1. The Association of Professional Fundraisers in Ireland
Fundraising
From American
Trusts/
Foundations
Thoughts from
Kenneth Hoffman
IoF 2013

2. Fundraising From American
Trusts/Foundations
• There is no discourse by implication in the
US - it is wonderfully direct
• Until you say the number they don’t know
they have been asked (they are
Americans!)

3. Fundraising from American
Trusts/Foundations
• Don’t use the passive voice
• Don’t use conditionals
• Sound confident

4. Fundraising from American
Trusts/Foundations
• Two chief proprietary databases
– Foundation Directory Online
• www.fconline.foundationcenter.org
– Foundation Search
• www.foundationsearch.com
• Tax returns of trusts/foundations
– www.guidestar.org

5. Fundraising from American
Trusts/Foundations
• You need to answer yes to 12 or more of
the following questions to be a likely
candidate for US fundraising
1.Is your organisation a registered charity?
2.Are some of your audience based outside
the region of your base of operations?

6. Fundraising From American
Trusts/Foundations
• 3. Is your annual expenditure above
£250,000?
• 4. Is your annual expenditure above £1
million?
• 5. Do you currently raise any income from
private sources (individuals, foundations,
or corporations)?

7. Fundraising From American
Trusts/Foundations
• 6. Do any of your board members donate
their own, their corporation’s or their
foundation’s money to your organisation?
• 7. Do you have 10 or more fulltime staff in
your organisation?
• 8. Is any of your staff currently assigned
fulltime to fundraising duties?

8. Fundraising From American
Trusts/Foundations
• 9. Do you anticipate that your board
members if asked and instructed properly
will help the staff to raise the funds?
• 10. Do you have any professional or
personal contacts in the US to whom you,
with advice, could speak about
fundraising?

9. Fundraising From American
Trusts/Foundations
• 11. Can you identify one or more specific
projects, each with its own expense
budget for which you could request
support?
• 12. Can you identify other charities doing
work similar, in part, to your own, based
in any country?

10. Fundraising From American
Trusts/Foundations
• 13. Can you afford 12-24 months of
investment of time and resources before
earning a cash return from a US
fundraising initiative?
• 14. Can your chief executive make time to
participate in a US fundraising
programme?

11. Fundraising From American
Trusts/Foundations
• 15. Do you have a senior staff person who
can take primary responsibility for
implementing the programme on a week
to week basis?
• 16. Are organisational circumstances
stable enough for implementation of a new
initiative e.g. no change in chief executive
or financial crisis?