Webinar Roundup: Finding New Funding Options in Tough Economic Times

The FundRaising Success webinar, "Finding New Funding Options in Tough Economic Times," last week featured an all-star cast of fundraising mavens who presented strategies, tips and tangible examples for nonprofits looking to not just survive but also thrive during the current economic downturn.

Among the presenters were Heather Burton, senior marketing manager at Sage Nonprofit Solutions; Jean Block, managing partner at Social Enterprise Ventures; Kurt Aschermann, president of Charity Partners; and Charlie Kunzer, marketing associate at Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres.

In his presentation, Aschermann drew on his experiences working on corporate relationships for Boys & Girls Clubs of America to offer tips for creating a for-profit mentality within your organization.

His first tip? Shut up and listen. Fundraisers won't be able to understand potential partners' needs if they don't take the time to listen to them. The second key tip was to become a part of a corporate partners' business strategy rather than just being the charity they support.

Aschermann outlined the following 10 key steps to do this:

1. Accept the new world. Understand the importance of the Web as a tool of business today, and be flexible in your planning (i.e., forget about rigid, long-term planning).
2. Get buy-in. From the board, from management, from the whole organization.
3. Create, protect and enhance the brand so that when prospects hear the name of your organization, they have the right idea of what you're about. And build, manage and educate the board so they're on-point with the mission and message of your organization.
4. Understand your product line. Do a features/benefits analysis to discover your Unique Service Proposition.
5. Develop guidelines. What will you do? What won't you do?
6. Learn business talk. Among other things, this shows potential partners that you understand the world in which they operate.
7. Learn proposal-less fundraising. Keyword: listen.
8. Understand the needs of every audience.
9. Know how to use and employ the "Got It, Need It, Can't Do It expectation-management system." For example, figure out what your organization has and what it needs, and align that with an organization whose "Gots" and "Needs" make for a good fit.
10. Use basic account-management principles. An example of this is a COG (corporate opportunities group).

Click here to hear a recording of the webinar and download presentation slides. Cost to view the webinar is $65; it will be available on demand through April 27.