Finding a Donor – Made Easy

Today, I would like to shine the spotlight on a great website / resource to access when looking for potential grant-makers – The Grantsmanship Center!  Here's are several benefits that make this group (TGCI) so valuable:

1) Search for Proposals / Proposals by Subject.  Imagine – being able to find and read Abstracts (Executive Summaries) of Winning Grant Proposals!  The groups that actually received the money – on-line and at no cost.  You can gain invaluable insight into how to craft a winning proposal by reading the Abstracts that interest you.  You can also order – for a modest price – the Library of Winning Grants on a CD-ROM.

2) Find Grant Resources for your State.  I was looking for potential donors in my home state – California.  Click here and you will find links to: Top 40 California Foundations that Give Grants; California Community Foundations; California-based Corporate Giving Programs, etc.  Wow!  TGCI has neatly collected and organized all of the major sources of funding for your state on one page.  Research was never so easy!  Thanks TGCI!

3) Access to a library of great articles and training tools to help you to improve your skills in grantsmanship – most of them free or at low-cost.

Later this month I will go into some of these features in greater details.  We will explore a Winning Abstract – what made it stand out? and we will discuss Community Foundations and Corporate Giving strategies.

Please join me in giving a round of applause to The Grantsmanship Center!  They provide a great service to all of us.

Do you have a favorite website or resource that you use when seeking donations?  Please share it with our readers.  We would love to hear from you!

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Update on California State Funding for Arts Education

I want to salute the fine work of The California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE) in helping to restore state funding for quality arts education in California.  They played a key role leading up to Governor Schwarzeneeger signing the historic bill that provides:

1) A block grant of $105 million to support standards-aligined arts instruction from Kindergarten through the 12th grade.  The funding will be allocated on an equal amount per pupil per school site.

2) $500 million on a one-time basis for the purchase of arts, music and/or physical education professional development, supplies and equipment.

CAAE has sent me a file – which I have attached – that explains the funding and answers the most frequently asked questions about it.

I am sure that we are all eager to see the money allocated and if you run a business I am sure that you can imagine the impact this spending might have on you.

However, as arts advocates we must always remember that we fight on behalf of children – the students who will benefit from increased exposure to and instruction in the arts.  Our role is to make sure that the decision makers hear the perspectives of all key stakeholders – administrators, teachers, parents, community and business leaders, and representative of arts organizations – before deciding how to implement the funding.

Please go to the website for The California Alliance for Arts Education – www.artsed411.org – and take advantage of the many valuable resources that they offer.  Become informed and be prepared. Let your voice be heard.  The arts make a difference for all of us!

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Connecting with Your Audience

I was browsing through a few business books this morning, looking for an idea.  Along the way, I found this gem that I would like to share with you:

“The famous conductor Eugene Ormandy – The Philadelphia Orchestra – once said: “There are two types of conductors: one has his head in the score and the other has the score in his head.'”

– From: “Present Like a Pro”, by Cyndi Maxey and Kevin O'Connor

We have all seen speakers who keep their head down – buried in their prepared remarks – and boring us to sleep.  How is it possible to put any energy into your remarks if you are simply reading your speech?

Most of all – how can you possibly connect with your audience or respond to their reactions?  You can't!  So why bother?  Just mail in your comments, because you are just mailing in your speech!

I play the piano.  I enjoy it and lately I have been able to play more often.  Last week I did a couple of mental exercises relating making music to delivering a speech.  As I played a familiar song, I imagined that I was actually delivering a speech to an imaginary audience – I knew the lyrics to this song, so I was telling them a story.

Try this sometime – it is really an amazingly effective excercise.  Since I knew the basic material (the song and the lyrics) I concentrated on my delivery – and my connection with my (imaginary) audience.  I tuned into how I could use devices (rests, tone, volume, cadence, repetition, contrast) to improve my performance.

When we speak, it is important to remember to “write for the ear.”  When we speak we must concentrate on how we are heard (by our audience.)

If you do not play music, you can still do this exercise – listen to a favorite piece of music. How did the singer or instrumentalist connect with you?  If they did not connect, why not?

You can compose an excellent piece of music – but it is the performance that makes the song memorable.  So too with public speaking.

 

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Arts Funding Newsletter for October 4

Ok – It is Wednesday – And Wednesday's in October are special this year – The Foundation Center is honoring The Arts with their 5th Annual Funding for the Arts special focus.

If you have not yet signed up for the special Arts Funding Newsletter – it is free! – I am attaching it here – as a file.

 

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The Process of Change

“People go through four stages before any revolutionary development: 1) It's nonsense; don't waste my time. 2) It's interesting, but not important. 3) I always said it was a good idea. 4) I thought of it first.”

– Arthur C. Clarke

Each of us, regardless of the industry we work in; or the point where we are in life or career, is always at one of these stages.  Understand that this is a cycle – by the time you are saying , “I thought of it first,” you are likely to say “It's nonsense” about something else.

The only certainty in life is change.  How we approach change – our attitude towards the inevitability of change is what counts:

“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”

– Bertha Calloway

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Book Review – Winning the Toughest Customer

If you are in sales or marketing you need to get this book – and take its message to heart.  That is, if you really want to grow your sales or market share.

This is not a “preachy” book.  It doesn't shout, “Understand women or else…”  Yes, the statistics are compelling: Women make or influence over 80% of all purchases made in America today; 48% of all privately-held businesses in the USA are majority woman-owned, etc.  But the book is really about understanding how to sell to anyone the way they want to be sold to, in the way that will make them want to buy from you and keep them coming back for more.  A winning approach!

There is no “psycho-babble” here.  Just a very well-written logical approach to understanding how women think, why the react as they do and how to reach them – and keep them as customers – and as a valuable source of referrals.

Here are two key concepts from the book:

“Many women will buy from you not because they understand what you are selling but because you understand !”

“A woman will buy when she feels confident about her decision.  What women want is information enabling them to gain the confidence they need to move the sale forward,  What they want is the knowledge necessary to make a good decision for themselves.”

I read this book just before my wife hosted a bridal shower for 30 women at our house.  As I silently listened and observed their conversations and actions the concepts that Delia Passi presented in this book really “rang true.” 

If you have ever grown frustrated trying to sell to a woman; gotten angry when they said, ” I have to think about this some more.” or just generally wondered why it takes woman so long to make up their mind – if they ever do… the payoff for you is:

“The time spent acquiring and retaining women customers will ultimately lead to more business generated per customer, twice as many referrals, and a tendency to create greater word-of-mouth marketing for you and your brand.”

I'm sold!  And I now have a better understanding of how to sell to and understand women.  I recommend this book

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Winning the Toughest Customer

I posted a new photo to Photos.

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How Do I Find a Donor?

It is not too difficult to find potential donors and grantmakers.  The difficulty is finding the right grantmaker for your organization and your program(s).  There are hundreds of thousands of organizations that give money or provide in-kind services each year.  The database of Grantsmart contains the public record tax returns (IRS Document 990-PF) for 103,193 private foundations and charitable trusts.  Add in the millions of individuals who give money, goods and service time each year and the list of possible donors is virtually limitless.

 

And that is exactly the point.  If you want to be successful in obtaining grants you must “limit” your search for donors and grantmakers.  Actually, a better word is “focus.”  Learn to focus your search efforts.  Here is some great advice on researching funders direct from The Foundation Center website:

 

“Researching funders that will turn out to be good prospects takes time, but the results should be well worth this investment.  Be realistic in your expectation.  Foundations and other grantmakers cannot meet all or even most of your financial needs.  The vast majority of the money given to nonprofit organizations is actually donated by individuals.  Foundations and corporations combined currently provide approximately 16.5% of all philanthropic gifts, but their grants can make up an important part of your support.

Do not make the mistake of focusing all your efforts on one ‘ideal’ funder.  Your prospect list should include a number of options.  Even the most experienced proposal writers receive many more letters of rejection than they do grants.  You should avoid compiling a list of several hundred ‘pie-in-the-sky’ prospects and sending off a mass mailing of your proposal.  Approaching a funder for support is a highly individualized process that should be conducted in a businesslike manner.”

Great advice – from the experts!  There are several key points in those two paragraphs that we will discuss in future posts.

 

As you focus your research note the following common limitations:

  1. Geographic – many foundations and corporations limit eligibility for grants to specific geographic areas.  Observe and respect this!
  2. Financial – What is the range of grants that this foundation makes?  If they state that no grant will exceed $10,000, don’t ask for $25,000.  Not only will you be rejected immediately, you will have earned a terrible reputation for not respecting the wishes of the grantmaker.
  3. Timing – Many foundations have specific time frames for considering grant applications.  By all means, respect this – submitting your application late – even by one hour means instant rejection.
  4. Type of Grant – The foundation will most likely state the type of grants (operational, programmatic, endowment, etc.) that they will fund.  This is mandated by the charter of each foundation and you must respect it.  We will discuss this further in a subsequent post.

 

To assist you with your research I once again point you to The Foundation Center’s website.  Here is the URL for a practical and concise “Prospect Worksheet.:  This is for institutions but they also have one for individual prospects.  You have your choice of format: PDF, Word, Excel, etc.  This is an invaluable tool – please take advantage of it!

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Show me the money

When I begin a presentation on Grant Writing, I frequently ask audience members if they remember the famous line from the 1996 film, “Jerry Maguire.”  Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays a talented athlete and he memorably asks his agent (Tom Cruise) to “Show me the Money!”

And since you are reading an article on seeking grants, I can imagine that that is your first thought – “Who has the money and how can I get it – fast?”

Fortunately, thanks to the mostly volunteer efforts of the people who run Grantsmart, researching potential sources of funding is relatively easy.  You can start your research from any computer that has Internet access.

The Grantsmart website – www.grantsmart.org has scanned, sorted and disseminates all public record tax returns for Private Foundations and Charitable Trusts in the USA.  As of July, 2006 their search-able database contains 611,494 tax returns for 103,193 foundations and trusts.  This is a massive undertaking (by Grantsmart) but for you – the Grant Seeker – it is an incredible resource!

Because the IRS has granted non-profit status to these foundations and trusts their tax returns are a matter of public record.  The specific section of the return that you want to look at is Form 990 and it is located towards the end of each tax return.

In exchange for permitting non-profit status, the government mandates that each foundation and trust actually spend a portion of their assets each year.  Generally, they must spend 5% of their assets each year or risk losing their status as a non-for-profit organization.

When you look at each Form 990 you will see which individuals or organizations received funding – and the amount of each grant – for that tax year.

Here's how to get the most out of the search-able database of Grantsmart.  I'll detail an actual search that I did this morning:

1) First I searched for all foundations in CA – California, that had assets greater than $10 million dollars.  This returned 269 tax returns – for the year 2005 – sorted in alphabetical order.

2) Once I found a few recognizable names I clicked to see the actual tax return – via the free Adobe PDF format.  I made a few notes in my records for later research.  I was looking for foundations and trusts that might fund a program for one of my clients.

3) I narrowed the search down by Zip Code.  Looking at a single Zip Code I found on 1 foundation with assets greater than $10 million for the year 2005.

4) When I lowered my threshold to foundations with assets greater than $100,000 I found 15 foundations and trusts.

When you are looking for more information about possible funders, Grantsmart is a great starting point.  Be sure to keep a notebook handy and also write down the 9-digit EIN (Employer Informant ion Number) for each foundation that you are interested in.  Having this EIN number handy will facilitate future searches.

Be sure to look at the individuals and organizations who received grants from the foundation.  You may recognize them!  If so, do additional research – what made them attractive to the foundation?  What were they able to accomplish with the grant?  Does the foundation still fund programs in this area?

Please share your questions and stories with our readers.  We want to hear from you!

 

 

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Funding for the Arts Month

I just received an email newsletter from The Foundation Center.  They announced that October is their 5th Annual Funding for The Arts Month!

During the month of October they will:

1) List up-to-the-minute information on foundations funding the Arts.

2) Profile groups, programs and individuals who have received funding/

3) Meet key grantmakers who support the Arts, and much more.

Click here for the Press Release announcing Funding for the Arts Month.

If you are in or are interested in The Arts you should sign up for their free monthly newsletter – Arts Funding Watch.  Click here for a sample.

I will commit to contributing at least 3 posts a week during October to share my knowledge, experience and insigts on funding for The Arts.

Please feel free to ask questions about funding and grant opportunities for The Arts.  I will do my best to answer them.  We also would like to hear from individuals and groups who have received grants for Arts programs.  Please share your experiences with our readers.

The Arts Matter.  Let's make a difference!

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