Fundraising to Support Your Project - Bob Haas

Abstract:
Why do you need to raise money, and how do you do it?  It used to be, and some of us still think it is, that all you had to do was dig around and find some foundation ready to shower you with money, if you could only say the right things the right way.  Back in the day, there were a lot of foundations with money to give out, and some of them actually had a hard time getting it all out.  No more.
 
In today's financial climate, things are tighter than ever.  Some of the foundations have folded altogether.  The ones that are left work with very narrow paradigms for their giving.  You can't just go and write a grant proposal and, bingo, have money.  Fundraising takes a lot of work up front, which is mostly talking.  And it takes a willingness to work outside the box, working networks, soliciting individuals, doing mail appeals, and gimmicks (people use them).
 
This workshop will be an interactive discussion that covers more than how to write a grant proposal.  Topics will include how to frame your need as a request, how to present yourself as competent enough to inspire confidence, and how to meet the legal requirements to accept tax-deductible gifts.  Asking for money is an art, and crafting a most compelling request is an art.  The skills you need can and will be learned with practice.  This workshop will be an excellent place for you to get started.

Biography - Rob
ert H. Haas      

    Robert (Bob) Haas is the Director of Special Projects at the non-profit Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, in Roxbury, MA.  Educated in electrical engineering, with a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree from Columbia University, he worked for 17 years in high-tech companies before making a career change in 1985 to work in non-profit community development.   

    Bob participated in the founding of 3 non-profit organizations, and over 14 years he facilitated the growth of Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp. from a 3 person staff to a 16 person staff, from an $88K budget to a $1.4M budget.  While there, he initiated a public/private fundraising activity that generated more than $2.3 million of income for programs in affordable housing construction, commercial revitalization, small business lending, computer employment training.  He served as the primary fundraiser during the formative years of the Upham’s Corner Main Street program, where he served also as an interim Executive Director before assuming his current position at the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, where he has been responsible for resource development and events planning. 

    Bob is a long-term resident of Dorchester, dedicated both professionally and personally to the reclamation and transformation of the residential streets and the business district at Upham’s Corner.  He is both a community-organizing activist and an artist--on three occasions he has performed complete classical piano concerts, twice in Upham’s Corner’s Strand Theatre, and he staged an exhibit of his photography in 2002, called Innocence and Hope.  He is currently writing a book about his experiences on Dorchester’s Monadnock Street.

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