“Will Nonprofits Survive” was the recent title of a panel sponsored by Zócalo Public Square (a great series that focuses on LA related issues). The answer is yes, though some may not during these challenging economic times. What nonprofits can do is develop short-term fundraising plan to solidify support from their existing funders and pursue strategies that generate new sources of income. 

 

This last weekend, I facilitated a three-hour fundraising strategy session for Hispanics Outreach Taskforce (HOT), which sponsors a variety of programs in South East LA County. HOT is a member organization of the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership, which referred me to the organization.

 

We discussed a number of topics including assessing the organizations past fundraising efforts and setting some short and long-term goals for 2009. After going over some fundraising fundamentals and the fundraising process, we developed a short-term fundraising strategy that engaged the entire Board of Directors, as well as their Advisory Board, in the organization’s fundraising.   After three hours, the organization’s leadership had created an action plan and looked forward to implementing it. By jointly developing this action plan, as well as everyone committing to implement portions of it, HOT is well on its way to surviving through these tough economic times.