Event 1: BRAC’s Friendraiser

Last Wednesday I headed over to BRAC’s Friendraiser at the Edwynn Houk Gallery. I was invited to the event by my friend Laina–who is always up to good. My hat goes off to the BRAC Host Committee, who organized the free event, as it was truly a great way to introduce new “friends” to the organization’s mission and activities. There were a bunch of things about the event’s structure itself that I really appreciated. Some Friendraising tips to consider for your organization’s next Friendraiser:

Price: The event was free. While fundraising and/or off-setting costs are definitely important and events can be a great opportunity for such a thing, free events are a great way to encourage new attendees. In NYC especially, everything seems to have a dollar sign attached to it.

Free for all: Rather than having a panel or guest speaker discuss the organization’s community development work around the world, guests were encourage to mingle and visit informational stations throughout the venue. There are obviously pros and cons to either a formal speaking event or an informal mingle event, but its a good idea to keep in mind the other types of engagements your audience is likely participating in…an over-indulgence in either type of event can be a little daunting.

Creative: BRAC’s Host Committee definitely gets kudos for being creative and fun. Guests were given a “passport”–a booklet with information about BRAC–and asked to visit “countries” (high tables with laptops displaying powerpoint presentations) scattered throughout the gallery space. At each “country” you were able to learn more about BRAC’s involvement in that region as well as receive a “passport stamp”–a sticker with more facts about BRAC’s work. Friendraisers are a great way to show people what awesome things your organization is up to, but it’s good to keep in mind that the way you present your information can impact people’s perceptions. Being innovative in your presentation shows people you are innovative!

Friends: The best part about a Friendraiser is the friends part. While I wasn’t particularly familiar with BRAC before receiving an invitation to the event, I respect and admire the people I know who are involved with or connected to BRAC (in addition to being very impressed with those Host Committee members and staff that I met at the event)–which, by default leads me to respect and admire an organization they believe in.  Friends of your organization are a great resource as they can advocate in meaningful ways on your behalf…remember to cultivate these relationships!

All in all, it was a creative and fun environment to learn more about a great organization that has a lot of  advocates within the NYC community.

The article is full of very useful information outlining alternative nonprofit funding options (like fiscal sponsorship or collaborating with an existing nonprofit) and highlights the need for sufficient research to be conducted as well as preparing viability plans.

According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are currently 956,760 public charities, 112,959 private foundations, and 443,464 other types of nonprofit organizations registered with the IRS. That’s a lot. I am sure that many of these organizations have overlapping missions, serve similar communities, and feed off of similar funding sources. But does that mean that no new nonprofits should join this large community? And that especially goes for new, small nonprofits?

This is where it starts to get tricky, I think, for a couple of reasons:

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: “Small” does not necessarily mean “unplanned,” “not well strategized,” or “not likely viable.” Although, sometimes (maybe more often than not) that is the case. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reminds us of this fact with its statistics on small business survival rates: “Two-thirds of new employer establishments survive at least two years, 44 percent survive at least four years, and 31 percent survive at least seven years.”

What does this mean: Not every idea will make a great business. And, not every person who has an idea will make a good business owner.

FIGHTING FOR THE DOUGH: More nonprofits means more people “fighting for the dough.” Let’s look at environmental nonprofits as an example. Just because there are already a number of very large, very successful, and very well known environmental nonprofits out there, like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Environmental Defense (ED), doesn’t indicate that smaller environmental nonprofits don’t have a place. What it does indicate, though, is that when you are looking for environmental grants on the Foundation Directory you are going to see very long lists of grants awarded to NRDC and ED and substantially less grants awarded to smaller nonprofits that you may have never heard of before. What should a small, start-up nonprofit take away from this picture? Large, successful nonprofits are well-oiled fundraising machines that know what they are doing, have large fundraising budgets, and have built strong relationships with their funders over many years.

What does this mean: Competition for funding will be a serious issue for a teeny, tiny nonprofit and having a strong understanding of nonprofit fund development and philanthropy (or building up a team with fundraising experience) should definitely be a part of your “business plan.”

ENTREPRENEURSHIP & THE “AMERICAN DREAM”: Maybe my main issue with discouraging small nonprofits, is that entrepreneurship is heralded as the key to economic vitality and sustainability. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; has front-and-center on their homepage: “Searching for a way out of the current economic crisis? Entrepreneurs have led the U.S. out of every recession of the last 100 years.”

In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the following interesting statistics on the impact of small firms in the United States:

Small firms:
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ about half of all private sector employees.
• Pay nearly 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually
over the last decade.
• Create more than half of nonfarm private gross domestic
product (GDP).
• Hire 40 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists,
engineers, and computer workers).
• Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
• Made up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters and produced
28.9 percent of the known export value in FY 2006.

What does this mean: Lots of data supports the fact that small and micro businesses play a huge role in the U.S. economy and are a real vehicle for economic development. I think it makes sense to overlay this reality with the possibility of small social ventures and teeny, tiny nonprofits providing the same sort of social and economic boost.

Small nonprofits and small social ventures have the potential for significant social as well as economic impact. Smaller nonprofits are able to have much more focused niches, work on a grassroots level, make meaningful collaborations with small corporate sponsors, engage individual donors interested in more personalized philanthropy, and more. However, in order to be successful, small nonprofits and social ventures (like successful small businesses) need to realistically assess their “business plan” and thoroughly research all aspects of the endeavor they are planning to pursue. If it isn’t a sound investment, people either will not or should not invest–either financially or in-kind. While a start-up nonprofit can rely on an army of volunteers to get its feet of the ground, is it really ethical to ask people to donate their time to an enterprise you have not thoroughly developed, researched, or planned for? I say, “Go ahead! Start a nonprofit or a social venture!” But I caution, “Do your homework. And be prepared because it is not only going to be a lot of work, but also a lot of responsibility.” It may be philanthropy, but its not free–you will be accountable to not only your donors but also your volunteers.

For some more reading on entrepreneurship, I recommend checking out this Ventureneer post: “There is Never a Bad Time to Start Up a Company.”

• Early Earners – Online education destination for youth and families promoting positive financial habits

• Girl Guides USA – Outdoor program that develops girls’ environmentalism, leadership and teamwork

• Illume – Online mentoring and career resource for young women from illiterate families in India

• Out Against Abuse – Online resource to stop domestic violence in the South Asian community

• Public Stuff – Software to connect government and citizens to improve services and community life

• Start Your Engine – Exercise, nutrition, stress and time management program for low-income women

The event featured a keynote speech by Diana Ayton-Shenker, Founder & CEO of Fast Forward Fund (FFF), a youth-investing-in-youth social venture fund, who spoke the importance of investing in young social entrepreneurs who will become tomorrow’s leaders.

The venue was a-buzz with interesting conversations and was a great opportunity to meet other faces in the world of NYC social entrepreneurship. And, in addition to the great company, the Bowery Wine Company staff were fabulous!

I had the pleasure of helping organize the event and had the opportunity to work with some really fabulous women including Natalia Oberti Noguera (NYWSE Director) and Melissa Osborne (who is off to graduate school this fall! Congrats!).  If you are a woman interested in social entrepreneurship, I highly recommend checking out NYWSE–they have an ever growing community and lots of thoughtful resources for women social entrepreneurs.

If you are considering applying for next year’s Friendraiser, check the NYWSE website for the 2010 Program Applications.

RT @UNEPandYou: Today is World Environment Day -tweet 4 trees and help us reach 10,000 followers! We’ll plant one tree for every follower

This introduction is clearly not for the internet/social media/tech geek savvy among us…but for the rest of us, and just illustrates how social media works and how effective it can be. Here is a screen shot of @UNEPandYou’s page on Friday June 5th, World Environment Day:

9,752 followers and counting...

@UNEPandYou increased their audience with their “Tweet for Trees” Campaign by providing “match” (in the form of trees) for the number of followers they had at the end of the day. This campaign was a great combination of social media marketing (by utilizing Twitter), constituent engagement (by encouraging their Twitter followers to retweet about their campaign), audience expansion (via many, many retweets), and match (10,000 new trees! Who wouldn’t want to participate?)! Now, at the end of their program, UNEP has: (1) a much larger audience and (2) done some great PR.

For more info on re-tweeting, check this out: “HOW TO: Retweet on Twitter” (via @mashable).