On the other hand, for all non religious organizations, CDC’s and community outreach groups, 501(c)(3) status is absolutely essential for fundraising success. Most funding sources require applicants to have 501(c)(3) status because this status demonstrates credibility due to the intense scrutinization from the IRS application process.
There is definitely a sustainable Network of Effective Funders across the United States where corporations and foundations leverage public and private funds to disburse GRANTS TO COMMUNITY ORGS that provide direct services to children, youth, and their families.
Providing Community Programs & Human Services…
Faith-based and community groups around the country are working in the following program areas:
Youth Development
Organizations agree that preparing our youth for the future is more import to our communities than employment, job creation and economic development combined.
Our research shows that American funding sources agree that youth development is important to our future. We have compiled a list of funding sources that have given a total of $5.7 Billion dollars to nonprofits for youth development. This list contains names, addresses, email address and phone numbers of over 600 funding sources whose combined total assets exceed $79 Billion.
Employment and Jobs
Employment and Jobs Training is very important. The high percentage of organizations that offer programs to help improve unemployment reflects today’s challenging economic environment. This is good news, that faith-based and community groups are helping to strengthen local economies and workforces around the country. However, a continued source of disappointment is the low level of funding organizations are receiving to facilitate their programs.
Funding sources are giving billions of dollars to help nonprofit organizations get people working again. In fact, we have compiled a list of over 200 foundations who have given over $3.3 billion dollars to nonprofits in support of this type of work. These 300 plus funding sources have $36.1 billion in total assets for employment and job related programs, but they don’t have enough quality organizations with winning programs asking them for money.
Food Services & Hunger Prevention
Food and Hunger prevention are important program areas for faith based and community nonprofit organizations, but most faith-based and community groups are highly underfunded and therefore, unable to make great impact in the lives of mew, women and children who suffer from hunger. Our research team has compiled a list of over 300 funding sources that have given $1.2 billion dollars to nonprofit organizations that help fight hunger in recent years. These 200+ funding sources have combined $12 billion in assets available to help fight hunger and they desperately need more qualified nonprofit organizations with wining programs to provide funding to.
Economic Development
These groups are building affordable houses, purchasing commercial properties, and countless other activities for the purpose of community economic development. Our research has uncovered a committed group of funding sources that have given over $13.4 billion to economic development efforts around the country. This group of nearly 1,000 funding sources has $157.1 billion in assets available for community development. Economic development is also an area that faith-based and community groups are doing great work, but they are notoriously underfunded because they typically have no idea who to contact and present their programs to.
Who has the money and how do I find them?
The second goal we set out to accomplish was to learn more about the thousands of non-government funding sources that are available in America today. We wanted to identify who has the money give and to what causes are they giving money to. Our research uncovered over 80,000 funding sources with over one million grant opportunities not including government agencies. Many of these funding sources are well know corporations that give major funding to organizations that provide programs and services to local communities. Here is a list of some big name companies and how much they have given to nonprofits:
These and hundreds of other funding sources provide funding in each of the following areas:
Youth Development
Economic Development
Employment/Job Training
Food Service and Hunger Prevention
Each of these categories has hundreds of funding sources with billions of dollars available to solve important problems that plague our communities. These funding sources want faith based and community organizations to contact them, submit your proposals, and ultimately use their money to make a positive impact in their fields of interest.
These funding sources want to meet you…
When seeking funding, one of the biggest mistakes organizations make is overlooking the importance of relationship-building. This is indeed a grave mistake because funding is 80% relationships. Answers to questions like…Who knows you? Who likes you and who believes in you? Have the greatest influence on your success developing funds for your organization. The greatest responsibility that you, your board members and your executive director have is relationship-building.
How to build profitable relationships…
We recommend you start building relationships one-by-one. There are no magic formulas, or secret tricks to develop quality relationships with funders. The good news is that most funding providers have very small staffs. Therefore, your first step is to call their office, introduce yourself and ask what types of things they fund. It’s always good to spend some time on their website before you call but it’s not necessary.
If you stop and think about the simplicity of our advice, you should get excited. It should also excite you that a staff of 3 or 4 people has control over millions of dollars. For example, The Allstate Foundation gave over $20 million dollars in 2008 with a full time staff of two people. So let’s recap:
1. Call the funding source;
2. Learn what it takes to partner with them.
If it’s so simple, why are so many good organizations underfunded?
The answer is simple, sad but true… most lack funding because they lack knowledge. Most faith-based and community organizations have no idea of how the process of fund development works. They may also be intimidated or misinformed about the idea of working with major brands like Walmart, Allstate, Toyota, and Ford.
I’m sure this article has empowered you. You now know that millions of dollars in funding is merely a phone call away, and the relationship you need starts with a phone call.
Where do I get the Funding Sources and their contact numbers?
If you have time, you can do like our staff did and spend months researching thousands of websites, databases, documents and articles, or YOU CAN SAVE TIME by taking the shortcut, and requesting that we send you a copy of our research in each of the categories. We make it easy for you to access this information because we want to help 501c3 nonprofit organizations get the funding they need to provide quality programs and services to those they serve.
Our Funding Source Reports are comprehensive list of funding sources in each of the following categories:
* Youth Development
* Economic Development
* Employment/Job Training
* Food Services
The Funding Source Reports contain all the information you need to contact Funding Sources (corporate funders, government agencies, and Private foundations) so you can build relationships and position yourself to get funding quickly and easily, without wasting precious conducting tedious research that has already been done for you. Each report contains over 300 Funding Sources in your field of interest including funding source name, mailing address, contact person name, email address, phone number, fax number, website and mailing address. You will also receive information regarding total giving and assets of each funding source so you can prioritize your list by amount of available funding.
Once you have this information in hand, you can begin building powerful relationships that will serve you and your organization for years to come. It’s really as simple as requesting a copy of the Funding Source report and contacting the funding sources listed in the report. When you open this report, you will be on your way to securing the funding you need to impact your community. Getting started quickly is important because the clock is always ticking with application deadlines and expiring proposal dates.
How to Request Your Funding Source Report?
Go to http://howtostartanonprofitorganization.wordpress.com/funding-source-reports/
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