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MenuAre there any professional services available in the U.S a non profit can hire to pitch specific corporations for donations?
Just launching my for profit startup (app) which has a non profit section to help families in tragedy. Looking to hire a professional who can pitch my company to the right corporations to get donations to start helping families immediately as to also have funds to continue to hire this individual ongoing to broaden my companies reach.
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So, is the charity whats receiving the funding or is your for-profit company. From the sounds of it, it seems the for-profit company is more important than the for charity. I would raise money for your for-profit company and create a structure that when your "profit" company does "X,"you're not for profit company gets "X." Think Warby Parker, buy a pair of glasses they give a pair of glasses. Or bonobos.
I know this isn't exactly what you were looking to hear, but I only say it because you seem to be a caring individual putting the not for profit first to help others, but you can continue to help others if the for-profit succeeds. Otherwise, you should create a not for profit.
We should talk, seriously. I specialize in development and throughout my extensive professional experience I have structured succesful major gifts programs for numerous nonprofits. Corporate giving is usually restricted: 1. Can be donated to 501 (c) 3 or 7 orgs. without exception. 2. Will be designated or restricted to a specific need or program area. In other words the donations will not permit operational expenses to be covered - this includes program admin. I specialize in unrestricted major gifts. My background includes nonprofit development, operations and executive director, as well as advisor, so I have a unique understanding of what you seek to accomplish and how it should be done. Reach out and let's get this done.
Related Questions
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Are in-kind donations are tax deductible?
Donations of in-kind services generally cannot be deducted. Donations of in-kind items (clothes, food, computers, etc.) are deductible. But the amount of the deduction is basically up to the donor; they declare the market value of the items. This is obviously very subjective, but there are some large national nonprofits that publish list of suggested values. For example, the Salvation Army has a list here: http://satruck.org/donation-value-guide One note -- vehicle donations are treated differently. I believe that the deduction used to be the Blue Book value of the car; I believe that is now only the case if the car is used by the charity in their operations or donated by them directly to a person in need. Most charities that receive donated vehicles will sell them in an auction; in these cases, the amount of the deduction is limited to the amount that the charity receives for the vehicle (i.e. if the Blue Book value is $5,000 but the charity only sells it for $2,000, I believe the deduction is limited to $2,000). NOTE: I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice. If you seek such advice, you should consult with a lawyer who specializes in this area. My response is based on my 13+ years of professional fundraising.JG
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What are the qualities of a good fundraiser?
As someone who has founded and fundraised for a social venture, I can tell you that the fundraiser must be the CEO or President. Fundraising for a non-profit is all about building a relationship with your donor base, and the donation is often as much because the donor likes the person & people as much as they like the work being done by the Foundation. One of the most difficult paradoxes of raising for a non-profit web platform is that the more someone becomes excited by the potential of the platform, the more that they would prefer to invest cash for equity than simply donate and looking back on it, I think that would have simplified things for my social enterprise and would have been able to attract far more capital. The other avenue that you can explore is to build in tipping or crowdfunding for your operation directly into the online experience but that will only be a viable source of funds with significant traffic and thus, the operating capital required to grow the business requires proactive outreach to supporters. Happy to speak with you about this in more detail in a call.TW
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What is the most important detail in asking someone to be on a BOD for a non-profit?
For background, I'm an active board member for two charities, am a past board member of CIRA (which runs the .CA domain) and am a graduate non-profit governance essentials course from the Institute of Corporate Directors. I also built Canada's first crowdfunding website that distributed over $3m to charities from over 115,000 members and in the process interacted with literally hundreds of charities on social media and cause marketing. Every board member needs to be willing and able to raise funds. I believe that every board member of a small non-profit (less than $250,000 in operating budget) should be able to raise at least 10% of the annual budget. Also important is values alignment ensuring that the board member understands and agrees with what the organization stands for. Finally, as much as is possible, ensure that each board member brings a missing skillset. Social Media competency in one, accounting in the other, for example. Final piece of advice is that good board members should be hard to get. The commitment of time and energy is significant and so therefore, anyone who is willing to join without much convincing or discussion is probably someone who isn't going to be prepared to do the heavy lifting. Happy to talk to you in a call about board composition or anything else. I have a huge passion for helping the non-profit sector and especially grassroots organizations like yours.TW
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How can a non-profit startups raise funds?
The best way to raise money is using websites like indiegogo.com or www.kickstarter.com Another approach is to put ads on your website (even though it's not done yet) and add a donation option to your website.GS
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Where does an organization find their audience?
This is not a sarcastic comment: you hire a marketer or marketing firm that knows what they are doing. Marketing is a science and art that requires skill-- it's like a doctor/surgeon for your company. You wouldn't do open heart surgery on yourself-- why would you try to do surgery on your company? If you'd like more help, feel free to set up a call.AM
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