fundraising

Like any grant-dependent nonprofit, The Oasis Center, a youth-serving agency in Nashville, TN, faces a financial challenge: Nearly every grant or corporate donation comes with constraints on how the money can be used. These are restricted gifts, in fundraising-speak, and can only be used for a particular program or purpose. But at the same time, the center needs to keep the lights on and pay for...
David Sternberg, a fundraising consultant and author of “Fearless Fundraising for Nonprofit Boards,” has a simple message for nonprofit leaders in search of new funding sources. “Most of the money that goes to nonprofits comes from people,” he says, not from governments, foundations or corporations. To build those relationships, charities should tap a built-in...
In the vernacular of nonprofit fundraising, stewardship means building and maintaining good relationships with donors and volunteers. The hope is that they’ll make additional contributions of money, time and effort to the organization in the future.
For community-based organizations, community foundations can be a lifeline. Unlike big national grant makers, these public charities define their missions according to geography -- benefiting nonprofit groups in a particular city, county, state or region. So though no potential source of funding is a sure thing, community foundations are a good bet for nonprofits with a strong history of serving...
In these tough economic times, hiring a full-time grant writer or using a consultant may not make the most financial sense. As an alternative, small nonprofits can tap into the talents of their staff to put together grant proposals. “What you ultimately want is to use your staff’s greatest strengths,” says Kristen Valentine, chief fundraiser for Bread for the City, a social...
Foundation and government grants don’t last forever. They often require strict reporting back to the granting organization. And grants can only be used for a particular purpose, leaving organizations strapped when emergency cash is needed. Those are just a few of the reasons nonprofit groups might want to seek gifts from individual donors, says Patricia Hung, executive director of the...
With rare exception, nonprofit organizations of all stripes have to raise money to keep their operations going and to fulfill their missions. But rather than build a strategy linked to their missions, many nonprofit leaders mistakenly see fundraising as an end in and of itself, says Justin Pollock, managing director of programs at the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations.
Nothing in life is free, and that holds true for grants. When deciding whether or not to seek funding from a foundation, government agency or corporation, busy youth-service professionals need to weigh the costs and benefits of writing the grant proposal, managing the project, and reporting back to the funder, says John Porter, executive director of the American Grant Writers'...
Last month, we addressed how to write a better grant proposal. But before youth-serving organizations apply for funding, they have to pinpoint likely donors. How to do that with no fund raising staff and barely enough time to get your to-do list done each day? We turned to Helen Brown, president of The Helen Brown Group, a Boston-area consulting company specializing in fundraising research,...
It's no secret nonprofit organizations are struggling to find new funding sources in these tough economic times. But with the right grant writing formula, your organization has a better chance of weathering the storm. "Federal proposals are very much like baking a cake," says Tammy Hopper, director of organizational advancement for SENetwork in Bonita Springs, Florida. "On the...
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