This presentation is aimed at nonprofit organizations with questions about how to raise funds to cover their technology needs. It was delivered at the NTEN conference in April 2012.

1. Money (It’s What We Want)
#12NTCmoney
Ruth Williams, ZeroDivide
Andrea Berry, Idealware
Cynthia Bailie, The Foundation Center

2. Money (It’s What We Want)
#12NTCmoney
AGENDA
•Introductions (5)
•Grantmaking and Technology - Ruth Williams (10)
•Fundraising and Technology - Andrea Berry (10)
•Q&A (10)
•Building Awareness Exercise - Cynthia Bailie (20)
•Finding Funders –Cynthia Bailie (15)
•Q&A (15)
•Wrap up (5)

3. How to persuade foundations to
fund your technology needs
April 3, 2012

4. Talked to funders
• Conducted a 6 month survey - 41 funders, 13 TSPs
• Learned how and why funders are – and are not –
supporting NPO’s in using tech for social
change/programmatic work
• Exec Sum: http://zerodivide.org/funder_report
or http://bit.ly/e0qgFo (that’s zero, small “o”)

5. What we learned
• High funder interest; limited familiarity or expertise
• Modest investments; mostly back end
• Investment are tactical, not strategic
• Strategies for impactful tech investment are unclear
• Skeptical about tech ROI
• Better impact measurements needed
• Good News: Future $ possible, Grantees lead the
charge

6. What we recommend to Funder
• Increase tech education and advising activities
• Expand their pool of investments
• Strengthen TSP infrastructure

7. Recommendations to Persuade Funders
• Don’t be shy, ask for funds and other tech support
• Provide Funders with good data: modest experiment, show
#’s & commitment
• Propose TA/trainings across a cohort of their grantees

8. Funding Your Project

9. There Are No Magical Tech Funders
Unfortunately.

10. Can You Lower the Price?
Check Ask hardware See if consultants
TechSoup for vendors about offer a discount or
discount software nonprofit compressed
discounts project
1

11. Will Local Businesses Help?
• Check with local banks
or partners
• Might they donate
(good quality)
hardware or software?
• Are there volunteers
who could help you
design and implement
the project?
1

12. Can You Interest Major Donors?
• Do you have donors
who might fund part or
all of the project?
• It’s a nice, tangible
investment for the right
donor
1

13. Approach Your Current Funders
• Would they be
interested in
supporting their
mission through tech?
• Consider including it in
a larger project.
• Do they offer any
capacity services or
funding programs?
1

14. Building Awareness
1

15. 1

16. 1

17. 1

18. 1

19. Finding Funders
1

20. GRANTSPACE.ORG
2

21. FCONLINE.FOUNDATIONCENTER.ORG
2

22. Thank You!
Let’s stay in touch:
•Ruth Williams | Senior Program Officer| ZeroDivide |
ruth@zerodivide.org
•Andrea Berry | Director of Partnerships and Learning |
Idealware | andrea@idealware.org
•Cynthia Bailie | Director, Cleveland Office and Special
Information Initiatives | The Foundation Center |
cgb@foundationcenter.org
2

23. Additional Resources
“How a Small Nonprofit Made Simple Tech Tweaks and Saved
$176,000.” By William Grassie - http://bit.ly/eZMFp3
Unleashing Innovation: Using Everyday Technology to Improve Nonprofit
Services. By MAP for Nonprofits and Idealware -
http://idealware.org/reports
Grants for Information Technology - 2011 Digital Edition. By The
Foundation Center - http://foundationcenter.org/marketplace
2

24. Evaluate This Session!
Each entry is a chance to win an NTEN engraved iPad!
or Online using #12NTCmoney at www.nten.org/ntc/eval