I have been working with non-profits for many years and some of the main things that are always the same with them is, a) they have no money and b) can’t find anyone trustworthy to help them. So today, that is what I’m going to talk about! Now how do you as a non-profit obtain help and money. Well there are a few things you can do. One is ask your designer or firm if they know of any grants that are offered to help non-profits. Sappi Fine Paper offers grants to non-profit organizations to get their pieces printed and distributed. However, the designer must be the one to present the project, the reason why, and materials with estimates, in order for the proposal to be accepted. Every organization differs as to how and what guidelines are required to obtain grants.

Another option is finding organizations that are specifically designed to help non-profits. Organizations such as idealist.org, betterplace.org, diosacommunications.com/nonprofit.htm, all offer help to non-profits by helping them raise money, market their non-profit, and find people including volunteers to help. For obtaining volunteers, you post your project with your information and how they can contact you and then you review as a real job. Idealist.org is a great site to find volunteers of various job professions, post jobs, and see the many resources available. All you do is sign up and begin posting or searching for what you need. You can find graphic designers, web designers, IT people, and much more. You can also search for specific campaigns you may like to fund. Idealist also offers support materials on various subjects and non-profits.

Betterplace.org offers non-profits a chance to find funding or support through both corporate and volunteer organizations. They connect individuals or companies with non-profits for money, donations in-kind, volunteering and know-how. The designer or yourself can actually go online, place your project and try to get someone to fund it. It’s a great place to get help. One of things that is great about this site is it offers help for US and International organizations.

Diosacommunications.com is a great resource on how to start a non-profit. They show you how to get your non-profit going in social marketing networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. It contains webinars for non-profits on various aspects such as obtaining non-profit status,  how build a web 2.0 non-profit site, what a non-profit should be tweeting about, how to launch successful email campaigns, fundraising and grant success, and much more. This site offers a wide variety of resources that most non-profits need help with and don’t know where to start.

So in short there are always options for non-profits in gaining resources and help. You just have to know where to look.

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