church and state; prepress/on air/design/placement). In all
> of my heretofore volunteer efforts with nonprofits, I’ve served as the
> marketing chair.
>
> Our nonprofit applies a solution to systemic poverty for women that I
> haven’t found in my research prior to establishing Women With Drive
> Foundation. Our mission is to provide a woman with a car (including assuming
> maintenance costs) for two years. In exchange, she undergoes an extensive
> assessment to identify her specific barriers to independence (ie. education,
> financial acumen). With the results of the findings, she and a program
> officer draft a two year plan designed to address her challenges with our
> common goal being her independence. Many nonprofits provide interview
> skills, clothing and other training, but when the rubber literally needs to
> meet the road, few provide an actual vehicle and none provide our two year
> program.
>
> Therefore, a lot of what I’m doing is building the basement and the roof at
> the same time, so to speak.
>
> With little to no immediate funds on hand, I need to do three things:
>
> 1. Build a strong, engaged donor base.
> 2. Explore grants.
> 3. Determine how to become self-sustaining.
>
> I know nothing about any of those things. I value your expertise and welcome
> anything you can do to help. I’ve served as a free-lance consultant
> for marketing, social media and general design, and so I completely respect
> your right to be paid for your expertise. One of my solutions to square the
> circle regarding our staffing needs is to strategically retain professionals
> to provide interim skills until we need/can afford full time staff.
>
> Please let me know what I may do to help you.
>
> Again, my thanks for your consideration.
>
> Best,
> M.

Hi Molly!

First off, I love that you’re helping women get wheels. When I worked in a domestic violence shelter, this is something that would hamper women in getting the services that they needed, whether baby-sitting, counseling, welfare, etc. A car can mean the difference between a job and no job, and between a woman having to return to an abuser or not. Thank you for recognizing this.

Fundraising and marketing are kind of similar, so don’t sell yourself short when it comes to saying you don’t know about fundraising. Chances are, a lot of the same principles you learned in marketing, you can use in fundraising.

1. I checked out your web presence, and you need a website, not a ning group. The ning group is closed, and you need to be OPEN. Open for business! Open for taking donations! Capeesh?
2. You need to figure out who you know.
3. You need a comprehensive fundraising plan.
4. You need someone to help you WORK your fundraising plan. SO, you need training for your fundraising volunteers.

So first, let’s see who you know. This link takes you to a place where you can get a worksheet that will help you identify potential areas of overlap for funders and donors in your community.

For a fundraising plan,
Think about what you can reasonably do, and what you can unreasonably do.

When I first started fundraising, I thought fundraising was grants. I then found out that it was much much more, but this was over time, and it took me a long time to figure out what it was.

So that’s why I wrote my book, to be the fun, engaging primer to fundraising that I never had.

Fundraising is grants. It’s also appeals, marketing, mobile giving, events, social media engagement, lean systems, conflict management, volunteer recruitment and management, teaching other people how to fundraise, major giving, e-newsletters, and more. It’s a big job. Best done by a team of people. Who I teach you to find and train. My book covers all of this. It’s really too long to write in a blog post. It took me 180 pages to do it, and 80 pages of a resource CD on top of that.

Since you said you wanted to learn the process of fundraising, I would suggest that you buy my book, The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, because that is an excellent primer in every major aspect of fundraising, with the exception of Major gifts. Mal Warwick’s books are a big help there.

My book is a good investment, as it ALSO comes with an 80 page resource CD with templates to help you start to apply the tools I give you IMMEDIATELY to your nonprofit, whether grants, marketing, getting volunteers, or even creating a one-page development plan. (You can buy the book here.)

Are you new here? Welcome! Sign up for my newsletter and get fresh nonprofit fundraising, management and career ideas monthly!

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Reader Questions: Bootstrap your nonprofit startup in 4 steps! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on February 8, 2011.

Of these, which ones do you think yield the most money? Which ones, the least?

If you have any to add, please leave a comment!

1. Quarterly Appeal letter

2. Grants

3. Your Annual Report

4. Sell Fruit

5. Old-time photograph booth for your museum

6. Gala/Dinner

7. Sell t-shirts

8. Do a Twitter push for donations

9. Collaborating on grants with another nonprofit

10. E-newsletter

11. Ask your most faithful donors to become monthly givers

12. Ask for donations on Facebook

13. Create a bequest program

14. Ask for gifts of stock

15. Set up a workplace giving speaking engagement tour and ask your most successful local corporations to give.

16. Have a phone-a-thon

17. Hold a yard sale for your nonprofit

18. Ask donors for baked goods to hold a bake sale

19. Ask new local businesses to donate to promote their business in your next newsletter.

20. Ask your local library to donate old books to your nonprofit, sell the books on Amazon.com

21. Get people who are selling their houses to use a broker that will give your nonprofit a percentage of the proceeds.

22. Invest in stocks or CDs for your nonprofit

23. Get people to donate their cars to your nonprofit

24. Get people who are having a bridal shower to have their friends give the money they would have spent to your nonprofit.

25. Get a billboard donated to your nonprofit and ask for donations there.

26. Get a celebrity to come to an event, and sell a pre-event where rich people can hobnob with the celebrity.

27. Ask a scout troop to adopt your nonprofit and raise money with a carwash.

28. Ask a ladies auxiliary committee at your local hospital to consider donating to your nonprofit,

29. Ask your local community foundation if they have any donor advised funds that would be a good fit for your nonprofit

30. Ask the Moose Lodge or Shriners to donate to your nonprofit

31. Get people who are having a wedding to get their guests to give to your nonprofit instead of getting them gifts.

32. Advocate for state appropriation of funds to your nonprofit

33. Ask churches to give to your nonprofit out of their collections once a month.

34. Make a food cart and sell food for your nonprofit downtown, at festivals, or farmer’s markets.

35. Lease space in your building to other nonprofits or businesses.

36. Hold an arts bazaar in your nonprofit space, partner with community artists, and get lots of people to come in and see what your nonprofit does, and ask them to give.

37. Hold a movie night and ask people to give.

38. Ask your volunteers to give to your nonprofit.

39. Ask your board members to give, and introduce you to their rich friends.

40. Cultivate long term relationships with many different community members that lead to giving.

41. Hold a festival around your nonprofit cause, and ask people to give there.

42. Research people who gave large amounts to other similar nonprofits, and ask them to give to your nonprofit via a long cultivation process.

43. Hold a community forum about a particular topic and then ask people to give there.

44. Hold a friendraiser for your most loyal and generous donors, secure their support for another year there.

45. Ask sororities and fraternities to organize social gatherings for your nonprofit.

46. Get a group of cyclists to do a long ride for your nonprofit, and get people to sponsor them.

47. Use MGive where people get their own donation page on your website and can direct friends and family there to give.

48. Ask for text donations to your nonprofit.

49. Send out a paper newsletter or magazine and ask for money for your nonprofit.

50. Ask your own employees if they’d like to start a monthly employee giving program to your nonprofit.

51. Set up a partnership with Credo Mobile so that people can round up their cellphone bill and give that to your nonprofit each month.

52. Ask local restaurants to donate a portion of one night’s profits to your nonprofit.

You obviously can’t do one a week, some of these are long term ideas. However, others would only take one phonecall to hear if they want to help you or not. Why not make a list of those phonecalls today? Start with people already in your database. See who you know. Give this list to your board members. See who wants to run with it.

These are my ideas, do you have any you’d like to share?

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52 Ways to Fundraise originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on November 8, 2010.