K.G.
Hi D.,You might want to spend a day at The Foundation Center in SF (next door to the Sutter Stockton Garage). I think that, as part of an NGO (non-governmental organization) you can use their online search and extensive library to find potential funding sources. They have a website, and you might want to Google them and double check the guidelines for who can use their resources. If/when you write a grant proposal, be sure to answer each funders specific questions. You can write some general info but then adapt it so that it is customized to the questions a foundation asks and the language it uses. Another tip -- if you search for foundations that fund education, read their guidelines and exclusions carefully (well, actually, do that for all foundations). Many do not mean a single school. Also, check in w/ San Mateo County services, for example, any Department of Children and Youth or a department dedicated to providing services to disabled individuals. County funding can be a bureaucratic pain, but you might have better luck getting funding for one school. Also, keep in mind that the funding cycle (time from Letter of Inquiry -- LOI -- and/or proposal to notification can often take six months with either private or public funders. Finally, pretty much all funders want to know the qualifications of the people who will be implementing the program and acting as a steward for the funds. Find a business type (including non-profit management) who has the qualifications to fit the bill, both to help look over proposals and to be part of implementing the program. Especially w/ private funding, a foundation needs to believe that it will not be funding this program each year and that there's good reason to believe that, with this initial funding, the org will have the ability to thrive after the funding is done. Sometimes the county is willing to fund year after year because you're dealing with a dept that exists to help specific citizens of the county who need add'l services. Even with county, though, you need to demonstrate that the money is in capable hands, and not just for the teaching aspects of the program though that will certainly be important to demonstrate for all funders. Finally, grants are not a terribly efficient way to fund an org. The hit rate can be quite low (I've heard one in seven as a standard number), foundations all have their own requirements, funding is usually only for one-two years, and the time from when you start writing to when you get funding is many months. You might want to try grassroots fundraising first -- maybe a two page letter. You can ask every parent to send it to at least 10 friends, writing a personal note on each typed letter specific to the recipient -- nothing fancy, just, "this is where my son goes to mommy and me classes. there are few options in our area that provide effective early intervention for young children with special needs, such as Name, but Org has been a lifesaver for us and really needs the community's support. We would really appreciate anything you can give to support this program. Thanks!" and a your name. The letter itself should go out from the head of the program even if written by someone else. Some (well, many) will not want to do this, but effective NGOs follow this practice. If someone really believes in a program, he/she should be able to do this. The bottom of one of the pages can list different levels of giving, and you can set the first one at a level that makes other parents comfortable ($20?). The worst someone can do is say no. The money adds up and you can start to build a donor base. Unlike a foundation, you are not likely to lose a bunch of funding all at once with a group of individuals. Also, parents and staff all should give what they can, even if it's only $5. Foundations often will not consider funding you if you do not have an extremely high level of internal participation. Literally, ask for $1 if you need to. Why should a foundation support a school if the parents do not find the school worthy to support themselves. Funders don't care so much how much $ parents can give, but saying that 100% of parents and staff (at the very least parents) have contributed to this fundraising campaign. Best of luck! Addendum: Just looked at other responses, and, while special events can be great for raising awareness of an org and attracting potential funders, they take a ton of time, effort, and, often, money. Also, you're competing with large, long estabished organizations with name recognition. Been there, done that, and you primarily just get friends and family to attend anyway. And unless you're Meals on Wheels and have some of the top chefs in the country preparing a meal, you're still asking the same people to give money, and they give because they care about you and the org's cause, not because they get to attend the upteenth Casino Night of their lives. A direct appeal letter is easier both for the org and for potential donors (don't need to set aside a day or evening, find a sitter, etc.) and will bring money in more quickly. Good appeal letters include a p.s. at the bottom as a call to action. E.g., "Please consider giving this month so that we can meet our Spring Silly Name or Serious Name funding goals [campaign name should be in letter]. As mentioned above, meeting this goal will allow us to bring more children into our highly effective program this fall," or whatever is appropriate. The letter should not be about the org's financial troubles but rather about the human successes. Also, if you can get a good enough prize, I agree that a raffle might be a good short term solution. However, starting a proper fundraising campaign can assist you in building a donorbase that can give for years to come (at least some of them are likely to become habitual donors). Kim Klein is basically the Queen of grassroots fundraising. She puts out a great newsletter (has "Grassroots" in the name, I believe -- Google her name and grassroots). I was lucky enough to take a class from her (she's based in the East Bay), and she is amazingly knowlegeable about and successful with grassroots (i.e., individual donor) fundraising. Keep in mind that most charitable funds do not come from the ultra rich but rather the middle class. Don't waste time trying to cultivate major gifts unless you have a great connection. Lots of $20 -$100 gifts add up quickly. She was totally against special events for the reasons I mentioned above. Again, they can work well for orgs with great name recongnition and can *sometimes* help you increase your org's name recognition. However, I was in senior management at a local NGO for five years (and I also have a business degree). Our founder insisted on having a fundraising event each year and I feel that is was a huge waste of time. We put so many hours into it, never raised all that much, and didn't elevate our name recognition. The people attending were mostly people who already knew us and prolly would have responded to a letter. The same amount of gross $ would have come into us, but our net would have been far higher because of how much lower our costs would have been. Without an amazing hook, a special event takes too much time and effort for too little return.
K.
