Question of the Week: Funding

Hey Mister!   I gotta a question for you. When you are looking for underwriters and donations, do you send out a feeler e-mail or do you send the whole kit and kaboodle?      Gotta project I am trying to make happen. It is so close, but thinking maybe I could get someone to underwrite part of it - then it would actually happen.      Thoughts ideas??      Thanks!    

It depends on what you're looking for in terms of donation amounts.  Asking for $10 donations is very different than asking for $5,000. The latter requires a different approach.  

As a general rule  - the more personal the better - there's no shortcut for that.  And the more options you give for giving the better with it clearly spelled out what they are contributing to and how it will help you.  

Blast a *yawn* *yawn* cut and paste e-mail out into the e-mail or snail mail ether and you're lucky to get a 1% response rate. 

If I got a request from you, I would most likely delete it or throw the request away myself and I know you.  Don't send anyone anything unless you've developed a relationship with them to begin with AND they are expecting to receive it. If you break this rule, it's sort of like sending a big huge can of spam, especially in the world of money. The money people are getting hit up every other day to make a contribution for the next, best, greatest thing. A couple of my business mentors always had a pile of requests on their desk from people they didn't know that grew taller each day.  

Better to spend 40 hours making phone calls than to spend 40 hours stuffing envelopes and sending out e-mails. It all goes back to old-skool rules. The politicians do it every time an election rolls around - One handshake at a time.           

For more info about "The Neon Man and Me" and other storytelling projects by me - Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com