Finding Funding for
Creativity
by Shannon Williams
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• Organizational and development assessments
• Strategic planning
Organizational
• Community collaborations
Planning
Leadership
Development
Fundraising
Counsel
• Board retreats and training
• Staff coaching and recruitment
• Annual, capital and endowment campaign planning and execution
• Feasibility studies
• Case for support
Three Case Studies
The Challenge
Race for the Cure registrations were in decline
Fundraising for the Race had declined for two straight years
Staff and volunteer transitions strained relationships with some
key partners
Komen volunteers and staff were looking for ways to breathe
new life into the event
Budget and staff had both shrunk leading into the Race
Making Lemonade
How a Social Inspiration Board Came to Life by Shelly Leslie
Live hashtag hub that aggregates content from Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, Vine, Google+ and app.net
Toggles between latest posts using the hashtag and featured posts
WRAL practiced with it for about two weeks
“We named our baby the “Social
Inspiration Board.”
Komen promoted the hashtag about
two weeks before the event in email
blasts, on their web site and social
media.
WRAL created social share graphics
that both the station and Komen
posted to its social networks.
Results
“The WRAL campaign trended online for 11 hours, the reach Shelly
and her team got for #KomenTri could have easily been over 6
million people with the impressions even higher than that,” Jenni
Hogan, Chief Media Officer of #tagboard.
KomenNCTC’s facebook page saw a 453% increase in fans, and a
328% increase in reach. Tagboard reports 660 unique posts, not
including shared posts. Twitter made up half of these posts, with
Instagram and Facebook making up the other half.
Race revenue trended positive for the first time in two years
2016 Race registrations and sponsorships are ahead of last year
The Challenge
Fundraising was declining
C level leaders were no longer actively engaging with the
organization as they once did
John Rex Endowment funded an organizational assessment
Wake Ed Board and Staff agreed to a look under the hood
The Findings
The controversy of the Wake County School Board had a paralyzing
impact
Community leaders challenged WakeEd to boldly define its
organizational purpose; redefine its message, develop its case for
support, and refresh its brand.
WEP was know as the go to source for truth in education—how could
that be leveraged to improve fundraising
There were no funds to support the work that needed to be done
Return to the Source
The Response
C suite leaders re-engaged with WakeEd
Board members agreed to take a more active role in fundraising
Fundraising revenue trending upward
Cornerstone donors growing
The Challenge
New ED at RLT four years ago
Early part of tenure was focused on rebuilding relationships and
strengthening the bottom line
Launching a major gifts effort focused on a little TLC of RLT
Brand and website need TLC too
No budget to support communications need
The Results
The Common Theme
Funding for creativity is
the same as any other
fundraising
It is about relationships
So, think
Who are your partners who have an expertise that you can tap
into?
Can you leverage your relationships to create a think tank
around executing your idea?
Do you have a special fundraising opportunity where you can
build in money for creative work?
Have you applied for a capacity building grant lately?
What can you realistically pay for?