Prospect Research and General Fundraising How-to

The Foundation Center provides good resources about fundraising, including:

• The Foundation Finder (free) offers basic information on grantmakers in the U.S. including private foundations, community foundations, grantmaking public charities, and corporate giving program.
• The Foundation Directory Online, a for fee resource which allows you to search foundations according to region and funding priorities. (Different membership levels, beginning at $19.95 a month).  If you are seeking prospects for corporate or foundation funding, investing in one or two months of access to the foundation directory can be a good investment.
• Learning resources including free and for-fee tutorials about proposal writing and nonprofit management, and additional research.
• The Philanthropy News Digest, which publishes request for proposals from grant-making organizations and nonprofits.  Or subscribe to the RSS feed or the weekly electronic newsletter.

CompassPoint is "a consulting, research, and training organization providing nonprofits with management tools, strategies, and resources to lead change in their communities" Their FAQs about Fundraising are informative.

Guidestar - You can use Guidestar Basic "to verify a nonprofit's legitimacy, learn whether a contribution will be tax deductible, view a nonprofit's recent Forms 990, or find out more about its mission, programs, and finances" (free login required).

TechSoup's Fundraising Toolkit - A collection of articles about the fundraising process, including assessing needs, keeping in touch with potential donors, writing grant proposals, and engaging individual supporters.

Corporate Giving -  Many corporations have establish community giving programs, offering free products, training or even grant funds to organizations in specific geographic areas or to those solving specific problems in the community.  Corporate giving programs can be very narrowly directed, and their funding priorities may change frequently, so it's not always clear that legal aid programs will be eligible for grant awards.  Still, programs providing direct services to needy communities are often a good fit for corporate grantmaking. 

If you're pursuing corporate donations, be sure to investigate the giving programs for companies prominent in your community.  Here are the corporate giving pages for several prominent tech companies to get you started.

• IBM's Communities in Need
• The Dell Foundation
• Microsoft Corporate Citizenship: Community Engagement and Investment
• Cisco System's Support for Nonprofits
• Symantec's Community Relations Grant Guidelines
• Research in Motion's Corporate Philanthropy (RIM makes Blackberry PDAs)
• Adobe Corporate Affairs/Community Relations

Online Fundraising

Online fundraising works best if you are communicating with your web site audience regularly and giving them a reason to come to your web site to donate. A couple of resources that might be helpful:

• Groundspring's Online Fundraising Handbook
  
  
• TechSoup's Learning Center on Funding and "Primer on Online Fundraising"
  
  
• Idealware's "Selecting an Online Fundraising Tool" and their presentation at the 2008 NTEN conference, "Getting Started with Online Donation Tools: Smaller Organizations"
  
  
• ePhilanthrophy.org's Bookstore
  
  
• NTEN's online fundraising resources (RSS feed) - A mix of blog posts about NTEN's fundraising efforts and others addressing larger issues in online fundraising for nonprofits.  Some interesting articles:
  
  
  • Rapid Donor Cultivation: Getting the First Online Gift Faster
    
    
  • Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?
    
    
  • Five Tactics to Rev Up Fundraising in a Down Economy
    
    
• Oxfam Online Fundraising Case Study - This March 2009 Techno.la blog entry reviews best practices gleaned from a case study of Oxfam International's end-of-the-year online fundraising campaign: Weak Economy, Strong Campaign.
   
• Online fundraising has moved to the mobile web. Read about the trend at the Chronicle of Philanthropy: For an Increasing Number of Charities, There's an App for That (February 21, 2010).  (Thanks to Joyce Raby for the link.)

Software

TechSoup's Donor Management Toolkit - A series of articles about choosing and implementing a donor management database.  Also, "A Few Good Donor Management Tools," (TechSoup, November 2008) and  "Selecting an Online Donation Tool," Part 1 and Part 2 (TechSoup, November 2005 - excerpted from an Idealware report available with a suggested donation).

Fundraising software available at a discount from TechSoup.  (Read terms carefully, they vary from product to product)

• GiftWorks 2008 Standard - GiftWorks is fundraising software designed for small and medium-sized nonprofits. Organizations can use GiftWorks to track donors and donations; build targeted lists of donors, supporters, and prospects; send mailings; and create standard and customizable reports.
   
• eTapestry - A Web-based software application for fundraising and contact management for donors and other contacts. eTapestry tracks donors, prospects, members, and alumni while managing gifts, pledges, and payments.
   
• Network for Good's Internet Fundraising Services Bundle - Two online services to enable nonprofits to make effective use of the Internet to communicate and raise funds.

Equipment Donations

Ready to give away your equipment? Ready to receive them? Here are some resources you should check out before doing so.

• Ten Tips for Donating a Computer (TechSoup)
   
• Computer Recycling and Reuse (TechSoup)
   
• Donated Computers for Nonprofits (TechSoup)
   
• Six Steps to Accepting (and Refusing) Donated Equipment (TechSoup)