Effective Fundraising

By Lisa Bates

The landscape for raising money to fund projects, events and not-for-profit activity as well as start-up business operations has changed dramatically. Traditionally fundraising for the creative sector has meant reliance on grants organisations, and a lot of pleading and convincing, or hoping like mad that a wealthy patron will take you under their wing.

But times are changing. It is now difficult to get successful funding without a tried and proven business case, and even the wealthiest of donors, sponsors or supporters won't throw good money after bad in a recession.

How can I be better at fundraising when faced with limited resources?

In the big picture, you are only as good as your reputation and you will increase your chances of success by getting yourself known. Forming good relationships with your stakeholders and the network around you will support your fundraising dramatically.

Visit the people at the grant organisations you deal with (such as funding advisors at councils and grants advisors at Creative New Zealand). Make yourself known to them. If your funding application fits the specific criteria being funded and you have introduced yourself personally to back it up, you will have the leading edge over others who haven’t.

What are some other tools I can use to make my fundraising more successful?

Collaborate with others Join up with people in the same sector as you and create a peer mentoring system. Even if it is as informal as a monthly drink at someone’s house, talking with your peers and hearing about their experiences, struggles and successes will help lift your game and get you thinking outside the square. It will also provide a chance to hear about any upcoming opportunities in your field of work.

Potential sponsors and mentors Build up a group of followers and people who love what you do. These are the people who are most likely to microfinance projects, buy your products and become your audience. Count each interested person as a major asset to your long-term goals.

What to say Test your case. Ask yourself if you would give funding to the project you are trying to initiate. How enticing is the product you are selling? Imagine you are the person making the decision at the grants table and write a case statement that will win the pitch.

A good case statement: the elevator pitch or lift line A succinct story that will inspire connection means you have to be sure of the real value of your proposition. What would you say if you were given the briefest opportunity to pitch to a potential major donor? A moment between floors as the lift doors close, you only have one opportunity to win them over..... Less is more and if you can get your concept down to a few pitch lines this will be a most valuable tool for your project and its success over the long-term. Clarify what it is you have on offer and how the project will be able to generate income as well as expense it - if that looks possible then use that fact clearly in your case statement as one of the main drivers.

The most important questions to answer are: What you need the money for, How you will make money from the completed project, Why it is important that this project goes ahead, What makes this project different from those that have gone before?

Presentation is a big deal in the creative sector For the final clincher, find a designer who will visually enhance your case statement on one A4 page so you can use this attachment with every pitch and at every meeting. Leave them with something memorable, fresh and crisp to surmise your project.

Finding Funding Partners

Once you have really tested the big picture and settled on your case statement, break your project down into fundable components. What may seem like an overwhelming task will soon appear more achievable when it is broken down into bite size chunks. From there the objective is to find a partner or source of funding for each of your fundable components.

Sources of Funding:

1. Grant making organisations FundView contains over 700 NZ funding schemes, which come from government, local government, statutory and philanthropic trusts, gaming trusts and service organisations.

2. Sponsorship What target market can you provide access to? If you have a connection with a target market already, you can attract an appropriate sponsor by offering them the opportunity to be associated with you and your database. For example, a musical instrument store may want to be associated with the fan base of a particular musician and would be prepared to give money towards this relationship.

3. Pro-rata or contra deals: If you have services or merchandise to swap, contra deals can be just as effective as cold hard cash. For example, there might be a graphic designer who wants to be noticed by the art world and happy to design your case statement in return for a supporters mention. Or a vineyard looking for that special artwork to use as a label might request permission in return for a year’s supply of wine.

4. Private Donors Since the cap was lifted on donation rebates (up to the level of annual income) in 2008, the culture of philanthropy has been slowly changing in NZ. Private donors are becoming accustomed to receiving a refund every year from the donations they have made. With this positive reinforcement, they are becoming more prolific, and willing to contribute increasing amounts of money over time.

5. The Net

The advent of social media and the Internet has also provided new ways to approach the challenge of fundraising. Crowd funding and grassroots fundraising online enable supporters to give small (or large) amounts to causes or projects that appeal to them personally - this can have a huge effect on overall fundraising success. Sites like givealittle.co.nz, kickstarter.com, sponsume.com, pozible.com.au, indiegogo.com and movie funding sites frankfilm.co.nz, onfilm.co.nz, spannerfilms.net/money, mean that anyone can put up their case to a potentially huge audience. Think of the original Obama campaign and how a little money from a whole lot of people raised one of the largest political support budgets ever in the USA.

By example, Kickstarter is the world's largest funding platform for creative projects. Every week, tens of thousands of people in the US pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields. Currently it is only available for US citizens but they are developing formats for other countries, and it is surely only a matter of time before NZ is able to get a site like this up and running.

It is also worth considering innovative approaches like Greg Johnson used with his album 'Secret Weapon'. Johnson invited fans to pre-purchase his ninth studio album to help him pay for the recording of it. He offered them package options ranging from a "standard" $30 through to "executive producer" at $3000.

Depending on fans' level of investment they could get early delivery of the album and download of a nine-track acoustic album of old favourites.

Remember though, online fundraising projects are affected even more intensely by your ability to be convincing in a succinct manner and just like a standard pitch, projects will live or die according to three things:

How compellingly you can tell your story (Case Statement), how well you promote that story (Social Media Strategy), and how big and engaged your networks are (Communications Strategy).

A final note on Etiquette: You are only as good as your last grant or sponsorship. Donors, funders and sponsors all give in order to feel positive about the product/person they support. It’s like a marriage or relationship and it deserves maintenance. Serve them well – think of the long-term by acting with integrity and following up on the promises associated with the deal. All too often in the flurry of life, thank you letters and post grant reporting gets overlooked – that’s the first way to end up without a grant or donation the following year.