Tapping your Citizen Base

Hi All - I'd like to introduce you to an exciting initiative that I thought would interest this community, especially those involved in the nonprofit sector. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, obstacles faced by nonprofit organizations in achieving maximized social impact is money.

Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiative www.citizenbase.org works with these nonprofits and social entrepreneurs to free their reliance on traditional foundation grants and government aid by inspiring them to tap into a broad citizen base. How do they do this? You can read inspiring success stories on our website. Please pass this on to anyone you know who works in the nonprofit sector and faces this challenge of lack of resources!

posted by Alicia on 2/28/2008 10:27 am | COMMENTS (3)
Comments (3)

A way to amplify the impact of social sector success stories is to put the power of the moving image behind them. By combining the elements of sight, sound, motion, and emotion, film can touch people on a deep emotional level and create a strong call to action.

To view clips of films about non-profits and learn about their impact on the organizations profiled go to www.georgearaneo.com.

George

posted by on 3/ 3/2008 10:00 am

The exciting initiative is really not revolutionary or very cutting edge. I've worked for nonprofits for the last 20 years and none would be around if they didn't do all of these steps already. The ones who depend on grant funding for most of their income don't last.

posted by MisoMaid on 3/ 5/2008 6:41 pm

MisoMaid-

Although the strategies employed are not revolutionary I do think the initiative represents a fundamental shift in thinking about grants and engaging the community.

"The ones who depend on grant funding for most of their income don't last"

That is exactly the point. There are some great people and great ideas out there that enter the nonprofit sector but are stuck in the mindset of applying for grants from the foundation community. The ones that survive and flourish discover ways to engage the community, form strategic partnerships, and creatively generate resources. If the nonprofit sector is to increase in efficiency and impact it must lower it's cost of acquiring capital. The common reliance on grants with their high application costs, high reporting costs, and high costs in modifying mission to appease donors will not cut it.

I think it is a change in thinking from holding out a tin cup for donations to exchanging value with targeted segments of the community. The question changes from "how are we going to raise money?" to "what parties are involved and how do our values align?"

posted by dstoker on 3/24/2008 10:52 am

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