Funders look for proof of success when determining who they will fund. Get some quick wins: quotes, testimonials, praise from collaborators. Show your impact: Pre/Post Tests, graduations, Sign in sheets, number of clients served, food bags given away, volunteer hours transformations. Build a track record by demonstrating proof of impact.

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🔦 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT 🙌🏿

Magdalena’s Daughters Pt. 2

👉🏿https://www.magdalenasdaughters.org/

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🚀 RESOURCES TO HELP YOU RUN A SUCCESSFUL NONPROFIT 🚀

How to Demonstrate Measurable Impact

https://fusion.amberwynn.net/product/how-to-demonstrate-measurable-impact/

90 Days to a Profitable Nonprofit

https://www.amberwynn.net/profitable-nonprofit

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Learn more about my success with helping nonprofits

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Got Questions? "Ask Amber" on any of my social media platforms or email me at amber@amberwynn.net

Podcast Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learn to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding impact and sustainability. And now here's your host and resident, Philanthrepreneur Amber Wynn.

Speaker 2 (00:21):

Hey fam, it's Amber Wynn on the mic. Guess what? We are here today to talk about startup success. Listen, I get the most feedback when I say to my nonprofits, don't get your 501(c)(3) and then try and run and get a grant because you're not ready. Funders want more assurance that if they write you this check that they're going to get a return on their investment. So the logical question, and I get it, is, well, if I'm a startup, how am I supposed to fund my organization if I don't get a grant? Today we're going to talk about how to build a track record because that's what's important. What's important to a funder is that you know what you're doing. Yes, you can get a grant based off of a concept. I've written those types of grants before, but remember, you are competing for this money.

(01:19):

The last statistic that I read for private foundations were that there were 145,000 of them, roughly a hundred, 146,000 across the country, but there are 1.43 million nonprofits. So if you do the math just with the private foundations, of course every nonprofit should have 10 streams of revenue. So you should be seeking more than just grants. But let's just use that statistic, right? 146,000 private foundations, 1.43 million nonprofits. That's a lot of competition. So funders don't have to fund you. There are too many nonprofits up there who are qualified, meaning they have a track record, meaning they can prove that if they receive the money, they'll be able to utilize the money the way that it was given. So I say to my nonprofits in stage one that are thinking about starting or who've already started, but don't really have a track record. Let's focus on that. So when we come back, I'm going to talk to you about how to build out a track record as a brand new startup nonprofit, when we come back,

Speaker 3 (02:37):

If you're just starting out and have limited resources, you may be tempted to use a volunteer-based model for your nonprofit funders prefer paid staff because there's more accountability and consistency. But if you want your proposal to be competitive, then having more than just volunteers who come and go is essential. Check out my building and effective nonprofit volunteer program toolkit. It provides all the essential elements of an effective nonprofit volunteer program. Things that demonstrate standardization, consistency and continuity. Learn how to develop a nonprofit volunteer program funders feel comfortable with funding. Order your copy today.

Speaker 2 (03:17):

Welcome back your on air with Amber Wynn, and today we're talking about startup success. What does that mean? Well, it means that as a startup nonprofit, you're doing the things that you need to do to be successful. One of those things is building out a track record. A track record says to a funder, to a collaborator, to a potential donor that you're doing the work. What are those things entails? Well, it entails things like getting quotes, testimonials, praise from your collaborators. You want people to see that the work that you do is substantive, that you're making a difference in your community. So if you get your 501(c)(3) and the first thing that you do is go and apply for a grant, what are you going to tell them? I have this idea and I believe it'll work. No, what you want to do is to create a track record.

(04:13):

Here's the truth, and I'm never going to lie to you. Most nonprofits spend the first two, three years just scrambling, just trying to figure out what they are, what they're doing, who their real target audience is. I'm going to encourage you to close that gap. Use that first one year to get a track record. I've set this in a previous episode and I'm going to repeat it. The fastest way to get to establishing a track record is to partner with someone who's already established. Offer them your program for six months. Tell them exactly what you're doing. Listen, I'm a newly established nonprofit. I'd love to partner with you. I'd like to offer you my services for six months at no charge and say it like that for six months at no charge. Don't just come and say, Hey, can I provide you with some free services?

(05:12):

You want to set the groundwork because after six months, if your program is successful, they may want to continue, but you want to let them know upfront there may be a charge, right? I've had people who've run out and they've started partnering with other organizations. They've done it for a year, two years. They're like, well, I don't know how to tell them that I'm charging for it because I've been doing it for free. So you want to set up the expectation. You want them to know that you're doing this so that you can get some feedback because your goal is to reach out to a funder and you need to be able to demonstrate impact. And people ask me all the time, are nonprofits open to that? Yes, they are. They want to enhance their programs. They want to be able to provide a variety of services to their clients.

(06:00):

So if you're offering it at no charge for a limited period of time, why not? You're upfront, you'd sign a memorandum of understanding saying, Hey, I'm going to provide these services. You're going to recruit the participants. I mean, that's another benefit, right? I have startup like where do I go to get the students? If you partner with an established nonprofit, they already have the location. They already have the students or the seniors or the veterans or whatever. You're coming to them to enhance their services. So that's what you want to do. You want to say, Hey, I'm doing a food giveaway. Can I give away bags of food to your clients? Be very clear in the MOU what you expect in return, you're going to tell them in exchange for this free service, I'd like to be able to get testimonials. I'd like to be able to do focus groups so that I can get feedback on what works, what doesn't work.

(07:01):

Those are the things that you're going to provide to your funder. You're going to say, we administered this program for six months with this reputable nonprofit, and we did a focus group afterwards, and here's the feedback. The focus group said they loved what we provided. It was healthy food. They generally didn't have access to that before we had cooking classes. They never knew how to cook with a rhubarb and what a rhubarb was. So you are getting feedback from your community that you can then turn around and demonstrate your proof of concept to your funder. So it's important to understand that when a funder is looking at your grant application, they're not just looking at who you are as an individual. That has something to do with it. So if you don't have a track record, but you've been doing the work for 5, 10, 15 years, that is proof of success innately in you.

(08:01):

You have experience. Put that down. The people who are volunteering for you, if you have an Amber Wynn volunteering for you, you can say, Amber's been in this space for 30 years, so she does know what she's doing. What I'm saying to you, it's not enough just to say Amber Wynn and Leticia Johnson, and why Amber Wynn. Amber Wynn has been in a nonprofit sector for 30 years. She's been a grant writer. She's been a board member. She's been show to your funder why even at this early stage, your programs will be successful. It's because of who's delivering it, right? Show them that you are doing the work to demonstrate impact. I've partnered with the Boys and Girls Club and they are allowing me to administer my program for six months. You administer those programs, do a pre and post test. Before you even start your program, do five, 10 questions with the people and say, Hey, what do you know about this topic?

(09:03):

Whatever it is that you are delivering, and then afterwards, administer the test again so that you can see the growth and knowledge. Listen to me, even if you have 10 participants, you're going to work with them for six weeks, eight weeks, six months. If you have 10 participants, you administer that pre-test and that post-test, you can say 50% of our participants said that they feel more confident. Five of those participants would be 50%. So you can say to a funder, 50% of our participants said that they had an increase in knowledge and feel more comfortable about banking because of our program. There's always ways to get around that. If you do a pre and post-test and you have 10 participants and six of them graduate, then you can say 60% of our participants went on to graduate. So you need the data though. You need the data to be able to prove to your funder that if they write you a check, you will be able to deliver on what it is that you do.

(10:11):

One of the things that a lot of founders don't realize is there are always more applicants than there is money and that you are competing against the other nonprofits in your space for that small pool of money. So yes, you have a 501(c)(3), but a 501(c)(3) only makes you eligible. You need to be able to qualify for that pool of money, and the way that you are able to qualify is by developing a track record that says you're successful. If you run your program, let's just say your program is a six week program. If you run your program four times, then you can say, we've ran our program four times and we've graduated. 90% of our participants go on to graduate four times. So a funder can say, okay, well, if you have a success rate of 90% and you've run the program four times, that really shows that you know what you're doing because you ran the program four times and 90% of your participants have graduated.

(11:17):

The other thing you want to be able to do, why it's a good idea to partner with the reputable nonprofit is because you get to get some of their reputation, right? If you are partner with the Boys and Girls Club, and the Boys and Girls Club have been around for 80 years and they've got lots of funders that says something right? Birds of a feather flock together. So if you're partnering with the reputable organization, you kind of get like they're kind of vouching for you because if they'll partner with you, then that says, okay, you're trustworthy. So you get to increase your reputability by partnering with the reputable organization. So try that for that as well. When you are new, you should be spending your time trying to demonstrate that you are an organization that can be trusted. So you want to attend a lot of the community networking so people can get to know you, get a feel for you.

(12:16):

Don't just start doing your programs. Do your programs, get known in your community. Attend some of the elected official meetings. Go to the town hall meetings. Let people get to know you. This is another way for you to be able to lay the groundwork for partnering. You're at a networking. You're talking to people and they're like, oh, yeah, we serve youth. What do you do? Oh, we do sports. That is wonderful. Would you mind setting up a lunch so that we can talk? Guess what I do? I do life skills, so I'd love to partner with you on Let's talk about that. So attending some of these programs will help you get in the space with some of these reputable people and be able to deliver your program. So to recap, when we talk about startup success, when I say to you, yay, you got your 501(c)(3) so proud of you.

(13:10):

The first thing you want to do is to build up your reputation. These are the things that I'm talking about. So when we look at what success is, yes, success of course is getting a grant, but success is also laying the foundation. So you have a strong organization that a funder will look at and say, okay, I can see how this could give me a return on my investment. If you are not sure what to do, how to do it, guess who has the answer for you? Amber Wynn, I have the answer, and not only do I have the answer, but I have it laid out for you, I have a course called 90 Days to a Profitable nonprofit that walks you through how to get from point A to point B. If you're just starting and you're not sure what's next, this course will help get you there. If you are established and you're stuck and you're self-funding your organization, this course will get you there. Let's pause for a second and I'm going to give you a high level overview of 90 days to a Profitable nonprofit.

(14:15):

Are you struggling to fund your programs? Can't get a grant to save your life? Most consultants will share the what of how to start a nonprofit or how to fundraise. They may even share the why, but they don't share the how because that's where they make their money. Now, I'm not hating. I'm a business woman too, but I've been where you are trying to make the world a better place, struggling to keep the doors open up to the wee hours of the night writing grants and doing whatever needed to be done. And because I've walked in your shoes, I'm not here to make you spin your wheel waste your time or your hard earned money. We ain't got time for that. The world needs you. I'm here to show you how to transform that pit. You keep dumping your hard earned money into a profitable nonprofit.

(15:05):

I take my 30 years of nonprofit experience as a founder, executive director, program developer, grant writer in funder, giving out over $7 million annually in grants, and I save you literally thousands of dollars in hundreds of hours. I walk you through setting up your nonprofit organization so that you can be generating enough revenue to cover your monthly expenses in just 90 days. How would that feel? Not paying bills from your personal bank account. I share my insider secret tips, tricks of the trade and provide you with a step-by-step roadmap on how to turn your bootstrap organization into a profitable nonprofit. Within six months, you could be generating enough revenue to pay your salary or fully fund your programs. The choice is yours, but you have to get the blueprint, and it took me three years to develop it, but it's here and it's going to change your life.

(16:02):

Join my other successful clients who are just like you, full of passion and determination, but they had no idea all that it takes to run and fund a successful nonprofit. Now, they're winning grants and drawing a salary, and they know what it is that they're supposed to be doing to run a successful nonprofit. They're no longer making it up as they go. They have the roadmap and they're clear about next steps, and I want that for you too. So what do you get in this course? You'll walk away with knowledge, products, processes, and systems, not just a bunch of promises, but exactly what you need to turn your organization into a profitable nonprofit. I promise you don't need grants. What you need is a solid infrastructure, and this course is going to give you all of that and more. And what's more, it comes with the money back guarantee.

(16:55):

So go ahead, click the link below to register for this course. You're on air with Amber Wynn, Philanthrepreneur, where I use the passion and dedication of philanthropy with proven business practices for long-term impact and sustainability. And one of the ways I do that is by meeting the needs of my community. That would be you. And at this point in the episode, you get to ask your question in the Ask Amber session. Now, you can reach me in several ways, my website, Instagram, Twitter, all of those things. This question comes from Byron, and Byron actually hit me up on LinkedIn and his question, Hey, Amber, Byron here from Pacific Palisades struggling with riding my mission. Is there a formula or specific things that should be included? Right now, my mission is about 12 sentences long, and I still don't have everything in it. Help. Hey, Byron, first of all, 12 sentences is too long.

(18:02):

Listen, more than likely you have the organization's history, program descriptions, vision, philosophy, and goals in there. That's not the purpose of the mission. The purpose of the mission is to let potential funders, collaborators, and even potential clients know what you're about. What is the problem, how you plan to fix it? What's the solution going to be afterwards? So you don't want to put everything but the kitchen sink in it. You want the people to know who you serve, what the problem is, and how you intend to solve it. So let's look at Girls Inc's Mission. Girls Inc's mission is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Who's the target audience? All girls, what is the problem? Well, if based on the mission, the problem is that not all girls are strong, smart, and bold. That is their goal. Let's look at Parker Institute for Cancer.

(18:59):

Their mission is to accelerate the development of breakthrough immune therapies to turn all cancers into curable diseases. So what is the issue there? Right now, there aren't any immune therapies that will cure diseases. Their purpose, their function is to develop breakthrough immune therapies to turn all cancers. So that's what they're focusing on. All cancers, not just pancreatic, not just all cancers into curable diseases. Your mission should be concise. Your mission should be clear, and your mission should let in particular funders know what it is that you're focusing in. So if it's 12 sentences long, you're trying to put too much into it. Byron, if you're putting, when you were established, if you're saying what your goals are, if you're saying something like, our mission is to, since 1977, our mission has been to improve the community so that people have hope and future by educating them and giving them life skills.

(20:07):

That's going into your program description. You just want to know what the problem is, who you serve, and what the solution is. Okay, I hope that helped. If it doesn't, hasn't, be sure to visit my website. On the very first page, on the homepage, there are resource bundles, they're for free, and they walk you through how to build out a credible, concise mission statement. Check those out. Alright, so let's keep it moving y'all, because now we're going to move to one of my favorite parts of the episode. When I get to shine light on some amazing individuals, we are on part two of Shine on nonprofit. It's where I put the spotlight on some amazing nonprofit leaders so that they can be seen, heard, and not only will their potential clients see that they are in existence, but woo woo, hello funders as well. So today we are on part two of Magdalena's Daughters with Ashley Hill, the founder and executive director. Let's take a look.

Speaker 4 (21:27):

Our long-term vision is to provide the housing that is our long-term vision, and that is our goal. Currently, right now, we have a couple of programs that we are implementing, and they're called raise. So RAISE stands for Recognize, assist, inform and empower, and it's really our antidote to human trafficking. So basically, I developed a small group of survivors, law enforcement, social workers, therapists who helped develop a curriculum for middle school and high schoolers. So kids between the ages of 12 and 18. And I did a lot of research on how animation actually helps retain with memory and learning and engagement. And human trafficking is such a polarizing topic. So it brings a lot of fear and people often don't want to hear about it because they can't really do too much about, it's such a huge problem. And so we've implemented and we developed this curriculum, and so currently we go out into the community, we go out into group homes, churches, anyone who would have us, and we actually train on human trafficking, what it is, how to be aware of it, what are the signs, how to keep your kids safe, and what you can do as parents to help keep your kids safe.

(22:40):

So that's really one of our huge programs that we are currently in the process of our other program that we are in a process of, it's called Raise Their Hope. So it's really about instilling hope among this population just because a lot of times these kids are so narrow focused, they can only see their current circumstances. They're in foster care, they're in a group home. There is no hope beyond this life right now. And so really, this program is about instilling life skills, work development skills, like exposing them to various different career paths. And so we currently have a partnership with County of San Bernardino, superintendent of school districts. We're in the process of developing a foster youth advisory board, and this is where we're going to help kids advocate for themselves, give themselves a voice, and speak about their experiences and their needs and desires while being in a child welfare system.

Speaker 2 (23:53):

You can watch the full interview with Ashley on my YouTube channel, but I hope you paid attention to some of the things that she said, right? Ashley's organization's been around for a little while, but she said she partners with Department of Public Health. She says she goes out to churches and schools and group homes, wherever they will have her and deliver her programs while she's delivering these programs. Guess what she's doing? She's getting feedback. She's getting feedback from the collaborators. She's getting feedback from the participants, from the group home leaders. That's what you have to do as a startup nonprofit. You've got to do the work knowing that when you're doing it for the first year or two, that you are gathering enough information that is going to say to a funder, I know what I'm doing. I'm successful at it, and here's the proof.

(24:48):

So we're going to continue with our nonprofit series throughout the rest of the month. So thank you, Ashley, thank you for all the work that you're doing, and I'd like to just pause and thank all of you. You're doing the work. A lot of you aren't getting paid. You're self-funding aid. You're self-funding up. That is my purpose. That is my mission in life is to help the most amazing individuals, my nonprofit founders and executive directors, to stop self-funding their nonprofits to create a solid infrastructure so that they can then run viable nonprofits that will then position them for consistent revenue. Listen, that grand money's not free. Funders aren't going to just give you money because you have a 501(c)(3). So if you stick with your girl, you're going to learn, because I'm going to say it over and over, and I'm not only going to say it, but I'm going to give you the resources that's going to powerfully position you to generate revenue, to cover your salary, so you don't have to work your nine to five and then work your nonprofit.

(25:54):

No, you're going to generate enough revenue so that you can leave that nine to five and just work in your nonprofit and do the things that your heart and your passion wants you to do, which is to serve your community. You stick with your girl. I'm going to get you there. So if you enjoyed this episode, if you found something helpful, be sure to share it with your community. Also, please subscribe and make sure you come and see me again next week. I look forward to being in this space with you, and as always, take care of yourself, like you take care of your community. See you next week.

Speaker 1 (26:31):

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.net/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.