praktikantenblog

For a while now, i am seeing this fundraising tag here - pretty alone amongst the others.

Ok, well, i am working for a while with that crew now and i know why:

Because fundraising sucks. There is no real concept behind it. It means: Get money into your pot.

Business people, such as VCs, Startups also speak of Fundraising, when they have an equity round to gain equity (money that is owned, not loaned).

Social Change - People often confuse Fundraising with a less comercial, friendly and sustainable feeling lifestyle to become - a bit less - rich - and of course not for profit, but for good, only working with very nice people, having dreams and ideas.

In general, those people will find out, that this is not true. If it was a dream, it is not more than that.
Fundraising for non profits is the hardest thing ever.
Compared with gaining money for a product with clear market value and (that's the problem) clear values for share holders (the people who put the money into the equity) it's like selling your ass on the street - alone.

So what will people bring, to give a non-profit (something without monetary outcome, they can take advantage from) a lots of money?

Some things:

a) political agenda, which is e.g. when Europe decides to be Europe and that it should tell everybody
b) Market Agenda
c) Total goodwill or crazyness

The first point is the main common money pot, where the most public investions are financed from. From golf courts to schools, everything can be funded by the European Union. Untill 2011. Or so. Or whenever the programm is being quit.
There is absolutely no guarantee, that your non profit will have money in a few years. And even if your funding is guaranteed by law: The law will change, just as easy as fashion.

The second point is more sustainable. As long as there are working companies, those have a strong interest to interact with the needs of the people, they sell stuff to. These interests are not as controlled and flat, as some believe. Merely people really love freedom, art, education, sports, culture and so on.
So companies (their function in society is less advertising than producing, what people need - so they have to focus on production, need to loan money for the next some years and invest in the future) are more or less dependent on the existence of some social campaigns, that they can connect to. As Social Marketing investments in non profits are totally practical and common.

The drawback is: People will say, you are being bought by the economy. The economy is bad, it;s the stock market who kills people and now you are part of it - they will say.

The latter (total goodwill) is something really cool. If you have a millionaire(ss) who finances you, maybe even after his or her death, then it might turn out, that your non profit has enough money to be a foundation on it's own.

Buuut the foundations ---- you will shout.

Yes, there are many foundations. And yes, they are becoming more. And yes, they are becoming more modern. But why the heck should they invest into you? To answer that question will bring your cute little non profit far in the direction of an selfadvertising whore. Try it and share wih others, if you are lucky.

And keep in mind: Foundations are kind of ..  companies that get there money ... from the stock market or similar constructs.
To make this possible, they need to have a strong hierarchy and firm structure of supporters and partners. And to make them happy, they want to fund projects, who fit in the political agenda of those supporters. And so on. Good look.

And is there a solution?

Yes. We at brueckenschlaeger build up self supporting companies, who can evolve independently of foundations and good will. 
Later more on that.