Money (It's What We Want)

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Money (It’s What We Want)#12NTCmoney

Ruth Williams, ZeroDivideAndrea Berry, IdealwareCynthia Bailie, The Foundation Center

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Money (It’s What We Want)#12NTCmoney

AGENDA•Introductions (5)•Grantmaking and Technology - Ruth Williams (10)•Fundraising and Technology - Andrea Berry (10)•Q&A (10)•Building Awareness Exercise - Cynthia Bailie (20)•Finding Funders –Cynthia Bailie (15)•Q&A (15)•Wrap up (5)

How to persuade foundations to fund your

technology needs

April 3, 2012

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Talked to funders

• Conducted a 6 month survey - 41 funders, 13 TSPs

• Learned how and why funders are – and are not –

supporting NPO’s in using tech for social

change/programmatic work

• Exec Sum: http://zerodivide.org/funder_report

or http://bit.ly/e0qgFo (that’s zero, small “o”)

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What we learned

• High funder interest; limited familiarity or expertise

• Modest investments; mostly back end

• Investment are tactical, not strategic

• Strategies for impactful tech investment are unclear

• Skeptical about tech ROI

• Better impact measurements needed

• Good News: Future $ possible, Grantees lead the

charge

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What we recommend to Funder

• Increase tech education and advising activities

• Expand their pool of investments

• Strengthen TSP infrastructure

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Recommendations to Persuade Funders

• Don’t be shy, ask for funds and other tech support

• Provide Funders with good data: modest experiment, show #’s & commitment

• Propose TA/trainings across a cohort of their grantees

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Funding Your Project

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There Are No Magical Tech Funders

Unfortunately.

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Can You Lower the Price?

Check TechSoup for discount software

Ask hardware vendors about nonprofit discounts

See if consultants offer a discount or compressed project

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Will Local Businesses Help?

• Check with local banks or partners

• Might they donate (good quality) hardware or software?

• Are there volunteers who could help you design and implement the project?

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Can You Interest Major Donors?

• Do you have donors who might fund part or all of the project?

• It’s a nice, tangible investment for the right donor

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Approach Your Current Funders

• Would they be interested in supporting their mission through tech?

• Consider including it in a larger project.

• Do they offer any capacity services or funding programs?

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Building Awareness

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Finding Funders

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GRANTSPACE.ORG

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FCONLINE.FOUNDATIONCENTER.ORG

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Thank You!

Let’s stay in touch:

•Ruth Williams | Senior Program Officer| ZeroDivide | [email protected]

•Andrea Berry | Director of Partnerships and Learning | Idealware | [email protected]

•Cynthia Bailie | Director, Cleveland Office and Special Information Initiatives | The Foundation Center | [email protected]

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Additional Resources

“How a Small Nonprofit Made Simple Tech Tweaks and Saved

$176,000.” By William Grassie - http://bit.ly/eZMFp3

Unleashing Innovation: Using Everyday Technology to Improve Nonprofit

Services. By MAP for Nonprofits and Idealware -

http://idealware.org/reports

Grants for Information Technology - 2011 Digital Edition. By The

Foundation Center - http://foundationcenter.org/marketplace

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