money (it's what we want)
TRANSCRIPT
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Money (It’s What We Want) #12NTCmoney
Ruth Williams, ZeroDivide Andrea Berry, Idealware Cynthia Bailie, The Foundation Center
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Money (It’s What We Want) #12NTCmoney
AGENDA • Introductions (5) • Grantmaking and Technology - Ruth Williams (10) • Fundraising and Technology - Andrea Berry (10) • Q&A (10) • Building Awareness Exercise - Cynthia Bailie (20) • Finding Funders –Cynthia Bailie (15) • Q&A (15) • Wrap up (5)
How to persuade foundations to
fund your technology needs
April 3, 2012
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Talked to funders
• Conducted a 6 month survey - 41 funders, 13 TSPs
• Learned how and why funders are – and are not –
supporting NPO’s in using tech for social
change/programmatic work
• Exec Sum: http://zerodivide.org/funder_report
or http://bit.ly/e0qgFo (that’s zero, small “o”)
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What we learned
• High funder interest; limited familiarity or expertise
• Modest investments; mostly back end
• Investment are tactical, not strategic
• Strategies for impactful tech investment are unclear
• Skeptical about tech ROI
• Better impact measurements needed
• Good News: Future $ possible, Grantees lead the
charge
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What we recommend to Funder
• Increase tech education and advising activities
• Expand their pool of investments
• Strengthen TSP infrastructure
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Recommendations to Persuade Funders
• Don’t be shy, ask for funds and other tech support
• Provide Funders with good data: modest experiment, show #’s & commitment
• Propose TA/trainings across a cohort of their grantees
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Funding Your Project
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There Are No Magical Tech Funders
Unfortunately.
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Can You Lower the Price?
Check
TechSoup for
discount software
Ask hardware
vendors about
nonprofit discounts
See if consultants
offer a discount or
compressed
project
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Will Local Businesses Help?
• Check with local banks
or partners
• Might they donate
(good quality)
hardware or software?
• Are there volunteers
who could help you
design and implement
the project?
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Can You Interest Major Donors?
• Do you have donors
who might fund part or
all of the project?
• It’s a nice, tangible
investment for the right
donor
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Approach Your Current Funders
• Would they be
interested in
supporting their
mission through tech?
• Consider including it in
a larger project.
• Do they offer any
capacity services or
funding programs?
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Building Awareness
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Finding Funders
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Thank You!
Let’s stay in touch:
• Ruth Williams | Senior Program Officer| ZeroDivide | [email protected]
• Andrea Berry | Director of Partnerships and Learning | Idealware | [email protected]
• Cynthia Bailie | Director, Cleveland Office and Special Information Initiatives | The Foundation Center | [email protected]
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Additional Resources
“How a Small Nonprofit Made Simple Tech Tweaks and Saved
$176,000.” By William Grassie - http://bit.ly/eZMFp3
Unleashing Innovation: Using Everyday Technology to Improve Nonprofit
Services. By MAP for Nonprofits and Idealware -
http://idealware.org/reports
Grants for Information Technology - 2011 Digital Edition. By The
Foundation Center - http://foundationcenter.org/marketplace
Evaluate This Session! Each entry is a chance to win an NTEN engraved iPad!
or Online using #12NTCmoney at www.nten.org/ntc/eval