This document provides advice for non-profits on how to effectively engage with funders and secure funding. It discusses the different types of donors and their motivations for giving. It encourages non-profits to shift their paradigm to view themselves as entrepreneurs seeking investors, and to speak the language of businesspeople. The document provides numerous suggestions on how to clearly define funding needs and objectives, build relationships with funders, and create multiple streams of sustainable income.

1. Cristina Gallegos
Vice President, JMC Philanthropic Advisors
What Family Foundations Really
Want

2. Questions funders ask themselves
• Do I understand who this agency is?
(Size, services, leadership, etc.)
• What is the operational/program model?
• Do I understand the request?
• Does it resonate? Does it excite me?
• Am I comfortable?
2Cristina Gallegos 2015

3. How funding happens
Social Giving
(“My best friend asked me
to make a contribution to
ABC agency because she is
on the board. I do minimal
due-diligence because I
trust her due diligence.”)
Core Giving
(“I fund my Alma Mater/
Temple/ my kid’s
school/the hospital that
took care of my
grandmother, etc. because
it impacts/impacted my
life. I do minimal to mid-
range due diligence.”)
Strategic
Giving
(“ I fund this because I
want to make a difference.
This is where I focus my
due diligence.”)
3
Know which box you are in.
Cristina Gallegos 2015

4. Shift your paradigm #1
Funders need you.
4Cristina Gallegos 2015

5. Shift your paradigm #2
Stop writing proposals.
Newsflash: that’s not where the money is.
5Cristina Gallegos 2015

6. Shift your paradigm #3
Don’t diversify.
Focus creates growth; diversification preserves.
Assess what your agency needs most and employ the right strategy.
6Cristina Gallegos 2015

7. Shift your paradigm #4
Non-profit work IS business;
serious business
(just a different business model).
7Cristina Gallegos 2015

8. Shift your paradigm #5
You are an entrepreneur looking for
investors and capital.
8Cristina Gallegos 2015

9. Shift your paradigm #6
Most funders are business people.
Speak their language; create rapport;
give them what they need (not “want”; “need”)
9Cristina Gallegos 2015

10. Shift your paradigm #7
Program officers are people too.
Help them help you.
10Cristina Gallegos 2015

11. Shift your paradigm #8
Every “NO” is an open door too.
Capitalize on the time you spent to get
to the “no” and don’t let it go to waste.
11Cristina Gallegos 2015

12. Shift your paradigm #9
Build multiple streams of income.
12Cristina Gallegos 2015

13. Shift your paradigm #10
You only need a few donors.
13Cristina Gallegos 2015

14. Shift your paradigm #11
You are in permanent Beta testing of your
programming, your budget, your models.
(Excellence is about learning, asking, and iterating).
14Cristina Gallegos 2015

15. Hitting the target
• Ask for what you REALLY want
• Be specific
• Have a clearly defined focus/ objectives
• Know your theory of change
• Practice your elevator pitch
• Be transparent about your gaps
• Know the funder’s POV
• Please: follow directions!
15Cristina Gallegos 2015

16. This helps:
• Define what success would mean to you
• Review the effectiveness of your board
on regular basis
• Make sure you have a plan (or show that
you plan to have a plan) for everything
that goes wrong
• Be honest
• Be willing to collaborate/partner
16Cristina Gallegos 2015

17. Case study
Presenting your organizational and
programmatic budgets.*
* With footnotes everything is possible.
17Cristina Gallegos 2015

18. Making the most of your time
• Know your stuff
• You can never be too polished or too
inclusive
• Relationships matter
• Typos are not your friend; brevity is.
• Keep in touch. Say thank you in a way
that is meaningful and personal.
18Cristina Gallegos 2015

19. Q & A
Anything else you want to work on today?
19Cristina Gallegos 2015

20. 20
Cristina Gallegos
For more information:
JMC Philanthropic Advisors
2444 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 622, Santa Monica, CA 90403
Phone: (310) 829 4771
cgallegos@janisminton.com
@CristinaIngerG
www.JMCPhilanthropicAdvisors.com
For a copy of this PowerPoint, check cnmsocal.org/501conference next week.
Cristina Gallegos 2015

21. About the speaker
With 15+ years of experience in the philanthropic field, Cristina currently serves as JMC
Philanthropic Advisors’ Vice President.
She provides philanthropic advisory services for family foundations and individual
philanthropists and is responsible for a wide range of programmatic activities, which include
due diligence and the creation of grantmaking strategies, grant systems and initiatives.
Cristina oversee the grant process for several foundations: The Atlas Family Foundation,
Kayne Foundation, The JIB Fund of The Resnick Foundation, Zolla Family Foundation, The
Robert and Lisa Margolis Family Foundation and The Knapp Foundation.
Cristina believes that an important part of strategic philanthropy is to prepare the next
generation of givers, providing opportunities to understand what moves them while creating
tools to help them capitalize on their own resources, skills and passions. She works long-
term with several Next Generation philanthropy boards, aiming to ignite their individual and
collective passion, and providing structure and support to create change.
Prior to joining JMC in 1999, Cristina acted as a pro-bono Program Officer for The Silton-
Sturner Family Foundation, managing a portfolio of grants in the areas of cancer research,
technology education, fine arts, and economic empowerment for women in disadvantaged
countries. In the 1990s, Cristina developed and implemented four complex information
technology systems for DHL Worldwide Network Europe and Africa. The resulting systems
were subsequently deployed to 22 countries. She moved to the United States in 1999.
Cristina blends a strong business background focused on strategy and economics with a
commitment to social issues. She currently serves on the Board of Ador Copiii, a Romanian
organization with a focus on improving the quality of life for Romania’s abandoned
children.
She is a writer and photographer, a pro-bono executive coach for non-profits leaders, and
often speaks publicly about the art and science of philanthropy. A serial entrepreneur,
Cristina started her first business in high-school. She brings a business perspective to her
philanthropic work and believes that success is often found at the intersection of passion
and practicality.
21Cristina Gallegos 2015