January 26, 2004

From the number of questions and traffic to our site on January 14, it's pretty clear than fundraising is a top-priority issue for many of you. Your questions proved there is no shortage of great ideas and enthusiasm for addressing issues and conditions that concern children.

Several of you asked if we thought funding in 2004 for social programs for children was increasing or decreasing and shared experiences of receiving far more rejections of requests for funding than ever before. Molly from Denver asked what we thought were the three major concerns regarding funding, aside from the obvious.

There's no question that tough economic times have had an adverse impact on foundations, big and small. Some development officers are thinking that we may have weathered the worst of this, but it's difficult to say that with any certainty. From Connect for Kids' experience, I'd say that funding for 2004 has neither increased nor decreased significantly. Funders are looking very carefully at outcomes, as they should, and those of us who spend most of our time raising money must work very hard to justify our "ask" and verify our claims.

The ability to diversify our funding base is another major concern. Connect for Kids and other organizations are moving away from a reliance on foundation grants and developing strategies to involve the corporate sector and attract individual donors. What we've learned over the past 18 months is that our board of directors is key to our fundraising strategies and we work very carefully to engage our board as full partners in this enterprise.

Since we fielded a few questions about funding for after-school and rural programs, we thought this new document from the After School Alliance would be helpful. Available online, this publication contains detailed information on 30 sources of federal funding from a broad spectrum of less visible programs. These programs range from the Small, Rural School Achievement Program to the Carol M. White Physical Education Program.

Starting From Scratch
Many questions that we didn't have time to answer related to one aspect or another of starting a new nonprofit organization. There are excellent online resources that address everything from understanding the steps in the process of creating a new organization to developing and recruiting a board of directors. Connect for Kids has included a good number of these in our article, Thinking About Starting a Nonprofit?

We can't emphasis enough the need to spend time doing your homework. It's always difficult to know where to start. Here are two strong resources for those of you who are either starting a new nonprofit organization or thinking about it.

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) is a group of funders with the common interest of supporting nonprofit effectiveness. Although Tool for Assessing Startup Organizations is written for grantmakers, it provides good information for those of us seeking funds for new organizations as well. You can learn what funders worry about when it comes to supporting startup organizations and address those right from the start. Spend some time on the GEO Web site and take a look at the range of foundations whose members serve on the board of directors and work groups. Then, try an Internet search on those foundations to get a clearer idea if they are likely to support your particular project. The time spent will be worth it.

The Alliance for Nonprofit Management offers helpful information on a range of governance and management issues in its list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Local Support
A number of questions asked how best to tap local and community support for a range of activities. Researching your own backyard and strong involvement of your organization's board of directors are critical. Apologies for sounding obvious, but conducting a thorough assessment of the businesses and social organizations in your area is an important first step. I know a person in Michigan who has invested twenty-odd years in cultivating the community surrounding her recreation center. She is relentless in keeping track of new businesses (big and small) in her area and has succeeded in getting strong support year after year for the various activities her center sponsors. It takes a lot of work and keeping in touch year-round, not just when she needs funds.

A number of corporations support the interests of their employees. Keep this in mind as you research your community. Look at the utility and telecommunications companies that service your area. Call and ask if they have a community relations department or person. (If they don't, ask why.) Larger corporations have information on their corporate Web sites and often support local activities in those towns and communities where they conduct business.

Research, Research, Research!
The lesson here is that there is no shortcut to identify funding sources and the Internet offers literally thousands of resources. See what happens if you google "fundraising." Of course, not every thing that comes up in your search will be helpful.

The following are great places to start:
The Foundation Center is an excellent resource for starting your research, regardless of your issue or geographic area. When you go to this web site, check the "Quick Links" section for individual grantseekers. This section will help you use this online resource effectively. This site has a great section called "SearchZone" that can be very useful.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy is another "must" web site for your research. Even if you don't subscribe, you can go to the section called "Deadlines" and browse through current postings by foundations on what their funding priorities are.

Grants.Gov is a really good resource for finding federal grants.

And for those of you looking for new and creative fundraising activities, check out All Fundraising Companies Directory. Organized by products and by states, this resource is sponsored by more than 1,200 fundraising companies. The site includes free fundraising information, a newsletter and tips.

Process
We learned a lot from this initial Talktime. We were pleased that so many of you participated; but we also heard that the process of joining the on-line discussion was confusing for some. We're working on making our description of how to participate clearer for the next go-round. Thanks for your feedback.

We've posted a transcript of all of the questions that we were able to respond to during the one-hour chat.

Talk Back

If you've got comments or questions about this story, we'd like to hear them. Send your response to Cecilia Garcia (ceciliag@connectforkids.org).

Cecilia Garcia is the executive director of Connect for Kids.