Money For Our Movements Conference 2010

Organizational Readiness for Grassroots Fundraising

French American Charitable Trust: FACT Services

Grassroots Fundraising Readiness Exercises and Activities

2x2:

Tell your partner your mission

Share your mission with your partner

Partners: repeat back what you heard

Ask a clarifying question

Switch

5 Minutes to an Elevator Speech

A 30 second speech that tells a listener what’s essential and compelling about your organization

  • Not your mission statement
  • Avoid Alphabet Soup
  • Should sound informal
  • What you do and why you do it
  • Tell a story that shows impact
  • Give the listener something to do – an upcoming event, volunteer opportunity, where to donate. Remember to send to website.

Writing And Talking

Interview Your Way to Better Statements

Creative Capital Foundation

The following steps provide an easy way to work with a partner to develop better written and verbal statements around your projects and your work in general. You can do any of these steps on your own or follow the whole process – it can work with someone who knows your work well or with a stranger to your work. Just make sure you trust each other, are generous with each other, and have fun.

Step 1: Write seven words about your organization or about a new project you are working on.

Step 2: Expand the list to 14 words.

Step 3: Now use those words to come up with a 25-50 word organizational statement or project description.

Step 4: The interview – Give this sheet to your partner – have them ask you questions about your work, your statement, and/or your project. They will make notes on what you say in response.

Step 5: Now take the paper back and ask your partner questions about your statement. Write down their responses.

Step 6: Now, using the notes from the interviews, rework your statement or pitch.

Who Participates In Your Organization’s Fundraising?

Who Participates Now? / Yes/All / Some / No/None
Board of Directors
Membership
Leadership
Executive Director
Development Staff
Program Staff
Administrative Staff
Organizers
Volunteers

Check all that apply:

Current Roles / Lead / Support / None
Board of Directors
Membership
Leadership
Executive Director
Development Staff
Program Staff
Administrative Staff
Organizers
Volunteers

Exercise 1.4.1: Who Does What? Roles in Fundraising[1]

Rebecca’s Notes

Definition of GRFR

Practice makes perfect. You should write, edit and write again. Practice your speech out loud to see how sounds, how long it is and gage if it's understandable and interesting. The speech should sound like its conversational and "off the cuff."

Skip the alphabet soup. Keep it simple. Avoid using jargon, acronyms and terminology that others outside your organization or field wouldn't understand.

What you do and why you do it. Briefly talk about what you do, how you do it and why it's important for your community. Start with a simple impact statement answering each of the following questions with short one to two-word answers. What do you do? Why do you do it? How do you do it? Build off your impact statement.

Show the impact and tell a story. Don't just give a statistic of how many people you serve. Bring a face to that number. Talk about your work in a real way, letting your audience know the impact and the importance for the people you serve.

Call to action. At the end, call your listeners to action. Tell your listeners about an upcoming event, how to volunteer or where to donate. Send your listener to your website for more information.

Discussion: Attitudes About Money In Your Organization

Financial Transparency

Traditional Fundraising

Additional Help Available online: FACT Services Capacity Building

[1]Center for Community Change, Board and Staff Roles in Fundraising, Center for Community Change, date