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Keeping the LightsPrograms.Family ResourceResource CenterIL.

DepartmentD.C.

9390-CJ-096039p.

Family Resource Coalition, 200Suite 1520, Chicago, IL 60604.Guides Non-Classroom Use (055)General (020)

On: Fundraising

PS 022 376

for Family Support

Coalition, Chicago, IL.; Nationalfor Family Support Programs, Chicago,

of Health and Human Services, Washington,

South Michigan Avenue,

Collected Works

MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.Corporate Support; *Family Programs; *Fund Raising;*Grantsmanship; Nonprofit Organizations;Philanthropic Foundations; *Private FinancialSupport; *Public Support

IDENTIFIERS *Family Resource and Support Programs; FamilySupport; *Resource Development

ABSTRACTThis monograph is designed for family support

professionals who struggle with the challenges of finding the optimalmix of revenue sources with limited staff and resources. It containsnine articles that offer a variety of perspectives from people whowork in the family support field either as program providers or asfunders. The articles offer advice and suggestions for raisingrevenues and tapping into various funding sources, and offerdescriptions of successful programs. The articles are: (1)

"Development 101: A Few Basics" (Susan Oliver); (2) "Stone Soup:Fundraising in the Trenches" (Carolyn Micklem); (3) "Special EventsFundrai3ing: A Common Sense Approach- (Gretchen S. Vapnar); (4)

"Charging Fees for Services" (Christine Vogel); (5) "The S'urvival of

Family St;rport PI-ograms: A Funder's Perspective" (Margaret M.Petruska); (6) "Buildinz Partnerships with Local Foundations" (Linda1..pton); (7) "The United Way of Chicago: An Invitation" (Roger Fox);8) "Obtaining Public Funding for Programs to Strengthen Families"(Hedy Chang and Cecelia Leong); and (9) "A Halloween FundraiserBenefits the New Orleans Parenting Center" (Peter Silvern). Aresource directory identifies librarieL with extensive not-for-profitdevelopment collections, suggests books and periodicals, and listsorganizations that provide fundraising resources to thenot-for-profit community. (TJO)

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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

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About the FRC

The Family Resource Coalitionis the central source for leadershipand information in the family sup-port field. It develops resources forfamily support programs, providesinformation for formulating publicpolicies, and documents activitiesand outcomes of current work inthe field. Coalition services andactivities include:

providing consulting, technicalassistance, and training servicesfor programs, schools, andgovernmen

working in the public policyarena to communicate relevantissues and concerns of those inthe family support field and toeducate leaders about the prin-ciples, successes, and promisesof the family support approach;

providing leadership at the na-tional level to plan strategy andthe allocation of resources forcontinued growth of the field;

publishing the FRC Report,a quarterly devoted to familysupport issues and the FRCConnection, a networkingnewsletter for Coalition mem-bers and other manuals, mono-graphs, and books for familysupport professionals;

sponsoring a national confer-ence on family support issues.

The National Resource Centerfor Family Support Programs, adivision of the Family ResourceCoalition, is charged with ident-ifying and developing qualityresource materials on programs.Further duties of the NRC are to:

Table of Contents

Preface 2Development 101: A Few Basics

by Susan Oliver 3

Stone Soup: Fundraising in the Trenchesby Carolyn Micklem 7

Special Events Fundraising: A Common Sense Apiiroachby Gretchen S. Vapnar 9

Charging Fees for Servicesby Christine Vogel 12

The Survival of Family SupportPrograms: A Funder's Perspective

by Margaret M. Petruska 15Building Partnerships with Local Foundations

by Linda Lipton 18

The United Way of Chicago: An Invitationby Roger Fox 21

Obtaining Public Funding for Programs to Strengthen FamiliPsby Hedy Chang and Cecerta Leong 24

A Halloween Fundraiser BenefitsThe New Orleans Parenting Center

by Peter Silvern 29Resource Directory 31

Contributors 36

make available state-of-the-artknowledge on program design,administration, staffing, andfinancing;

enhance information flow,networking, and collaborationamong local programs;

track federal, state, and localpolicy initiatives;

link f hnily support to other ser-vices for families and children;

create a technical assistancenetw ork of aperts and delivertechnical assistance services.

Among the products beingdeveloped by the NRC are a com-puterized database and retrieval

3

system, an annual inventory of stateinitiatives, bibliographies on majortopics, technical assistance resourcepapers and other publications.

Acknowledgements

Funding for this publicationwas made possible by the U.S.Department of Health and HumanServices under grant 90-CJ-0960for the National Resource Centerfor Family Support Programs.The Family Resource Coalitionis grateful for their support forthis project and their continuedinterest in programs whichstrengthen families.

Preface

r"ommitment. Energy. Know-how. If these werethe only requirements for building a successful

family support program, many more neighborhoodswould be served by flourishing programs. Unfortu-nately, good intentions and expertise are not enough.Sometime in the evolution of every family supportprogram, money - specifically, how to get enough tosupport a program's activities, goals, and dreams -becomes a major issue.

An organization's revenue stream is a criticalpart of its success. Just as family support programsdiffer, so too do the cc- -,figuration of income streams.Programs which can tap substantial endowmentincome are extremely rare. Family support programscan generate revenues needed to sustain theirservices in three ways:

fees for services or products

public (government-financed) funding streams

private underwriting and fundraising

Within these three categories are a wide varietyof options for generating necessary income. For ex-ample, fees for service can be set to cover the actualcost of the services provided, or services can be de-livered according to a sliding fee-scale, or servicesmay be subsidized for all recipients. Governmentallysupported funding streams can be channeledthrough state bureaucracies or local school distrim.Bequests, one-time major gifts, annual leadershipgifts, rank-and-fde annual gifts, benefit proceeds,and in-kind contributions can provide financial sup-port from individuals, corporations, and foundations.

Not-for-profit business =lagers face the chal-lenge of finding the optimal mix of revenue sourcesgiven limited resources for pursuing different formsof revenue. Development and marketing staff, usu-ally responsible for the income stream into any not-for-profit, require long-term orientadons. Givenenough time and money, many family support pro-grams could develop any of its possible revenue-generating choices into flourishing, stable sources ofongoing support. The unfortunate reality is that

2

most organizations need dollars today; and they donot have the staff or resources to develop everypromising revenue possibility.

This monograph is designed for family supportprofessionals who grapple with these challenges. Itincludes a variety of perspectives from writers whoactually work in the family support field, either asprogram providers or as funders. Many of these ar-ticles have previously appeared in the FRC Report;they have been revised and updatal.

Will you find all the answers in this shortvolume? Of course not. But you will find some ofthe questions you should be asking as you plan yourown strategy. Susan Oliver's piece on developmentoutlines the basics of approaching the private philan-thropic world. Look to Margaret M. Petruska'sarticle on a funder's perspective to help you assessyour own program's strengths and weaknesses.Carolyn Micklem and Gretchen S. Vapnar offerconcrete suggestions based on their own experiencein grassroots programs.

And there's more, you'll find ideas and infor-mation about generating revenues through fees forservice, how the Unitld Way works in one city, put-ting on a special event, the various public fundingstreams, and ways to tap into community foundations.

Finally, don't miss the special Resource Direc-tory we've included to guide you to additionalsources of information. The directory identifieslibraries with extensive not-for-profit developmentcollections, sux ests books and periodicals, and listsorganizations which provide fundraising resourcesto the not-for-profit community.

As you delve into this material, keep in mindthat each family support program will find its ownunique answers to funding issues. This volume isnot intended to be a how-to guide for establishinga development program: it is an idea generator andresource. We hope you can combine the experiencesof others with your own to discover new ways tofind the financial resources your program needs tokeep pace with today's increasingly urgent demands.

Development 101: A Few Basks

by Susan Oliver

I f you are newly in charge of raising funds for yourorganization and are trying to figure out how to get

started, or if you are not yet a seasoned fundraisingprofessional, here is a quick and basic overview ofthe private philanthropic world. It is designed as auser-friendly starting point to help you understandkey terms and how some of the pieces fit together.

Your organization may have several alternativeways to bring in dollars; here we will cover only giftsand grants from private sources. The process of sec-uring this Idnd of funding is commonly called "de-velopment,' a term which suxests you have a long-term strategy for building the private funding baseof your organization. Development therefore is tofundraising as marketing is to sales. Both developmentand marketing include activities which generate im-mediate funds or revenue but in contrast to fund-raising and sales, they also invest resources and attentionin efforts which have a longer-term payoff period.

Understand Your Mission

Before you do anything else, the first step inestablishing a successful development effort is tohave a clear understanding of what exactly you areraising funds for - and what funds may not interestyou. This requires your agency to be clear about itsmission, and to have some sort of strategic plan inplace within which 211 funding opportunities can beevaluated.

In the family support field, mission and long-term strategy can be especially i- 'portant. Becauseso many programs are new and not yet financiallystable, and because some of the most immediatelypromising sources of sizeable dollars may bethrough foundation or government grants whichare targeted to specific, highly-structured programs,it can be very tempting for a struggling agency to'become whatever will conform to a funder'sguidelines or initiatives. While this may alleviateshort-term money crises, it may also divert re-

sources which might be better used for building thecapacity needed for longer-term strategic goals.

If your organization does not have a well-clarified mission or a strategic plan in place, lookaround for experienced planners to help you. Youmay be able to get help at little or no cost. Is there alocal business person who could share her skills bra day or two? Is there anybody on your board whocould spearhead the process?

Your planning process will help you erablishgoals, which will guide your development efforts.When you approach donors or grantmakers withyour request, two of the key questions you'll needto answer will be: 'Why?" and -Why now?'" Witha solid plan behind you, you'll be on your way tomaking a strong case for your agency.

Where do Private Funds Come From?

There are two major sources of private funds:from individuals and from organizations. In theUnited States, the vast majority of private givingcomes from individuals. The major sources of orga-nizational funds are corporations and foundations.

Annual vs. Capital GMng

There are two basic ways in which private don-ors and grantmakers give: through annual giving andthrough capital gifts. The difference between the twocan be summed up as: annual giving provides fundsto live by (i.e., current operating support, usually .

unrestricted) and capital giving provides funds togrow by (e.g., endowment, physical building, etc.).

Development professionals often operatethrough organized, well-planned efforts called cam-paigns. Annual campaigns, of course, happen everyyear. Most institutions once launched capital cam-paigns every generation or so; in recent years, manyorganizations find themselves asking donors forlarge gifts more frequently. Capital campaigns usu-ally run for several years and ask donors to makemulti-year pledges. The basic theory is that annualgifts come from donors' current income and capitalgffts are generated from donors' long term assets.

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Types of indMdual Gifts

Organizations usually categorize individualgiving according to the type and/or size of thepotential gift. At the most modest level are rank andfile donors - those who usually give within the lowerlevel of your gift range every year. The next level ofdonor makes what is usually termed a "leadership"gift - gifts that are on the higher end of the rangeeach year. (Many organizations provide specialrecognition for these donors through special dubs,giving societies, dinners, or whatever.) Next aremajor individual donors - these are the people whosenames feature prominently around the institution,perhaps because they are trustees, or because theirnames are on some of the capital assets (like buildings).

Finally, individuals may give through -anedgiving, which includes bequests and various (usuallycomplicated) instruments which are canfullyplanned on the basis of their tax implications - therevenue they can generate for both the individualand the institution, and the implications for theindividual's estate upon his or her demise.

Obviously, what might be a major gift for oneinstitution might not be so significant for another.Into which category a gift might fall, and how theorganization works with and recognizes its donor,depends on the overall size and strategy of thedevelopment program.

Tactics for Securing individual Gifts

There are several ways to secure individual gifts.Obviously, the largest gifts and bequests generallyrequire significant prospect research and cultivation,and generally, the request is made in a face-to-facevisit. Ideally, the request is made by an enthusiasticvolunteer who has made a similar commitment.Other tactics for soliciting gifts include telephoneoutreach, using either paid or volunteer solicitors;direct mail; direct-response advertisin& and specialevents like benefits. In choosing a tacdc, the generalnde is that the cost of the solicitation techniqueshould match the potential outcome. Personal visitsare the most expensive per prospect contact, follow-ed by telephone, then mail, then advertising. Ile costper contact of a spedal event depends on many variablesowing to the wide range of possible activities.

Building an Annual Fund

Building an annual fund is expensive and re-quires a long-term commitment. In fact, if such aneffort is taken on for the first time by your organiza-tion, make sure everyone understands that it is likelyto require a period of investment before it pays off.However, you may be pleasantly surprised: someorganizations actually discover what might be called

4

a 'pent-up demand for giving' when they finallysolicit an audience which has ties to the institution.

As you evaluate whether you should putresources into building the annual fund, ask yourselfif there is an obvious target audience for you todevelop - and if there is a relatively low-cost way toreach them. This usually translates into a simplequestion: can you get your hands on, or put togeth-er, appropriate mailing lists? The next step is to askyourself if you have an annual-fund-type of issue orservice. Is it easy to make your target audienceunderstand the need, what you are doing to respond,and why their support is needed? Think about thedifference between an issue like the preven6on ofchild abuse - one that most people can easily under-stand and rally around - and an issue like buildingcollaborations between parents and schools. Whilethey are both worthwhile and important causes, itwill clearly take more resources and time to buildsupport for the latter.

Don't be too quickly deterred from diving intothe world of annual giving, however. Think of yourdevelopment efforts as a strong, stable pyramid.Each ascending level has a smaller number of donorsof a larger annual gift. But rank and file donors arethe base that supports all the other levels; they area testament to the breadth and variety of yourorganization's support. Moreover, there is the

3tion of the 'life cycle' of the donor: most donorssart out at the lower levels of giving and a feweventually 'percolate" up to become leadershipdonors, major donors, and ultimately to rememberthe organization through bequest. If you don'testablish that rank and file base, you risk missing aprospect who might be trying to send you a signalabout his or her interest in doing more.

There are other good reasons to invest in annualgiving. Your regular solicitations can have value asadvertising or as cultivating interest; they keep eventhose not choosing to respond this time informedabout your organization. They show major donorsand corporate and foundation grantmakers that'everyone is being asked to do something.' It givesyou a chance to call attention to other giving oppor-tunities like estate planning, memorial gifts, or what-ever. And not unimportantly, it keeps your addresslist up to date.

Major Gifts

While there are many well-tested rules whichguide rank and file annual fundraising, the develop-ment of a major gift program is generally muchmore tailored to specific realities at each institution.Some family support programs got their start thanksto major support from a champion (or several) of thecause, but many find it difficult to identify other

such prospects. The first basic step in managing amajor gifts effort is to establish easy avenues toidentify prospects. Ask for potential names regularlyand often from any group or individual who mayknow people of means with an interest in yourissues. Another source of potential names is themedia watch who show up at what benefits andwho says what in business publications, for example.

Once you secure names of potential prospects,it's time to do your homework. What more can youfind out about their philanthropic interests and theirmeans? There are many books and guides availableto lead you through this process and to help youidentify public sources of information. Your locallibrarian can help get you started.

Now that you've done your research, the nextstep is to establish a cultivation plan. How shouldthe prospect be approached, and by whom? This iswhere it's helpful (if not critical) to build a cadre ofwell-positioned, loyal volunteers who can comfort-ably facilitate a relationship between the prospectand your organization. Some of those loyal volun-teers may already be sitting on your board.

Planned Giving

Many of the largest individual gifts which haveever been made have come through planned giving,generally as a bequest. While not all planned giftsare so sizeable, planned giving can be an especiallypromising source of private support because theentire range of a donor's capital assets accumulatedover a lifetime are potentially involved.

At the same time, planned giving is also themost complicated area of individual development.It requires all the work you do to build a major giftsprogram, and a thorough knowledge of the tax codeand various financial instruments. Starting a formalprogram in this area requires the assistance of a well-seasoned professional.

Foundations

It's tough to make generalizations about foun-dations because there are over 20,000 of them in theUnited States, each with its own programmaticinterests, guidelines, and restrictions. What they allhave in common is the legal requirement that theymust give away a certain percentage of their assetseach year.

There are several types of private foundations.Independent foundations are those funded by inch-viduals or families, and range from the oldest and/orlargest national foundations to small, local familyfoundations. Company foundations are thosefunded by corporations. (However, in the case ofcompany foundations which are formed by closely-held companies, the boundaries between the two

types can become fuzzy.) A third type of foundationis the community foundation, which is usuallycreated by a number of donors who wish to poolresources and focus on the needs of a particularregion or locale.

A small number of private foundations arecalled 'operating* foundations because they usetheir funds to run their own programs and initia-tives, rather than granting the funds to outsidegroups. Most foundations, however, are non-operating and their chief purpose is grantmaking.

The key to successful foundation fundraising isto identify which foundations are potential grant-makers for your organization. Your job is to matchup the interests of a foundation with the project orthe work of the instituion you are trying to fund.The first step is to narrow down the thousands offoundations to a small list which might considerfunding your organization. The process for accom-plishing this is to get a list of foundations whichindicate an interest in the type of work you aredoing, and then review the any restrictions theymight have.

Where do you get all this information? There aremany good resources to tap for foundation research.The Resource Directory at the back of this mono-graph gives you details on some of the key ones.If you have no idea where to start, try your localpublic library. Some larger metropolitan areas havespecial libraries with collections and staff devotedsolely to philanthropic information and activities.

Most, but not all, foundations publish guide-lines for grant applicants, and most publish lists anddescriptions of projects and institutions they havefunded in the past. Be sure to review these beforeyou start writing your proposal.

Corporate Gifts

In contrast to foundation giving, which is tiedto the foundation's assets, corporate giving is gener-ally tied to the corporation's profits. The two majorways that companies give are through direct contri-butions and through foundations and trw,ts. Somecompanies use both mechanisms.

When you are planning your corporate out-reach strategy, keep in mind that there are severaltypes of direct gifts that corporations make, andmany companies make more than one type of gift.The most desirable type of gift is generally a directcash grant, usually resulting from some type offormal proposal much like you would make to afoundation, for either restricted or unrestrictedpurposes (depending on the company's policy andyour request). Many companies have a policy thatdirect cash gifts are made only in localities wherethey have company operations and significant num-

75

bers of employees. Another type of gift is the indi-rect cash want that is channeled through some typeof umbrella fundraising organization, e.g., TheUnited Way. Matching gifts are a third type. Thesegifts essentially allow the employees to have a voicein how corporate philanthropy is distributed throughthe matching of gifts which employees make to cer-tain types of institutions. Some companies also makegifts in kind, which may include equipment (new orused), use of a special facility (perhaps for a meetingor phonathon), property, materials, and so on - thepossibilities are limited only by the imagination.Finally, some companies make people* gifts throughloaned employees who offer special expertise.

Direct giving can be managed by any of a num-ber of departments in the company, such 2S publicaffairs, human resources, public relations, or eventhe chief executive's office. Where the program ismanaged can give you some idea of how the com-pany views giving and where its priorities are.

In general, company-created foundations workjust like other foundations. While the corporationand the foundation are legally separate entities, someare closely tied to management, with decisionslargely directed by key corporate board members orofficials. Others maintin a more distant relationshipwith the company itself.

The Role of The Board

As you develop your longer-term fundraisingstrategy, there are several organizational pieces youneed to put in place. First, your board is a criticalpiece of the big picture.

In most not-for-profit organizations, it isassumed that by accepting a position on the board,directors take on certain obligations for fundrais-ing. This usually translates into the expectation thatboard members will either make substantial giftsthemselves, or will secure them from their personalcontacts. Needless to say, this is the sort of expecta-tion which shottkl be made clear at the outset andit's usually done by providing prospective boardmembers with a list of responsibilities.

Your Database

Another key piece of the development structureis the database whether it is automated or in theform of many annoying pieces of paper. Treat yourdatabase like a long-term asset. Even if you aren'tusing it for active outreach today, ask yourself whatuses you might have for it in two years, or five years.If you have a good strategic plan in place, the an-swers should come easily. Based on the today's usesand the potential future uses you see, you can startmaking decisions about how it should be structured.

Research

There's an old fundraising adage that fund-raising success results from the right person askingthe right person or organization for the rightamount in support of the right purpose at the righttime. This can be translated to mean doing yourhomework well is second only to good strategicplanning. Good research skills and resources are animportant capability to develop within your organi-zation. Such tools include learning where informa-tion is available and how to access it, how to set upeffective filing systems, how to establish prospecttracking systems, and so on.

Stewardship

It's surprising how many organizations puttogether effective development programs only toneglect the process of thanking and recognizingdonors. Stewardship refers to your system forfollow-up with donors and includes ever7thingfrom getting out timely thank-you notes to lettingdonors know about the results your organizationachieved as a result of their generosity.

Go Do It!

While the nuances may vary from agency toagency, this brief overview su:.:ests some of thethings you should be thinking about as you planyour program. You will discover that you are bothin the business of dealing with rejection and in afield where the generosity of the human spirit showsitself in surprising and moving ways.

And always remember this absolutely key rulefor everything you do: If you don't ask, you're notlikely to receive.

Stone Soup:Fundraising in the Trenches

by Carolyn Micklem

CC C tone Soup' reflects what we in family supportJ organizations often do: we transform scantresources into wonderful, nourishing programs.Our story is well conveyed by the folktale about thesoldiers who reached a village after a long marchthrough hostile territory. "Oh, thank God," theysay, 'now we can eat." They ask for food at doorafter door, but the villagers have had hard years andreply that they have barely enough food for theirown families. Desperate, one soldier says, 'I've getit, let's make stone soup!" He tells the villagers tobring a big stone pit and he'll teach them to make atasty soup out of stones. Someone brings wood fora fire, another water and a pot. When it's boiling thesoldier sniffs and says, "It smells so good, wouldn'tit be wonderful if we had a piece of meat?" Onevillager offers a small piece of meat, and others bringa few potatoes, carrots, and cabbages. Soon a lovelyaroma wafts through the village. People come out oftheir houses and enjoy a wonderful party, feastingon this soup made of s;ones.

As supporters of family resource programs, wesomehow have to get pedple to contribute meat andpotatoes and carrots to our pot. The Webster Av-enue Family Resource Center (WAFRC) has hadsome success at making stone soup. Our recipe forsuccess beings with our program, a product webelieve in, one that we talk and write about whole-heartedly. Our fundraising plan consists of twoparts: what we are going to do, and how we aregoing to get the money to do it. We try to our planvery clearly: we approach it as sound businesses doby laying out a three-year plan, starting with goalsand objectives.

Once our goals and objectives have been fixed,we develop a performance plan specifying all theactivities that fall under each objective. Next to theactivity, we indicate who will carry out each one sothat we can see the implications of this objective forstaffing the rest of the program.

We derive fundraising proposals from our pro-gram work plans, and the care we take in thinkingthem through pays off many times. As we carry outa grant, we go back over these plans again and again:to remind ourselves exactly what we said we'd do.

Budgets must be drafted carefully if we expectto achieve our objectives and to satisfy our contribu-tors. Some years ago, we costed out every compo-nent of our center. That effort remains a blueprintfor tying objectives to work plans, staffing, andcosts. Also we made a chart of our major budgetarycategories; the largest, personnel. We created a formlisting each of the major grants, and put the percent-age each grant paid in each category, for example, 20percent of the director's time. This taught us to writethe costs of major budgetary items into a number ofgrants, always checking to see that we didn't go over100 percent!

The next step is deciding what to sell to whom.This involves researching local foundations. (Myrecommendation is to forget national foundations;we've only gotten funds from two, one because afriend sat on the board, another because we trackedthe director to his cornfield.) Libraries have refer-ence works on foundations, somctimes includingfoundation directories. Newspapers are also a goodsource; foundations issue press releases telling howcharitable they have been. Many publish annualreports detailing who and what they have fundedand for how much.

Having chosen a funder, we adhere to theirformat. Most hinders need to process informationquickly; if the program material is not presented inthe format they request, they may not read it at all.We write our applications clearly and concisely, andwe don't promise more than we can deliver. Weinclude appendices of important items that they maynot have asked for: letters of support, favorablenewspaper articles, and additional information.We file all the ingredients for our proposed soupcarefully; standard parts like program descriptionscan be used as stock material in other proposals.

9 7

Se ling the Plan

Creating the plan and writing the proposal aretwo parts of the challenge; marketing it is another.Our experience points to these major ingredients inselling ideas:

The fundraiser: Her own belief in the program,her enthusiasm and commitment carries her throughall the weekenfts spent hammering out the propos:11sand dealing with the rejections. She must not beafraid to say, 'I'm a visionary, that's why I'm doingthis work.* People give money to people, not piecesof paper. The fundraiser may intrigue a funder onpaper, but when she closes the sale, her credibility andthe way she comes across will make the difference.

The Boar& If the organizer is very lucky, shecan attract members who know about fundraising,have good connections, and are enthusiastic aboutthe program. Most programs have enthusiasticpeople who are willing to help, but lack knowledge(and the confidence that goes with it). The organizerand fundraiser must, therefore, be a spark plug,arranging for board training, and holding theirhands while they gain enough experience to acteffectively. The program organizer and fundraisermust be waling to share power with the board.Neither can control all the sales activity. Failure togain their participation means a much greater loadof responsibility for the total life of your program.And that leads to burnout!

Conneaions: People tend to give money topeople they know or to whom they have someconnection. Since most of us lack access to thosewho control the money, we need the help of peoplewho do: the board, volunteers, and human serviceand local government personnel who know andrespect ollr programs.

Good press: Print conveys authority. Our mostsuccessful fundraising appeals have contained favor-able current news articles about our center.

Site visits: In our experience, the single mostimportant sales strategy, after connections, is gettinga potential funder to visit our program. Space, theway it looks and feels, makes a big difference.

Letters of support. Our first proposal, fortypages long, contained twenty pages of supportletters from human service providers, city officials,psychiatrists, neighborhood principals, and clergy-people whose judgment was respected. And simpletestimonials from parents about how the programmakes a difference in their lives can be very powerful.

The role of fundraiser in small family supportprograms is truly challenging because it is generallycarried out by the person who runs the organiza-tion. We set the tone, supervise the staff, tend to thegarbage, and do much of the networking. We makesoup out of stones.

FRC Report, VIII/1, 1/89.

I ()

Special Events Fundraising:A Common Sense Approach

by Gretchen S. Vapnar

CCVou know we're optimistic, but we've oftenI wondered why. When the bank account is really

low, we've kept our hopes up high. Through theyears we've learned to cope with financial aggrava-tion; From hand to mouth; month to month; fromdonation to donation."

Sandy Mettler, Volsmteer at the CommunityCrisis Center, Elgin, Illinois

All too often not-for-profits become accustom-ed to being short of money and to feeling that finan-cial stability is an unattainable state. Sadly, dispellingthe myths of fundraising is the objective (or hiddenagenda) of many not-for-profit workshops. Unfor-tunately, additional information on top of confusionusually results in more confusion.

The common sense approach is based on thepremise that most service providers have the infor-mation and skills necessary for successful fundraisingat their disposal. In fact, the not-for-profit manager

knows what is needed, how much, and when;

is a people-oriented person with refinedassessment and communication skills;

is accustomed to developing and implementing aplan, working within a time frame, and evaluatingresults;

is creative, energetic, and responsible;

knows the importance of image, credibility,and accountability.

These skills and tools, necessary for developing andimplementing a successful fundraising strategy, aresimilar to those required to provide quality services.

Let's look common-sensically at fundraising:

Step #1. Look at your proposed budget for thefiscal year. Add up all the projected expenses whichare not covered by projected income. Divide thistotal into three categories: 1) additional grant income;2) additional individual donations; and 3) special

events or enterprises. These last are most oftenunderestimated; therefore, special events and enter-prises are the emphasis of this article.

The amounts in each category should not beequal. During the first year of a fundraising plan,you will project a limited amount under the specialevents heading. Ten thousand dollars is a popularand realistic first-year goal for many organizations.Write a concise statement about your needs, andassess costs. Be specific, but brief. Don't use social-service jargon; use English that your mother couldunderstand.

Step #2. Look at your fundraising year. In orderto do this, buy a large, 12-month calendar (the kindthat has large date-spaces). Mark any dates on whichproposals are due, beginning and ending dates forthe United Way/Community Chest Campaign,membership drives, etc. Note the dates of publicrelations events, workshops, awareness week, mediaevents, etc. Note any time(s) during which fund-raising activities are restricted. If the calendar seemscrowded, color code some items. Do whatever youneed to do so when you stand back to take a look,you begin to see blocks of time that are blank or atleast relatively so. Target two or three or four ofthose times such as the month of September, the lasttwo weeks in April, holidays, etc.

Step #3. List your resources. Whom do youknow? Whom do they know? Where do they work?To which clubs and organizations do they belong?Include volunteers, staff, board members, foundingmothers and fathers, neighbors, relatives, Mends,service providers, business associates, and vendorsand office suppliers. Each member of your staff andboard, including volunteers, should add to the list.Now, go back over the list and after each name, noteone or more: TIME, ENERGY, MONEY, orCONTACTS - an assessment of what kind of sup-port you can reasonably expect from each person.

You now have the basis of a special events fund-raising plan. Now the fun begins: we must fill in thoseblank spaces on the calendar. What are the choices?To start, you can select one from each of the follow-ing types of special event or enterprise activities.

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We Think We're a Great Organization Event

An annual dinner, a community brunch, ananniversary gala. These large events attract peollewho are interested in your program. This type ofevent usually involves a minimum of planning effort(arranging for the place and the food); usually staffor board members take care of the program. It is atime to come together and share memories and makeplans for the future. You can attract additionalparticipants by bringing in a guest speaker. Withmore participants you'll print more programs,and sell more advertising in your program bookturning a small profit into a large one. These eventsare important even without substantial monetaryreturns: they bring your organization to the atten-tion of the public. A little effort, a little publicity, alittle profit.

Hints: When a planning committee for theevent is formed, it should include board members,staff members, agency volunteers, and communityleaders with expertise. To involve these communityleaders you should find out what they can do andthen ask them for a specific, time-limited commit-ment. Print the names of the committee on all thestationery used for correspondence regarding theevent. Appoint an honorary chairman - the mayor,a favorite son or daughter of the community, a localperson who has achieved success. Whatever youdecide to do, do it well. You may choose barbecueover filet mignon, but choose the best barbecueavailable in your area. Don't plan to make yourprofit on the price of a ticket; in most cases it isbetter to sell more tickets at a lower price.

The Community Crisis Center experience:A tenth anniversary dinner held in September nettedover $15,000 for the Community Crisis Center.A celebrity speaker donated his services. The dinnerwas held at a local motel and scheduled to coincidewith the oampletion of the total renovation of theballroom and lobby. Printing, mailing, and other'up front' expenses were underwritten by localbusinesses - no doubt influenced by the fact that thegovernor was the honorary chairman.

I.

We Don't Have To Do it Event

At least once a year, your organization shouldbe the recipient of funds resulting from an event youdid not have to initiate. Consult your resource listfor people who are involved in community clubs,churches, and organizations. Ask them to mentionyour organization as a beneficiary of their annualluncheon or holiday bazaar. You may have to selltickets, provide brochures, and cooperate withmedia, but responsibility for the event is not yours.And you get the money!

Hints: Try to add a new event each yearwithout eliminating the previous events. Becomeaware of the national mandate of each organization.The local club may need to be reminded that theirnational mandate targets child abuse, spouse abuse,alcoholism, or daycare. Do not eliminate any dubsor organizations - no matter how unusual. If, forinstance, you serve mostly women, don't eliminaterequests to men's groups such as Kiwanis or Rotary.Men have mothers, wives, and daughters whom theycare about. Give them an opportunity to demon-strate that caring.

The Community Crisis Center experience:In one year the Community Crisis Center benefittedfrom Kiwanis Candy Day, a garage sale held byBusiness and Professional Women, the Zonta lun-cheon, a church bazaar, and an arts and crafts fairsponsorei by the Women's Club.

I Don't Care Who's Sponsoring It;Sounds Like a Fun Evening Event

Pian at least one event that can stand alone.An event that will attract participants regardless ofwho the sponsor is or what the sponsor's cause maybe. This could be a marathon or walk-a-thon. Or, itcould be a Sock Hop featuring music from the fiftiesor a square dance - any activity that tends to have abuilt-in group of devotees.

Hints: Ask the local square dance club or simi-lar organizAtion to plan an event or at least be con-sultants to your committee. Because you're hopingto attract the experts, you need to plan well; you

12

need to strive for the best. And you need to bespecific about what you need. This type of event isan opportunity to reach people who have neverheard of your agency.

The Community Crisis Center experience:Each year for the past five years, the CommunityCrisis Center has sponsored a road rally, sort of arace and treasure hunt with teams and cars. Com-bined with a post-rally pizza party in a countryfirebarn, the profit comes to $2,000-$2,500 -- andmany new friends.

A Good Product Will Sell

This activity can be an ongoing project. Market-ing and retailing a product throughout the year, orduring a particular season, can be very profitable.Your organization can make money selling popcornfrom a popcorn wagon in the local shopping mall,or operating a resale shop. Once again, you need tooffer a good product and to contain overhead costs.Contact your accountant and attorney to set up asystem whereby profits derived from such enter-prises will not affect your not-for-profit status.

Hints: Why not use your grandma's recipe forapplesauce bread and become fam ws in the countyand sought after for each holiday bazaar? Considerproviding the food concessions at ball games, com-munity theater presentations, etc. Have a staff orvolunteer artist? Consider stationery or notecardsfeaturing community landmarks. If you work withkids, feature their drawings, sayings, etc.

The Community Crisis Center experience:Over the past ten years the Community Crisis Centerhas experimented with many enterprise-type projects:

We have operated a hot dog wagon in thelocal shopping mall. We hired staff, purchased thebest equipment, and sold a top-notch hot dog. Netprofits: $5,000 a summer May through September.

Each year we make and sell 2,000 cheeseballs.The cheeseballs are made in one day and sold throughchurches, businesses, and schools. Last year's profits:approximately $5,000.

We operated an arts and crafts shop for almosta year, featuring the work of local artists on consign-ment. In this case we took ourselves out of the localmarket: the quality of the items - and the prices -were unusually high.

We provided the concessions (coffee anddonuts) for a community college real-estate testingday. This easy project netted profits of up to $250four times each year.

Expand Your Existing Projects

Last, but not least, ask yourself: 'What are wealready involved in that could be income producing ?*

Hints: If you already publish and distribute alocal service directory, consider selling advertisingto underwrite costs. Include a convenient returnenvelope for a donation. Publish a list of day-carefacilities with a brief description of each and distrib-ute it through the welcome wagon or the newcom-ers club. Consider requesting an honorarium forcertain of your community education presentations.

The Community Crisis Center experience:The annual report of the Community Crisis Centeris published as a calendar for the coming year. Adsare sold to underwrite the costs (sponsor a page for$100, print your business card for $25). This isn't abig moneymaker but the calendar (4,000) pays foritself, including distribution, and nets $800 to $1500

not bad for an annual report we are required to do.This is just the beginning. You are limited only

by your energy. Once you open up to the possibili-ties the ideas just keep coming. Good luck!

FRC Report, IV/3, 9/85.

311

Charging Fees for Services

by Christine Vogel

D eveloping strategies for increasing revenue is aIL, key survival issue for nonprofit organizationsthat are in the business of strengthening families; andthe notion of charging fees for services is a growingoption. As a relatively new entity, family supportprograms are not automatically considered worthyof support from major funding sources. This may beparticularly true for programs which serve mostlymiddle-class populations who are seen as having theability to pay for such services.

The three programs profiled in this article aresold-timers* in the family support movement, eachhaving been in existence for more than a decade.Each has charged fees from its inception; each hasalso been able to provide the families it serves withsome free programming.

All three have done well. Last year alone, thesethree programs served approximately 14,000 famil-ies. One of the programs serves a predominantlyupper-middle income population; the second servea middle to lower-middle-income population. Thethird serves an ethnically and socioeconomicallydiverse population that ranges from mainstream tounderserved; the latter population's family problemsreflect entrenched social problems.

The continued success of these fee-for-serviceprograms seems to indicate that middle-class fam-ilies are willing to pay fees for programs that providethem with resources and support. This demonstratesthat family support programs are valuable to andappreciated by those who face the `normal' crisesof parenthood. It also shows that market drivenfee-for-service programs can successfully operate inconjunction with the social programs for in-needpopulations which rely on foundation and corporatesupport.

These three programs illustrate a variety of waysto work with community resources. They can serveas models to other family strengthening programsthat may be facing a need to charge fees for services.

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92nd STREET Y PARENTING CENTERNew York, New YorkFretta Reitzes, Director

The Parenting Center began in 1978 as a pro-gram of the 92nd Street Y (Young Men's/YoungWomen's Hebrew Association). Since the Y hasalways charged fees, it was dear that the ParentingCenter would also be fee-based, particularly as itreceives no outside funding. The center's annualbudget is about $500,000. The Y covers overheadexpenses, such as space, maintenance, marketing,and accounting; all other monies are generated byprogram fees.

The Parenting Center serves between 3,000 and4,000 families each year, the bulk of whom areupper-middle-income. It offers a wide variety ofprograms, including: a weekly seminar series fornew mothers; play groups for parents or caregiversand their toddlers; infant/toddler developmentclasses; support groups for new mothers; fathers'groups; workshops on parenting issues; and parentforums for parents of children aged four through theteenage years. Many of the programs are tailored tofit the needs of working families. About two-thirdsof the center's programs are geared to parents withchildren between the ages of six months and twoand one-half years.

Director Fretta Reitzes says that fees are*structured to serve a middle-class community;they're designed to support our programs andservices and are based on what the market willbear.* The staff determines the fees by continuallyexamining other comparable programs and chargingsimilar rates. 'As our programs have expanded,we've raised our fees. During the recession, how-ever, we've tried to be sensitive in our fee structure.We've had more requests for scholarships duringthe past several years, and we've been able to honorevery request.*

Until this year, the Parenting Center has alsooffered community service programs at no charge.One example is "Public School OpfLons,* a schoolfair that gives parents a 'one-stop-shopping*

opportunity to learn about the various publicschools in the area. "But we can't sustain that any-more without charging a fee,* says Reitzes, addingthat the Parenting Center will soon charge fees forall of its programs.

Reitzes believes that middle-class communitieshave a real need for the kinds of services that theParenting Center provides. And fees are critical toher program's survival.

A typical program sponsored by the ParentingCenter costs $15 to $20 per class. The 14-weekprogram for new mothers, for example, costs $200.It meets once a week for one and one-half hours andparticipants register in advance for the entire semester.

Until recently, the Parenting Center had notactively sought outside monies for any of its pro-grams. But it is currently developing a large-scaleprogram focusing on adoption, both for prospectiveparents and for parents who have already adopted achild. And it is seeking donors, both private and cor-porate, to underwrite different parts of the program.'We're changing the way we operate and beginningto pursue other ways of raising money,' says Reitzes.

THE PARENTING CENTERNew Orleans, LouisianaDonna Newton, Director

When the Junior League of New Orleans andChildren's Hospital originally established theParenting Center at Children's Hospital in 1980,a community board was founded to set fees formembership and classes. The center, whose initialprogram was a Parent/Infantfroddler Center, V12Sset up to serve a middle-class population with nor-mal developmental concerns about raising children.As its services have expanded, the population servedhas also expanded and now includes both middle-and lower-middle-income families.

The center offers classes, workshops, lecturesand drop-in gatherings, and serves parents of child-ren from infancy through pre-adolescence. It alsooffers new parent support groups, short-term coun-seling, brown bag seminars for working parents, TheNewborn Booklet for area hospitals, and programsgeared specifically to stepfamilies and to fathers.

The center charges a yearly membership fee of$45 for active membership, and $25 for associatemembership (an increase of $10 over the 1980 start-up fees). In setting fees, its board of directors lookedat family membership fees for other organizations inthe community, and compared the services offered.The Parent/Infant/Toddler Center is the only pro-gram that requires a membership fee, and parentscan pay in two installments if necessary.

Specific class fees, which are approximately $5per class, are kept low to encourage participation.

For night classes, the center charges the same fee forthe attendance of one or both parents or significantother. 'That way we hope more couples will get ababysitter and attend,* says Newton.

Parents who are unable to pay can apply forscholarships or volunteer their time. Volunteeringto help provide childcare for a semester-long classentitles one to a free class. Newton says that mostmembers who need assistance choose volunteeringover straight scholarships.

The center has always offered some free classes,such as informal community talks and 'lunchbunch" seminars. It also offers parents the opportu-nity to attend their first infancy class at no charge.'It acts like a start-up for them and we then encour-age them to join,* says Newton. The ParentingCenter serves about 425 members and 5,500 non-member families each year, operating with a budgetof $161,000. Class fees and membership account forabout 14 percent, or $22,500. Fundraising and anannual giving campaign account for 42 percen4Children's Hospital picks up the 44 percent deficit'We always try to reduce that through the giftgivingcampaign and our fundraiser, Boo at the Zoo,* saysNewton. This annual special event is a Halloweencarnival held at the New Orleans Zoo, completewith games, rides and "trick-or-treat* spook houses.The event draws about 4,000 people and raisesbetween $35,000 and $45,000 for the center. (seepage 29).

Newton has found that chareng a small fee isbetter than no fee at all in terms of class participa-tion. She acknowledges that the center has some-times made mistakes in setting fees. 'When we pricea program too high, no one signs up. We listen towhat members tell us by sending out surveys anddoing class evaluations. We've found that theirthinking when it comes to parenting issues orparent/child events is: If it's with or for children, itshould be inexpensive.' The New Orleans economyhas been depressed for eight years and we've seenthe effects on our parents. We've chosen to keep ourfee structure low and subsidize the programs withthe annual giving campaign, Boo at the Zoo, and thehospital, our per manent funding source, picking upthe deficit."

FRIENDS OF THE FAMILYVan Nuys, CaliforniaSusan Kaplan, Executive Administrator

Friends of the Family is a 20-year-old, not-for-profit counseling and education center. 'Our missionis to provide quality mental health and human devel-opment programs to the mainstream and underervedpopulations of the greater Los Angeles area,* saysexecutive administrator Susan Kaplan.

513

Because foundations were reluctant to fundprograms for mainstream parents, the decision tocharge fees was part of the board of directors' initialstrategic planning for the program. Alternativefunding sources were targeted in order to serve thein-need population included in the program. 'Butwe still haven't exploited the avenue of fundraisingor special events," says Kaplan. 'That's been a lackin our organization. Our board of directors has beenactive as fundraisers, but mainly through founda-tions and corporations.'

Friends of the Family provides counseling andpsychotherapy, as well as five family strengtheningprograms: The Parent Project (a multi-componentwork/family service package targeted to businesses);Young Moms Program; The Parent Project; Familyto Family, and Parenting Now advocacy andoutreach.

Friends of the Family's annual budget is about$950,000. Seventy percent comes from fees, 20percent from foundation grants and 10 percent fromcorporate and individual contributions. The coun-seling and psyc.hotherapy service, which accountsfor two-thirds of profgam revenue, is 90 percentfee-based and helps fund other services providedwithout charge. Counseling fees are based on asliding scale which ranges from $20 to $110; theaverage fee is approximately $38. Kaplan points outthat the steady revenues from a mature program,such as counseling services or the Parent Project'swork/family programs, offer several benefits. 'Theyprovide a steady source of income which can beforecast with some confidence. Revenues from fee-for-service programs tend to be responsive to tacticsunder organizational control, such as advertising,

14

increasing the referral base, and program designmodification. Funding sources respond positivelyto demonstration that your organization will havestability from its fee-for-service programs; theirgrant cycles and available dollars have so muchvariation."

Friends of the Family has utilized revenue frommore mature programs to finance the developmentof additional free programs for the in-need popula-tions. 'Young Moms, a primary prevention pro-gram, and Family-to-Family, an extended multifam-ily treatment program for abusive and neglectfulfam-ilies, are attractively positioned to gain founda-tion and public support, says Kaplan. 'The grantreven-ues tend to come in chunks and must beallocated to specific program expenses, but [they]allow the provision of needed services and aid withpositive cash fiz, w.1

Last year, Friends of the Family providedservices to 1,450 client families; in addition, nearly5,000 individuals and families were served throughthe family strengthening program, consultations,publications, and speaking engagements. 'Diversifi-cation of revenue sources is vital,' says Kaplan.gWe must continue to design and implement familystrengthening programs for our identified constitu-ency. We must also identify all possible sources ofrevenue - including fees-for-service, foundationgrants, public support and public sector reimburse-ment contracts, and design programs to attract avariety of revenue sources. Thus revenue diversifica-tion becomes a driver in our decisions about growthand expansion.'

FRC Report,X111, 6/92.

'6

The Suivival of Family SupportPrograms: A Funder's Perspective

by Margaret M. Petruska

Most providers of children's services haveexperienced firsthand the changing role of the

federal government and the redirection of federalpriorities. The picture looks bleak for children'sprograms, particularly in the prevention field. In1982, when the Washington-based Urban Institutelaunched a national project to examine the effects ofgovernment spending cuts on local nonprofits,Pittsburgh was selected as one of fifteen sites. Thestudy systematically looked at the impact of cut-backs on healthcare, family aid, and other humanservices, mirroring what is happening to nonprofitagencies across the country.

The study revealed that the Pittsburgh non-profit sector included approximately 1100 humanservice agencies which had expenditures of $600million in 1982; most of the agencies were small(due perhaps to the prominence of neighborhood-focused organizations which reflected the commun-ity's ethnic diversity); the agencies were also rel-atively young, most having been created since 1960.

Government funding had been the largest singlesource of support for these organizations, supplyingmore than half of their total income. Service fees,dues, and charges r. ovided the second largest fund-ing source. Private 'dying - from individuals, corpo-rations, and foundations - ranked third, accountingfor about 17 percent of total nonprofit income.

Pittsburgh agencies replaced some of the gov-ernment losses by turning to other sources of sup-port. Most of the substitution came not from privatecharity but from heavier reliance on dues, fees, andother charges for services. In contrast to nationaltrends, Pittsburgh agencies faced sharp losses inUnited Way and corporate support, reflecting theimpact of the recession on the local economy.

In addition to seeking alternative funding, manyagencies responded by reducing staff levels, increas-ing workloads, instituting management reforms, andexpanding their reliance on volunteers. Even so, 50

percent of the agencies studied found it necessary to

eliminate specific services or programs, while 10percent tightened eligibility requirements for ser-vices, or reduced the number of clients served.

In conclusion, human service agencies are underconsiderable fiscal and programmatic strain. Theyhave been forced to reduce activities and to seekalternative sources of funding, to limit staff sizeand alter some internal operations. Some of theseconsequences may be positive improving anagency's productivity and strengthening its fiscalbase. Others, such as increased pressure on person-nel and a growing reliance on fees and charges, raiseconcern about the outlook for future funding andstability, and the delivery of services to the verypoor, especially to our nation's children.

A Renaissance for Children: A Local Example

Despite this gloomy picture, promising signspoint to specific ways to ensure the survival ofvaluable programs.

To illustrate this, consider another Pittsburghexample the change that has taken place within thelocal Children and Youth Services agency, which ischarged to protect children from child abuse, to dealwith dependent, neglected children, and to reunitechildren in foster care with their natural families.

Children and Youth Services agencies are expe-riencing tremendous stress. There are numerouspressures to provide services while available re-sources diminish. Staff morale is low: staff turnoveris high.Relationships with other agencies are nega-tive. Newspaper headlines continue to publicizeagencies' failures.

However, in Pittsburgh, a task force recom-mended the following changes which are alreadybeginning to take place: the establishment of districtoffices throughout the county that act as familytreatment centers, whose workers are trained asfamily specialists so that they can carry out theintensive family services; the creation of a demon-stration project in every office that reinforces inten-sive family approaches; and the reordering ofpriorities such that the bulk of the attention andservices be devoted to keeping children in their own

!715

homes or returning them to their own homes asquickly as possible.

The report called for a "renaissance for children,"with the full support of decision-makers at all levelsof government and community to serve the needs ofchildren and youth.

The outcome of this report has been promising.Based on its recommendations and the concern ofthe community and top level funders, the agencyinitiated a process of revitalization. It appointed anew executive director, trained staff in family ther-apy, disbanded the shelter for children, and begancaring for youngsters in less institutional ways.Staff have brought the focus back to the family.

This report set a new standard of treatment forchildren in Pittsburgh, and its recommendationsexcited the community, which established of aCommission for Cluldren, composed of representa-tives from county and civic government, the juvenilejustice system, private providers, business, education,foundations, and religious leadership - people whoadvocated for and build a constituency for thesechildren.

The Role of PrivateFoundations ki the Funding Gap

Foundations are likely to be aware of the needsof the specific communities in which they operate.Most do not give operating support, but ratherprovide seed money for 'start-up' or demonstrationprojects.

Foundations are also in a position to be morecreative and innovative than governments. They canoffer a mote objective forum to discuss currentissues in the delivery of human services. They canafford to take risks. Foundations tend to focus onpreventive services, while government programstend to be reactive and crisis-oriented.

16

Foundations can help galvanize the communityby encouraging parties to talk to each other and tointegrate their efforts.

In terms of dollar amounts contributed, how-ever, foundations represent only one small part ofthe private sector. They can not fill the gap left byreduction of public support for children's and familyservices. Agencies need to look to the general publicto help with the funding shortage. According tothe American Association of Fundraising Council,86 percent of all Americans give to at least one chari-table organization. Individual donations account for90 percent of all charitable giving in America - theremaining 10 percent comes from foundations andcorporations.

The Agency's Role and Responsibility

Look internally at your own health as anorganization. Determine who and where you are,where you want to be, and what you need to getthere. What is your board composition? Does ithave any fundraising clout? Is it broad-based,including representatives from the business andcorporate, legal, and political communities?

Have you developed a long-range plan?What product are you selling? Can you demonstratepublic demand and support for your services? Whatmakes your particular service crucial to the health ofyour community? The competition is getting tough-er, the criteria more explicit, and grantors morediscerning.

Have you thought of merging with anotherorganization? Duplication of services and unfamil-iarity with other agencies working in the same fieldexist in many communities. Can you form new andcreative partnerships? Can you find new ways ofdelivering services? Can you form a consortium toaddress a particular problem?

Have you analyzed your internal financialsituation? Have you cut unnecessary expenses?Are you making money with the money you have?Have you tried sharing costs with other organiza-tions? Sound financial management not only savesmoney, it also tells potential donors that you willuse their contributions wisely.

A publication entitled Discover Total Resources:A Guide for Nonprofits produced by the MellonBank, suggests the following examples of cost shar-ing possibilities: joint purchase of goods, equipment,and services; shared office space; and group purchaseof medical and other insurance. The Louise ChildCare Center is Pittsburgh, for example, acts as abulk purchasing agency for more than 55 childcareproviders, at an average savings of 15 to 30 percent.

Look at membership dues. People buy mem-berships because they believe in an organization andwant to help further its goals. Members are a form ofcollateral for attracting other 'investors from thecommunity.* Grantmakers like to know that youhave strong community support. Members are alsoprime prospects for personal donations. However,members must be sold. Sharpen your sales skills anddevelop a creative marketing plan.

Look at earned income. No rule says that non-profits cannot make money, only that the moneymust be used for charitable purposes. Services aremarketable; so, too, are program-related products,like subscriptions to a newsletter. The possibilitiesare limited only by your creativity, skills, and man-agement abilities.

A program-related business can be a money-maker for nonprofits. Possibilities include the manu-facture and sale of products; and the sale of productspurchased for resale. Perhaps the best-known ex-ample is Goodwill Industries, which teaches handi-capped persons to refurbish donated household

goods, and helps support itself through the sale ofthe items in its resale stores. Ort well-knownmoney-makers are Girl Scout cookies, UNICEFcards and gifts, art and wildlife posters and calen-dars, hospital gift shops, ticket sales, and communityand celebrity cookbooks. Nonprofits are also ven-turing into nontraditional businesses as well: a localagency in the Pittsburgh area recently purchased aMr. Donut franchise.

Use people as resources: encourage volunteer-ism. Approximately 23 million Americans contrib-ute at least five hours week of their time and talentsto support the nonprofit sector. The effort to in-crease the number of volunteers in your agencyneeds to be organized. Careful recruitment, training,and a sensitivity towards the individual talents ofeach volunteer, are important considerations. Voltm-teers need to feel useful and responsible.

As Discover Tow: Resources states, resourcesare not only fmancial, but include people, goods,and services. The health of your organization restsupon your success in developing these relationships.'Dare to be different, creative, and strategic. Appealto self-interests. Demonstrate support from thoseyou serve. Be assertive and ask. Share ideas andresources. Tell your story. Believe in yourself.*

And, if ever a force impacted upon the future ofnonprofit programming and development, it was thetrend of collaboration. Sharing, coalescing, trading,collaboratin& by all these names, togetherness is thekey to success for the future. Funders and othersources are increasingly looking for cooperativ.,.solutions to community needs. These take manyforms, from basic networking and informationsharing, to shared grants, goods and services, andsophisticated partnerships between governmentalagencies, public and private organizations, citizens,and community foundations.

FRC Report, VI/2, 5/87.

!917

Building Partnershipswith Local Foundations

by Unda Upton

Back in 1913, Ohio banker Frank Goff wanted to

1.) ensvre that money set aside for charitable pur-poses through wills and estates would be spent wise-ly years after the decedents had passed away. He feltthat a new type of organization was needed to makesuch philanthropy more effective, that it was neces-sary to scut off as much as is harmful of die deadpast from the living present and the unborn future."

With these purposes in mind, Goff formed theCleveland Community Foundation. Individualbequests from a large number of estates were pool-ed, the funds were managed by a committee of bankrepresentatives, and the interest earned on the in-vestments was distributed by a group of civic leaderswho had been appointed because of their knowledgeof the local community and its needs.

Goff's idea spawned over 400 community foun-dations with more than $6 billion in assets, and an-nual grants of approximately $500 million. In mostcases, the members of the community foundation'sdistribution committee are selected not by donors ortheir friends, but by individuals who hold leadershippositions in the courts and in institutions such aschambers of commerce and universities.

Community foundations represent an impor-tant segment of the funding community, due in largepart to the inherent flexibility of their original de-sign. One commentator on the movement has cap-tured the essence of a community foundation'ssensitivity to changing needs by describing theirdonors as 'individuals who agree to support pur-poses they cannot know, purposes that are certainto be changed in ways they cannot anticipate, by agroup of people whose identities and commitmentsare also certain to change."'

Organizations working with community foun-dations should be sensitive to several aspects of theiroperation.

Money may be donated with strings. Donorstypically provide money to the endowment of acommunity foundation in two fashions: Money can

Is

be given with restricdons, designating particulartypes of subject areas or issues on which it can beexpended; or the foundation may require :hat livingdonors participate in the selection of grantees.Donors can also provide money to the communityfoundation without any st.rings attached, leaving thestaff and board of the community foundation todevelop grant-making priorities and choose granteeorganizations. The balance between r-tricted andunrestricted funds will determine how many newagendas a community foundation can add to its listof priorities in meeting the needs of a diverse set ofconstituencies.

Community foundation work entails morethan grant-making. Many community foundationsplay an important role as convener. They viewthemselves as catalysts, bringing together groups forconversations. Such meetings often lay the ground-work for productive coalitions whose members pooltheir resources and work in unison to address com-plex community problems.

Support for individual grantees comes in manyforms. Community foundations support manyprojects besides the usual time-limited demonstra-tion projects. While each foundation will vary in thedegree to which it provides general operating sup-port to nonprofit organizations, many see suchgrants as an important part of their responsibility tothe commr lity they assist. *Community founda-tions tenc '. co be in the business of creating and sup-porting a network of services for the people in thecommunities they serve," says a senior stAff associateat a large community foundation. Replicable modelprojects are but one type supported by communityfoundations.

A Resource of Great Potential

While their size, staffing, and internal structuresvary greatly, these philanthropies have great poten-tial for having a dramatic impact on human serviceorganizations.'

Because they are focused on a specific geo-graphic area, community foundations have a man-date to become intimately knowledgeable about

20

local problems and the grassroots organizations intheir sphere of operation. They can take the oppor-tunity to deal with issues in a comprehensive andintegrated fashion, cutting across programmatic linesand looking instead at community-wide needs.

The community foundation's local expertise canbe funneled to national funders, offering the possi-bility for structuring joint ventures with philanthro-pies outside the local region; such partnerships canbring in new dollars to supplement those available tolocal groups.

Unlike many other funders, community foun-dations are built to grow, bringing in new donors,both large and small, each year. With the prospect ofan ever-increasing capacity to make grants, commu-nity foundations can become the cornerstone of astrong local funding base for grassroots organizations.

How to Connect with YourCommunity Foundation

If you want a community foundation to becomea long-term resource for your program it is best toview the connection as a personal relationship. Theeffort required to build a partnership for the futuremight be significant, but the investment could bewell worth your time.

Do your homework first. As in most othersegments of the funding community, communityfoundations vary considerably. Assume nothingabout the one in your area. Request a copy of thefoundation's annual report, guidelines for funding,and any special publications it may have issuedabout its activities (newsletters, requests for propos-als or specific funding initiatives, studies on particu-lar area, problems or issues).

After you have reviewed these materials, talkto your nonprofit colleagues. Find out what theirexperience has been in seeking funds from the foun-dation. Are there particular staff people who havebeen especially responsive? Does the written infor-mation match the manner in which they have beentreated? Has the community foundation taken aleadership role in particular subject matter areas?

Do not wait for an invitation.Foundations investin people they trust. They want to have confidencethat the great idea contained in a written proposalwill have a decent chance of being implemented.Trust, however, cannot be built overnight; you needto take the initiative and introduce yourself and youragency to representatives of the foundation.

A variety of occasions can present themselvesfor getting acquainted: 1) Be sure you place thecommunity foundation on any lists you have forsending annual reports, press clips, or other docu-ments that capture the activities and accomplish-ments of your organization for public view. Don't

assume that word of mouth or the newspaper willcarry your periodic messages to a foundation staff-person; add a note indicating why it is important forthem to keep up to date on your work. 2) Arrange ameeting to learn more about the foundation's work.While some foundations discourage meetings priorto application, many are opet to informal conversa-tions if there are questions about funding prioridesthat you would like answered or if you are solicitinginput on the content of future projects without tyingthe discussion to the submission of specific pro-posal. Still others may be interested in giving youfeedback on alternative designs for accomplishingyour goals.

Offer to help. You may be able to be of criticalassistance to your community foundation in itsattempt to stay abreast of changing needs, to un-cover gaps in services, and to discern opportunitiesfor them to play a coordinating or leadership role inaddressing current community probl.ms. Perhapsyour organizadon can serve on an advisory commit-tee to the foundation; maybe you can assist them inputting together a luncheon group to discuss aproblem of mutual concern; or consider whetherthere are meetings at your organization or withinyour larger network that might be of interest to aparticular staff person at the foundation. In short,become a resource.

Friends can aiticize each other. Communityfoundations have come in for their share of criticism.Some have been accused of failing to take on riskyprojects, others have been viewed as discouragingminority representation, and still others have beenattacked as not being sufficiently accountable to thecommunities in which they provide funding.

The more prominent critics, such as RobertBothwell of the National Committee for ResponivePhilanthropy (NCRP), have su::ested a variety ofmethods for addressing these concerns: conducting'never a grantee' focus groups to alert foundationrepresentatives to potential grantees who have notapplied or have been rejected in prior attempts,diversifying the composition of distribution wm-mittees to assure a better representation of all seg-ments of the community in question, and publishingmore detailed information on the projects fundedand the population groups ultimately served.

Be sure that you are aware of how your com-munity foundation has fared in national studiesconducted by NCRP, and decide whether there areissues that remain to be tackled in your geographicarea. Seek the counsel of other nonprofit colleagueson how to approach community foundation repre-sentatives about your concerns.

Community foundations can teach you aboutagency shortcomings, pinpointing areas that need

21

improvement and resources available for doing so.Technical assistance grants or dollars targeted exclu-sively for building the management capacity of yourorganization may be available involving less paper-work than the regular grant-making process. Aworking relationship can and should be a two-waystreet; be sure to alert your community foundationrepresentative of your willingness to enhance yourinternal management capabilities.

When appropriate, consider applying for funds.If you have made an attempt to build a relationshipwith your community foundation, you will havelearned whether and when it will be appropriate toapply for funding. By not putting the cart before thehorse, you will have found that a slower and moreplanned approach provides a better basis for solicit-ing funds than dashing in with a good idea. A com-munity foundation has the potential for becoming along-term partner for your organization; it deservessome special attention up front th.:_t potential is to

be achieved.

Resources fc Those Who areNew to Community Foundations

You can get the nun& and address of your localcommunity foundation by writing or calling theInformation Services Coordinator, Council onFoundations 1828 L Street, NW, Washington, DC20036, 202/466-6512. This office an also give youadditional background information on the scope ofthe community foundations field.

To develop a detailed profile of the communityfoundation that interests your organization, contactit directly but also visit your local or regionalbranch of the foundation resource library within theFoundation Center's national system. A network ofover 180 cooperating libraries in 21150 states, andabroad, provide free access to core center publica-tions 2S well as background information on specificfoundations. Call or write the center for the addressof your local network library: The FoundationCenter, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003-3050, 212/620-4230.

For additional information on how your commu-nity foundation ranks on such issues 2S communityresponsiveness and minority representation, contactthe National Committee for Responsive Philan-thropy (NCRP). This group publishes studies on arange of philanthropic policy issues and also offerstechnical assistance to groups trying to expand andredirect funding resources in their local communi-ties; NCRP, 2001 S Street, NW, Suite 620, Washing-ton, DC 20009, 202/387-9177.

FRC Report, X/2, 5/91.

1. Hammack, D. (1989). 'Community foundations:The delicate question of purpose" in An Agile ServantCommunity Leadesship by Community Foundations:The Foundation Center, p. 24.

2. Mott Foundation Special Reporo CommunityFoundations: A Growing Force in Philanthropy (1985), p. 5.

The United Way of Chicago:An Invitation

by Roger Fox

U nited Way of Chicago (UWC) distributes fundsfor the United Way in the city of Chicago.

Through its volunteer-directed committee structure,UWC annually allocates approximately $50 millionfor human care services among 123 member agenciesand more than 30 nonmember agencies. The organi-zation also offers a wide array of consultating ser-vices to local not-for-profits.

United Way of Chicago is changing in waysthat merit attention. While UWC is not a perfectreflection of the United Way movement across thecountry, many of the changes it is making are notuntypical responses to an urban environment thatmany United Ways are experiencing.

What are the changing environmental condi-tions confronting the United Way? Certainly, anylisting would need to include growing minoritypopulationsa rapidly increasing Latino popula-tion, significant growth among several SoutheastAsian groups, and an expanding African Americanpopulation. One must also include a growing num-ber of people living in poverty and an increasingneed for emergency housing, food, and financial aid.

Other factors include the dissolueon of thetwo-parent family structure; declining federal sup-port for already troubled urban institutions; illit-eracy; youth unemployment, substance abuse, andan accompanying rise in youth gang activity.

In addition, we're experiencing a more punitivecriminal justice system; a crisis in low-income hous-ing rising medical indigence and inaccessibllity; agrowing number of senior citizens; increased plantclosings; and an economy shifting from high-payingmanufacturing jobs Wan good benefits to low-paying service industry jobs with poor benefits andopportunities in the highly-skilled professional andtechnical occupations.

The changing profiles of communities andservice needs have pressured the United Way, inChicago and elsewhere, to change.

Demographic changes have raised questionsabout which agencies we fund, and whom theyserve; so too, about the representation, knowledge,and responsiveness of their staffs and boards.These concerns are continuously monitored forUnited Way's own staff and board. Recipients of -

services of agencies funded by United Way of Chi-cago reflect almost exactly the city's demographics:

City United Way

African American 41 40.2

White 39 40.3

Hispanic 16 14.2

Asian 3 3.0

Other 1 2.3

In the last two years alone, the number of mi-nority agencies that are regular members in UnitedWay has increased from 30 to 40. While approxi-mately 30 percent of the city lives in poverty (byUnited Way's standard), approximately 70 percentof those we serve and 80 percent of our dollars aretargeted to the poor.

As the agencies we fund and the people we servechange with the evolving character of the city, so,too, must we change the way in which we operate.These changes are occurring in the areas of reflec-tiveness, inclusiveness, openness, and accountability.

Reflectiveness

The United Way is looking at and thinkingabout itself deliberately and in depth. In the late 80'sUWC initiated its first strategic planning process,thoroughly reviewing and assessing who we are andwho we ought to be. We examined the way we setpriorities, revised our membership standards,changed our system for evaluating agencies andservices, and checked the adequacy of fiscal policiesand funding programs. Such fundamental rethinkingis clearly occurring among many United Waysacross the country.

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Inclusiveness

The United Way tries to ensure that the broadrange and diversity of constituency groups in thecommunity participate in United Way - on ourboard, committees, and staff; in the agencies wefund; and among the people we serve.

A concern often voiced about many UnitedWays is that membership is difficult to achieve andthat the application process is used to screen outrather than to include new agencies. It is true, at leastin Chicago, that membership standards are demand-ing and extensive, covering not only services butgovernance, finance, management, and other opera-tional areas. Since membership status in United Wayof Chicago assures continuous stable annual fund-ing, we regard these standards and our membershipevaluation system as essential components of ouraccountability to our contributors.

Even so, we have revised our membershipstandards to make them more explicit, focusing onkey concepts, and less rigid. We have also commit-ted our organizational resources to assist agenciesto meet our standards. We offer free of charge anextensive array of consulting services and trainingprograms covering every major area of our stan-dards, with the highest priority being given to newand emerging minority agencies.

Our Venture Grants program also promotesinclusiveness. It provides one-and two-year grantsto support high priority needs which are not beingadequately addressed through the membershipsystem. These needs may be for a particular commu-nity, a particular target population group, or for aparticular problem. Averaging more than $20,000,most groups receiving grants are non-members andtend to be smaller and newer agencies.

The Venture Grants program is designed topermit more risk-taking and, through three fundingcycles annually, it is able to respond to fundingrequests fairly quickly. Standards for such grants aregenerally less rigorous than for those organizations

23

in the membership stream. The program in Chicagohas more than doubled in size in the last two years,funding over 30 nonmember agencies, and hassought to attract and prepare agencies for regularmembership.

Openness

In addition to improving access to the UnitedWay, we want to encourage increased understandingof and participation in our organization. We wantthose who make up our various publics to knowmore about what we are doing and how we aredoing it, and to play a larger role in the doing itself.

We coordinate our efforts with governmentalagencies, foundations, communities, and interestgroups. We communicate more about ourselvesthrough mass and targeted media.

Accountability

The United Way acts as a steward of the dollarsdonated by the public. We have made a major com-mitment to improving how we identify and antici-pate needs, how we allocate our resources, and howwe evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of theservices provided with our dollars. And we arecommitted to providing leadership in addressing thecity's human care needs.

The changes in the service evaluation systemalone involve a four-or five-year process, movingfrom a paper-dominated annual review to a tri-annual on-site visit and evaluation by teams ofvolunteers and professionals.

This capsule summary of what is happening atUnited Way of Chicago only begins to portray theexciting changes that are occurring. While otherUnited Way affiliates across the country are notmirror images of Chicago, the enthusiasm, respon-siveness, and desire to adapt and improve are typicalof the organization. It is a most opportune time foragencies, interest groups, and others to approachtheir local United Way.

FRC Report, V/3, 9/86.

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Bask FactsAbout United Ways

There are more than 2,200United Ways in the United States,helping individual communitiesmeet their health and human careneeds through a vast network ofcharitable groups and volunteers.The United Way celebrated its100th bire-.Jay in 1987.

At the local level, volunteershelp raise money through a sin-gle, community-wide campaign(primarily in the workplace); theyresearch, assess, and plan for fu-ture community needs; they bringorganizations and people togetherto address problems affecting theircommunities; they allocate re-sources through a volunteer re-view process; they recruit and vainother volunteers; and they offerresource and referral services andtechnicalassistance to a broad rangeof community agencies.

Each United Way is an inde-pendent community resource,governed by a local board of vol-unteers. More than 1300 UnitedWays are run primarily by vol-unteers; the remainder employ atleast one full-time st.:1 member.

The work of volunteers and thesimplicity of corporate payrolldeduction plans helps United Waykeep their administrative fund-raising costs low.

United Way verifies that everygroup receiving funds is a non-profit charity, is governed by vol-unteers, submits to an annualindependent financial audit,maintains a policy of nondiscrimi-nation, and provides services at areasonable cost.

Collectively, United Waysraised an estimated $3.17 billion in1991, through voluntary contri-butions from individuals, corpo-rations, small businesses, andfoundations.

United Ways support thegreatest variety of human servicesin the country. Voluntary contri-butions support an estimated44,000 agencies and chapters,helping tens of millions of people.Some of the service providers arelarge nationwide agencies, andothers are small, local agencies.Funding patterns are flexible, andboth traditional and emergingagencies are assisted.

Issues of Concern Include:

Adult educationHomelessness

Crisis relief

Legal aid

RecreationAlcoholism and drug abuseJob training and placement

Childcare and counselingEmergency food and shelterConsumer protectionThe changing American familyHealth research, education,and delivery

Services for youth, the elderlyand the disabled

Gifts In Kind, an organizationinitiated by United Way ofAmerica, encourages in-kind do-nations as a supplement to finan-cial support. Since the programbegan, over $350 million in prod-uct donations have been distrib-uted to more than 50,030 not-for-profit organizations per year.

Many United Ways offer spe-cial management assistance pro-grams to help agencies determinethe skills they need to operate effi-ciently. Local business people arerecruited to serve as volunteeradvisors, providing expertise inareas such as financial accounting,budget management, planning,raearch, marketing, and staff de-velopment.

The Family Resource Coalitionreceived the above facts fromUnited Way of America; we rec-ommend calling the United Wayin your local community for fur-ther information.

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Obtaining Public Funding forPrograms to Strengthen Families

by Hedy Chang and Cecelia Leong

A s family support programs grow in number, mov-,1 ing beyond isolated demonstration projects,program administrators have become increasinglyinterested in funding activities through public dol-lars. Because most public funding sources do notrecognize and value family support programs andprinciples, this new direction presents a challenge forthe family support movement. Moreover, this chal-lenge comes at a time when competition for shrink-ing federal and state monies is more intense than everbefore. Yet, to overlook public funds is to ignore avast source of funding for services to families.

Family support programs can and have utilizeda variety of creative strategies to obtain or increasethe level of support they receive from public fund-ing. However, the success of such strategies requiresprogram administrators who have an entrepreneurialspirit, are willing to pursue resources aggressively,and, if necessary, advocate for the creation of newfunding sources or a re-allocation of how publicmonies are spent. The five main strategies describedbelow range from those which increase funding forfamily support programs by veorking within thesystem as it is currently structured to those whichinvolve reconfiguring the system of public funding.

1. Funding Through Family Support initiatives

The first, and most obvious strategy is to obtainpublic funding through an initiative which specifi-cally sets aside money for family support programs.Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey,Oklahoma, Vermont, and Wisconsin are among thestates that have done so! Typically, these initiativesbegin as small appropriations for pilot programswhich are then expanded in subsequent years as thefunded programs demonstrate effectiveness. Forexample, when Connecticut funded ten ParentEducation and Support Centers in January 1987,it became one of the first states to provide familysupport services, including parent education, to anon-targeted population. Administered by the

Department of Children and Youth Services, fund-ing has been expanded to fifteen sites.'

Though difficult to -,4>tain and maintain, thistype of funding is often the most flexible. Suchfunding, however, is not assured from year to yearand tends to function as score support' or 'seed"dollars. Programs need to supplement these funds.

Administrators with experience operatingfamily support programs can play a key role indeveloping state initiatives. By working closely withlegislators over time, administrators can educatepolicymakers about the need for an initiative andthen work with legislative staff to ensure that theresulting legislation incorporates family supportprinciples and allocates the necessary resources?Especially during times of fiscal scarcity, programadministrators may need to galvanize public supportand form strong advocacy coalitions in order toestablish or preserve funding for such initiatives.

2. Funding Through TargetedGrant Programs

A second, less straightforward, strategy is toseek funding under a state or federal grant programwhich addresses a related issue such as substanceabuse, teen pregnancy, or child abuse prevention.Such grants typically fund a selected number ofdemonstration sites, often for a limited amount oftime. Though family support may not be the pri-mary objective of the grant, a program which advo-cates family support principles may be able toqualify for funds because such a service deliveryapproach is a successful way to treat the identifiedproblem. Consider the following example:

In 1990, the California Office of Child AbusePrevention invited nonprofit organizations andinstitutions of higher education working closelywith schools to submit proposals for three-yeardemonstration projects which would provide childneglect prevention and intervention services tochildren ages five through eight and their families.Entitled LEARN (Local Efforts to Address andReduce Neglect), the goals of this effort were toimprove coordinatdon between schools and service

? 6

providers, inhance family functioning and self-esteem and reduce the number of children referredto county, welfare departments for neglect.

One LEARN program is a joint effort of a non-profit agency, the Los Angeles Children's Bureau,the Ocean View School District and the OrangeCounty Social Service Agency. Operating at twoelementary school sites, the project offers families abroad array of services including: family classes andsupport groups, parent education classes and sup-port groups, transportation, Parents as Teacherstraining, day care, self-esteem groups for children,and health screening. In order to meet the needs ofthe largely Latino student population, most of theprogram's direct service providers are bilingual andbicultural.

A guiding principle of the project is familyinvolvement and empowerment, the program isstructured to involve parents at many levels. Whilesome parents participate in the community coordi-nating council which identifies available resourcesand gaps in services, others serve as parent supportgroup facilitators or outreach workers. All parentsare recognized as the primary directors in theirchild's and family's life.

Less than one year after this project began,money was found to expand service eligibility fromthe original target group of children aged five toeight and their families to all families attending thetwo elementary schools. This new money was ob-tained through a new statewide initiative known asHealthy Start. Its primary objective is to improveoutcomes for children and families by encouragingthe development of a comprehensive range of ser-vices accessible through the schools.

3. Expanding Services ThroughStrategk Partnerships

Collaboration, or the dr elopment of strongpartnerships between family support programs andother family-serving agencies, is a third strategy.In this case, the family support program does notdirectly seek monies for its own activities, but makesarrangements for another agency which receivespublic support and shares common goals or clientsto provide a needed service. Agencies interested injointly providing services engage in a number ofarrangements which range from developing strongreferral procedures to jointly locating services at asingle site to arranging for a workers to beoutstationed.

The East Bay Perinatal Council's Oakland Birthto School project illustrates the advantages of coh-cating services. Birth to School incorporates threeseparate programs under one roof: the OaklandParent Child Center which provides services for

children aged birth to three; the Oaldand Head Startprogram which is funded through the federal HeadStart program; and the Comprehensive PerinatalServices Program which is funded through Medi-Cal (California Medicaid) reimbursements. Corefunding for Birth to School comes from privatefoundations. Collocation, despite the extensive timeit takes to develop agreements between the differentpartners, is a powerful strategy since it allowsgroups to share overhead costs (e.g. rent, telephone,support staff, etc.) and provides clients with accessto comprehensive services.

Located in a Los Angeles elementary school,the Vaughn Family Center combines referrals withcollocation of services and outstationing workersfrom public and private agencies.

The Vaughn Street Family Center is the firstdemonstration site of an initiative involving theschool and jointly spearheaded by two non-profits,the Los Angeles Educational Partnership and theNorth Angeles Region, United Way. The goal of theinitiative is to demonstrate that integrated school-linked services combined with the development ofquality early childhood programs can improvedevelopmental and school outcomes for childrenand empower families. A primary goal of the pro-gram is to build upon the strengths of the schoolspredominantly Latino and African-American fami-lies. Consequently, site-level policy making andgovernance is the responsibility of a prc,ram com-mission comprised of 50 percent parents KI 50

percent providers. All meetings are held in Englishand Spanish.

While the center is still in the process of becom-ing operational, it has begun to provide a range ofservices to families including health care, classes forparents ranging from English as a Second Languageto aerobics, legal aid, etc. Mental health counseling -provided by a local non-profit organization,Hathaway Children's Services, and funded througha federal funding stream (Short Doyle Medical)' -was one of the first services to be made available toVaughn families. The school agreed to redirectschool funds to purchase the services of a full-timenurse who works in partnership with the schooldistrict nurse practitioner to offer free immuniza-tions (using medicine contributed by the countyhealth department) and well-child health screeningsto children at the school.'

Making such arrangements, however, is not aneasy process and the difficulties involved should notbe underestimated. Agencies often have differencesin approach, philosophy, and organizational proto-col. Many differences can be traced directly to re-strictions placed on the agencies by their fundingsources, particularly when the monies flow from a

9 7 25

federal or state categorical program. Vaughn illus-trates this situation well.

In order for Hathaway to receive Short-Doylefunding for the mental health services it provides atthe center, Hathaway is required to follow proce-dures mandated by federal and state regulations. Forexample, like many federal programs Short-Doylerequires the agency to open a file for each clientserved and obtain extensive paperwork. Staff atHathaway Children's Services quickly realized thatthis requirement contradicts Vaughn's philosophyof having services be consumer-driven and user-friendly. In order to accommodate this situation,Hathaway Children's Services took a significantfinancial risk. Rather than obtain documentationbefore providing service to a family, Hathawaydecided to have their worker begin by working withfamilies without reimbursement. After the workerbuilt trust through a series of group meetings andindividual visits, she gradually obtained the neededdocumentation.

While this strategy has worked, it placedHathaway under significant pressure during thestart-up phase. First, the agency lost money for theunits which were not billed. Second, under therequirements for Short-Doyle funding, each agencyunder contract with the state must bill a certainnumber of units. If the agency does not, it risks nothaving its contract renewed in the next year. Inorder for the agency as a whole to bill enough units,other agency staff had to work harder than usual.Finally, because Short-Doyle tracks services pro-vided by each worker, the outstationed workerplaced her own job at risk because her performancerecords indicated she was not billing enough units.

Because the others involved in the project wereinitially unaware of the Short-Doyle funding re-quirements, there were some misunderstandings,For instance, when the outstationed worker went onvacation, Vaughn School asked about the possibilityof Hathaway providing a substitute to assure conti-nuity of care. In a school setting where hiring substi-tutes on short notice is standard practice, thisrequest seems simple and reasonable. But, forHathaway, placing another worker at Vaughn is anextremely difficult proposition. Finding a temporaryworker who has the appropriate credentials is highlyunlikely. Also, it is financially unfeasible forHathaway to ask a therapist to temporarily drop hisor her current caseload in order to provide servicesto Vaughn families. From a clinical perspective,Hathaway Was also concerned that using a substitutewould iterfere with the bond which had alreadydeveloped between the outstationed worker andfamilies at Vaughn. Discussions about the fundingrestrictions have been crucial to enabling the center

to plan ahead for therapist's absences with backupprogram 4.ztivities. Thus, both Hathaway staff andthe parents, who tend to drop out when schedulesbecome irregular, are better supported.6

4. Seeking Support ThroughCategodcal Funding Streams

Programs engaged in family support can seekfunding directly from federal and state categoricalfunding streams. Such funding streams typicallyoffer support for specific types of services to indi-viduals who meet set eligibility requirements; thesefunds are contingent upon state or local matches.Examples of these categorical funds are moniesavailable through Title XlX of the Social SecurityAct ( Medicaid), Title IV E of the Act's Job Oppor-tunity and Basic Skills (JOBS), the Individuals withDisabilities Education Act (Public Law 99-457),Chapter 1 (Elementary and Secondary EducationAct), and Even Start. Because this strategy requiresextensive work with state policymakers and strongknowledge of federal programs, it is the most diffi-cult. However, these categorical programs representsthe largest potential sources of funding.

In recent years, shrinking state funds for humanservices have compelled a growing number of statepolicimakers to increase the extent to which existingor proposed new services (including family supportservices) are funded by federal categorical programs.For example, as part of its statewide education re-form legislation, Kentucky has mandated the cre-ation of Family Resource Centers in all elementaryschools in which more than 20 percent of the stu-dents are eligible for free lunch, and Youth ServicesCenters in all junior and senior high schools withthe same level of need. Obtaining federal support,particularly through Medicaid, JOBS, and Tide IV Eis key to their plans to maintain and expand services.'

Although such a strategy relies heavily uponnegotiations between state and federal officials,program administrators need to be aware of andinvolved in these efforts. First, if a state embarksupon this strategy it may provide family supportprograms with the opportunity to gain access tofederal funds. Second, program administrators'involvement can be critical in ensuring that suchplans take into account the impact complex eligibil-

. ity, provider status, and reimbursement categoriesrequirements have on a program built around prin-ciples of family support. Consider the experience ofCharlene Clemens, the Director of the San FranciscoTeenage Pregnancy and Parenting Program.

Founded in 1981, TAPP is a joint effort of thedepartments of social services and public health, theUniversity of California at San Francisco, the schooldistrict and two nonprofit child and family service

28

agencies. An interagency comprehensive servicedelivery system, TAPP employs case managers(called continuous counselors) to serve pregnant andparenting adllescents up to age 17. Strong familysupport principles are embedded within the TAPPprogram. Staff actively seek to involve members ofthe client's family including parents, guardians,siblings, or grandparents. Staff strive to empoweradolescent mothers and fathers by helping themdefine their concerns, identify alternative courses ofaction, maintain their motivation, and obtain neededservices.aInitial funding for TAPP came through afederal demonstration program. Its immediate im-pact led to the creation of the California AdolescentFamily Life Program (AFLP), which funds similarefforts throughout the state.

Most recently, Charlene Clemens, the currentproject director, has been involved in discuslionsheld by the state to determine how federal Medicaiddollars could be used to maintain and expand AFLPservices. They are specifically considering whetherTAPP case management is reimbursable throughMedicaid. Such reimbursement would have thebenefit of funding services through a more stablefunding stream. In addition, since Medicaid is anentitlement program, there is no cap on the numberof eligible adolescents who can receive Medicaidreimbursable services. While supportive of thiseffort, Clemens is concerned about the impact ofusing Medicaid. She does not want her program'smission and activities to be compromised by therestrictions of a particular funding source.9 Issuesraised by this proposal are:

Time: Medicaid billing and accounting can bea time-consuming process. Is it worth the time andhassle involved?

Eligibility: TAPP can only be reimbursed forcertain services provided to Medicaid eligible indi-viduals. Currently, TAPP serves anyone who walksin the door, including adolescent fathers. UnderMedicaid, TAPP would not be reimbursed forserving adolescent fathers or other teenagers whodo not meet certain income requirements

Quality: Can TAPP maintain the same qualityof services under Medicaid? Clemens is concernedthat the Medicaid reimbursement categories, whichseparate case management from direct services willdrive a wedge between case management and directservices, which are intimately connected activities atTAPP. For ezample, at TAPP the case manager, thewttritionist, and the child development specialistwork with the client as part of a dynamic teamprocess that allows the adolescent to feel both com.fortable and capable about engaging in a dialogueabout her options.

Mission: Is Medicaid consistent with the missionof the organization? Fundamentally, this is the mosttroubling question for Clemens. While Medicaidcase management is based on a medical model ofservice provision, TAPP case management is a waydifferent psychosocial, educational, and healthmodel which seeks to address many other non-medical facets of a clienes needs.

5. Making Funds Available ByDecategorizing Existing Monies

As the discussion about Medicaid reveals, mostpublic monies are categorical, meaning that they canonly be used for specified services or clearly definedtarget populations. The comme= of CharleneClemens demonstrate how this funding approachmakes providing comprehensive services to familiesextremely difficult Some advocates believe thatinfusing family support principles into our system ofservice delivery requires fundamental changes in thenature of public funding. Specifically, many arearguing for decategorization. Decategorization is theeffort to create greater funding discretion by remov-ing categorical program requirements such as in-come, residency, or age limitations. This radicalapproach is far from easy to accomplish, particularlybecause it demands such strong commitment tochange from policymakers and requires the estab-lishment of a different system of accountability.

It is, nonetheless, being tried on a limited scale.One example is the three-year decategorizationexperiment, started in 1989, being conducted in twocounties in Iowa. The Iowa General Assemblypassed legislation which allowed the counties to folda number of categorical programs" into a single childwelfare fund which could be used to finance servicesprovided under a more client-centered system.

The Challenges of Seeking Public Funding

Seeking public funding poses many challengesfor program administrators. It is difficult to simplykeep abreast of potential funding sources and majorefforts to reconfigure the system of public funding.In order to stay current, program administratorsmust continually seek out information on funding.One important informa6on-gathering technique iskeeping in contact with departments likely to fundfamily support activities, particularly those activitieswhich respond to major public concerns such as theneed for childcare, substance abuse prevention, andfamily preservation. Such information is also avail-able through published sources of information suchas The Federal Register, which describes all federalgrants, or through electronic bulletin boards anddatabases, such as Dialogue or Lexis/Nexis, which

27

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maintain information on federal, state, and localgiants." Administrators may also be able to find outabout important new initiatives by contacting re-lated professional and advocacy organizations suchas the Child Welfare League of America, the Amexi-can Public Welfare Association, the Children'sDefense Fund, and the Family Resource Coalition.

Identifying a potential public funding source isjust the first step in the process. In addition to as-sessing the impact of the funding on her organiza-tion, the administrator must create and implementa successful strategy to obtain funding. The assess-ment process is one in which the administratorcarefully weighs the costs and benefits of pursuingan identified source of funding; during this process,the administrator must judge whether the costs ofmeeting reporting requirements outweigh the ben-efits of additional funding or if program changesrequired by the funding source would compromiseher organization's mission. The assessment shouldalso include a realistic appraisal of the energy thatwill be required. At times, obtaining federal, state,and local grant monies can depend as much on theability of the program administrator to exercise polit-ical clout as on submitting a high quality proposal.

Ultimately, in order to make public fundingwidely available for family support programs, indi-viduals and organizations involved in family supportmust work together to develop a clear agenda andstrategy for public funding. Tapping the largestfunding sources and reconfiguring the current sys-tem of funding require negotiations at the state andnational levels. Program administrators workingalone cannot influence these high-level negotiations.Before coming to the table, however, those whoadvocate increased public support must agree upona strategy for pursuing public support. Should it beits own separate categorical funding stream? Shouldit be blended or decategorized funding? Shouldfamily support advocates work toward generallyreconfiguring the system of public funding? Such aconsensus crucial: family support advocates needto respond to other organizations competing for ashare of increasingly scarce public funds.

1. Family Resource Coalition, Programs to Strengthen FamilieKA Resource Guide, Third edition, 1992, pp. 165-180.

2. Ibid., P. 165.

3. Frank Farrow, etal, "Challenges and Opportunities forPublic Policies on Family Support and Education," inHelping Families Grow Strong: New Directions M PublicPo&y, (papers form the Colloquium on Public Policy andFamily Support), sponsored by The Center for the Studyof Social Policy, Family Resource Coalition.

4. Short-Doyle MediCal is the California program whichregulates Medicaid reimbursements to counties for mentalhealth services

5. For a full description of the Vaughn Street Family Centersee Familycare - Vaughn Center Demon..tration Site,"from the California Tomorrow Clearinghouse onCollaborative Services for Diverse Communities, 1992.

6. Interview with Lyn Kobosa-Munro, June 18, 1992.

7. 'Refmancing in Kentucky: Expanding die Base for FamilyResource and Youth Service Caners," Center for the Studyof Social Policy, Washington D.C., January 1991.

8. Brindis, Claire, Barth, Richard P. and Amy B. Loomis,'Continuous Counseling Case Management with TeenageParents," Social Casework: The Journal of ContemporarySocial Work Family Service America, 1987, p.166.

9. Interview with Charlene Clemens, August 13, 1992.

10. Program included in the legislation were foster care,family-centered services, subsidized adoptions, day care,local purchase services, juvenile institutional care, mentalhealth institute placements, juvenile detention, protectiveservices and others. For additional detail, see Chapter 234,Section 203, subsection 9, paragraph i, Acts of the Seventy-Second General Assembly of the State of Iowa, Volume 1(1987).

11. Since these services can be expensive, untrained usetsmay want to find expert assistance, such as the librarianin a local library, to search for the information. The FRCcan do limited searches of the Federal Register whichcontains information on federal grants, for FRC members.

:3 0

A Halloween Fundraiser BenefitsThe New Orleans Parenting Center

by Peter Silvem

Fundraising can be, as any nonprofit agency knows,the most important activity undertaken to stay

afloat Though special events such as garage sales andauctions flourish as a short-term answer to financialwoes, these profits do not compare with those oflarge-scale extravaganzas.

Five years ago, the Parenting Center (TPC) ofNew Orleans initiated a fundraising event that com-bined a safe alternative to Halloween with an adver-tising campaign for its parent education services.

TPC is a department of the 153-bed Children'sHospital complex located near the Mississippi River.A resource, support, and referral center for familieswith children from birth to adolescence, TPC is avital part of Louisiana's most comprehensive medi-cal facility for children.

The TPC fundraiser, originally called SPOOK-TACULAR, was a nighttime event assisted by theJunior League and aided by five years of in-kindcontributions from Children's Hospital. SPOOK-TACULAR is a fine example of the effectivenessgained by repeating the same special event year afteryear. By building on their experience, TPC hascreated a solid foundation of recognition, funding,and volunteers.

In the beginning, SPOOKTACULAR was amodest event Held on the Children's Hospitalgrounds, TPC invited area residents to bring theirchildren for an evening of fun. They offered rides,games, and activities for children from three to sixyears of age. TPC, keeping with tradition, evenerected a variety of trick-or-treat facades so thatchildren had doorbells to ring.

As each successive year proved more enjoyablefor families and more profitable to TPC, the event'spopularity drew increasingly large audiences, raisedmore donations, and encouraged more people tovolunteer. SPOOKTACULAR became TPC'smajor fundraiser and the place to be on Halloweennight.

For several years, SPOOKTACULAR hadbeen a 1200-ticket, sold-out event Feeling the timewas ripe to take a new risk, TPC expanded the depthand scope of the production in 1987 by joiningforces with their next door neighbor, the AudubonPark Zoo. SPOOKTACULAR was transformedinto BOO AT THE ZOO, with anticipated salesof 4,000 tickets. Profits from food, games, andthy-of-ticket sales were split between TPC and theirzoo friends.

The adventurous expansion of this Halloweentreat would have remained not more than a goodidea without the aid of scores of volunteers. Drawnfrom every facet of New Orleans' diverse culture, in1987, 150 to 200 people participated. Representingservice organizations, local businessmen andwomen, sororities and fraternities, and a high schoolsenior class, the volunteers provided the support forplanning, entertainment, publicity, soliciting fundsfor and cleaning up after the event.

BOO AT THE ZOO promises a night ofunabashed fun for families with children throughthe age of twelve. At dusk, there is a special pre-event party for the patrons; and later, the generalput.' z, in a swirl of costumes and lights, joins thefestivities. Now, Families enjoy trick-or-treathouses, game booths, stagecoach rides, a spookhouse, food and beverages, magicians, jugglers,puppeteers, music and art activities, and a spookridethrough designated parts of the zoo.

As a fundraiser, the event has been a great suc-cess. Here are the figures for 1985 and 1986:

1985 1986

Underwriters $ 10,875 $ 12,375

Patrons 8,380 8,935

Ticket sales 3,382 3,958

Food, games 1,711 2,594

TOTAL $ 24,348 $ 27,862

Less expenses -1,947 4,000*

PROFIT $ 22,431 $ 23,862

* including a 2-year supply of T-shirts

3 129

Weeks prior to the 1987 BOO AT THE ZOO,TPC had already banked $30,000 as a result of un-derwriters' and patron contributions. TPC antici-pated a $5,000 increase in profit, despite growingexpenses for the expanded event.

The success of the underwriter and patroncampaign has been key to the generally optimisticview of the yearly Halloween event. Asking forcontributions of $300 to $1,000, TPC has offeredunderwriters a choice of incentives, from sponsoringchildren to attend the event, to displaying the nameof their business on a trick-or-treat house, or placingthe donor's name on a headstone in the 'cemetery.'For individual patrons, TPC created contributionscategories of Great Pumpkin, Witch and Warlock,and Ghostbuster, each included free tickets to theevening's celebration.

After the event, the organizers and volunteersmeet at The Parenting Center to assess what workedand what did not, and begin planning for next year.Each May, a rigorous schedule of meetings willdetermine, among other things, the type of statio-nery and invitations to be used, what the sponsorpackets will include, the decorations, fundraisingstrategies, etc.

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TPC has brought a simple message to thegreater New Orleans community. They are foundedon the principle that parenting is not instinctive, andthat families in a changing society need parentingeducation. In order to be effective in their programdelivery and meet rising costs, BOO AT THEZOO, with its ability to raise needed funds, hasassumed primary importance.

But TPC has gained more than income. BOOAT THE ZOO offers an event unlike anything elsethe children of New Orleans can attend, and links acontinuously growing number of families to TheParenting Center's programs. The children antici-pate each year's spectacular; an added bonus,eclipsed only by their parents' enthusiasm for volun-teering, contributing, and encouraging others toparticipate in this first-rate celebration.

FRC Report, VI/3, 9/87,

Editor's Note: BOO AT THE ZOO continuesto be a Halloween tradition in New Orleans. Theevent draws approximately 4,000 people and raisesbetween $35,000 and $45,000 for PTC each year.Contact: Donna Newton, Director, The ParentingCenter at Children's Hospital, 200 Henry ClayAvenue, New Orleans, LA 70118, 504/895-3574.

32

Resource Directory

Many resources are available to not-for-profitprofessionals who are looking to launch or

build a more effective fundraising program.This resource directory is designed to provide

a starting point for everyone, whether your agencyis big or small, your development program well-established or fledgling, your locale rural or urban,and your fundraising budget healthy or nonexistentIt includes information about organizations whichcan help you, databases devoted to philanthropicinformation and periodicals which many profession-als find useful.

Note that books are not included. There arethousands of books published which cover allthe various development disciplines, and many ofthem will be available at your local public libraryor bookstore.

Organizations which ProvideDevelopment Resources and Assistance

TI-EE GRANTSMANSHIP CENTER1125 West 6th StreetLos Angeles, CA 90017(213) 482-9860

TGC trains staff members of public and privatenonprofit agencies in grantsmanship, program man-agement, and fundraising. Each year, more than 300workshops are held throughout the country, with alocal public or private agency hosting each programin cooperation with the center. Training is done ina workshop format, designed to give participantshands-on learning/practice experience with the sub-ject matter. In these workshops, participants learnabout the components of a good proposal, how tocritique proposals, the art of writing a proposal, andhow they are reviewed and evaluated.

The center also publishes the bimonthlyGrantsmansh4o Center News magazine, whichprints articles and current information on nonprofitmanagement and funding. Highlights from pastissues of the magazine are reprinted separately andcontain valuable reference materials at a small cost.

THE FOUNDATIONS CENTER79 East 5th AvenueNew York, NY 100031-800-424-9836

The Foundation Center is an independent,nonprofit service organization primarily supportedby foundations, which provides multiple sources ofinformation on philanthropic giving. The Founda-tion Center considers directing a proposal to themost appropriate grantmaker the crucial first step inobtaining a grant and places great emphasis onresearch for that selection process. There are some22,000 active U.S. foundations and the Center servesto conr_xt their interests with nonprofit needs bypublishing reference books on gantmakers anddisseminating pertinent information through anational public information and education program.

The Foundation Center's numerous publica-tions fall into three categories: directories which des-cribe specific granmiakers, their program interests,and fiscal and personnel dna; grants indexes whichlist and classify by subject recent foundation awards;and guides which introduce the reader to fundingresearch, proposal writing, and related topics.

Two national libraries, two field offices, and130 cooperating library collections provide freeaccess to all materials necessary for funding researchand proposal development. Computer technology,reference librarians, and special orientations areCenter services, as well as information on othersources of funding that include corporations, gov-ernment agencies, and grass roots funding strategies.

INDEPENDENT SECTOR1828 L Street, NW , Suite 1200Washington, DC 20036(202) 223-8100

Independent Sector is an association oforganizations with national interestz and impact inphilanthropy and voluntary action. More than 500voluntary organizations, large foundations, andmajor companies with significant giving programsare members. A collaboration of the National

31

Council on Philanthropy and the Coalition ofNational Voluntary Organizations, IS's combinedefforts are geared to increased giving, volunteerism,affecting public policy that applies to charitablegiving, and not-for-profit initiatives.

IS publishes the monthly Update which com-bines information on research, management tips,legislative reports, and other news about giving,volunteering, and independent institutions. IS alsopublishes monographs, special studies, reports, andnewsletters.

WOMEN AND FOUNDATIONS/CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY322 8th Avenue, Suite 702New York, NY 10001(212) 463-9934

WF/CP plays a unique informational role.They are not a broker for those who need help inidentifying potential funders, nor do they offerspecific fund raising advice. The organization's goalsare to increase the amount of money for programsthat benefit women and girls, and to enhance thestatus of women as decision-makers within privatephilanthropy. Their national membership is madeup of professionals - the staff and trustees of founda-tions who share a particular interest in women's issues.

WF/CP functions as a bridge, presenting researchand data to the grantmaking community on the needsof women and girls. In that capacity, they producepapers, newsletters, and booklets on the status ofwomen. One of these is Women and Families in the'80's: A Role for Philanthropy, drawn from an annualmeeting theme. A paper entitled Part-Time for a Life-Time: The Limits Facing Most Working Women, ad-dresses the realities of vocational preparation for girls.

The organization has a strong network through-out the country. Network members perform animportant function as speakers for regional andnational meetings, offering information about howto approach grantmakers, and current data on locallevel availability of money.

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NATIONAL COMMI 1 EE FORRESPONSIBLE PHILANTHROPY2001 S Street, NW, Suite 620Washington, DC 20009(202) 387-9177

The NCRP is involved in making funding sourcesmore aware of non-traditional charities such as minorityorganizations; women's groups; social action groups;consumer, environmental, and other public interestgroups; and neighborhood and other community-based organizations. They publish annual reports offoundations and work to diversify foundation boardsto include members of non-traditional groups.

NCRP is focused on expanding opportunitiesfor individual employees who make charitablecontributions at the workplace. In particular, theyare interested in payroll contributions focused onthe federal government, which collects $90 millionannually for United Way and a few other charities.

Another goal of NCRP is to work with UnitedWay to provide greater funding for non-traditionalorganizations. By placing national pressure throughmedia and legal efforts, more community-based or-ganizations across the country have received fundingthrough United Way's payroll deduction system.

COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS1828 L Stnet, NW, Suite 300Washington, DC 20036(202) 466-6512

Founded in 1949, the COF is comprised ofcommunity, independent, corporate, and companyfoundations.COF provides consulting and otherservices to its members. COF sponsors meetingsdesigned to inform grantrnakers, trustees, officers,and executives of current trends in philanthropy;and to share knowledge and experience in theadministration of philanthropic funds. Membershipis informed of legislative and other developments inthe field by regular mailings and several annualworkshops. COF publishes a bi-weeldy newsletterand a bi-monthly trade journal, Foundation News:The Magazine of Philanthropy. In addition, theCOF bestows the Wilmer Shields Award andDistinguished Grantrnaker Award and sponsorsresearch and educational programs.

34

THE TAFT GROUP835 Penobscot BuildingDetroit, MI 4822614800)-877-TAFT

For over two decades, the Taft Group has beenserving the nonprofit sector by publishing detailedand comprehensive directories of funding sources.They also produce several newsletters discussingnew sources of funds, industry trends, and fundraising advice.

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE358 Brannan StreetSan Francisco, CA 94107(415) 896-1900

PMI's services, publications, and training pro-grams provide nonprofit organizations with thelatest information about fundraising challenges andtrends. PMI also produces seminars, available eitherin cassette or manual, on various topics includingManagement Skills for Women Managers; Book-keeping for Nonprofits; How to Build a Big En-dowment; Successful Public Mations Techniques;and Direct Mail Fundraising and Budgeting forNonprofits.*

PUBLIC INTERESTPUBLIC RELATIONS, INC.470 Park Avenue South10th Floor NorthNew York, NY 10016(212) 481-7000

PIPR helps nonprofit groups identify and com-municate with their primary audiences. Its goals are:to promote the issues and ideas of the nonprofitsector and to offer counseling on internal communi-cations; to generate publicity in the print and broad-cast media; to develop fundraising programs, includ-ing creating funding proposals; to create informa-tional materials such as annual reports, brochures,and newsletters; to organize of special events; and tocommunicate with government at all levels.*

THE SUPPORT CENTER2001 0 Street, NWWashington, DC 20036(202) 833-0300

The Support Center is a national network ofmanagement assistance centers with offices in Chi-cago, Newark/New York, San Francisco, Houston,Oklahoma City, and Washington. Its areas of assis-tance include: strategic and organizational planningaccounting and financial managemenu legal and taxcompliance; fundraising board development; inter-nal development and structure; and other areas ofnonprofit management. The Support Center pro-vides management assistance through workshop,clinics, and one-to-one consultation.*

AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONOF FUND-RAISING COUNSEL25 West 43rd Street, Suite 820New York, NY 10036(212) 354-5799

AAFRC is composed of fund-raising counsult-ing firms engaged in managing planning, and con-sulting regarding financing of hospital, religious,community-run, and other nonprofit institutions forfundraising programs. The Association welcomesrequests for information on any aspect of philan-thropic fundraising and for data regarding the ser-vices of its members.*

CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE1000 Wisconsin Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20007(202) 342-0519

The Center's main purpose is the developmentof strong local community organizations. The Cen-ter provides advice and assistance on economicdevelopment, health, education, and social serviceprograms as well as assistance with organizationalplanning. It publishes a series of Citizen ActionGuide ro help citizens and community groupsmonitor local and federal public programs and takepart in government policy and budget decisions.

* Absnact3 adapted from The Resource Directoryfor Funding and Managing Nonprvfit Organizationsby Ann M Heywood, 1982.

35 33

NATIONAL CENTER FORNONPROFIT BOARDS2000 L Street, Suite 411Washington, D.C. 20036(202) 452-6262

The National Center for Nonprofit Boardsprovides resource materials aimed at helping non-profit boards effectively discharge their leadershipand fiduciary duties. Publications, including a news-letter, are designed for both board members andstaff working with them.

Using Online Databases for Grant Research

Online databases offer enormous amounts ofinformation useful to fundraising research. Thesedatabases are relatively easy to access and offer twoadvantages over manual research in printed sources:1) They contain a broader scope of information thanthe corresponding printed materials; and 2) Onlinedatabases allow you to do much of your comparingand collating online, potentially saving hours ofwork. For example, you can print a list of all foun-dation awards for drug abuse prevention in a par-ticular state in the previous year.

For further information on searching Dialogdatabases, contact your local public or universitylibrary or call Dialog at 1-800-334-2564.

GRANTSThe Oryx Press, Phoenix, AZCoverage: CurrentFile Size: 8,387 recordsUpdates: Monthly

GRANTS is the source for listings of thousandsof grants offered by federal, state, and local govern-ments; commercial organizations; associations; andprivate foundations. All grants included in the data-base carry application deadlines up to six monthsahead. Each entry includes full description, qualifi-cations, money available, and renewability. Fullname, address, and telephone number for eachsponsoring organization are included when avail-able. Subject areas encompass over 90 academicdisciplines and topics, including: the arts, education,health, humanities, physical and life sciences, socialsciences, building grants, grants for women only,study abroad, writing, and more. GRANTS is alsoavailable from Dialog in compact disc form.

34

FOUNDATION DIRECTORYThe Foundation Center, New York, NYCoverage: Current year's dataFile Size: 34,581 recordsUpdates: Annual reload

The FOUNDATION DIRECTORY is acomprehensive directory providing descriptionsof more than 32,500 active grantmakers, includinggrantmaking foundations, operating foundations,and corporate grantmakers. Principal sources ofinformation are voluntary reports by many grant-makers directly to the Foundation Center and infor-mation obtained from public information returnsfiled each year with the Internal Revenue Service byprivate foundations. More than 400 non-foundationcorporate giving programs have been added for thefirst time beginning with records input in the springof 1991.

FOUNDATION GRANTS INDEXThe Foundation Center, New York, NYCoverage: 1973-presentFile Size: 455,116 recordsUpdates: Quarterly reloads

FOUNDATION GRANTS INDEX containsrecords describing grants that have been awarded tononprofit organizations by the larger private, phil-anthropic foundations (more than 800 in 1991),representing all records from the Foundation GrantsIndex section of the bimonthly Foundation News.The file is useful in determining types and amountsof grants awarded since foundations seldom an-nounce the availability of funds for specific pur-poses. Approximately 20,000 new grants are addedto the file each year. Grants are given primarily inthe fields of eduation, health, welfare, sciences,international activities, humanities, and religion,with education as the most favored field for founda-tion giving. Grants to individuals and those less than$5,000 are not included.

Periodicals

. FUND RAISING MANAGEMENTMAGAZINEPublished by Hoke Communications12 monthly issues: $50.001-800-229-6700

This monthly is designed to appraise fundrais-ing professionals of current activity in annual anddefer-red giving, special and capital fund drives,corporations, and public foundations. Its emphasisis on organizations which are trying to diversifyfunding by moving into volunteer solicitation and/or direct mail.

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LUTHERAN RESOURCESCOMMISSION NEWSBRIEFPublished by Lutheran Resources Commission12 monthly issues: $70.00(202) 667-9844

This publication informs providers of humanservices of government grant deadlines.

FOUNDATION GIVING WATCHPublished by The Taft Group12 monthly issues: $135.001-800-877-TAM'

Foundation Giving Watch provides currentinformation on national, regional, and local Fivatefoundations to help development officers and fund-raisers find charitable support.

THE CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY24 biweekly issues: $5730, 12 issues: $29.001-800-347-6969

The Chronicle of Philanthropy is a newspaperdedicated to fundraising and philanthropic activities.It provides good coverage of breaking stories in thephilanthropic world, news of people and recentgrants, upcoming conferences, and in-depth cover-age of critical issues facing the field.

COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILYPublished by the Commerce DepartmentDaily weekdays:One year-$261.00/first class, $208.00/regular mail,6 months-$130.00/first class, $104.00/regular mall(202) 783-3238

The Commerce Business Daily announces allgovernmental requests for proposals (RFPs) that ex-ceed$25,000and upcomingsales of governmentsurplus.

FEDERAL GRAMS ANDCONTRACTS WEEKLYPublished by Capitol Publications50 weekly issues: $349.00(703) 683-4100

The Weekly contains information on currentRrPs, contracting opportunities, and upcominggrants. The Weekly also covers closing dates ongrant programs, procurement related news, andnewly issued regulations.

FOUNDATION NEWSPublished by the Council on Foundations6 bi-monthly issues: $2930(202) 466-6512

Each bimonthly issue covers the philanthropicactivities of private, company-sponsored, and com-munity foundations; direct corporate givin& gov-

ernment agencies and their programs, and more.The Foundation Grants Index Bimonthly, includedin the magaz'me, lists grants made by the largestfoundations.

WHOLE NONPROFIT CATALOG4 quarterly issues: Free(213) 482-9860

Replacing the now defunct Grantsmansh0Center News, the Whole Nonprofit Catalog is acollection of relevant articles by GrantsmanshipCenter staff and outs:de professionals.

THE GRASSROOTSFUNDRAISING JOURNALedited by Kim Klein and Lisa HcnigBi-monthly journal:$25.00/year(718) 768-3403

The Grassroots FundraisingJournal is publishedby two professional trainers who specialize in self-sufficiency fundraising. Each journal features an in-depth, how-to article on fundraising methods suchas beginning direct mail, finding major donors, ormarketing products.

PHILANTHROPIC STUDIES INDEXPublished by she Indiana UniversityCenter on PhilanthropyQuarterly journal: $75.00/year(812) 855-9449

Libraries

Those interested in obtaining further informa-tion are encouraged to use the public libraries intheir communities. Many libraries contain referencecollections devoted to foundations and philanthropy.

Should further information be required, theFoundation Center operates an extensive public ser-vice and education program through its four librar-ies in New York, Washington D.C., Cleveland, andSan Francisco. These libraries provide free publicaccess to Center publications and a wide range ofliterature relating to foundations and philanthropy.

The Foundation Center also has at least oneaffiliate reference collection in every state. Thesecollections contain IRS records for foundationswithin their own state and a complete collection ofFoundation Center publications. Those interestedare encouraged to contact the Foundation Centerfor more information on specific reference collec-tions, sites, and publications.

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Contributors

Hedy Chang is the Co-Executive Director ofCalifornia Tomorrow, a San Francisco Bay Areanonprofit policy research and advocacy organizationworking statewide on issues affecting the state'sfuture as a multi-ethnic and multiracial society.She directs California Tomorrow's effort to helpcommunities develop comprehensive programs andpolicies for ethnically and linguistically diversechildren and families.

Roger Fox, Ph.D. is Vice-President of Allocationsand Planning for United Way of Chicago. Dr. Foxspent ten years with the Chicago Urban League,most recently as Vice-President of Research andExternal Affairs overseeing the agency's research andplanning, public relations, and development opera-tions. Prior to joining the Urban League, Dr. Foxspent four years with United Way of Chicago andCrusade of Mercy. He was also on the researchfaculty of the University of Illinois' Jane AddamsSchool of Social Work in Urbana.

Cecelia Leong is Project Associate for the Collabo-rative Services for Diverse Communities Project atCalifornia Tomorrow, a San Francisco Bay Areanonprofit policy research and advocacy organizationworking statewide on issues affecting the state'sfuture as a multiethnic and multiracial society.

Unda Upton is an independent consultant servingnonprofit and public organizations. Her clients haveincluded major philanthropies and many humanservice organizations in the Chicago metropolitanarea. Since graduating from the University of Penn-sylvania Law School in 1974, she has worked atnational, state, and local levels with service at suchagencies as the Children's Defense Fund, the Chi-cago Community Trust, and the Family ResourceCoalition (as its first Executive Director).

34

Carolyn Micklem is one of the founders of theWebster Avenue Family Resource Center. Motherof three and grandmother, she believes there shouldbe a resource center in every neighborhood!

Susan Oliver is Director of Development andMarketing at the Family Resource Coalition.Armed with a B.A. from Harvard and an M.B.A.from idoston University, Susan has helped for-profitcompanies make money and not-for-profit organi-zations raise money for over 12 years. In her sparetime, she raises three little girls and teaches market-ing at DePaul University.

Margaret M. Petruska, MSW is a Progfam Offi-cer with the Howard Heinz Endowment. She isinvolved in the funding of a variety of human serviceprograms, particularly those that focus on familiesand children, a priority for the Endowment.Future grants will emphasize the creation of newprevention services for at-risk children and promoteearly childhood development in Pittsburgh and west-ern Pennsylvania.

Peter Silvern is an attorney and a freelance writer.

Gretchen S. Vapnar has been Director of theCommunity Crisis Center in Elgin, Illinois since1980. With the Center since 1975, Gretchen hasbeen a volunteer, Volunteer Coordinator, andAssistant Director.

Christine Vogel is staff writer for the FamilyResource Coalition.

38

National Resource Centerfor Family Support Programs

1))1, iL 1;