May 2008 Entries
When most people think about raising money as a new organization, they think about getting a grant from a Christian foundation. That's not a bad idea. A foundation that aligns with your mission can certainly go a long ways to helping provide seed money to get you going.
But keep in mind that is the best approach for a foundation--to provide seed money to help get you going. Seed money is start up money. It helps you get off the ground. For some foundations, seed money is a one year grant. For others it is a three year grant that typically...
posted @ Friday, May 30, 2008 7:49 AM |
Many organizations miss the obvious.
Most fundraising is focused on getting cash. There's direct mail, and lots of ways to do that. There's foundation work--developing relationships with foundations, submitting grant proposals and ideally receiving grant proposals. For the more mature organization, they may well focus upon online giving, including credit card and electronic transfer transactions. For the most mature, they may well add a planned giving component.
A quick note on planned giving: most are slow to enter this area because it means a long wait typically. Sometimes a planned gift is 10-30 years in the making. It usually requires a different...
posted @ Thursday, May 29, 2008 7:32 AM |
How do you write a grant for a Christian foundation?
Not long ago, I had a Christian organization submit a grant request to our foundation. It was a long, long narrative about their grand vison and how they were going to change the world through their ministry. They were going to reach everyone from children to seniors and they were going to accomplish this ministry from around the world. From a writing perspective, it was one long paragraph, and one long run on sentence. When they didn't get the grant, they were upset. They reasoned, "hey, we are a Christian organization...
posted @ Wednesday, May 28, 2008 7:16 AM |
It is not as simple as one might think--getting a grant from a Christian foundation. On the other hand, it's a lot simpler than many people think. Most Christian foundations start out with some key areas where they want to give grants. If you fit into those key areas you have a better chance of getting a grant.
How do you find out those focus areas? Look at grants that the foundation has given to in the past. Typically, a foundation has a pattern of organizations that they fund. If a foundation has only given to overseas international organizations and you...
posted @ Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7:55 AM |
Most people think that if they find a Christian foundation that gives grants to Christian organizations, then they have found the solution to their problems. They think: Christian organization + Christian foundation = money. The answer is not that simple, unfortunately.
There are over 80,000 foundations in the United States. However, that number can be reduced dramatically. Many of these foundations don't give to Christian organizations. There are only approximately 5,000 plus foundations that give to Christian organizations. Even among the foundations that identify themselves as Christian, there are only a small number of these foundations that actually accept grant requests.
It...
posted @ Monday, May 26, 2008 7:08 PM |