How Staff Can Help You Raise Money By Sarah S. Brophy

Eschew that Lone Ranger mentality. Better yet, help everyone else eschew, too! You’re not the only one responsible for helping the institution raise money. Though the rest of the staff may dodge the fundraising bullet in their job descriptions, they can’t escape it in their job responsibilities. You have to show them, though, how they can help the proposal developer earn grants.

Point out that there are three basic and important ways they can help: making and sharing contacts, planning with you and describing what the institution does.

Making and sharing contacts means connecting people of like minds. Including is simply talking to you when the first idea hits, and keeping it up until the project is done. Describing involves words and numbers. These are a few examples of the many ways staff can help.

Making and sharing contacts is really just paying attention to who appreciates and benefits from the institution’s existence, who has demonstrated interest for those activities here or at other institutions, and who is connected to whom in that area of interest. They should:
• Notice on the radio, in printed materials, and in peer-group meetings, where others raise their money -- special events, sponsorships, foundations, and then send you those ideas adding any detail they can.
• Notice if participants or observers indicate special interest in the program. It may be a sign of future financial support or of connections to those who can provide support. All they have to do is send you a hand-written file note describing what they saw and why they feel it is important. You cultivate the relationship.
• At their peer conferences the staff should collect materials from other organizations that can be benchmarking resources, collaborators or evaluators; or whose programs and work are examples of best practices. Use this information to build your case, strengthen your program, and locate outside evaluators.

Including means letting you in on the planning, giving you their time and providing access to other staff who can help you learn about the project to be funded.
• Program managers should schedule a meeting with you at the beginning of each project’s development so that together you can make it fundable by including necessary components and points-of-view, and creating an innovative, responsive and therefore competitive project.
• They should allocate time during the writing period to answer your questions, collect information, and review drafts. (Don’t forget to compare vacation schedules!)
• They can help you access appropriate staff at all levels. For example, if you’re trying to fund a bus purchase, whoever is in charge of transport should identify the right operators and maintenance staff for you to interview.
• For all projects, especially collaborations, you should be included in all meetings, e-mails, and distributions.

Describing is surprisingly difficult for those close to a program, but staff must be able to describe well what they do, either in person or in writing, with words and with numbers.
• Staff should be able to give you an elevator-ride speech of "what, why, how, where, when, who, and how much."
• They may have articles from the field, past proposals, or project plans to share that will familiarize you with the concept and the language.
• The institution’s director and chairman should always give you copies of his/her speeches for you to quote.

You may need to add impact with information collected by a variety of staff resources.
• Admissions staff can program the cash register to track zip codes and "is this your first time visiting?" information if you’re an admissions-driven institution.
• Where appropriate, clients should sign-in or be counted as evidence of the types and quantity of people or institutions you serve.
• Department staff should keep a log of phone inquiries or FAQs that indicate needs or interests in specific services or programs.
• Managers can keep a list of volunteer hours by project.
• The PR staff can keep a log at the front of the clips folder so that you can scan the log quickly to find good attachments for your application.
• Front desk and floor staff can write down a "quote of the day" heard from visitors or clients to provide you with reams of anecdotes.

Of course it’s a two-way street. Be respectful of their time; give them as much warning of your needs and deadlines as possible; help them sort out ways to simplify their work on your behalf; and help them with or remind them of their reporting requirements. And don’t forget to call them as soon as you hear about funding.

This article is reprinted with permission of CharityChannel.com and the author. The article originally appeared in one of CharityChannel's popular weekly electronic eNewsletters. To learn more about CharityChannel's eNewsletters, and/or to receive the entire issue by email each week, visit http://charitychannel.com/newslettersand use the subscription form. To request reprint rights, visit http://charitychannel.com/reprints.

Copyright © 2003 CharityChannel LLC. All rights reserved.

Grantwriter of the Month	Foundation Grant Opportunity of the Month	State Grant Opportunity of the Month	Federal Grant Opportunity of the Month	Grantwriting Tip of the Month	How Staff Can Help You Raise Money