Over at the Little Green Light blog, I’ve really enjoyed taking fundraising questions and answering them.

Here’s a great question that came through:

What is the best approach for my nonprofit to raise money for a new idea, or for a program that may not materialize?

And my reply:

I love that you’re thinking about growth and reaching for new ideas.

I’m going to give you the easiest way first—just raise more money overall and fund the program. I don’t mean for that to sound flippant, but it really is the easiest way to start. If you can increase overall giving through major gifts, the annual appeal, or a fundraising event such as a breakfast, you can probably find some room with the new revenue to create new programs. (There are ideas on how to do all of those things in The Little Book of Gold, which is available to Little Green Light customers for free in 2022!)

And then, when you’ve done something new and interesting that you’re proud of, you can shop that around to your donors as another success, which will continue your fundraising success. I call this the easier path because you’re asking donors to support something that already exists and to help you make it better. It’s harder to convince a donor to put money toward a program that is not yet in existence.

But! Since you ask, here’s how I’d raise money for a new program or idea that may or may not materialize.

The first step is to…

Continue reading at Little Green Light.