Ok...I've given you about five times as much "face time" as you can reasonably expect from people in your community. I've already answered the questions you keep asking. Good luck.
I'm trying to figure out why I need anyone else for my project. Why can't it just be a one-person show? I'm a control freak. One time I talked to a guy who said he wanted to be an event planner, and he started giving me all kinds of "opinions" on how I should change my organization to do this and that, so I never talked to him again. I do it all myself. I fill out my 501(c )3 without using an attorney, etc. The only other thing I can think of is to get volunteers from the local university. I did that one time, too.
i thought you were looking for donations. you need other people to make those donations. unless you're independently wealthy and are just planning to donate a million of your own dollars, you need someone else to donate to your project. and you need to network with them so that they will do so.
Well yea, but I can't exactly just knock on their doors. And I don't want to do a phone solicitation thing..... so how do I get to them?
Can you say it one more time in plain English. I must have missed it. Was it to call the Chamber of Commerce? Call a hospital?
get involved in community organizations and make connections with people. help out with their causes, and then once they get to know you, ask them to donate to your cause. and try not to ask them to repeat themselves a million times.
What "community organizations" do you mean? Other non-profits? Government departments? The local little league baseball team?
Are you really this dense? Wiz gave you spot on advice, down to losing your ass on events. I know the finances of several NPO venue/music schools and without local tax income, they'd be sunk. Nolo Press has a decent book on fundraising with events for non profits.
What is the name of that book? I couldn't find it on their website. And I don't see how it would benefit me to spend my time volunteering for other organizations. And as far as asking for donations from other "foundations," that doesn't seem to make sense because these other foundations are non-profits themselves, so why would they give theirs to me? I am just turning it around and giving it to various university research programs. For example, there is a very well-known foundation that serves a very similar purpose to mine and that is the Christopher Reeve Foundation. They get the majority of their donations from individuals. It would make no sense for me to ask them to donate to my charity. Why on Earth would they do that? So what are the other ways, other than "events," that I could contact people directly. Obviously, using the Internet is a good idea, but besides those two?
They have two. I specifically referred to "the Volunteers' guide to fundraising" The other is effective non profit fundraising, or something like that. My copy is on loan right now.
hey richard, i live in florida! whats up bro, have you registered your non-profit yet? from reading your questions, you sound like your in the planning phase of your non-profit. getting donations is actually way in future, first you have to do quite a bit of work with the irs. its not the same as starting a business. there are more costs, more forms to fill out, there are federal costs, state costs. just like a company, you have to think about how your going to run it before you start asking for donations. one thing that i have learned from successful non-profits, (i have worked for 2 in florida, JPEF and Educate Tomorow), is that they make use of client database software specifically for non-profits. i forget what the software is called, but i can find out for you. they make records of everything including who they are getting donations from, when they are donating, the amounts, how often, etc. i have also started three diffrent companies in south florida, so when people say "this guy doesn't know what hes talking about" it translates to "this guy is obviously not experienced in this and we therefore can't trust him".