August 06, 2008
Overcoming Hurdles to Fund Raising in a Small Town
For Holly Lillis, raising money in her hometown of Sarasota, Fla., has some distinct advantages over fund raising in a big city. As she described in a post last month on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog, highlighted on Give and Take, the advantages include the accessibility of lawmakers and news-media organizations, and the approachability of strangers.
Now Ms. Lillis tackles how to overcome challenges of working as a development officer in a small city. Writing on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog, she says that collective memory is longer in smaller communities.
“This means that when your organization’s best-laid plans go awry, your population of prospective donors is not going to forget about it anytime soon,” writes Ms. Lillis.
To protect your organization from ruining its reputation, she advises reminding trustees that they’ are representatives of your charity and handling donor disputes with grace.
Among the other challenges she tackles: working in the same community as an organization with similar goals and ensuring that fund-raising events appeal to community members.
Do you agree? What are some other challenges to raising money outside of major metropolises? How can fund raisers cope?
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The biggest challenge I find in an isolated, rural community is not with local support but in finding foundations responsive to the geographic area.
— Linda Fitch Aug 8, 10:52 AM #
Unfortunately, sometimes local support is dependent on who you know and the good ole boy network. It takes a long time to build.
— Pattie Thompson Aug 11, 01:31 PM #
For doveloping officers has to protuct organigation ruining its reputation for small city
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— vasu Aug 12, 08:13 AM #
Great point. I have always done fundraising in a larger town and thought it would extremely difficult. This is a great perspective.
— Jason Dick Aug 12, 10:54 PM #