By Holly Meyer
Running a nonprofit in rural areas such as Wyoming can lead to many funding challenges since you’re dealing with a smaller population and fewer resources.
Here are some tips to help you improve your funding sources:
Get better at telling your organization’s story
Try talking to possible funders as if they are your friends. They may end up funding your organization as though you were all in a long-term relationship.
Here is an exercise for you to try: How do you explain what your organization does to your friends and family? Use this same method to explain your organization to possible funders.
Blaise Lucey has a blog which shows the power of telling a story. You find the link here: http://blogs.constantcontact.com/fresh-insights/marketing-story/. She gives great tips on how to find your story and how to tell your story.
Show sustainability
Demonstrate to possible funders that you have a long-term plan to fund your organization outside of their contribution. Funders want to know they are contributing to a cause that will be around for a long time.
Here is an exercise for you to try: Pretend everyone in your organization got up and left to join the circus. What plan does your organization have to ensure it will continue on beyond current staffing levels?
The following website gives some ideas on how to plan sustainability. Tiffany Applegate clearly defines what needs to go into a sustainability plan. http://www.501connect.com/non-profit-news/sustainability-planning-it-takes-more-than-money
Just do it!
Practice makes perfect! Here is another exercise for you to try: Make up a list of potential funders. Do some research on their background and see if they would be a good candidate to fund your organization.
There are several steps you can follow when making a fundraising plan for your particular nonprofit. See what Joanne Fritz has to say about these steps: http://nonprofit.about.com/od/fundraisingbasics/tp/basicfundraisingtips.htm
This video will help you see society’s benefit from philanthropy:
As this video shows, most donors give $100 or less per gift. Little gifts can add up to a lot!
Hopefully this will help instill in you a sense of inspiration towards getting funding for your small organization.
Another helpful resource is Philanthropy Northwest. This organization is helpful in connecting members to trends and resources in northwest giving.
Now it’s time for you to get out there and get the support your organization needs! Thanks for reading my blog on rural philanthropy! Please comment on anything that was helpful for you.
I think that your method of telling a story is especially key; I will be posting about nonprofit story telling later this semester! How long do you think these stories should be? Are you a proponent of the 30-second elevator pitch? Should you have different stories for different audiences?
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica,
DeleteThanks for your comment. I think the length is truly key depending on your audience. I definately think you should have different stories for different audiences based on what you hope to get across. I think the 30-second elevator pitch is a great method if you are able to get your message across in that time frame.
Hey Holly,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job in bringing up the point of storytelling. Telling possible donors what your organization is can be tough at times, but explaining it to them like you would friends and family is a great point. Good job.