About This Action Guide
The Four "R's"
- Relevance: Your issue needn’t be top of mind, but people who aren’t aware of it aren’t going to support it.
- Reputation: People listen to those they know. Groups should cultivate a reputation for impact and effectiveness. Earn some wins – even on small projects – and your name will get around.
- Relationships: Funds are given by people to people even when it’s done under an institutional umbrella. The challenge? To build real relationships with the people who have it to give.
- Results: Don’t report “outputs.” Produce “outcomes.” Donors want to make a difference. Simply saying you’ve planted 100 trees, or hosted 50 people at a community workshop doesn’t mean much. Show donors how their contributions improved people’s lives.
Step One: Stand Up, Stand Out
To earn funding, you must be viewed as part of the solution to an acknowledged problem in your community. In this section you’ll learn how to find potential partners who care about the same things you do.
Step Two: Address Funder Needs, Not Just Your Own
While every potential funder may agree on the basic need — e.g. child health — each may favor a different solution. This section will help you articulate ideas in ways that resonate with people and organizations who might be disposed to hear your pitch.
Step Three: Speak Their Language
Fundraising is mostly about relationships. In this section, we’ll offer some tips to ensure you’re not just listened too, but heard and understood.
Step Four: Budget for Success
Some people are reluctant to talk about money. And when they do, they sometimes tend to downplay what they need and ask for an amount they think they’ll get. This section lays out the pitfalls of selling your project short — and how you might avoid them.
Step Five: Go Public
If a project is conceived at your office, and nobody knows about it, does it really exist? This section introduces a few of the ways you can tell your story in ways people will notice.
Step Six: Track progress
It’s almost impossible to get where you want unless you know where you’ve been. Your fundraising journey will include many stops. This section offers links to low- or no-cost software that can reduce (but never eliminate) the task of record-keeping.
Step Seven: Stay in Touch
It’s not the Wizard of OZ.
Donors in particular don’t like to disappear behind the curtain once the check is written. They’ll appreciate being kept up to date on what you’re doing, and what you’ve accomplished. This section explains why and how you should bring donors, partners and residents along for the entire journey.