Jun 2-4, 2006
Is your organization getting what it needs to survive? Last year, individuals contributed over 250 billion dollars to nonprofits. An understanding of fundraising is essential to continue your mission. People are willing to pay for work they want to have happen, but can’t do themselves. When we don’t ask, we miss the opportunity to involve people in our work.
We’ll focus on organizations with budgets of less than one million dollars, though the principles apply just as much to larger organizations. You’ll learn how to choose a fundraising strategy, diversify your funding sources, manage your fundraising tasks, and ensure that your organization can grow and thrive in the long term. Strategies will include personally soliciting major gifts, direct mail and on-line, special events planning, identifying prospects, motivating boards, and getting donors to give more money every year. We will explore taboos about asking for money and have practice sessions.
Raising money doesn’t have to be as hard as people make it. Learn how to raise money for your operating expenses by tapping into the biggest source of donations: individuals giving regular, repeated, and increasingly larger gifts. Successful fundraising hinges on having a group of volunteers who are willing and able to ask for money. Clarify roles and responsibilities of board members and volunteers, learn to recruit board members willing to raise money, and move your board toward acceptance, excitement, and action in fundraising.
Some of an organization’s problems that seem to be about money are really about staffing problems or an inactive board. By knowing what’s a fundraising problem and what isn’t, a group can move forward with both fundraising and dealing with its other problems.
The philosophy underlying Kim Klein’s work is longterm commitment to social justice and the knowledge of what can sustain that work over the long haul. She knows the difficulties of organizations that are under-staffed and under-resourced and provides practical assistance for organizations wanting a long and healthy life. For greatest results, have a board and staff member attend this workshop together. It will be fun — Kim is a great stand-up comic. Laugh and learn!
Kim Klein is the founder and publisher of the Grassroots Fundraisng Journal, now celebrating 25 years of publication. She is the author of many books, including Fundraising for Social Change, Fundraising for the Long Haul, Raise More Money, (edited with her partner, Stephanie Roth), and Fundraising in Times of Crisis. She is a Project Team member of the Building Movement Project and an adjunct faculty member at the Haas School of Business at the University of California. She has taught fundraising in all 50 states and 21 countries. Find more www.grassrootsfundraising.org.
“You have, I hope, some idea of how inspiring you are to so many. I run across people who have been turned on to fundraising by you, all over the country!”
—Jo Moore, Fundraising Consultant