The document discusses the importance of including foundation funding in nonprofit fundraising strategies, highlighting its benefits such as predictable growth, low risk, and low effort. It emphasizes that foundation funding has been the fastest growing source of charitable donations, providing consistent support even during challenging economic times. Additionally, it promotes the idea of diversifying funding sources to enhance organizational stability and credibility.

1. IN THE COURSE OF SPEAKING WITH ALMOST 20,000 NON-PROFITS EACH MONTH ABOUT
THEIR NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING NEEDS AND PLANS, WE SOMETIMES HEAR THAT
“FOUNDATION FUNDING IS NOT PART OF OUR FOCUS”.
FOUNDATIONS – SHOULD THEY BE PART
OF YOUR FUNDRAISING STRATEGY?
WWW.FOUNDATIONSEARCH.COM

2. CONTENT
01
02
03
GROWTH
STABLE GIVING
PREDICTABLE GIVING
04
05
06
07
LOW RISK / LOW COST
LOW EFFORT
INCREASED CREDIBILITY FOR YOU AND YOUR
ORGANIZATION
DIVERSIFICATION OF FUNDING SOURCES

3. – the most recent GIVING USA report from Indiana
University indicates that foundation funding was the fastest
growing giving source in 2015, growing at a rate of 6.5%,
compared to 3.8% for giving by individual donors.
GROWTH

4. STABLE GIVING
– Foundations must make charitable grants – in good times and
bad – of at least 5% of their assets, averaged over five years.
Importantly, foundations frequently INCREASE their donations in
challenging times to attempt to compensate for the financial
difficulties their recipients may face.

5. PREDICTABLE GIVING
– Foundations exist to donate to charity (unlike individuals and corporations)
and often publish giving guidelines relating to geographic and philanthropic
areas of giving interest – furthermore, analysis of giving through time indicates
that most foundations maintain a strong, consistent focus in the areas they
support.

6. LOW RISK / LOW COST
– unlike high, upfront expenditure fundraising campaign efforts like golf tournaments and galas,
foundation fundraising requires very little upfront investment, typically $5,000-$10,000, and with the
average foundation grant amount of $66,300, it provides a cost efficient method of fundraising – all that
is required to start is a foundation online database which identifies good funding prospects, a good
letter, and stamps and envelopes.

7. LOW EFFORT
– relative to almost any other form of fundraising, approaching foundations requires fewer resources to
succeed. This is particularly true of the upfront work in sorting through the over 120,000 US foundations
to identify a list of “best prospects” for your project, a task that a few years ago could consume months of
effort.

8. INCREASED CREDIBILITY FOR YOU AND YOUR
ORGANIZATION
– well, once you get funded by a foundation that is. When Metasoft was a small, three person software
start-up, we had only one customer – but that customer was Microsoft, and that client said good things
about our software and people and opened the doors of more than one hundred other large high tech
companies who became customers of our graphics and imaging technology.

9. DIVERSIFICATION OF FUNDING SOURCES
– financial advisors will strongly advise you not to put your life savings into a single stock or sector; for the
same reason, having a variety of funding sources—including foundation funding—will strengthen your
organization and protect it from the sharp downturns every economy periodically experiences.

10. THANK'S FOR
WATCHING