Raising funds

Let me give you the short lesson on fund raising. You may not be into fund raising, but, hang on because what I teach here is directly applicable to ALL businesses and marketing.

Besides, maybe some day for some group they'll lean on you to raise some "free" money. As someone once told Noah, "When it starts to rain it's too late to build the Ark."

(Picture caption -- if you know how to get it under the photo, let me know. For now... Elizabeth and I in the Forbidden City in China. A professor from Moscow State who took my class in Russia on starting businesses was using my 7-Steps to Business text book he'd translated into Chinese to teach at a university in Beijing. Small world. Same principles.)

The biggest problem with non-profits and fund raising is your heart. The heart isn't a good place to think about fund raising but is the usual starting point for 501(c)3s. Fund raising is best
done from the head because your target market will never have your heart.

Once you've arrived at this paradigm then fund raising is just like any other marketing. What's in it for the consumer? How will this benefit them? If you're needing short time money in large amounts, what will they get? People want and need recognition, pride, admiration, etc. Naming rights work. That's why we have SAFECO Field, the DELTA Center, Energy Solutions Arena, etc. None of these were negotiations with a non-profit. See... it's the same.

On a smaller scale, The Sarah Woodbury Entrepreneurhsip Lecture Series at Utah Valley University will be named after the donor's wife to honor her.

Then you ask yourself, "how can I deliver the maximum benefit to my customer for the minimum cost?" What can you do for them so that donating monthly is routine and a no-brainer?

Read in my book Marketing Singers, the chapter on how to put on a fund raising benefit concert.

To find a sponsor for the benefit concert, or a prime investor for your business so you have seed money and a guaranteed group of contributors who'll come or buy (their friends), see the Law of Concentric Circles in Marketing Singers. Start with those you know and then get them to tell you of their wealthy friends. See if they'll hold an "in home" concert as a fund raiser or in the case of your start up business, hold an exploratory meeting in their home to explain your business and let them ask questions.

Most start up foundations spend all of their donated funds on overhead and fund raising. One where 20% goes to the cause are rare. If you can show a higher use level, tout that.

Avoid "Beg-a-thons." They are pathetic exercises done by intellectually lazy people. It's as if you think someone owes you something. They don't. Make your effort at any level or for any item a full blown marketing effort and you can raised $100k in 6 months.

That's a quick start.

Marketing principle of the day: No one wants to buy a drill, they only want something that will make a hole. (No one wants your product, only what the product does for them.)