Overcoming Obstacles #3: Finances
Welcome to part three of our four-post series, where we tackle the biggest obstacles that stop youth from taking the first step to starting their own initiatives and look at ways to overcome these barriers.
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One of the biggest put-offs to starting your own initiative is the sheer amount of money that can be involved in launching a campaign, organizing an event or running a fundraiser. Doing a quick calculation of the finances involved in buy materials, renting locations, securing permits, setting up websites or providing refreshments can be extremely overwhelming. Luckily, we have a quick guide for you on how to minimize costs, options for financing and where to find them
Minimize Expenses
Before searching for donors or sponsorships, try your best to make sure your budget is as efficient as possible. With a little bit of tweaking, you might find that you could pull through without spending any money at all! Make a list of all your anticipated expenses and figure which ones could be reduced or eliminated. Would you school be willing to lend you the gymnasium for an event, instead of having to rent a hall? Is one of your friends able to design a website and graphics instead of hiring someone to do so? Can you use a free platform for your virtual walkathon instead of a paid one? Are your parents willing to donate home baking materials for your bake sale? Could you buy materials from the dollar store instead of a more expensive chain store? Figure out the resources you have available and the people that are willing to donate or contribute and match them to the expenses you have.
Example list:
Event: Educational Movie Night on Climate Change
Expenses:
Movie Netflix Subscription – use Mariam’s family subscription
Rent a Movie Hall – Ask Ms. Miller to use the school gym, chairs and projector
Print Promotional Material
Snacks and Refreshments – buy a bulk deal at Costco
Here we’ve minimized a lot of the major costs, but some of the smaller ones still need to be paid in order to run a smooth and successful event. The next section will go over possible ways to source funding.
Team Investments and Donations
This technique for sourcing funding is closely tied to the way we minimized costs above. Survey your team members, friends, family, community members and teachers to see if those close to you are willing to make a donation or a loan.
For a donation, your donor will contribute a set amount of money to help you run your event, with no expectation of compensation in return. Some donors may choose to donate to help run a fundraiser, rather than donate at the fundraiser itself.
For a loan, your loaner will provide you a set sum of money to help with initiative expenses, but they will expect you to pay them back in full after the event. This means that you’ll have to set aside some of the proceeds from the fundraiser to pay back your loans.
Draft an email template with your ask, making sure it includes what your event is, what your expenses are, and what you are asking of the recipient. Then, send it out to anyone you think would be interested in supporting you, making sure to personalize the first few lines of each email and tailor them to your recipient for maximum impact.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships are similar to donations, expect your sponsor expects some sort of compensation, though not in the form of money. Often sponsors are companies that expect all promotional material for your event to include their name and logo, or for your event to heavily market their company in some other way.
When trying to secure a sponsorship, remember sponsors are usually looking for what’s in it for them. Our advice is to create a sponsorship package, the includes your story, your event and three “sponsorship levels”. Each level should correspond to gradually increasing sums of money. As the money your sponsor provides increases, the benefits they get in return increase.
Example:
Bronze: $100
Inclusion of your company’s name and logo on all of our promotional material
Silver: $200
All of bronze benefits and;
Your company shoutout on our social media platforms
A verbal thank-you at our event
Gold: $300
All of silver benefits and;
A 5 minute presentation at the beginning our event about your company
Once your sponsorship package is complete, post it on your website, send it by email to companies, or print out copies and distribute them to companies in person. Remember to include your contact information!
Grants
Grants are arguably the most appealing option of the three, though they can be very difficult to secure. Organizations that provide grants (i.e., large sums of money to start up events or initiatives with no expectation of compensation) can have very competitive pools, precisely because there are often no strings attached. Grants usually involve an application, detailing who you are, what your event is, what you hope to accomplish, what you need the money for and your budget.
Organizations that provide grants can include the government, companies hoping to support particular demographics, non-profit organizations or educational institutes. Sometimes, you can win grants through pitch competitions, as well.
When applying to a grant, make sure your mission and goal are clear, definite and well-written. You need to convince the jury that your event/initiative is important to society. In other words, you need to sell yourself. Be very forward and clear about your budget and expenses. Make sure your predication is as accurate as possible, as some grants expect to see receipts or proof of how the money was spent.
A quick Google search can help you come up with a list of available grants, their eligibilities, and their application requirements. Many grants ask the same application questions, so be sure to keep your answers, reuse them, and apply to as many grants as possible.
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Remember when running your event that documentation is key. Try to write down and keep everything, from your email templates, application questions, budget spreadsheets, receipts and more.
Good luck on your search and tune in next week for our last edition of #OvercomingObstacles.