Telpochcalli Community Education Project (Tcep)

By: Angie Domino, Jenny Parrino, Erin McCoy, Kristen Holdsworth, Aeriel Cabitac, Anthony Sacco, Maria Giannetos

Who is TCEP● Telpochcalli means “House of

Youth”

● Provides resources that cater to

needs of the Little Village

community

● Offers programs such as English

language learning, daycare,

athletics for children, and

financial training

Who is TCEP cont.● Led by community members who want to show their gratefulness

for this center

● Family-oriented: It is common for the entire family

to be involved

● Not a handout program,

but instead is providing

resources to support

community members serving

themselves source: TCEP Facebook

Question of the Quarter ● How should TCEP, as a smaller nonprofit,

go about gaining corporate funding?

Primary Goal

● Identify best practices for nonprofit organizations to gain long-term corporate funders

Target Audience

● Prospect and model corporate funders especially ones that value:o community cultureo educationo family involvemento respecto dignity

● Well-funded nonprofit organizations

Research

Primary Research: First-person collection of information and analysis

Secondary Research: Finding existing reputable information and using it to inform decisions

Secondary Research

Corporate Funding

● Corporate giving represents a relatively small share of total

charitable giving in the nonprofit sector, but is prominent source of

funding among high-growth nonprofits

● Corporation usually has both altruistic and financial motive for

support

● Nonprofits often garner corporate cash when real market exists for

their products or service

Secondary Research Cont.Tips to Attract Funders:● Be clear about the demographic you are serving● Have a great sponsor proposal● Promise deliverables ● Don’t sell yourself short● Do what you say● Always follow up

Secondary Research Cont.

Primary Research

Nonprofit Organizations:● TMC● Enlace● Chicago Commons● KidsInDanger

First Step

● Do research on the corporation, know who you are asking

● Find opportunities for a mutually beneficial relationship

Second Step

● Identify the connections within your Tcep community

● Pursue any connections to see if a partnership is possible

How many corporate funders to apply to

● Seek guidance from your connections and or an “expert” on the application process to avoid getting discouraged and intimidated

● Pursue the corporations you have connections with

● Continue to apply to as many as possible as a backup

How to approach funders

● Calling hasn’t worked for every nonprofit● Set up a meeting to

make a personal connection

How to gain the trust of corporations

● Give them a chance to experience what your nonprofit does first-hand

● Clearly identifyo Goal of the organizationo What the nonprofit hopes

to achieveo Past achievements

The role values play in selecting corporations

● Values play a huge role in finding funders● You inherit the reputation of that

corporation● If all the values may not align, look into

using funds for an event

Acceptance rate and relationship

● Some nonprofits receive 60% of the donations

● Apply to corporations you are able to make a personal connection with

Recommendations● Hire a website designer to create and

maintain TCEP’s website● Use social media to your advantage

o Link all sites togethero Document all accomplishments and events

held with info/photos across social media pages and website

Recommendations● Show what your organization is about

through pictures of events and activities on social media and in persono Gives funders an idea of where money

is going● The process for gaining funders is a job

in itself as it requires relationship building on a consistent basis

Recommendations cont.

● Hire a grant writer to help with the application process

● Raise asking donation to $10,000 or more

● Develop a sponsorship packet

Recommendations cont.

● As a backup, apply to as many corporations as possible

● Reach out to connections (person to person) to see what corporations they are in touch with

● To supplement, conduct charged ticketed events

Budget

● Invest in an “expert” who will be dedicated to this relationship building process (grant writer and or funding outreach)

● Invest in a technologically-savvy person to create, design and keep up with a website

Evaluation

● Measure the numerical increase in donations

● Measure the increase in programming and activities funded by corporation(s) on an annual basis

Evaluation: How to keep this research valid

● Recommend conducting an annual survey or interview process with well-funded nonprofits and corporate donors on best practiceso This can also be done as secondary research

online

Evaluation: The research process

● It was difficult to find the contact information for whom to interview at the nonprofit/corporation

● Some nonprofits & corporations scheduled interviews weeks from when we called: allow time to collect all the needed information

● The interview itself was very successful

Evaluation: The research process cont.

● The response rate was unusually low among our sample group

● Reccomend approaching sample group early on to allow for:o response timeo collection time o time to analyze (find trends in results)

Thank you for this opportunity!