Every month I email out a newsletter with tips, updates, lessons and upcoming trainings.  Here's a link to the full newsletter.  If you would like for me to email future newsletters to you, please contact me.  Thanks and enjoy!

(photo of a brainstorm listing some possible fundraising strategies)

Earlier in the year, I worked with the leadership at LA Voice and SOAR Charter School to create fund development plans for their organizations.  If you’re organization is about to engage in this very important process, I suggest the following 10 tips:

1. Engage your Board:  Creation of a fund development plan is a great way to get your Board involved with fundraising.  If they help create the fundraising plan, they are more likely to implement it.

2. Decide how much you need to raise:  It’s easier to get folks involved to raise funds to meet a specific goal, rather than just having some vague sense for how much you need to raise.

3. Diversify your funding sources:  Discuss different sources of funding and choose to pursue at least three sources (individuals, foundations, government, corporations, earned-income, etc).

4. Prioritize:  While there are lots of good ideas out there for fundraising, you can’t do them all.  Prioritize strategies your organization has the capacity to do that yield the strongest results.

5. Create a Workplan:  Fill out a workplan that contains the following details:  What action you will take, when will that action occur by (month/year) and who will be responsible for carrying out that action. 

6. Give yourself time:  Putting together a fund development plan can take anywhere from one to three months, depending on how frequently you meet with other folks creating it.

7. Evaluate your past fundraising:  Just because you’ve “always” done some fundraising strategy doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it.  Evaluate past strategies and decide if the benefits outweigh the costs.

8. Learn from this Process:  A fund development planning process gives everyone involved the opportunity to build their capacity as fundraisers (something even veteran fundraisers can use).

9: Don’t forget about your Plan!:  Refer to your fund development plan on at least a monthly basis and make sure the workplan you created from it is integrated into your workplan.

10. Follow-up:  Make sure your Executive Director and at least one board member commit to engaging everyone else in the organization to implement the plan.

If your organization can use the services of an experienced consultant to create your own fund development plan, please contact me. 

Here's a link to another two-page flyer I recently created that describes the fundraising services I provide along with 10 tips for nonprofit fundraising.  Enjoy!

Here's a link to a two-page flyer I recently created that describes the facilitation services I provide along with 10 tips for successful facilitation.  Enjoy!

1. BUILD YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Recruit a diverse group of people that believe in your mission

2. DECIDE THE “BIG PICTURE” OF YOUR ORGANIZATION
Have the Board decide the organization’s mission, vision, values and long-term goals (I recommend doing this at a weekend retreat).

3. DEVELOP YOUR WORKPLAN
Based on your long-term goals, develop a plan – What actions will you take? Who will lead them? When will they occur?

4. DECIDE HOW WILL YOU FUND IT
Develop a plan to raise money - Who might want to support this effort? How will you cultivate these funders? How/when will you solicit these funders?

5. DECIDE YOUR LEGAL STRUCTURE
Some choices: 1) Become your own legal nonprofit  2) Go under the umbrella of an existing nonprofit  3) Go under the umbrella of a nonprofit incubator

Ways in which I can help:

-I’m a skilled facilitator and can work with your organization’s leadership to make important decisions during a retreat

-I’m an experienced fundraiser and can help your organization create a fundraising plan

To discuss further, please contact me.

Tonight, Tuesday June 15th, I'm leading a "Running Effective Meetings" Training at the LA Eco-Village, from 7pm to 9pm.  

This workshop explores the key components necessary to ensure meetings are effective and result in decisions that help an organization move forward.  These components include: developing an agenda, knowing people’s roles and responsibilities, having a decision making process, facilitation and good listening skills.

Fee: $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required: crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

Here's a link to my my Top 10 Tips for running good meetings.

For more information Ron Milam’s work as a facilitator, click here.

I will also lead another Introduction to Facilitation training on July 28th from 7pm to 9pm at the LA Eco-Village.

L.A. Eco-Village is located at 117 Bimini Pl. near 1st and Vermont in Los Angeles    directions

I'm pleased to report the International Institute for Facilitation and Change has published another one of my articles in their online Bonfire newsletter - "Facilitation Skills - Listening".  I'm thrilled to contribute to a broader understanding of facilitation through this work and hope you find it useful, whether your facilitating a meeting or just spending time with people you care about. The International Institute for Facilitation and Change's website has a number of helpful articles on facilitation that I have found valuable and encourage you to check them out. 

Last night, I attended a high-energy fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer that President Obama spoke at.  A diverse crowd packed to hear the President, including my own elected representatives - Council President Eric Garcetti and County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas. 

I attended to not only support the cause,  but to also experience a major political fundraiser. 

As a Consultant, I’m always curious to learn from events I attend.  Here’s five elements from last night’s event that you may want to replicate if you are planning your own fundraising event: 

1. Feature a keynote speaker that many will fork out the extra bucks to see.

2. Stick to a relatively short program – they kept it to India Arie (who sang some inspirational songs), the chair of the DNC, Senator Boxer and then the President.

3. Their speeches celebrated progress they made while asking people for their ongoing support.

4. They personalized some of the invitations – the invite I received for this event came from my Council Member.

5.  They effectively dealt with challenges as they came up (including some hecklers in the audience that the President very effectively responded to by saying he heard their concerns, was working on it and then went back to his speech - to the applause of his supporters).

And at the end of the day, they raised an estimated $3.5 million dollars!  Even though my contribution was relatively small to the overall amount they raised, it was a gift I needed to give some thought to, and one that I’m glad I made.  

For more tips on planning an effective fundraiser, check out my recent blog post on the topic.

Last Friday I attended a town hall meeting hosting by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood and Barbara Boxer.  I appreciated their willingness to listen to citizens like me, and also gained inspiration from many of the suggestions made by other attendees. 

In the afternoon I attended a session facilitated by Metro.  As the microphone went from speaker to speaker, I jotted down 10 quick suggestions for improving transportation in Los Angeles. 

With a little dose of humor and seriousness, I offer the following to you (to make it fun, I presented these in a David Letterman style top 10 list):

#10.  Real Voices on the Bus:  As a cyclist, I often take the bus when I need to make longer commutes across town.  While the overcrowding doesn’t bother me so much, the robotic voices announcing the various stops sometimes does.  I propose an art project where Metro goes out into the communities surrounding its bus lines and record the names of stops from people who actually live near them.  Imagine taking the Wilshire Rapid from Dowtown LA to Santa Monica and hearing the diversity of voices along the way.

#9.  One ticket One Way:  I also find myself taking my bike on the train to places like Long Beach (where I will be facilitating some focus groups around bicycling for the City of Long Beach).  I wish that the one-way ticket I buy on the Red Line would also work for the one-way trip I’d make on the Blue line. 

#8.  Transit-oriented development:  LA developed around the trolley car and enormous potential exists to develop affordable housing and other buildings that are a short walk to a Metro stop.  I’m excited to see the statewide SB 375 get implemented.

#7:  Fast track bicycle plan implementation:  Cities like New York and Mexico City are transforming their streets so that they are safer and more enjoyable places to ride at a much faster pace than we are.  Why couldn’t the City of LA fast-track implementation of its Bicycle Master Plan in a year?  We’ve got good ideas on paper – let’s allocate the needed resources to make it reality.

#6. Bike Boulevards: My brother lives in Vancouver, Canada, which has developed an impressive network of Bicycle Boulevards.  These are quiet, residential streets that have several design features that make cycling pleasant:  traffic circles instead of stop signs, occasional barriers that limit auto traffic but let bikes through, good directional signage and prioritization when crossing major boulevards.

#5. Transform Parking Lots:  Los Angeles lacks adequate supplies of affordable housing and park space.   Why not convert some existing parking lots into uses that will serve more people and create a more sustainable city? 

#4.  No Free Parking:  For the parking lots we keep, let’s charge a real market rate rather than subsidizing parking.  Professor Don Shoup at UCLA has written extensively about this.  When people pay a higher cost for parking that reflects the true cost of parking, they are more willing to explore transportation alternatives.

#3. Legalize street vending around Metro Stops:  In Mexico and Central America and many other parts of the world, public space is so vibrant because of street vending.  I love how there’s a weekly farmers market right outside the Wilshire/Vermont Red Line Station and would like to see that space used like that on a regular basis. 

#2. Curtail Investment in Transportation Projects that only promote Driving:  The elephant in the room is that the majority of transportation spending still goes towards projects that encourage driving – whether it be highway expansion, new parking lots or new roads.  I would like to see less money go towards these types of projects and more money towards building transit, bicycle infrastructure and pleasant places to walk.

#1.Ciclavia:  Ciclavia will transform LA’s streets by temporarily closing certain major boulevards to automobile traffic and opening it up to people to enjoy on foot, on roller-skates, or bicycle.  It builds community and sparks the imagination for what our streets could be. 

These are just 10 quick ideas – there are so many more and so many passionate folks working throughout the region to implement other innovative ideas for a sustainable and vibrant transportation system in Los Angeles.  I’m pleased to have the opportunity to work with many of them and am excited to see these ideas come to fruition.

Here's a link to my most recent email newsletter I sent out.  Enjoy!