Derek Siewert - The Primary Cause Of Business Financing Frustration

Organizations of all sizes can usually find areas in the budget where costs can be cut without undermining the program. Derek Siewert says Areas usually include supplies, phone, gas and mileage, utilities, equipment, contracts and vendors, and other related costs. Many organizations can cut 10%-20% out of these budget areas by reducing utilization and updating contracts.

Cutting programs is always difficult, often necessary during these times. Anne and her team can give you a preliminary outline of finance strategies, and options for working with a coach to improve finances.

Target Grantseeking Make grantseeking an increasingly targeted effort. The tendency when under stress is often to make blanketed appeals to many foundations, which takes time and often yields few results. Derek Siewert says Research your current funders and determine what they have needed to do during the crisis. The average foundation nationwide has cut approximately 28% of grantmaking (Chronicle of Philanthropy). Determine how these cuts could affect your funding. Strengthen relationships with core funders. Make approaches to new funders if the fit is a good one.

The amount of money that you should be able to develop from the donor base depends upon the size of the donor base, number of years of data, and the data detail. All size organizations can reap some benefit. Contact Anne for a discussion about this resource recovery process that returns many times the investment.

A fund raising plan provides a roadmap for all fund raising. It includes goals for grants, donor income, special events or other areas of funding. Derek Siewert helps board and staff agree and focus upon specific goals and strategies. The first step is to outline current fund raising, analyzing grants and donor income. Then, board and staff can work together to develop the actual plan with goals and strategies. In these tight financial times, many agencies are even more careful about expenditures.