I was looking forward to being a part of the phone meeting on marketing. But I was one week late. I should have checked back to the email that Rebecca sent out. Talking to people I know in other nonprofits about what we want to accomplish I received a lot of feedback. Most of it was pertaining to items we already discussed. Then about a week later I received a few calls back asking what we had come up with. Seems that other groups talked about this and wanted to know more!
In reading the blogs that are already out there it looks to me that our ducks are in a row. Now we need to shoot them skin them and eat. In that order.
The thing we need to do is make sure we put this together and after we succeed (which we will ) we need to get this out to all the local chapters across the country.
Mike-----Sullivan
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Fundraising
Fundraising is a topic that's comes up early and often. It's going to need to be done. There are a lot of options for raising money as a non-profit organization - but also a lot of restrictions.
There's a limit to how much money that our chapter can have in the bank and still keep our nonprofit (tax exempt) status. We also have to be careful about 'selling' product.
For example, if we 'sell' a subscription to a monthly newsletter and then fail to deliver said newsletter one month, we may be obligated to supply a refund. Whereas if the newsletter subscription is included 'free' with membership, then there is no liability if we decide to take a break from publishing in July and August.
That same rule governs our submittal guidelines for advertisements. It's a case-by-case situation in which the advertiser might compensate us for the advertisement by 'donating' the postage for that month's issue or some similar contribution.
As we enter into the fundraising stage of this project, there are sure to be raffles and drawings and all manner of solicitations. It's a great time to get creative about what we, as an organization, can offer people for free-with-donation.
It's also a great time to consider the possiblity of widening our fundraising market to include non-members. It's easy to forget sometimes, but we are locksmiths and we have valuable skills that most people do not posess. Could we get a booth at a neighborhood home show and raffle off a few full-house re-keys with security assessment?
We could offer free advice, maybe split the raffle funds with the local neighborhood association in exchage for taking up the space and - in a strange twist of fate - market ourselves in the process!
Comment below or email mnaloa@gmail.com.
There's a limit to how much money that our chapter can have in the bank and still keep our nonprofit (tax exempt) status. We also have to be careful about 'selling' product.
For example, if we 'sell' a subscription to a monthly newsletter and then fail to deliver said newsletter one month, we may be obligated to supply a refund. Whereas if the newsletter subscription is included 'free' with membership, then there is no liability if we decide to take a break from publishing in July and August.
That same rule governs our submittal guidelines for advertisements. It's a case-by-case situation in which the advertiser might compensate us for the advertisement by 'donating' the postage for that month's issue or some similar contribution.
As we enter into the fundraising stage of this project, there are sure to be raffles and drawings and all manner of solicitations. It's a great time to get creative about what we, as an organization, can offer people for free-with-donation.
It's also a great time to consider the possiblity of widening our fundraising market to include non-members. It's easy to forget sometimes, but we are locksmiths and we have valuable skills that most people do not posess. Could we get a booth at a neighborhood home show and raffle off a few full-house re-keys with security assessment?
We could offer free advice, maybe split the raffle funds with the local neighborhood association in exchage for taking up the space and - in a strange twist of fate - market ourselves in the process!
Comment below or email mnaloa@gmail.com.
Contributors Wanted
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If you'd like to contribute article content, you are invited to become an author. Send an e-mail to mnaloa@gmail.com and include your preferred e-mail contact info - and who you are if it isn't altogether obvious - and we'll set you up.
If you'd like to contribute article content, you are invited to become an author. Send an e-mail to mnaloa@gmail.com and include your preferred e-mail contact info - and who you are if it isn't altogether obvious - and we'll set you up.
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