I’ve been running into an interesting phenomenon as I talk to more and more people about this project. I start by telling them about the program - where the idea came from, where I want to go with it, how it would work - and I generally get a very positive response. Then comes the inevitable question, “How are you going to fund it?” When I tell people that we want to raise a $20 million endowment to support the whole program, the response is usually “Wow.” or “Okay…”, accompanied by a look that says “You really think you can do that? Keep on dreaming…”

Now, I’m not deluding myself - I know very well that $20 million is a lot of money. But I also know that any goal is achievable, if you break it down into smaller and smaller goals, working towards the Big One. Am I going to run right out tomorrow and stumble across a bunch of millionaires who want to give me money? No. But I can work up to that. Here’s how:

Round One

1. Figure out the Big Goal.
   In our case, raising $20 million to fund an endowment. There’s a capital campaign too, but let’s focus on the endowment for now.
2. Figure out what resources you need to reach the Big Goal. Knowledge? Materials? Money? These are the things that you’ll need to acquire or achieve before you can focus on the Big One.
   
   For us, the first thing is to hire a Fundraising Director - since getting people to give me money is defintely not my area of expertise. We’ll also need the necessary supplies and materials for a fundraising campaign, and I’ll need the ability to work on the campaign full-time, with the FD.
3. Figure out how to acquire those things. Which ones can you manage right now, and which are beyond your reach?
   
   Finding the right Fundraising Director will take research, networking and a good bit of time on our part - all things that we have the ability to do right now. Perfect!

   The rest, however - hiring the FD, hiring me so I can devote myself to the project full-time, and buying supplies - will all need a good bit of money (not sure how much - we’re working on a budget right now, but I’m ballparking it at $180,000). We don’t currently have $180k laying around, so what do we do? We go back to Step One and make that the Big Goal (or the Slightly Smaller Goal, if you want to be technical about it).

Round Two

1. Slightly Smaller Goal: Raise $180,000 to fund the endowment campaign.
2. Resources we need: Someone to advise us on fundraising tactics; a smaller amount of supplies and materials; and tax-exempt status, so that all contributions will be tax-deductible.
3. How to acquire these things: Again, finding a fundraising advisor will just take time and work on our parts. The supplies won’t be too overwhelming, so we can probably fund them out of pocket. Getting tax-exempt status, though, requires a lot of other stuff - including about $950 in fees - which we can’t quite swing out-of-pocket. So… Back to Step One!

Round Three

1. Even Smaller Goal: Get 501(c)(3) status.
2. Resources: A non-profit guru to talk to; lots of paperwork; and $950.
3. How to get them: More time, research and networking, lots of black pens and neat handwriting, and giving tasty things to our friends and family while shamelessly asking them for money. All completely doable in our current situation. Woo hoo!

And there you have it!

Start small, find what you can managably do now to improve your situation, and work your way up to the big crazy goal of $20 million. I firmly believe that you can do anything if you have a Plan!

Now that we’ve got said Plan, we can get the ball rolling. First thing in the plan? We need $950 to give to the lovely folks at the IRS - wanna help us out? Just click on the little button down there to send us a donation via PayPal, or drop us an email if you’d rather mail it to us directly. Go on, click the button - it’ll give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside! =)