Fundraising

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This is a learning project to study fundraising, how it is done and how it is tracked.

Funding is the lifeblood of any venture -- without some money, there is no way to pay for lights and heat that allow a meeting space to be used.

Most modern funding takes the form of project funding -- money given for a certain project with a certain duration. Some organizations are endowments, whereby a large amount of money is invested, and the earnings that money makes is used to run the yearly "operating" budget.

Types of Funding/Fundraising[edit]

Initially, we are going to look into the area of grant funding, where a funding agency requires a proposal to affect a certain well-defined set of goals.

Later on, we could review the process of formal fundraising, whereby entities raise small amounts of money by public appeal.

Motivation for fundraising: Vision[edit]

To effectively raise funds, organizations need a vision of what the purpose for the funds will be. Often this is a project scope, but many times it can be the sole purpose for an organization. With a vision, the organization requiring funding can field a budget and build a proposal which can be submitted to various funding agencies.

Research results[edit]

Banks[edit]

A few years ago I conducted research on money creation.

  • I tried filling out checks in various ways. I tried poking holes in checks and tearing checks. I tried drawing a line after my name and after numbers. I bounced checks.
  • Because of it, I got on a blacklist called ChexSystems. Banks won’t let people on this list have a bank account.
  • I found that banks always consider a check to be an instruction to send money from your checking account to who you wrote the check for. They don’t accept the check itself as money.
  • I then tried asking them for money. I found out they loan money. They want the money back with interest. Yes, that doesn’t make sense. However, that’s what they do.
  • I got kicked out of the building a couple of times. I kept going back, asking them to give me money, trying various mysterious phrases such as “have an account.” They started posting a uniformed security guard. So, it wasn’t how I worded the question. They don’t give money, and they don’t accept my say-so as money.
  • I then read the web site of a Bank to find out about grants. They only give grants to non-profit organizations and then only to the ones they want to.
  • I started reading a book on non-profit organizations. It turns out the founder of the non-profit organization can get fired by it and can’t be a director forever. Second, non-profit businesses are a lot of work. In other words, the bank won't grant money unless you work for the money. Yes, that doesn’t make sense. However, that’s what they do.

Ideas for Grants[edit]

Video (in conjunctions with Wikinews) - This is the current focus. Hoping to incorporate this as an "outreach" proposal.

Writing bounties of some sort

OpenMoko/Internet_Kiosk

Study of how a large Internet site deploys software (MediaWiki for Wikimedia projects)

U.S. Grants[edit]

Canadian Grants[edit]

WMF grant links and groups[edit]

There is also an IRC channel dedicated to Wikimedia fundraising at: #wikimedia-fundraising (on Freenode)

Proposal Development[edit]

Steps to follow:

  • Write for Application forms and guides
  • Call a past grantee
  • Call a past reviewer
  • Contact the program officer

State the problem you are addressing, and how the project will meet the grantor's objectives with regards to this project.

See also[edit]

Resources for writing grants[edit]

  • Resources for writing grants for JISC - some useful analyses of previous grants, and thing to keep in mind for putting together a successful bid

External links[edit]

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