Raising Funds

Written by Gijs Corstens (Hack Your Future)

Goal of this chapter

• Learn what is required before fundraising
• Learn about new fundraising channels

Summary of our learnings

• Before you raise money you need to know how much to raise
• Raise more money than you think you’ll need
• Get creative with how you raise money

Introduction

Fundraising is an important part of starting and running a code school. It can be stressful, and it's probably not the reason why you want to this type of work, but it's an important part of having a well functioning organisation. Please note that

Questions for you as an organisation

The amount you will need to raise depends on the following:

• Your ambitions as a community/school
• Your ability to run a school with as little resources as possible
• Your ability to generate income through other resources than fundraising.

In the case of fundraising we think it’s important to also keep the following things in mind:

• Who are potential donors in your area?
• What are donors looking for in terms of impact, approach, and other returns?
• What can you offer them as an organization?
• What are your funding needs?

Budgeting

In order to make a fundraising strategy it's important to first figure out how much money you need to raise. That begins with making a budget. In the beginning of your organization it’s common to budget 6-12 months in advance.

We’ve created a budget template that you can use with the most common costs that we’ve made in the past as refugee codings schools. Please find the budget template here.

This budget gives you the ability to clearly see what your biggest expenses are based on your assumptions. In general it’s a good idea to budget a bit conservatively as this helps you survive financially when things don’t go as planned.

Also important is your cash-flow forecast. This is used to track when you actually pay and receive money, and monitors how much money will be in your bank account at any given time. This is crucial to keep an eye on. If you get money later in the year, but today you run out of cash you are in big trouble. A simple cash flow forecast can prevent that. Also take into account VAT payments and receivables.

Writing your project plan

Assuming that you already have a good idea what you want to start, it’s now your job to convince potential investors of your plan in a written form. You can find the template HYF application project plan here: CREATE LINK (WORKING ON TRANSLATION)

Donators landscape

• Foundations: In your early stage, national grant-giving foundations can be a great source of starting capital. The amount and size of these foundations differs per country. Try to look for organisations that share the same values, and apply for their funding. Often it takes a couple (2-4) months before you get news on your application, so plan ahead.

• Wealthy individuals: There are a surprisingly large amount of people in the world that don’t blink an eye before donating $5,000-25,000. If you’re lucky enough to find these people you can bypass grant applications and lengthy crowdfunding campaigns and get a check within days or weeks. In reaching out to these people, the right introduction is crucial.

• Small crowdfunding campaign:Asking friends and family for donations is a great way to raise money fast. But raising more than $5,000 is difficult without press or a proper crowdfunding strategy.

• Strategic crowdfunding campaign:With the right story and team in place, it’s possible to raise money from individuals outside your network. The strategy to do this would require an entire guide dedicated to it so we won’t go into the details on how to go about it. But there are good resources online from organizations that have raised money successfully from this channel.

• Grants: Many large companies have grants related to the work they do. For example Google.org recently launched an initiative to give $100 million to nonprofits that support economic development and further employment access to marginalized populations.