Welcome To the Nonprofit For Newbies Learning Academy
We help community change-agents craft their ideas, develop their organizations, and THRIVE!
What Should I Expect As An Academy Member?
What is the Funding Accelerator?
Remember, there's no gold star for doing it alone!
Read that again.
You no longer have to do it all alone...you don't have to keep "guessing" what's next. In order to walk in your purpose, you need MONEY & HELP. Our experienced coaches are dedicated to helping you strengthen your organization's foundation, find high quality board members, and score the funding you need to support your mission.
Learn:
-How to launch your nonprofit organization
-How to prepare your organization for funding
-Where to start & which grants to go after
-What to say to get your grant proposal awarded
-How to score collaborations with larger organizations
-How to find board members (that actually want to help!)
-How to get your community excited about giving back
-How to write proposals & manage your grant awards
-How to stay in compliance
-& SO MUCH MORE!
...all while avoiding the common mistakes of most newly established organizations.
What Do Our Members Have To Say?
Mrs. Vinek Blanding is the founder of Teachers 4 Justice and a member of the Nonprofit for Newbies Learning Academy. Listen in as she discusses how being a member of the NFNLA has impacted her organization.
Meet Some of Our Members
What is the agenda for the weekly workshops?
• Introduction to Nonprofit Management
o What a nonprofit is (and isn’t)
o Pros & cons of starting a nonprofit
o Introduction to staff, committee, and board structure
o Process for applying for tax-exemption & alternative options
o Strategic partnerships: Your nonprofit & LLC
o Leadership training
o. Clarifying Your Mission, Vision, & Target Audience
• Identifying Community Needs & Frame-storming How to Solve Them
• Conducting Market Research
o Conduct market research to figure out if your idea is needed in the community (determine key competitors)
• Establishing Programs & Identifying Short- & Long-Term Goals
o Organize & write out an overview of what programs you want to offer
o Create pitch deck
• Board Development & Recruitment
o Generate a list of current organizational strengths and weaknesses
o Develop committees (if needed)
o Finding qualified board members
o Draft board recruitment message
o Host Zoom or in-person recruitment presentation
o Create onboarding packet
• [For Founders & Eds] Onboarding Your Board of Directors & Hosting Your 1st (or next) Board Meeting
o Having your board sign proper documentation
o Collecting project management team’s credentials
• [Invite Your Board] Board training
• Compliance Check- Is your organization’s foundation strong?
o State requirements for starting a nonprofit
o Best practices for choosing a name
o Bylaws & COI check
o Virtual office address setup
o Articles compliance
o Difference between long form 1023 and streamlined 1023
o Nonprofit Bank Account (Best practices)
o Setting up your accounting binder (w/monthly profit and loss statements)
o Annual state compliance check & creating a compliance checklist
o How to maintain tax-exempt status
o Crisis communications plan
• Branding
o Why it’s important
o How to use each social media platform
o Website best practices
o IG page best practices
o IG Content strategy, hashtag strategy, etc.
o Create 30 days of content
• Introduction to In-Depth Program Design
o What it takes to design a program
o Deciding which programs to start with
o How and when to launch programs
o. Creative techniques for navigating barriers to entry (limited funding, no building, politics)
•. In-Depth Program Design 101 Program Narratives
• In-Depth Program Design 102 Statement of Need
• In-Depth Program Design 103 Case for Support
• In-Depth Program Design 201 Outcomes
o Keys to success
o Establishing an intake process
o Tracking Key Performance Indicators
o Creating a logic model
o Exploring options for delivering services (wrap around, person-centered approach, case management, etc.)
o Tracking results
o Importance of tracking outcomes
• In-Depth Program Design 202 Budgeting 101
o What it is & best practices
o Bookkeeping best practices
o Startup budget
• In-Depth Program Design 203 Operational Budgeting & Justifications
• In-Depth Program Design 204 Program Budgeting & Justifications
• In-Depth Program Design 301 Staffing your Program
o How to get volunteers, interns, staff, mentors, etc.
o Creating job descriptions
o Staffing hacks
o What paperwork you should have in place for each type of staff
o Best practices, tips and resources for bookkeeping
o Handbooks, training, & onboarding staff
o Liability insurance: What is it and how and when to use it
• In-Depth Program Design 302 Pricing your Services & Alt. to Charging the Client
o Determine whether you should adopt a fee-for-service model
o Different types of fee for service models (flat fee, based on federal income limits, bill to insurance, voluntary donations) etc.
• In-Depth Program Design 303 Curriculum Design
• In-Depth Program Design 401 Service In Action
o Service delivery best practices
o Operating Model
o Coordinating team roles
o Promoting collaboration
o Streamlining decision processes
o Capacity building
• In-Depth Program Design 402 Outsourcing/Building Community Partnerships
o How to outsource to provide wrap around services
o Types of community partnerships and how to achieve them
o Strategy for building community partnerships (how to find them, what to say & how to do it)
• In-Depth Program Design 403 Performance Management
o How to track important data and create a plan for monitoring improvement
o Communicate progress and success
• PR & Marketing (101) Crafting Your Story + Must Have Resources for 501c3 organizations (including $10k Google Ad Grant)
• PR & Marketing (102)
o Marketing strategies overview
o Crafting marketing budget
o SMART Marketing Objectives
o Goals (acquire new donors/members, deepen community engagement, raise awareness, become a thought leader, etc.)
o Creating Donor Persona
o Developing PR Strategy
o How to build trust through testimonials
• PR & Marketing (103)
o How to score speaking engagements
o Email marketing strategy
o Direct Mail Strategy
o Phone Marketing (What to say and how to do it)
• PR & Marketing (201)
o Video Marketing
o Cause Marketing
o IG automations
o Text Marketing
o Premiums (small gifts for donors)
• Fundraising 101
o What is fundraising
o Networking 101
o How to garner support in your community
o Word of mouth fundraising
• Fundraising 102- Funding Development Plan
• Fundraising 103- Fundraising Events
• Fundraising 201- Corporate Funding
o How to score matching gifts
o How to score volunteer grants
o How to score In-kind donations
• Fundraising 202- Attracting Individual Support & Donations (Online)
o Annual campaign (What it is and when and how to start)
o How to score pledges and recurring donations
o Boosting success with T-shirt fundraising
o Door-to door and crowdfunding
• Fundraising 203- Attracting Individual Support & Donations (Peer-to-peer)
• Attracting Individual Support & Donations (Additional Methods)
• Fundraising 203- Capital Campaign planning
• Fundraising 301- Gifts from major donors/legacy gifts and planned giving/bequests
• Fundraising 302- Business credit (How to establish business credit with and without your personal credit)
• Fundraising 303- Leveraging earned income & nonprofit/for-profit partnerships
• Proposal writing 101
o Grant writing basics
o Putting together the requirements
o Intro to grant research
• Proposal writing 102
o Increasing your chances of getting funded/ building relationships
o Putting together a cover letter
o Drafting a letter of inquiry
• Grant research 101- Locating Corporate Grants
• Grant research 102- Locating Community & Private Foundation Grants
• Grant research 103- Locating Government Grants & Contracts
• Grant walkthrough 1
• Grant walkthrough 2
• Grant walkthrough 3
•. Managing grant submissions
•. Tracking the status of grants
• Handling multiple grant awards
• Failing to get a grant award
• Properly managing grant funds
• Working with our grant writers
