Meta Fund Raising
Revision as of 10:37, 6 May 2009 by Matteo (talk | contribs) (→Fund Raising Process: finding now grants)
INTRODUCTION TO FREEGEEK FUNDING META PROCESS (FMP)
In the beginning there was fund raising, and it was good. Now we have a fund raising working group, and the group is giving birth to itself as a fully integrated part of the larger Free Geek operation in Portland, and then beyond Portland. When there is birth, there are questions like “Why am I here?” “What is my purpose?” “How should I be day to day?” “How will I affect others around me, and those who come after me?”
On this page, the fund raising working group is addressing the questions:
- Q: What should-be the big picture around funding at Free Geek?
- Q: What does a fund raising process need to achieve?
Fund Raising Process
What should the fund raising process be like
- The fund raising process should include a formally recognized process for establishing formal agreement that pursuing a particular grant is a Free Geek priority.
- (from random referrals to council approval)
- The FRP should be easy, so good projects don't get unnecessarily bogged down. ==
- The FRP should provide guidance for plugging people into tasks that both fit their interests, and the needs of FreeGeek as a whole.==
- The FRP should provide guidance for sorting through “great opportunities” to separate the “wheat from the chaff.”==
- (see grant-writing triage)
- The FMP should provide guidance on prioritizing staff and volunteer time in real time.==
- Remember that almost every step in a fund raising process is reiterative. That is, each circle of activity loops around over and over. finding grant RFP <---> filling out proposal <---> tracking proposal process <---> filling out reports <---> generating new grant opportunities etc.
- The FMP should provide records about contacts with funders and other organizations related to specific grants.
- (For example, we need to know when we first heard about or made contact with a funder, then when it was solidified.)
- The FRP should provide actual time-lines for a particular grant.
- (which is a mixture of RT and wiki documentation).
- Time-lines are needed for both the FMP and for individual grant proposals.
- For example: Black can be contact information and blue can be grant RFP (request for proposals) deadlines. Green can be milestones in FreeGeek's strategic plans and visions of the future.
- proposal1: each grant gets a ticket?
- proposal2: RT tickets are projects with owners, for example, creating a triage format is a project. It has a “wrangler” or owner. Another task-project is keeping the grant opportunities list up to date.
- The FRP should include a strong coordination function, that is, it must keep others in the loop, other FG people, working groups, and other organizations.
- Example1: coordinating with budget writers; Bean Counters so their documents are available and make fund raising easy.
- Example2: coordinate with council and then the board, by advocating for clarity on long range programmatic planning.
- The FRP should be a working part of strategic planning.
- FMP needs to show where long term planning fits in.
- For example: Which planning documents best represent the current consensus of long range thinking?
- +Long Range Planning category on the wiki
- +Vision Statement for 2010
- FMP must also show how it uses those documents.
- The FRP should prevent losing accomplished work when a volunteer or staff person leaves a project
- (Question: How to do this simply? RT, open wikis, secure wikis and more?)