How do I turn the information of existing relationships into opportunities?
Once you have mapped out the individuals, organisations or businesses that you have relationships with, the next step is to research a bit more into their giving potential. For your ex-Guides or members, can you google them and find out what they are up to now? Are they professional people who may have disposable income? Or are they still students, likely to be struggling financially themselves?
For organisations you partner with, does their annal report show that they are running on a very meagre and tight budget? Or does it look like they have access to reasonable funds? For businesses, have they sponsored anything before or do they appear to have a reasonable marketing budget? Once you have a broad picture of the giving potential of the different audiences and groups you have looked into, you can categorise them. Think carefully about each of these groups and their motivation – what would they get out of engaging with you further? What motivations and interests do they have that would help them find engaging positive or productive? For example, ex-members who are not wealthy may really enjoy the opportunity to buy tickets for a raffle with good prizes. Successful businesswomen who are ex-members may be motivated to sponsor an event or a mentoring programme.
The best ideas for funding approaches are the ones that work for your audience and your context. The most successful ideas will come from brainstorming with your team, drawing on your creativity and what you know about your network.
While you do this, remember – the ask has to be appropriate and motivating to the person who receives it, and not just based on your needs.
Do people mind if you approach them for funding?
If you approach someone with a fun, flattering or appealing idea they will not mind! They might not say yes, but they will not mind at all that you made an ask. However, if your ask is not well-aligned or an appropriate ask, you may encounter some negative feedback. For example, if you ask someone for $1,000 when they are still a student, you have probably missed an opportunity to get them to buy $10 of raffle tickets and made them feel annoyed. Similarly, if you invite a very successful businesswoman you know well to get involved and then only ask her for $10 of raffle tickets, she may feel a bit insulted that you haven’t appreciated her potential.
The key to successful asking is to make sure the ask is interesting and appropriate to the person or organisation. When you are looking for potential in existing networks, this is easier to get right as you already know who you are talking to.