Writing a budget for your nonprofit is a basic requirement for successful functionality and for grant applications. However, it is more than just numbers in a line-item budget. In order to qualify for many grant applications, you must also offer a budget narrative.
How Budgets Impact Grant Requests (and Funding)
Budgets are the mainstay for your annual funding planning and spending. These are required for a business to run and maintain an appropriate strategy in order to prevent loss and guarantee that expenses can be covered. This also affords the ability to see where shortfalls are and what is required to rectify that gap. Budgets also significantly impact your grant requests.
Tips to Strengthen Your Fundraising Cycle
Today, we will discuss the various things you should implement to strengthen your fundraising cycle.
Measuring Fundraising Effectiveness (Video)
Not sure how to measure your organization’s fundraising effectiveness? Or how to communicate the right message to your donors? Watch this video interview with Andy Davis, director of education at BoardSource. Andy explains how to discuss the cost to raise a dollar with your board members and how to steer the conversation with your donors from costs to focus more on impact.
Email Best Practices
Communication is a key factor in the success of any organization, especially nonprofits. Knowing the best way to communicate with your supporters, volunteers, donors, and the community is critical to your mission’s success. Knowing how to garner support through email marketing also increases your support from foundations. The following are email best practices to assist you in your nonprofit’s efforts.
Building Multiple Revenue Sources
The tools, resources, and knowledge included in this guidebook will help you to raise more money through targeted development strategies that are catered to your organization’s unique stage of development, strengths, and community resources.
This was not written by us. We have obtained this guidebook for you from Nonprofit Ready. The direct link
Planning a Fundraising Event – Event Follow Up
The final installment of our Planning a Fundraising Event focuses on the event follow up steps you need to take after the event. It is easy to assume that the work is done and all the money that was raised is all that will be raised, but that would be a mistake. The work is not complete after the event, and the fundraising for the event target is also not complete. How you take advantage of the excitement generated by the event after the event is over can have a significant impact on the overall funds raised and the impression made on donors. It can also impact your vendor relationships.
Planning a Fundraising Event – Auction
So you want to have an auction at your fundraising event. There are simple ways to do this using paper and pen. There are live auctioneers who can run the show. Then there are auction management software solutions. Today, we will discuss the many benefits of utilizing an online auction management software solution.
Planning a Fundraising Event – Fun & Games
Your event will have many entertaining facets to it. One component that is important to implement is something that makes the evening feel like it is an opportunity to have fun and play games. Games? Well, that can take many meanings, but the traditional concepts such as silent auctions, goal meters, and such are aspects that are frequently associated with competition and winning. These types of activities raise the level of excitement and motivation to participate. Don’t limit your fundraising efforts at the event to mere ticket sales or the traditional direct ask. Induce a social component which will bring a level of deeper community collaboration to participate and do what it takes to raise the funds. Plus, who doesn’t like to be a winner?
Planning a Fundraising Event – Budget
The previous installment of Planning a Fundraising Event focused on setting goals. Within the goal setting, a budget will be developed. This is to help establish the concrete numbers necessary for the cost planning for the fundraising event as well as the establishment of a fundraising goal that exceeds this budget.
Planning a Fundraising Event – Goals
Every fundraising event starts by determining a fundraising goal. This is the purpose behind the event and the driving force that generates all activities surrounding the fundraising event. Although it might seem obvious, there are many who interpret a fundraising event as a general effort to raise funds for the overall functioning of the organization. Although this can be a goal, it is more critical to identify a concrete goal.
Planning a Fundraising Event – Volunteers
Every nonprofit understands the value of good volunteers. Some are great at handling the smaller time consuming tasks and others are great at generating public support. They can help to make your event run smoothly, and they can reassure donors that they are very pleased to be involved with the organization’s efforts. They are true advocates for your nonprofit in every aspect.
Planning a Fundraising Event – Staff
This is the first in an 11 part series to walk you through the steps of fundraising event planning. Planning a fundraising event is a major undertaking. As such, it requires a significant amount of planning and budgeting to ensure that the costs and efforts truly bring positive returns. Not only do you want to make your money spent on the fundraiser returned, you want to bring in an abundance of additional funds to provide for your programs and projects. Today’s focus is on staffing.
Fundraising and Word Selection in Campaigns
Word selection can make or break your fundraising campaign efforts. How do you know when to use what word? The focus is always on how you wish to appeal to the audience and who needs to feel something. More often than not, the word that needs to be focused on, is the word ‘you.’
Multichannel Donor Relationship Development
What are multichannel donors and why do you want them? Multichannel donors contribute to your organization in multiple ways. They donate through different platforms and volunteer their services to your cause. They will be the most engaged and most consistent contributors to your nonprofit organization’s efforts. So, how do you obtain multichannel donors?
Fundraising and Donor Relationships
Today, we will discuss how all actions your nonprofit takes are interconnected. Every decision and action taken by all segments of your organization will impact every single one of your strategies, so the key focus today is on how to plan your strategies to ensure that they enhance the efforts of the other parts. If done correctly, better contributions, support, and functionality will be achieved.
Donor Stewardship
Procuring new donors is painstaking work and takes many hours for all development professionals in the nonprofit world. Much like the sales process in for-profit industries, closing on first time gifts can require continuous follow-up, repeat efforts to secure a conversation to close the gift solicitation, while ensuring that the donor feels heard, respected, and valued for their contribution to your nonprofit’s efforts. Closing the gift is not the end.
Board Best Practices
Every fiscal year, it is important for your Board to not only address the upcoming annual budget and financial reporting. It is also critical to review current board best practices.
Marketing, Development, and Donor Acquisition
Marketing is entirely based upon understanding your target market. This is true for any business, and no different for nonprofit organizations. There are different aspects to marketing.
Hiring a Grant Writer
Every nonprofit will seek grant funding at one point or another. Some wait years (or even decades) to begin this process. Others think that this is the way to start their nonprofit. It isn’t a simple as this. There are many factors at play when seeking grant funding. The writer is only one aspect.
The Importance of Governance
Choosing your board is a critical component to effective nonprofit management, obtaining 501(c)(3) status, and qualifying for grant funding.
Strategic Planning
Starting a nonprofit is time consuming and can be taxing. It is a major undertaking. Ensuring the proper forms are completed, articles of incorporation are complete, bylaws are completed, and the board is properly established is essential. The next critical step is generating your first strategic plan.
Tips for 501(c)(3) Compliance
Launching your 501(c)(3) and receiving that coveted letter of determination is just the beginning. In order to maintain your 501(c)(3) status, there are compliance regulations you must adhere to. Without complying with these regulations, you can lose your tax exempt status or even have your organization administratively dissolved due to failure to adhere to administrative compliance regulations.
Why Obtain a 501(c)(3)?
The importance of careful 501(c)(3) application and what it means.