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All
non-profits based in the US are listed (along with all their tax info)
accessible for free at
http://www.guidestar.org This is a great place to start the
research that is suggested below. We should keep a running list
anytime someone comes up with another lead... also, you can look up
Bastyr's tax info and see how much the top administrators are making...
veeeeery interesting..... As my cousin Dave says:
"it's all about the list"
General
Fundraising Ideas
Foundations that have donated to Kenya in
the past and seem to be in support of organizations like VV
Companies and Corporations that have
donated to Kenya charities
look
especially for:
1) companies with lots of competition that might see donations to a charity
as a way of distinguishing themselves
2) companies with recent bad PR that they may want to counteract
3) Contact United Way or Chamber of Commerce for contact info for local
companies / corps....
Celebrities that are interested in Africa
Oprah
Brad &
Angelina
George
Clooney
Bastyr Donors
WANP / AANP members
People and organizations that donate to
Doctors w/out Borders, Habitat, etc
My cousin Dave and two different
friends of mine are professional fundraisers, they solicit money for a
living... wow... Anyway, below are their words of wisdom:
1. Ask the village volunteers people
how other groups
have raised money. No doubt very
benevolent in
nature, the fact is that VV is a
non-profit that has a
budget and funding needs itself. Their
whole pitch to
THEIR funders (I'm sure), is "Hey! We
hook up
volunteers with villages and facilitate
X, Y, Z."
What that means to you is this: without
volunteers who
are ABLE to go, VV has no results and
no cash.
Therefore, it is in their best interest
to have as
many volunteers possible go over
there. I'm sure they
have some hints and tips for you. If
they give you
the line about talking to your friends,
contacts,
etc.," then you might try these ideas:
2. In line with #1 - ask them if any of
their funders
would be interested in sponsoring this
group as a
special project.
3. Find anyone or any
group/org/church/etc. that's
ever done work in Kenya. Google "Kenya
missions,"
medical, aide, etc. Try to get as
specific as you
can. I.e., Google the name of the
village and go down
three or four pages (if there are that
many). What
you're looking for are names of
organizations,
individuals, corporations, and
foundations that have
ever done anything in that area.
4. Get a list of these entities
together and begin to
see where the "overlap" is by doing
lots of research
on them. By overlap, I mean where what
THEY have done
are doing and want to do in the future
is lining up
with what your group will accomplish
while there.
Really think outside the box -
partnerships, etc. The
internet makes this easy since you can
follow link
after link to see where the interests
of certain
organizations/individuals lie.
5. When you get a list of all the "hot
prospects"
together from your internet searches,
formulate an
"ask." This is essentially four parts
(forgive me if
I'm going over things you already
know..). Part 1 is
the need, Part 2 is what you're going
to do about the
need, Part 3 is how they can help you
do something
about the need, and Part 4 is what
they're going to
GET from helping you fill the need..
The "ask" can take any form (full blown
proposal,
phone call/e-mail, letter, etc.), but
the key is that
you not only have to know exactly what
you're doing
but you have to know why you're doing
it and what the
quantifiable outcomes are likely to be
(i.e., the
results). Having this information down
pat allows you
to network with others and carry on
good conversations
about what you want to do. In its
simplest form, the
"ask" is just about assembling the
parts of
communication that allow you to present
a need and the
opportunity to fill that need to
someone in an
atmosphere/venue that also gets across
your passion.
Another idea: research the funders of
Bastyr and other
homeopathic medical schools using
guidestar.org. It's
free to register and is very helpful.
You may not get
their funders, but you could find out
some info on
them... I've attached their 2005 tax
returns. The
interesting sections are who gets paid
what and also
their board. You may try a search with
their board
member names and "Kenya" to see if
anything comes up.
Also, if Bastyr has an annual report
with its donors,
try doing some searches there, too.
Then, track them
down using an alumni directory and
share what you're
doing. You may not be permitted to
solicit them (I
know Dickinson has some rules against
that), but you
could certainly just "tell them" about
the program and
see if THEY ask you how they can get
involved...
I took the liberty of doing a little
search using a
paid subscription service that NFI has
and, while I
didn't find any foundations that had
given significant
amounts to Bastyr, I did find the
following gave to
things in Kenya:
The Abell Foundation
The Banyan Tree Foundation
The Bauman Family Foundation
Carnegie Corporation
Coca-Cola Foundation
Community Foundation of Silicon Valley
The Ford Foundation
Gates Foundation
Paul J. Getty Trust
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
William and Flora Hewlett Fdn.
The Koch Foundation
John M. Lloyd Fdn.
Lurie Family Foundation
Rockefeller Fdn.
The Monsanto Fund
The largest grantor, by far, is the
Rockefeller Fdn.
then the Ford Fdn. I know that Ford is
tough to get a
hold of, but you may try to call the
Rockefellers and
see if they can support you or point
you in the right
direction.
Probably all of these foundations will
not support
individuals, but you never know...
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