Grants and fundraising/Fundraising

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This is a learning project to study fundraising, how it is done and how it is tracked.

Funding is the lifeblood of any venture -- without some money, there is no way to pay for lights and heat that allow a meeting space to be used.

Most modern funding takes the form of project funding -- money given for a certain project with a certain duration. Some organizations are endowments, whereby a large amount of money is invested, and the earnings that money makes is used to run the yearly "operating" budget.

Types of Funding/Fundraising

Initially, we are going to look into the area of grant funding, where a funding agency requires a proposal to affect a certain well-defined set of goals.

Later on, we could review the process of formal fundraising, whereby entities raise small amounts of money by public appeal.

Motivation for fundraising: Vision

To effectively raise funds, organizations need a vision of what the purpose for the funds will be. Often this is a project scope, but many times it can be the sole purpose for an organization. With a vision, the organization requiring funding can field a budget and build a proposal which can be submitted to various funding agencies.

Ideas for Grants

Video (in conjunctions with Wikinews) - This is the current focus. Hoping to incorporate this as an "outreach" proposal.

Writing bounties of some sort

OpenMoko/Internet_Kiosk

Study of how a large Internet site deploys software (MediaWiki for Wikimedia projects)

U.S. Grants

• $2 Million Digital Media and Learning Competition
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)
• Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT) Grants
• A wiki grant for 300K
• Scionline.org's government grant to run their site info
• Grants by Category
• Science and Technology Grants.
• Art Grants
• Community Development Grants
• Other Grants
• Energy Grants
• Education Grants
• Business and Commerce Grants
• Agricultural Grants

WMF grant links and groups

• Wikimedia Meta Grant Department
• Wikimedia Grants Page - Access by Permission Only

There is also an IRC channel dedicated to Wikimedia fundraising at: #wikimedia-fundraising (on Freenode)

Proposal Development

Steps to follow:

• Write for Application forms and guides
• Call a past grantee
• Call a past reviewer
• Contact the program officer

State the problem you are addressing, and how the project will meet the grantor's objectives with regards to this project.

See also

• Research grant collaboration group

Resources for writing grants

• Resources for writing grants for JISC - some useful analyses of previous grants, and thing to keep in mind for putting together a successful bid

External links

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - committed to raising the high school graduation rate and helping students get ready for college and work.
• Richard Lounsbery Foundation - has in the past supported the Wikimedia Foundation; supports elementary and secondary science and math education.
• MacArthur Foundation - Digital Media, Learning and Education.
• Nolo Guide to Non-Profits.
• National Endowment for Humanities digital projects
• KLD Research & Analytics "...the leading authority on social research and indexes for institutional investors." See w:Amy Domini
• Fundable
• NASA Cash Prize Competitions
• Cambrian House - Crowd sourcing and eventually micro-funding
• Google Grants