Face it: Everyone’s got budget issues.
From Chicago schools to U.S. public servant pensions, from corporations measuring productivity upticks to non-profits seeking more dollars, there’s never enough to go around.
Especially for those of us in staff departments with less-than-robust bottom line ties, such as legal, IT, and, yes, marketing and corporate communications.
We do believe the “never enough” money problems can be solved (in addition to delivering great results that contribute to the company’s margins). And that’s thanks to our fund-raising gurus. Here are some of their masterful tactics – tongue in cheek and otherwise – that might be adopted to our needs:
- Create and sell a product. The Girl Scouts do it très successfully.
- Develop and run a campaign for funding – perhaps in tandem with colleagues. Perhaps not. [Though that calls for some pretty strong internal competition … ]
- Hold a special event: a formal dinner, a benefit concert, a walk/runathon.
- Conduct a crowd-funding opportunity – inside.
And best yet: Just ask, with a strong business case, naturally. The face-to-face, personal request for monies is a hard one to turn down, note the professionals. Do lose the hard-driving sales-personship. Remember to continue cultivating your income sources. And be prepared to regularly inform donors how their support was used – and the direct impact you achieved.
Exactly the type of things we do every day.