SEMINARS Passia Seminar 1999 Media and Communication Skills

 

 

Kathy Sullivan

 

 

 

Essential Fundraising Materials

 

Communications with potential donors should always be tailored to their specific interests and guidelines, based on research. Following are the most important basic pieces of writing that your organization is likely to need to initiate and respond to funding opportunities. They can be modified and reassembled to suit each purpose. Remember, the quality of organiza­tion-wide planning, discussion and consensus building that precede writing is the most important factor in your success. Trying to make a fundamen­tally weak idea sound/look good is a waste of organizational resources and the donor's time. You will lose credibility with im­portant donors.

 

·       Organization Mission Statement: defines your ‘message’, your rea­son for existing and major organizational strategies and priorities. Spells out how your organization is special, addresses a neglected constituency or has developed an approach that makes a different or unique contribu­tion. Spend time drafting it and keep it short; you will incorporate it into most of your fundraising and public relations materi­als.

 

·       Brochure or Fact Sheet: briefly outlines your mission, history, struc­ture and achieve­ments. Demonstrates the organization's capability and wor­thi­ness of support. A useful enclosure for all kinds of fundraising and public relations purposes. Keep it simple, not too flashy, and up-dated.

 

·       Letter of Inquiry: very concisely (maximum two pages) summarizes the organization's mis­sion/capabilities and describes the project or pro­grams for which funding is being sought. A prelimi­nary letter to see if the potential donor is interested in receiving a concept paper or full-fledged proposal. A highly condensed proposal, which should cover each of the compo­nents in a few sentences or paragraph (e.g., key problems, how you intend to address them, projected impact of the project, etc.). Clearly state the amount of money you are seek­ing and when you will phone to follow up.

 

·       Concept Paper: summarizes a proposed project or program area for which funding is sought. More expanded than a letter of inquiry but without all the details of a full proposal, covering: organizational back­ground; the need for/significance of the project; project plan; expected results; and cost estimate.

·       Project Proposal: requests full or partial funding for a particular proj­ect and includes all of the information needed for the donor to make a deci­sion. (See ‘Proposal-Writing Tips’ below.)

 

·       Core Activity/Program Proposal: requests partial funding for a ‘core,’ usually ongoing, activity of the organization. The proposal should cover all of the projects, services or ac­tivities and constituen­cies involved in the program area.

 

·       General Support Proposal/Case Statement: requests ‘unrestricted’ funds to support your activities, to spend as the organization sees fit. Could be in full proposal format or a shorter ‘letter proposal.’ Must make a strong case for the organization's mission, its ef­fectiveness in ad­dress­ing a need/problem and its trustworthiness (finan­cial/administrative controls).

 

·       Individual Donor Letters: address different categories of prospective individual donors, summarizing in a more personal way the main points of your mission and case state­ments and any program or proj­ect activi­ties for which you may also be seeking support from individu­als/smaller businesses in the local or international community. Kept to two pages, usually sent with a brochure and a card to be completed and returned with the do­nation. May be sent with more complex at­tachments as a follow-up to a personal solicita­tion visit with a very wealthy prospective donor, to restate the request.

 

·       Acknowledgement Letters/Receipts: thank donors for their support, provide a receipt, and restate briefly how the funds will be used and re­ported (reflecting donor specifica­tions).

 

 

 

A letter of inquiry is like a mini-proposal. It touches on every main com­ponent of a full proposal, conveys an organization's credibil­ity and effec­tiveness and outlines the activity for which funding is re­quested in a very condensed format. Use one of your own projects as the basis for drafting a letter of inquiry to a real or imaginary potential donor. Complete each section of the letter, as described in the numbered items be­low. Maxi­mum text should not exceed two typed pages, on letter­head.

 

CONTACT NAME                                                                           DATE

CONTACT TITLE

FOUNDATION/DONOR NAME

ADDRESS

 

 

Dear ______________,

 

1.     Draft a strong first paragraph requesting funds and summarizing how they will be used. Interest the funder by mentioning as­pects of your activity that match its interests (based on your re­search).

2.     Describe the need for the project or organization. What are the key problems you address? Provide some general background on the problem/need but focus on the aspects you plan to ad­dress. (Three-four paragraphs, maximum.)

 

3.     Describe how the project/organization will address this problem - how you will make a difference. Show why your strategy/ or­ganization is the most appropriate way to meet these needs. May include some history of your organization's involvement in these issues. (Two paragraphs.)

 

4.     Describe major accomplishments of your organization (or the projected impact of your project) in both numerical and human terms. (Three-four paragraphs.)

 

5.     Show the significance of your efforts beyond the immediate tar­get group - as a pilot project for replication or as a model with national or international significance. (One paragraph.)

 

6.     Indicate how the funds will be used; mention if some needed funds have already been secured from internal or other external sources, and whether you have already begun work on prelimi­nary phases of a project (but need ‘x’ amount to complete). Never claim to have received money from somewhere when you did not, even if some of the big donors ask you to detail previous sources of donations.

 

7.     Close with a clear request for a specific amount of money. (“ABC Organization requests $xx,xxx from the XYZ Foundation/ Corporation.") Mention the other materials you are attaching or enclosing with the letter (brochure, newsletter, newspaper arti­cle about your organization, current budget, proof of non­profit status[1], etc.). Describe the next step. If you need to have their decision by a certain date, say so. Otherwise, state that you will phone to follow up within a few weeks. Conclude by saying that you would like to discuss the matter in person and would be more than happy to provide additional information, should it be required. You may also invite them to visit your organization or its project sites, as appropriate. (One paragraph.)

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Name (Your Executive Director or Chair, Board of Directors)

Title

 

 

 

 

Tips on Dealing with (potential) Donors

 

Look for potential donors before you sit down and write the proposal, be­cause proposals need to be tailored to the donor and by having a better idea of who is interested in what, you will more likely write a proposal that meets with their approval. Never go to a donor and ask, “What are you funding these days?” as this implies that all you are interested in is money. If one is not familiar with the donors or their activities, is it acceptable to call them and ask for their website or information brochure or even their funding guidelines.

 

With fundraising, it is usually of great advantage if the person asking for the money is known to the donor, although that does not mean that someone else having a stronger relationship with the donor than you should preclude you from being introduced. In fact, it is far healthier, once it has been es­tablished that the donor is going to be a long-term supporter of your organi­zation or whatever, if that senior person, usually the boss, then passes the relationship on, therefore allowing it to be institutionalized. Discussion of this issue within an organizations is not, however, always easy.

 

Giving a benefit back to the donor is also very important. If, for example, a donor agrees to provide funds to build a school or sponsor students, you should be sure to recognize this person, thereby encouraging people who sometimes pledge money but then fail to ever write out the check to fulfill their commitments. In the case of the students, try to arrange for them to work with their sponsors in the summer, or come up with some other kind of linkage. If some people say that they cannot afford to pay a whole schol­arship, the option would be group sponsoring; let people who have agreed to sponsor the students go and ask others to do the same; it can be very powerful when one person who is already doing something goes and asks someone else in the same line of work to do the same.

 

If the donor wants something to be included in the proposal, be sure to in­clude it. It is also always good to take a look at the website of a possible funder - remember that the objective when you carry out research for fund­raising policies is to only contact the foundations likely to help you, i.e., those who have either funded projects similar to yours in the past or who state in their purpose that these are the kinds of things they are interested in funding.

 

With regard to fundraising in the Palestinian context, it is important to re­member that the Diaspora has always been there for local NGOs, and the more independent an organization wants to be, the more it should consider approaching external Palestinian sources. Perhaps Palestinians who are coming for visits during the summer should be targeted, shown what is going on and made to realize what a valuable contribution they could make. One must look at all the possibilities and decide which ones are the best given the current circumstances. Be realistic in everything you do for fundraising whether it is with someone in the community or from the Dias­pora, or a company or foundation: establish a relationship, get them inter­ested, and try not to be greedy or in too much of a hurry.

 

If a NGO is very specialized in its services or target audience, such as one providing plastic surgery for children, for example, it should focus on finding a few important people, preferably with a first-hand experience, (e.g., a fam­ily member who has some kind of disfiguration or had one but under­went surgery), and use a certain amount of tact in approaching potential donors, as many are uncomfortable with disabilities. Involving a popular artist, for example, in a campaign or as a spokesperson could prove very useful. It is important to emphasize to people that with a little bit of help, the children with whom the NGO is working could become full members of the society. The saying ‘A picture is worth a hundred words’ is usually true, but one has to know the audience. The ‘shock approach’ does not always work as many people will simply ‘switch off’ and then the message will be lost. One should always remember, however, that if a certain approach does not work, there is nothing to prevent one from trying something else.

 

 

Proposal-Writing Tips

 

In any proposal, you should deal with the goals of your organization, the concept of the project, your organization’s ability to undertake the project, the resources that you bring to it and those you would have to bring in from outside. You have to assess the need for the project in the community, which may involve gathering data.

 

Before you accept responsibility for writing a proposal, make sure that you will be sup­ported by others in the organization who are responsible for sound program research, planning and budgeting, and a realistic imple­men­tation, evaluation and reporting plan. Something you should remember is that raising money is only ten percent writing and 90 percent thinking, strategizing, planning, focusing and doing research to ensure that the proj­ect that you want to do is a good one and that you are approaching the right organization/individual.

 

The first step in proposal development is not to decide who is giving the money for what, which is unfortunately how many board members and ex­ecutive directors tend to see proposal writing, but to look at the reasons for your organization’s existence, what you want to do, and what you need to do it, and then find a funding source that is already convinced of the im­portance of this kind of work or can be convinced that what you are doing is in their scope of work.

 

Proposal writing involves a lot of work, especially if one applies for funding from big foundations or USAID, including the collection of information on financial matters and documents pertaining to your legal status; in some cases an organization may have to fix or change its legal status and be registered in a certain way. USAID, for example, sometimes insists that an international accountant sets up the financial administration system for the organization.

 

The following tips will assist in the drafting of proposals:

 

Involve other staff in committing the project/program ideas and proposal components to paper and reaching consensus on program/project compo­nents. Make sure all relevant issues are addressed in the pre-writing phase. If you are seeking general program fund­ing, make sure no impor­tant objectives or constituencies are omitted. If you are writing a project pro­posal, focus on the key elements required to achieve the stated goals. Talking to others may show that the original idea was not necessarily the best.

 

Research and cultivate the best prospective donors for the program/project before you start writing a proposal. Ask for their guidelines/deadlines, and send a ‘letter of inquiry,’ to learn if the potential donor is interested in your idea or not. Obtain a current, exact name/address to which you can send the proposal. Before sending it, always contact the organization first to check that your contact person is still the right person to approach. Some­times you will simply be told to send it to the head of the organization.

 

Even though people might contribute to the proposal, always make sure that only one person does the actual writing to ensure that one single voice and style comes through as representing your organization. You might need to do a couple of drafts before coming up with something that is satisfactory.

 

Develop a schedule for completing and submitting proposals to different donors. Specify which staff are responsible for providing data, drafts or ap­provals, with deadlines. You need to follow what happened to the proposal, to find out who actually has it on their desk and when he/she will be able to give you some kind of answer.

 

Follow the donor's proposal guidelines, if any, closely, especially re­garding any attach­ments to be included with the document. If none are given, include these com­ponents:

 

1. Cover Letter on Letterhead: outlining the grant request and total amount of funding requested;

2. Body of the Proposal: (usually 5-12 pages, total)

-        Summary: of the proposal/request in one-two pages;

-        Introduction: describing the organization's qualifications and establishing credibil­ity in its field;

-        Statement of Need/Problem: explains and documents why the program/project is needed, problems to be addressed, including examples of community support for the idea/program;

-        Program/Project Objectives: what you expect to accomplish with the funding, in measurable terms;

-        Methods: strategies, activities, constituencies and actors to be engaged in achieving the objectives;

-        Principal Staff: identify experts or others in key positions, de­scribe management structures;

-        Timetable: the length of the project and its phases of activity, from beginning to end;

-        Evaluation: describe a plan for determining the degree to which the activities achieved their objectives and for assessing the effectiveness of methods used;

-        Future/Other Funding Required: describes your plan for how the proj­ect/program will continue or be expanded once the donor's grant period ends - you must demonstrate sustainability;

-        Budget Request: restate the total amount requested from this do­nor and whether it is a one-time, multi-year or annual request;

-        Detailed Project Budget and an Overall Organizational Budget: clearly deline­ating which costs will be covered by the requested grant and which will be pro­vided by your organization or other sources.

3. Attachments, as Required by the Donor, or, at least: annual financial state­ment/auditors' report; document showing your legal status as an NGO/nonprofit or­ganization; list of your board of directors and affilia­tions; list of major donors/amounts received in the last three years; and any other directly relevant brochure, news-clipping, or annual report.

 

Use concise, active-voice writing to make your case. Keep it simple and easy to read - use headings with subheadings. Avoid jargon, complicated data (footnotes are better) and fancy bindings. Attach only those items that will directly support your proposal.