Gotta count that dough...(courtesy of http://tinyurl.com/lhqxbs)

In exchange for asking for $1 donations, I’ve agreed to be transparent about my spending. So here is my weekly expense report:

• $400: Food, rent, laundry, parking and all utilities for next month

Total Expenses for October 2009: $648.59

***

Until next week!

Josh Pothen (UVM’s Meager Med Student)

Donate $1 to The Meager Med Student!

Some causes really catch the public’s imagination and people are prepared to make substantial donations to charities working in those fields.  The Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth that rescues neglected and abused donkeys is a good example.  It receives a great deal of income from corporate and individual donors.  Other charities work in the field of more unpopular causes and people are less keen or sometimes even positively unwilling to donate.

EDP specialises in the field of misuse of alcohol and drugs, and finds securing public and individual donations difficult.  Negative stereotypes abound. “Druggies and alcoholics” have brought it on themselves – why should we donate money to help them out when their problems are self imposed?  National research shows that one in five people experience real difficulties with drugs or alcohol (which also causes difficulties for their friends, families and communities).   We must all know (and know well) people experiencing these difficulties.   Why then is substance misuse such an unpopular cause?

You can’t help but be moved when you hear people’s stories about how EDP’s staff has helped them to make positive changes in their lives.  Perhaps we can use the power of people telling their own stories to help build awareness and funds to support this work.  On the other hand, irrespective of how much value EDP provides in helping turn their lives around, people will think twice about allowing their stories to be used to increase public support and donations.  People may feel that the risk is too great given the stigma associated with this whole area.

So what are your thoughts?  I’d really appreciate your thoughts on how best to raise awareness and donations from both individual and corporate donors in the emotive area of substance misuse.

www.edp.org.uk

JED

Giovedì scorso con il seminario di People Raising tenuto dal mitico Prof. Melandri in quel di Forlì si è concluso il CAF in Fundraising iniziato a giugno.

Che dire… è stata un’esperienza che mi ha arricchita moltissimo. Ho conosciuto insegnanti meravigliosi, dal già citato prof. Melandri, di cui prima avevo solo letto dei suoi libri e per me era una specie di santone, a tutti gli altri tra cui Francesco Santini di cui leggo sempre il blog (e ho anche scoperto di essere tra i suoi feed!!!), Mauro Picciaiola con la sua lezione sullo sponsoring che per me è stata illuminante, e poi il grandissimo Paolo Celli e tutti gli altri… l’elenco è lunghissimo!

Ho imparato davvero moltissimo sul fundraising grazie a queste persone, ho capito molte cose riguardo al mio attuale impiego, le ho rivalutate e guardate da altre sprospettive e di conseguenza modificate.

Ora mi sento pronta… pronta a fare il “salto” verso una realtà più grande, più strutturata e più focalizzata sulla raccolta fondi. Il mio attuale impiego naturalmente mi ha dato molto, moltissimo… ma sento che è arrivato il momento di cambiare… quindi è da circa un mese e mezzo che mi sono buttata nel valzer dei contatti e delle relazioni per trovare un nuovo impiego come fundraiser.

Ho sostenuto due colloqui importanti, soprattutto uno per un’importante ong internazionale con sede a Milano, ero stata scelta ma… purtroppo ho dovuto rinunciare con grande rammarico. Nonostante questo continuo e sono fiduciosa per il futuro!

Infine vorrei ringraziare i miei fantastici compagni di corso… tutti ci hanno detto che eravamo un bel gruppo e sono scese alcune lacrime quando ci siamo salutati, consapevoli che… tutti insieme non ci rivedremo più. Un grazie alla mia meravigliosa compagna di banco Claudia che è stata la prima a incoraggiarmi e a dirmi che sono troppo brava… mi mancherai tanto! Un abbraccio anche a Samuele, Daniele e Nicola che insieme a me e Claudia hanno dato vita al “Loggione” croce e delizia dei vari insegnanti!

E poi un bacione e Ines e Daniele… i miei due compagni di viaggio da Padova in giu durante le ultime trasferte.

Mi mancherete tutti…mi mancheranno le risate, le sigarette (passive) sulle scale d’emergenza, i caffè della macchinetta, le cene alla Sosta con la proprietaria che ormai ci odia (!!!), la pizza del sabato a pranzo prima di riprendere il treno… e i chupiti al pub oltremodo (e su questo non commento!) e mi mancherà un sacco Forlì… così carina tranquilla ma vitale… simile a Udine ma forse ancora più bella… mi mancherà l’hotel Marta… mi mancherà questo bellissimo periodo, coinciso con un periodo di cambiamenti e riscoperte anche personali e forse anche per questo ancora più determinante.

Ma soprattutto… mi mancherà poter parlare di fundraising senza dover spiegare che cos’è e come si fa!

Mark your calendars! Thursday 10 December at 6:30 p.m. Great Ormond Street Hospital will be holding its 10th annual Christmas family carolling concert!
Join us at St. Paul’s Church for beautiful carols sung by the St. Paul’s choir, festive readings from Julian Fellowes and other well-loved stars, and spectacular musical numbers.
Don’t miss your chance to see Faryl Smith, chart topping classical and jazz artist, perform along with the winner of the school choir competition.
After the concert make your way over to the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge for an exclusive champagne and canapé reception. Entertainment for the children will be provided.
For the combined package of the concert and the reception, tickets cost £95 for adults and £40 for children. If you are interested in just going to the concert adult tickets costs only £45 and £20 for children
To purchase your tickets, email The Special Events Team (carol.concert@gosh.org) or call 020 7239 3004.

As some of you may know, I’ve been letting my facial hair reign supreme this month in support of ‘Movember’, which raises millions of pounds in support of prostate cancer every year.

It’s the first time I have ever raised any significant money in support of a charity and I’ve absolutely loved it. I have been shocked by the kindness of colleagues, friends and family in donating to something that, let’s be honest, isn’t quite running a marathon, climbing a mountain or swimming the sea, and it goes a long way to show that anyone can raise money for charity, no matter what you’re doing to do it.

Movember is a thing of genius. It’s something so simple, so easy, and any man (and even, now, woman) can do it with very little effort, and it raises a huge amount of cash for a supremely good cause.

Today saw my fundraising pass the £500, far more than I imagined I would raise, and I’d like to thank everyone who has donated to my mo. If you’ve not yet done so, please do so now by clicking here.

Whether or not I’ll do it next year remains to be seen but, for now at least, my faith in mankind is restored!

Click here to donate to my mo today!!

JPMorgan Chase has announced the launch of a $5 million community giving program on the social networking site Facebook that it hopes will inspire a new approach to corporate philanthropy.

The Chase Community Giving program invites Facebook users to nominate nonprofit organizations with operating budgets of no more than $10 million working in the areas of education, housing, the environment, health and human services, arts and culture, and animal welfare to receive a grant from Chase. The initiative is in addition to Chase’s traditional philanthropic efforts to higher-profile nonprofits. If the effort is successful, the bank will likely commit more of its annual giving through this method of crowdsourcing nominations of smaller local charities.

The 100 organizations that get the most votes by December 11 will each receive $25,000 from Chase and advance to the program’s second round. There they will have the option to submit a “Million Dollar Proposal” to Facebook users, detailing the difference they would make in their local community with the extra resources.

Starting January 15, Facebook users will be able to vote again. On February 1, the organization receiving the most votes will be announced as the winner of $1 million, with the five runners-up each receiving $100,000. In addition, a special advisory that includes celebrities, Facebook and Chase executives will award $1 million to the nominated charity of its choice, while members of the board who do not work for Chase or Facebook will receive a $25,000 honorarium to donate to a charity of their choice.

JVA Consulting will be watching closely to see if this method of grantmaking continues with other corporations. Check nonprofitstreet.com for updates in the future.

The Fundraising Committee will meet at the Artisano Bakery Cafe, 1020 Islington Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M8Z 6A4, on Saturday, November 28 at 10:00am to discuss the Dance-a-Thon Fundraiser.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

Need a skillful ally to maximize the impact of your grant application and improve your fund raising success?

Need an experienced partner to back stop the writing, copy editing or proofreading of your grant application?

Need expert assistance to design an evaluation plan for your proposal?

At Written Magic, LLC, that’s what we do.

Assistance is  now available, specifically designed  to enhance the grant writer’s efficiency and effectiveness, from an award-winning author and research and evaluation professional with over twenty years experience in the grant funding  process.  Sandra Jewell has developed Requests for Applications (RFAs), evaluated countless submissions for funding and created articles for peer review journals and online and other periodicals.  She has a history of writing winning grant applications and is now assisting grant writers in public and nonprofit organizations as they create their own record of successful fund raising.

To learn more, contact  WrittenMagic.sej@gmail.com

And I thought I’d heard everything…

Just when you thought you’d heard it all I found a link between being Single and Alzheimer’s Disease on an Arizona news site from Kyle Burke.

Thanks to Kyle for reminding us that November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. Now that’s definitely something we should be helping to support – goodness knows it seems the likelihood of loads of us being afflicted with the disease is seemingly high!

 I think most of us know that Doctors say that maintaining your brain health early on could be key in preventing memory loss later in life. Jan Dougherty, Director of Family and Communication Services at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute explains: “Because Alzheimer’s often starts decades before it presents with symptoms, we should be thinking in our 30’s and 40’s about lifestyle strategies, about diet, exercise, cognitive exercise, staying engaged throughout our lives.”

The bad news as per Kyle’s report,  is a recent study found that Single people are twice as likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease as married or cohabitating people.

“We’re creatures that do better when we are in communication and living with other peoples, so there’s something about socialization that’s really important to brain health,” Dougherty said.

And just in case you’ve forgotten… some of the common symptoms of memory loss are:
- forgetting names (does this count if you couldn’t remember them in the first place?)
- forgetting recent events (not due to alcohol consumption though!)
- forgetting appointments and dates (can’t bear to meet that online date you made?)
- misplacing items / finding items in strange places – (not male are you – never put things in the same place twice do you!)
- getting lost or confused in familiar places (now I’m geographically challenged so that’s a killer for me all the time)
- having difficulty finding words or putting sentences together (again watch that alcohol consumption – definitely makes it a challenge!)
- changes in behavior or personality (of course that has nothing to do with the type of day you are having or the road rage incident that’s just happened, or the 6 Red Bulls you just consumed…)

This is not an attempt at trivialising the severe impact Alzheimer’s disease has on the sufferer as well as families and friends. It is tragic to be a part of this situation. So, if you are experiencing some of those memory loss symptoms above – and forget about my little italicized comments alongside them, do go seek some help. Same goes for if you suspect someone else may be displaying some of these symptoms, see if you can find a way to guide them to seek out help.

 But, back to the Singles of the world. We all need love, friendship, companionship, and if you can find a life partner who can offer all that and more – it could be as simple as that to ward off Alzheimers. So, all I can say is get out there, display your Single status SHI Symbol everywhere you go so you can meet loads of new and interesting men and women more easily, and if you’re inclined to look for a partner, it’ll be working for you 24/7. It’s a sure fire way to help ward off Alzheimer’s. Can’t guarantee they won’t send you demented for other reasons though!

 And on another note, if you are interested in helping your local Alzheimer’s Association with much needed funds to help support research as well as support sufferers and their families – SHI Symbol has an excellent avenue that will help you, them and is something that’s super popular with everyone around the world. Just email me for the details – jan@shisymbol.com.au

 You won’t forget to do it now, will you?

BTW – Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone.

Crossroads Care will be running a coffee morning on Friday the 11th of December between 10 – 12pm in Derby. All proceeds go towards the valuable work of Crossroads.

If you’re in the area why not pop in and show your support. Please see poster for more details!

Step 1.  CHECK YOUR CONSTITUTION AND YOUR CHARITABLE REMIT

Do NOT miss out this essential step!   It sounds obvious, but enormous numbers of funding bids go in without anyone noticing that the organisation has gradually (often over several years) drifted away from its original purpose.   This drift might be for the best reasons, such as meeting the changing needs of the user-group, or for less good reasons such as “chasing the funding”.    But it is frighteningly common that a funding proposal is submitted which is OUTSIDE the organisation’s charitable remit or geographical area of benefit. 

Most funders will ask for a copy of your Constitution, or will check your Charity Commission summary page.   And area of benefit and charitable remit will be the first thing they check.   Get this wrong, and your wonderfully-written bid will not even be read – it will go straight to the reject pile.   Don’t waste your time or their time – check your OWN constitution, charitable remit, and area of benefit. 

If you need to change your governing documents, then allow enough time to follow the procedure of getting Charity Commission permission, and calling an EGM or whatever your constitution requires for amending it.   And if you are quietly tutting to yourself, saying “how ridiculous!”, I can assure you that I wouldn’t be wasting my own time writing this first step if I hadn’t seen over and over again how necessary it is!

So, here is the problem that has kept me from this blog as of late.

Leigh and I are out of money.

When you work as missionaries, this is a significant problem. When you work as missionaries who are required to raise their own support, this is a catastrophe.

It all comes down to the fact that eighteen months ago, as Leigh and I were engaged in initial fundraising before leaving for the field, we received numerous gifts from supporters, many of whom attended the church where I worked and we worshipped. These gifts came in the form of one-time donations rather than monthly contributions. But these monies were sufficient, and allowed us to live comfortably for the first year. However, upon sending out letters to these same supporters last September, we received a repeat gift from only one family. The rest of the requests went unanswered. This took our support from 100% to 37% in the span of a mere two months. We have been forced to rely solely upon the gifts of supporters who donate monthly, and though these people are saints, the cumulative amount of monthly donations is simply not enough to keep us on the field.

We discovered this paucity in our finances a few weeks ago, and while “quarantined” at home to avoid Swine Flu, we spent our days writing letters, updating our website and sending e-mails to as many people as we could think of who might be willing to give. Metaphorically, we have dropped to our knees before these people, hat in hand, pleading with them to consider supporting us financially. The simple fact is, if these pleas fall on too many deaf ears, we will be forced to pack our belongings and leave the mission field during the Christmas holidays. As such, we will leave the school high and dry in a year where everyone is already struggling to cope with a lack of staff. Who will teach the 11th grade class if I leave over the break? I do not know, and, sadly, neither does the administration.

Often, I deny any thought that my life truly affects others, at least in a straight-forward way. I see now that it most certainly does. But sometimes, even that is not enough reason for potential supporters to become committed supporters.

This is a discouraging time, though not in the way you might think. While it is hard to hear back from people who tell you they cannot or will not support you, what is most discouraging is when you do not hear back from people at all. Even in an hour of extreme need, people simply ignore your e-mails, throw aside your letters, and avoid your calls. Discourtesy is an understatement. Whether or not this reflects a selfishness or an arrogance in my attitude, how can I not feel like the Jew beaten on the side of the road, watching through one swollen, bloodied, half-open eye as the Priest and the Levite, who have the means, pass by me because they do not have the heart? This brings me to one simple truth about fundraising.

Fundraising is, essentially, searching for Samaritans.

Leigh and I wait, and are surprised by, the unlikely supporters. The people who are willing to give whatever they can to help, and are willing to do so without condition, without even an assurance that success will come as a result of their gift. We are praying for Samaritans who will encounter our condition, be it through e-mails, letters, or blog posts, and find themselves unable to look away. The Priests and the Levites perpetuate the biggest hindrance in a missionary’s efforts – that is, “out of sight, out of mind.” So many people find it so easy to look away. It is the Samaritan, the most unlikely of givers, who find they simply can’t ignore the problem, no matter how much it might inconvenience them.

Yesterday, Leigh and I received word from a friend of ours here at Black Forest Academy. She is a fellow missionary, struggling her own self to maintain her finances. Yet she finds herself in a much more manageable situation than we do, and so with her own gifted funds, she has committed to supporting us $50 per month for as long as we need, or as long as she is able. This came as an extraordinary shock. One missionary, who has every excuse in the world not to stop and tend the wounded (since they so often are the wounded), still indulging a willingness to give. That is stewardship at its most beautiful.

That is true Samaritanness.

We are struggling. We do not know if we will have to say a too-soon good-bye to this mission field we love. But still, we search for Samaritans, and we pray that God would make us into them as well.

Looking for a fun and festive activity to do with your family or group of friends? How about Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Christmas quiz?
Not only does the quiz provide you with a wonderful evening of Christmas trivia but it gives you the chance to donate to the hospital during this festive time.

How it works:
1. Get a group together
2. Set a minimum entry fee that will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital
3. Decide how many rounds you would like to play, a quiz of 6-8 rounds usually lasts about an hour and a half
4. Let the fun begin!

All money raised will be used to help maintain all of our facilities or to purchase new equipment.
Check out the quiz site to download the quiz and for more information.

Let’s see how much money we can raise and how much fun can be had along the way!

Didn’t dare to do something for Africa yet? Well, the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s A Dare to Remember campaign is still on! You can officially do your dare before World AIDS Day, which is December 1st, 2009. Dare to be creative. Dare to be funny. Dare to do something scary! Anything goes and fundraising is simple if you use the tools provided by the SLF on the website. Dare to do something rad this World AIDS Day.

You can still dare to do something.

It’s official! The X Factor single is number one! Let’s keep up the
fantastic support to help the song remain at the top spot!

Remember that everytime the single is purchased online or at any of the
participating venues, the profits are donated to Great Ormand Street
Hosptial to help us provide state of the art care for sick children.

Click on the link to find out where to purchase the single

Let’s see how long we can keep the single at number one! Help the children
and listen to the hottest single at the same time!

There is always much to be thankful for.  I am thrilled that I get to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Chicago.  Nineteen of us around the table–lots of love, lots of stories, lots of laughs, lots of food.

Last week I was particularly thankful for Tonia Farman, Kiteboarding for Cancer (KB4C) and the John Wayne Cancer Foundation (JWCF).  I found out that the one day event that Tonia organized on August 8, 2009 in Hood River raised $66,000!  KB4C raised $32,000 and The John Wayne Cancer Foundation matched this money with a $32,000 donation. 

I had met with Tonia back in the spring of last year (see blog posts from July 31 and Aug 10), and she really seemed to understand that the breast cancer prevention education work that Nuestra Comunidad Sana’s health promoters do for Latinos is important.  She decided to include The Next Door as one of KB4C’s beneficiaries and that means we are to receive $16,500 to help in our work!  This is so significant to me because it really provides a bridge between two cultures in the Gorge; the recreationalists who come to enjoy the wind and the farmworkers who pick the fruit and keep the valley vibrant.

To hear about this donation around Thanksgiving is particularly poignant.  Tonia started KB4C in memory of her beloved brother, Scott, who passed away from cancer in 2007.  This Thanksgiving, while with my loved ones, I will be making a special thanks to Tonia and Scott.

Christmas is fast approaching and the time for purchasing gifts is running out. What could be better than a personalized gift from the Disney store?! There is a wide range of personalized items to choose from including, include snowglobes, Christmas hats, Santa sacks and many more.

What makes this offer even better is that Disney has generously agreed to donate £1 to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. This offer is only valid beginning at 08:00 on Thursday 26 November until 08:00 on Monday 30 November; so take advantage of it while it lasts!

All of the proceeds go towards purchasing vital equipment, hospital refurbishments and research funding. By purchasing a personalized gift you not only make the recipient smile but make the children at Great Ormond Street Hospital smile. Get your gift here now!

At the invitation of Conexion Colombia Caroline travelled to Bogota, Colombia from the 16-19 November 2009 to present the GuideStar model to a group of over 200 NGO representatives. The meeting, titled ‘Fundraising and Innovation for NGOs’ explored a range of initiatives that promote the work of NGOs and connect them to donors and other stakeholders at national and international levels. A summary can be read in Spanish and English.

During her visit, Caroline also met with several leading organisations supporting social development and Colombian civil society:

Conexion Colombia channels resources from all around the world to a portfolio of Colombian NGOs and foundations and links diaspora Colombians to their country through a range of information services.

Compartamos con Colombia, is an NGO that promotes the Colombian nonprofit sector through strategic support and capacity building, the promotion of philanthropy and social investment, and by raising awareness of the importance of social responsibility with young entrpreneurs.

The Presidential Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation, Accion Social, coordinates, promotes and carries out international cooperation policies, plans and projects which contribute to the social and economic development of Colombia, and to reducing the poverty of Colombians who have been affected by violence, illicit crops and who live in conditions of vulnerability.

And last but not least, ONG por la Transparencia (NGOs for Transparency) seeks to increase NGO visibility and make publicly available information that seeks to strengthen the credibility of the sector and increase public support for the work of these important organisations.

There was significant interest in how GuideStar might help illuminate the work of Colombian NGOs and promote a culture of transparency and information that will help connect Colombians both at home and abroad with national NGOs and the communities in which they work. We look forward to continuing these initial conversations.

We are very proud of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes (and all the hopefuls as well) here in Canada and lately we’ve been doing a better job of making sure they know it!  Sport can be expensive, and sponsorships can be hard to come by, particularly if you’re an “up and comer”.  There is a lot of travel, equipment, coaching and other things to pay for and time to have a good-paying job can be scarce with all the practice that is necessary to reach the level of skill needed to compete on the highest global level.  For Vancouver 2010, there are a lot of ways to help support our athletes financially, to help them focus on their sport (and not their finances) and to help them reach their dream (and ours!) of reaching the podium in 2010!  Here are some of the ways that you can help!

Donate directly to Own the Podium through the Canadian Olympic Foundation.

The Canadian Olympic Foundation raises money for Winter and Summer athletes and is a great way to be involved.  A neat way to go though, if you like pins is to donate here but by ‘purchasing’ pins donated by Molson’s!  You get pins, the athletes get support!  Cool!  Good on ya Molson!  There are also reusable Molson Olympic bags available!  I have already donated here to get my pins, have you?

*     *     *     *     *

Everyone loves these! And they will make great stocking stuffers for Christmas! They're super warm too!

Next up… Red Mittens!  These things are hotter than hot cakes!!  They fly off of the shelves (sometimes out of our hands as we’re trying to fill shelves!).  Red Mittens cost $10 + tax per pair with about $4 of that going to help fund athletes!  It’s pretty sweet!  There are three sizes available, adult’s S/M, adult’s L/XL, and children’s (one size only).  We just got some Mittens in today at the Olympic Superstore so come in quick before we sell out again, or check your local Bay or Zellers stores!

*     *     *     *     *

Also at Bay (and I think Zellers) stores you can find little paper toque cut-outs (I don’t seem to be able to find a picture of one, I’ll try to get one tomorrow to post…).  For a minimum $1 donation you can write a message to our Canadian athletes on the toque.  The toques will be delivered to our athletes to read in the Athlete’s Village while they are here to compete!  How cool is that??  We have heard back from athletes about this sort of program and they say it means a lot to them to have messages from across Canada.  The Athlete’s Villages are going to be great, but family and friends aren’t really able to get there to visit, so the athletes can feel a little isolated.  These messages remind them that we’re all standing behind them cheering them on!  Go Canada!!  (OK… I must really believe in this one… I just made myself cry thinking about how special it would feel to get these sorts of messages… please do come in and donate to this wonderful program, thank you!).

*     *     *     *     *

Buy beer, support Canadian athletes! Sounds so darned Canadian...

Alright, you stopped and got your Red Mittens, and left a message on a toque cut-out, on your way home you may want to swing by a shop and grab a case of Molson Canadian!  Just be sure to grab a specially marked case that features the “Give’r” campaign!  Molson will donate $5 from every “Give’r” case sold to Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes!  Plus, there is a PIN number that you can enter onto their “Give’r” contest website where you could win “The Ultimate 2010 Winter Games experience in Vancouver”!!  Sounds good, no??  Heck yes it does!

Oh, and while you’re poking around the Molson Canadian website, be sure to upload a photo of yourself to be added to their 2010 Mural Project which is being built on the side of the Molson building on Burrard Street in Vancouver!  It’s pretty darned fun (I submitted tonight, so hopefully I’ll be included!).

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OK, that was a few of the ways that you can help out, but I know there are a lot more.  Do you know of one that you’d like everyone to know about?  Please share the information by posting up a comment!  The more the merrier!

*     *     *     *     *

One last thing, just a quick reminder about my current pin contest, you could win a Visa Mascot pin!!  Find the details here! Good luck!  Bonne chance!

]]> http://livingthenonprofitlife.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/two-places-to-find-money/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:17:19 +0000 livingthenonprofitlife http://livingthenonprofitlife.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/two-places-to-find-money/

The Staten Island Not for Profit Association had two interesting pieces in their latest newsletter:

1. Chase and Facebook launch innovative giving program for small and local charities: JP Morgan Chase will give away money to organizations based on the number of votes they receive from Facebook members. Awards are $1 million top prizes,  $100,000 for the five runners-up, and $25,000 for 100 finalists. If you can handle that much cash (not every organization is geared up to manage or spend large amounts of money), it might be worth drumming up votes among your Facebook friends and fans. See http://apps.facebook.com.
2. New Fame for the Everyday Donor is a New York Times article. The author Stephanie Strom points out that, although non-profits often scour the earth for big donors, going after the little donors may be at least as effective. For example, the average March of Dimes gift is only $14, but those $14’s add up to 22 percent of their revenue. Check it out–the stories she finds are pretty good.

Here’s a small one from the Conference House: This year, because we had a sponsor for our Halloween Harvest Fair, admission was free. Hoping to make up some of the revenue we might be losing,* one of the board members grabbed a big plastic kibbles container, cut a slot in the top, labeled it “Donations,” and put it out at the gate. She was shocked to find out that, by the end of the day, the container contained more than $500.

Moral of the story: Always put out a donation bucket.

* The sponsor couldn’t cover all expenses, so we weren’t sure if food and blow-up ride sales would make up for some of our upfront costs.