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Question:
I am a former activist who put up a technical-vocational training center near
my house that caters to those who cannot afford to go to school. It's goal
is to help out-of-school youth, the unemployed, housewives of poor families
develop attitudes, skills and knowledge that will help them gain employment
or put up small scale enterprises or cooperatives that will give them a daily
source of income and help alleviate their poverty.

My problem is I funded it with my personal money. But that is now almost
depleted and my students have still not been able to successfully establish
the small scale business we hoped would change their lives. Hence, we are in
danger of closing the project.

Could you teach me or help me network so that I could source some funding for
this project. I can no longer sustain it on my own.

I look forward to your response. Thanks!
Answer:

Hi Michelle,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we can provide you with timely, useful, and directly applicable information so you can continue the great work you're doing through your technical-vocational training center. Program sustainability is a huge issue in community work so our discussion will likely resonate with many other people. Well, to answer your question I've got a few ideas for you.
 
As you know there are many ways to raise funds including writing grants, crowdfunding (see Bernie Sander's campaign as the best example of this), and providing services for a fee (see the YMCA for example), just to name a few. However, before you go after external funding you need to think carefully about two critical pieces that support any fund-raising effort. First, if you haven't already done so, you need to have shown that your program has achieved its desired results through an external evaluation conducted by someone who is not part of your program. No one is going to want to put money into a program unless it has been shown to be effective or it shows promise in being effective through rigorous, objective, scrutiny and examination. My suggestion is to find someone in your community who has some evaluation chops and ask them to volunteer to look at your program as a service project or contact a university to see if there is a graduate student who would take this on pro bono for course credit. If I were a potential funder, grant or otherwise, I'd want to see evidence of success before offering financial support, it's only reasonable The second piece to this is marketing your program to potential sources of support (i.e., funders). This program may be great, but unless you get broad-based support behind it the money is not likely to be there; where there is support there is money (or something to that effect). You mentioned you've been an activist, well use those skills to get your story out into the community, talk to every community service group, educational agency, etc. you can to sell your program and its benefits.
That said, let's look at the resources we have here in the Community Tool Box.
 
First, regarding evaluation (even if you don't conduct it yourself it behooves you to be a good consumer so you can understand what you're asking someone to do). Go to our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button in the top left corner. Click on Table of Contents. Scroll down to the section entitled Evaluating Community Programs and Initiatives- Information on developing a plan for evaluation, evaluation methods, and using evaluation to understand and improve the initiative. Specifically, check out Chapter 36 - Introduction to Evaluation, Chapter 37. Operations in Evaluating Community Interventions, Chapter 38 - Some Methods for Evaluating Comprehensive Community Initiatives, and Chapter 39 - Using Evaluation to Understand and Improve the Initiative. The related toolkit is 12 - Evaluating the Initiative. Again, you may not be conducting the evaluation yourself, but you need to be a good consumer of evaluation.
 
Second, regarding bringing in external funds, go to our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button in the top left corner. Click on Table of Contents. Scroll down to the section entitled Generating, Managing, and Sustaining Financial Resources - Information on writing grants, preparing an annual budget, and planning for financial sustainability. Specifically, look at Chapter 42 - Getting Grants and Financial Resources; Chapter 43 - Managing Finances; Chapter 44 - Investing in Community Resources; and toolkit 14 - Writing a Grant Application for Funding. When you look at these chapters and the sections therein, make sure to also look at the examples provided to get a better sense of how other people have done what you want to do.
 
Third, regarding social marketing and sustainability, go back to our home page and again click on the "Learn A Skill" button in the top left corner. Click on Table of Contents. Scroll down to Social Marketing and Sustainability of the Initiative - Information on conducting a social marketing effort (promoting awareness, interest, and behavior change), and planning for long-term sustainability. Specifically, look at Chapter 45 - Social Marketing of Successful Components of the Initiative, Chapter 46 -Planning for Sustainability, and toolkits Related Toolkits 13 - Implementing a Social Marketing Effort and 16 - Sustaining the Work or Initiative. As in the paragraph above, when you look at these chapters and the sections therein, make sure to also look at the examples provided to get a better sense of how other people have done what you want to do.
 
Last, as I mentioned earlier, crowdfunding may also be a viable possibility for you. Crowdfunding sites include Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdrise, Quirky, Tilt, and GoFundMe. You can check out each one to determine whether it is suited to your cause; my best guess is that GoFundMe is the most likely crowdfunding site for you.
 
So, in sum Michelle, seek out a pro bono evaluator to take a critical look at your program and provide evidence of success; write grants, use crowdfunding, or consider a fee-for-service model; and market your program far and wide within the community to generate the type of support that will provide sustainable funding. With that I thank you for bringing this issue to not only our attention, but to the attention of all Community Tool Box visitors. I hope we answered your question to your satisfaction, if not, please feel free to come back and we'll work together to come up with a workable solution. Remember, you are never alone! Be well, take care.
 
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Question Date: mar, 05/03/2016