Author: Alexandra Lagelée, Development Manager.
Date published: 17 February, 2004
Copyright: Inspire Foundation and Australia Council for the Arts

This case study gives an overview of successful fundraising in a not-for-profit organisation.

Background

The mission of the Inspire Foundation is to create opportunities for young people to help themselves and help others. It was established in 1996 in response to Australia’s then escalating rates of youth suicide. The Inspire Foundation is a public company limited by guarantee with registered charity status (DGR442 641). Our main target audience are 16-25 year-olds.

Why Inspire Exists

In your average Australian Year 12 classroom:

• At least one young person will have attempted suicide
• As many as seven will have experienced a recognised mental disorder but only two of those seven will have sought professional help
• As few as eight young people will have been involved in volunteering

The Internet offers unprecedented opportunities to deliver new forms of social services to young people. It is anonymous, available 24 hours a day and is widely used (85% of young people access the Internet.

What Inspire Does

We believe that, with appropriate care and support, all young people can get through the tough times in their lives. We also believe that every young person has something special to give the world. That is why young people are at the centre of all that we do – as partners in the development and delivery of our initiatives, in an environment that young people find attractive, accessible and fun.

Inspire combines the power of the Internet with face-to-face engagement to deliver three national programs:

1. Reach Out! – online information, support and referrals to prevent youth suicide and help young people get through tough times. It is an anonymous and stigma-free way for young people to get help, explore issues, and discover how other young people are coping with difficult times. Since its launch in 1998, Reach Out! has been visited by 1.5 million young people, now averaging 1,300 visitors a day.
2. ActNow – online portal, matching service and resource centre to make it easy for young people to volunteer and get involved in their community. ActNow Sydney will be launched in 2004, followed by a national roll-out in capital cities across Australia.
3. Stay Connected – providing technology, equipment and training to lessen the digital divide and address the educational, employment and social needs of young people living in our most under-served communities. 16 internet centres are operating Australia-wide and 2004 sees the launch of a Learning Network that will encourage knowledge sharing and cooperation between the centres.

Financials

Inspire’s turnover for 2002-3 was $1.8 million.

• Corporate (including donations, sponsorships, corporate foundations): 48%
• Trusts & Foundations (private & community): 19%
• Individuals: 17%
• Government: 15%
• Other: 1%

To learn more about Inspire’s initiatives visit www.inspire.org.au

Relationship of fund raising and marketing

We have recently consolidated marketing, fundraising and PR-related activities into a Development Department, whose task it is to ensure that Inspire is wellknown and well-resourced to allow it to run its three major programs: Reach Out!, Stay Connected, and ActNow.

In addition to these organisational marketing activities, there are extensive marketing activities within each of the programs to ensure that young people know about our services and can access them. Program marketing (or service promotion, as we call it) is kept completely separate from marketing for fundraising purposes to ensure the integrity and credibility of the programs with young people.

As an organisation, we place great importance on keeping fundraising and marketing costs low. We don’t engage in telemarketing or other expensive fundraising programs. By focusing on maximum results with minimum resources, we have been able to keep direct fundraising costs at 9.25%.

The development strategy contains fundraising, marketing and PR strategy elements, which together achieve our goals of being well-known and wellresourced.

Each area complements and reinforces the other to ensure maximum results with limited resources.

The fundraising strategy identifies fundraising markets and potential funding sources, while the marketing and PR strategies support the fundraising activities through raising awareness of Inspire within those markets.

A full-time development manager develops strategies together with the Executive Director and the Board, and is responsible for implementing the strategies on a day to day basis. The development manager relies heavily on the involvement and input of all staff but especially the Executive Director and Program Director to nurture fundraising relationships with donors and prospective donors. The Development Manager also works with a part-time Communications Manager to produce newsletter, brochures, annual report and other marketing collateral.

Fundraising strategy

Sponsorship / corporate partnerships
The Inspire Foundation looks to develop strategic partnerships with corporates that can include any or all of the following elements:

1. financial donation
2. sponsorship of event or service / product
3. co-promotion
4. cause-related marketing.

These partnerships can only work where there is a synergy between the two organisations (in terms of values, focus, goals, target audience, etc). While they can take a while to come to fruition, they are usually more meaningful and beneficial for both parties involved than the one-off donation or sponsorship. Where possible, the partnership becomes integrated into the corporate’s community life.

Bequests
Bequest marketing has been introduced into the marketing mix via promotions in fundraising collateral, testimonials and letters have been written to existing and past directors promoting a bequest to the organisation. As the strategy matures the reach will be extended to include other donors and sector stakeholders.

Grants
Government grants are an important source of income for the organisation and are sought for specific programs that fall under the spheres of responsibility of the relevant government departments. Relationships are maintained with government staff via Inspire program staff, who report regularly on the implementation of the program and grant expenditure.

Donations
Apart from corporate donations (see above), we are mainly seeking donations from high net worth individuals as well as trusts and foundations.

Cultivation and Solicitation

Background research is carried out using the Internet, but is mainly initiated through input from the existing Inspire Foundation network of directors, donors, partners and volunteers.

Fundraising is about cultivating relationships so the needs and interests of any donor or partner are usually determined before any solicitation. If that is not possible then the prospective donor is presented with options from which he / she can choose. Instead of constantly identifying new one-off donors, our main focus is on nurturing existing relationships, involving donors in a meaningful way, and reporting back on the success of their donation with the aim of obtaining multiple and / or larger gifts in the future.

Potential funders are identified via desk research and also importantly the existing network of donors, directors and volunteers contribute names and organisations that may be interested. The person who is approached within an organisation varies depending on the situation but as a rule of thumb, the more senior the person the higher the success rate.

The Inspire Foundation includes administration and support staff expenses within all funding requests for specific projects. This usually takes the form of a daily rate for project staff.

Inspire looks to develop long term strategic partnerships that usually involve multiple year funding agreements and practical ways that the two organisations are able to work together.

Volunteers at board level and other senior volunteers are nurtured as prospective donors.

The lesson here is to not conduct the pitch until the relationship is ready and remain flexible, design the pitch to your audience.

Partner benefits

Each partnership is customised to match the needs of the organisations involved. For example with our partnership with pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), representatives from both organisations have designed campaigns that utilise the reach of BMS into the medical profession as well as BMS staff skills to promote the benefits of Reach Out! to young people.

Recognition and communication

Donors receive updates on the projects they have funded, and they have the option of signing up to our online and / or offline newsletters. Major donors also receive a certificate of appreciation. We are currently developing a donor servicing program that will maximise the potential for meaningful involvement of donors over the long-term. Depending on the type of donor, program staff, Executive Director and Development Manager will meet regularly with donors to update them on progress and maintain the relationship.

Evaluation

“Over the last 18-19 months, I have lost 6 very close friends to suicide of many forms. Being directed to Reach Out! gave me answers to not only what I was feeling but in some cases what my friends were feeling. Nothing can bring back my friends but what you people do is provide answers and other possible solutions. Thank you.” MPW

The success stories are the many young people we have been able to help through tough times, access we have provided to equipment and training (in many cases leading to employment), and the involvement of young people in their communities.

Being a small and very young organisation, the Inspire Foundation has attracted significant funding from Australia’s leading corporates and philanthropists and grants from numerous federal and state departments. Many of our partners are long-term partners with whom our relationship has grown and become much more significant than originally intended. We have also secured extensive in-kind and pro bono support for advertising space, legal advice, etc.

The organisation continues to grow its capacity to conduct initiatives for young people that are funded by a growing community of corporate partners, philanthropists and Government departments. Since Reach Out! was launched as Inspire’s first program six years ago, the organisation has consistently grown its activities and budget, while keeping the amount spent on fundraising to a minimum (in 2002-3, the direct c osts of fundraising and marketing were 9.25%).

We have been able to generate a reserve fund that can cover ongoing costs and secure the services to our users should we ever find ourselves in a funding shortfall.