SHOW ME THE MONEY

More Than

A FIELD GUIDE TO PHILANTHROPY

Who Are They?

Care and Feeding?

How Do They Behave?

Where Are They Found?

The Sector is Big and Diverse

80,000 Foundations + Individual Donors, Trusts and Funds

HNWI/Fs

Trusts

Donor Advised Funds

$126 billion/year

Organized Philanthropy

• 3600 Foundations > $1 million or $100,000 per year

• 36% have > 1 staff• 4% have > 20 staff

$43 billion/year

Different Foundation Types HaveDifferent Drivers

2007 Giving$44 billion

Sources: Foundation Center, Council on Foundations

What Grant Dollars Support

Vu lne rab le o lde r you th?

As a named category – i nv i s ib le

Embedded in large categories – s ign ifi can t

Where Grant Dollars Go% of grant dollars

Site Level – 76%

National Level – 19%

Not Evenly Distributed

Funders Bring Resources of Many Kinds

Around Your Work• Knowledge• Connections• Access and Influence• Credibility and Cover• Convening and

Bridge Building• Dollars• And more

In Their Other Work• Complementary

grantmaking• Collaborating

organizations• Capacity building• And more

Raising Money for Our Work

Making Our Work a Compelling Giving Opportunity

Compelling

• This is an important problem!

• This is the right opportunity to get involved to make the biggest difference!

• This is the right time!

• This will make more difference than competing giving opportunities!

Considerations for Most Donors

• My “head” and “heart” need to be engaged.• I want to be involved in important issues; but I

want to know that tough problems can be solved.

• I want to know what I’m getting into and how I’m getting out.

• I need credible reasons for confidence that this will work.

• I need to see how this advances my work.

Custom Fitting the Opportunity

• I make a consequential contribution … as I define it, whatever role.

• As much information and engagement as I want.

• Impact at the level I’m interested in.

• Impact on the issues I’m passionate about.

Find a fit with donor’s interests

Find a fit with donor’s style

Transformative

• Tough problem and solvable

Social Costs

• Consequential, make a big difference

Use Data and Stories

• Invoke personal experience, everybody is an expert

Leverage and Partnership

• Amplifies each donor’s contributions

What works in your site?

Positioning the Work

Having the Right Stuff is not Enough

Converting Friends into Donors

Specifi

cG

enera

l

Aware

Interested

Willing to explore

Prepared for an “ask”

First investment

Finding Friends

Connector

Influencer

Knowledge broker

Financial Resource

s

Credibility

Ways to Do Your Homework

• Key informants, “mavens”

• Foundation Center– Foundation Directory Online

• Regional Associations of Grantmakers

• Community Foundations

It Takes Timeand Continuous Work

to Move Along the Pathway

Engaging Local Funders in Nebraska

Playing it Out in the Real World

IDA Match

Should be Easy

• Straightforward, easy to understand

• Direct impact

• Tangible, measurable

• Incentives and self-help appeals to a wide range of donors

Has Challenges

• Recurring cost

• Unknown amount

• No obvious exit

• Risk of being the final funder, left holding the bag

What Appeals to Donors?

• Opportunity to invest to direct ly change l ives , and for a modest investment.

• An easy investment to make.• The “match” principle – donors’ donati ons

are earned by recipients’ work and savings.• Leverage – the value of a donors

investment is doubled by the match and expanded because of the other supports and strategies.

• Provision of financial education and asset-specific training assure donors the benefits to youth are lasti ng , transformative.

• Ability to “know ” the youth – directly or indirectly through stories.

• The policy dimension – I’m valued for my voice as well as my money.

• Data, data, data – Accountabi l i ty and ability to know the actual savings, asset purchases.

Recipe for the Long Term?

• Plan A: Policy – e.g. Langevin Stark bill. AFIA reauthorization

• Plan B: Widen the Pool– A few seed funders?– Larger number of relatively smaller investments?

• Plan C: Innovation– Sustainable, self-financing structures?– Endowment?– Dedicated interest or other revenue stream?

Maine has been thinking about this …

The Good News For Al l of Us

In Closing

• Your issue is compelling.• You are making a

difference.• You have data.• You have stories and

storytellers.• You have friends. • Your friends have

friends.

• Use all your assets.

• Good luck!