Money makes the world go round.
Yes, we’ve heard that multiple times. But even more so for an organization that is set up to spend, spend, and spend, without making a dime in profit.
The real data from the National Center on Charitable Statistics once revealed that approximately 30% of social and community health care organizations fail to exist after 10 years. But do you know what the primary culprit of this unfortunate reality is?
Capital!
If you run social care or a community care organization, we want you to know that we understand how crucial money matters are to you and your missions. And we also appreciate all of the financial hurdles that confront you on a daily basis.
It’s in this light that we’ve decided to ease your burden with these few tips we believe are strong enough to help you address all the challenges you may face when seeking funding.
Why do social & community health providers struggle to get resources?
Do you even know why most donors and foundations you submit your funding applications to aren’t forthcoming? Have you ever wondered why many of them receive your request and turn the blind eye?
Well, one of the biggest reasons is because many of them are not convinced by your “IMPACTS.”
Yes, you’ve highlighted what your upward mobility program does. And you’ve discussed the many lives that your hospital management system has catered to.
But are you detailed enough in your explanations to garner their empathy and compel an action from them? Do you have proofs to back up your claims? Do you have the right historical details to show that, indeed, your clients were in such dire states before you picked them up?
In the next few minutes, we’ll be discussing a few tips we believe will help you change the way you apply for funding for your nonprofit. Please note that we’ll also be mentioning a very important software application later in this post. The app, which is called C3s, is your best bet for transforming your nonprofit funding game from “meh” to “amazing.
Detailed proof of impacts
The first and the best strategy any nonprofit can use to secure funding from a donor is to present a detailed proof of their impacts. To get funding from donors, you need to present proof that you’re socially determined to truly help those you claim to serve.
For today’s donors, it’s no longer enough to simply say you’ve done this; you’ve done that. You have to prove it! And what better way is there to prove your impacts than to show them?
Considering the number of cases most social care organizations have to deal with, presenting these sorts of historical impacts might be too cumbersome. But luckily for you, that’s an area where the app we spoke about earlier finds relevance.
How does C3s help community health and social care organizations?
With the C3s intelligent app, social care and health care organization can now pull together reports showing how their program has helped clients. Even more so, clients’ history, changes, trends, and impacts can all be displayed to a donor within a matter of seconds.
How? You may wonder!
Well, the app allows you to store all client information in a centralized, encrypted database. So, anytime you need to access the history and info of a client, all you have to do is enter their name.
Share impactful stories
Another easy way to display your impact is to highlight them in an impact story. Impact stories are incredibly valuable to use when trying to convey your organization’s impact. They rely on the experiences of your clients and how your nonprofit helps them on an individual level. Then, you can take those individual stories and apply them to the whole of your organization. When you combine that with the data your nonprofit is collecting with C3s, your impact stories sky-rocket to a new level of significance with your funders.
Align with the right organizations
Like it or not, not all donors are made for every nonprofit. And the earlier you search for the ones that align with your organization, the better your chances of securing funding. So, before you apply to any donation or grant, take your time to look through the foundation’s social media pages, websites, and magazines to see whether their core values and missions align with yours.
Go local
Especially if your organization is more of a community outreach center, you’re better of reaching out for local funding rather than going all out for the national grants. The reason is because most local grants and funding sources understand the grassroots challenges that most social care organizations are trying to combat better than anyone. So, when you reach out to them, it’ll be a case of what they already know or can easily relate with.
For example, let’s say your social care organization is trying to increase the number of female students in your rural community. The chances are that you’ll find more local donors willing to support your cause because they can see for themselves the challenges confronting the community on that front.
Attend events and build networks
When you host or attend industry-related events, don’t make fundraising your utmost concern. Instead, look to build strong relationships with people that you know might be interested in supporting your cause in the future.
If you’re able to indulge and engage them in constructive conversations, it won’t be long before you guys get into a discussion of what your organization does. And who knows, even if they aren’t buoyant enough to help you right away, perhaps they have a friend, colleague, or senior who can.
Present your outcomes
While your impacts might convince a potential donor that your organization deserves funding, it’s the outcome of those impacts that will either seal the deal or put him off. You may be wondering already what we mean by “outcomes?”
Well, by outcomes, we mean, how has your social care organization impacted your immediate industry. For example, one of your outputs could be “over 1k single parents take part in our programs,” but the resulting outcome would be “our programs have reduced poverty in single families because of X, Y, Z.”