TGIF Friday Fun: We Get Letters!

Good morning, dear ones! It's a hazy July morning here in the Mitten and we're cruising into the weekend here at Casa de Murgatroyd. I've got a backlog (again) of advice requests so I'll try and post more often but I am balancing work, travel (to Spain!) and moving house halfway across the country for a new job. (I know, I know. Big stuff. I'll share more later.) Without further ado, today's request:

How Do I Raise Money from Really Rich People?

Dear Julie:  My day job is running a small business that provides services to the nonprofit sector, primarily in politics and policy. My passion though is affordable, accessible healthcare and as a survivor, I am actively working to put resources into making sure that people in the U.S. have this critical need met. I know or am connected to a few people with significant personal wealth. For a lot of reasons, I have had some luck in securing generous donations from "regular folks" but nothing so far from the 1%. The two asks I've made have resulted in a referral to apply to their family foundation and the other, radio silence. How do I get in the door?

Have you tried calling Oprah? Bill Gates? I mean, this is such a cliche in the nonprofit world that all you have to do is get yourself in front of one or two very rich people and they'll magically open their checkbooks and the dollars will flow like water from a faucet. Alas, it's the urban legend of fundraising. What you probably don't want to hear is that this isn't how it works. Sure, you know a couple of really rich people and they are (probably) generous within certain boundaries but they didn't get rich by giving money to everyone they've ever met, worked with, bought a drink for or had a meeting.

Here's the hard truth ... you need a real fundraising plan. One that's built on a great mission, one that inspires lots of small and moderately sized donors who demonstrate their commitment to the cause over time. Big donors usually have foundations (or increasingly, donor advised funds) and they only give through those channels. If you want to get the attention and INVESTMENT from a major donor, you need a track record and some ground support. Sure, everyone hopes to be the next "ice bucket challenge" or whatever but that's a fluke not a plan. You need a plan.

Now, I'm not a fundraising expert but if you are hoping to secure affordable, accessible healthcare for everyone in the United States (and I am 100% in support of this), you need a small army to be on your team. Appoint an advisory committee of people including medical professionals, representatives from the insurance community, foundation folks and convene a gathering to discuss the issues. Get some media attention and then you can start shopping your ask out to the community.  Your board (different from the advisory group) should be nonprofit professionals from the healthcare, disease, patient and insurance worlds - people who know how to be nonprofiteers and who know how to raise money.

Oh, and get a fiscal sponsor for a few years.

I know this isn't the magical pot of gold that you're hoping for but if you want this project to have legs and to accomplish something, it takes time and a lot of strategy to get to the top. Good luck my friend!