Category Archives: Fundraising

by Jini Stolk The Ontario Nonprofit Network’s Nonprofit Driven 2016 conference revealed an unexpectedly forceful consensus. It’s time for both government and non-government funders to move to trust-based grantmaking. Vu Le’s description  of a gradual shift to “a default starting relationship between funders and nonprofits (that) is one of suspicion” is as recognizable here as […]

by Jini Stolk Simone Joyaux makes a strong case for abandoning frenzied year-end fundraising in favour of a carefully planned 12-month strategy involving your whole organization (although read carefully for some excellent end of year tactics.) However, I know and you know that my real and virtual mailboxes are going to be flooded with holiday […]

by Jini Stolk Or so we sincerely hope. A Fine Balance: An Arts Board’s Role in Financial Oversight and Responsibility on June 13 was another sold-out event from the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Creative Champions Network. Extremely wise words from keynote speaker Lois Fine (Director of Finance and Information Technology at YWCA Toronto and a playwright, […]

by Jini Stolk Toronto’s arts community enjoys the unique privilege of having arms-length funding bodies at all three levels of government, specifically mandated to support our work. We have the possibility of ongoing operating support; places to go with project proposals; and a built-in connection through peer juries to community feedback and oversight. The Arts […]

by Jini Stolk The joys of giving and receiving loom large at this time of year. And to my mind the pleasure of giving is much more rewarding than that of getting – happily for those on my seasonal gift list…and equally happily for those of us sending out our year-end donation requests. I think […]

by Jini Stolk It might seem that I’ve been unusually bullish about crowd fundraising. I’ve definitely been fascinated by the ways in which successful crowdfunding is reliant on strong relationships and networks; that when supporters rally to save a company they care about they can achieve surprising turnarounds; and that notable success stories as well […]

by Jini Stolk Business for the Arts recently launched their online sponsorship tutorial kit – another reminder that BftA has seized hold of the field of corporate support for the arts in a most marvellous way, providing matching programs, workshops, online learning, awards, young professional board recruitment and training, and more. The sponsorship tutorial is […]

by Jini Stolk Crowd fundraising isn’t going away soon. Just keeping an eye on the various campaigns and approaches coming my way has been an engrossing pursuit. I might as well say right now that one Indiegogo campaign I contributed to – which has been doing absolutely everything right and exceeded their $20,000 goal with […]

by Jini Stolk More and more people have been asking for advice on fundraising. I don’t mind. I know that a big fundraising goal can feel as scary as crossing a crocodile-infested estuary. But in the interest of making it less terrifying than zip lining across a 200-foot gorge, here are a few helpful ideas: […]