Find here a collection of arguments to convince potential donors of the value we bring as an international sustainability NPO.
| Perspective | Arguments |
|---|---|
oikos is exploring others means to fundraise that complement offers from the community to support the way we work. Crowdfunding on has become a major area where projects seek individual gifts from people we get connected with. Alumni fundraising is another new area we are experimenting with. An example is Benoit Pitaser’s cross-country, matched-donation, fundraiser. Many creative ideas can be proposed here and some help with infrastructure projects like oikos registering to TGE (LINK) to start offering tax-free donations.
We are hosted on the following donation platforms and we have different campaigns/users that use them.
- European donation platform that allows Europeans to benefit from tax incentives from their residential country. As of 11/22 countries available are France, Spain, Germany and Belgium.
- Crowdfunding platform w/ matching promotions during multiple campaigns throughout the year.
All Alternative fundraising activities are recorded on this including all donor information, research of new alternatives fundraising opportunities
Airtable Database
Our Airtable databse is accompanied by a Fundraising Shared Drive.
Google structure principles for fundraising
Once an organization reaches the "in research" phase, the organization has to have two things on Google: 1x folder and 1x factsheet
The organization's folder in the Fundraising Drive is the main folder for that organization. All fundraising-related documents need to be saved or linked via a in this folder. There might be exceptions if a previous non-financial partner is becoming a financial donor but generally, we want to avoid having information spread across 5 different shared drives.
OLD:
In the G-Drive you’ll find supporting information for the Leads we are currently working on. And any additional info saved from past research and leads that were not successful. Check these folders out for lots of helpful information.
Generally, we can think of our donors as three buckets.
Current donors - those that have given funding to us in the past two years and we have a current and active relationship with them
Leads & Research - here are organizations that we are in the process of determining if they would support us. Will include any ideas and contacts to be explored.
Past Donors/Closed Leads - those that do not align with the oikos mission and have been closed. Be aware of the orgs that are interested to work with us in the future but just not right now and keep developing a relationship with these
There are several points in time and reasons to archive an organization
Common reasons to discontinue a lead and archive them:
We realize ourselves the organization is not a fit. It may be their strategic focus, funding criteria, regional focus etc. that is not fitting to oikos International. This realization can happen at any time during the process, ideally we should notice during the "in research" phase, though it can also happen "in conversations" with them or anywhere in between.
The organization doesn't see the fit
During the "In research" phase, we realize it will not be worth it to put more time and energy in this lead. We archive the organization.
How to update a lead stage?
The database of our contacts is available for review on AirTable
>>> - please request access from
Prior engagement history and the contact details of individuals and organizations is stored on SalesForce. This database is a legacy storage of messages since 2010.
>>> - please request access from
Also, don’t forget that there might be FactSheets available if we made prior proposals to the organization. This can be extremely helpful if reapplying to an organization. See them in the Leads and Research folder on the G-Drive.
>>>
WHAT’S MISSING? QUESTIONS?
SETTING A TIME WITH GREG
SUBMIT THROUGH THE FORM/RESEARCH
HOW TO MAKE CHANGES
To Help Make Sure You Are On The Same Page Here Are Some Starting Resources
Be sure to check out
How to get access and start fundraising:
Website - short-bio and picture Add Website -
Read about oikos Fundraising Ethical Principles
Learn about details and process for Fundraising with our Field Guide
> Job Portals:
LEAP Tracks Advance, Researchers, Life
Transforming Education
Now You Should Have Sufficient Background To Start Fundraising
Welcome! This page is an introduction to fundraising and our work around it at oikos.
Authors: Stephen Snider, Carolin Lemke Involved: Everyone Linked Circle(s) & Roles: Fundraising Support Circle, Fundraising Focus Circle Latest Update: November, 2023
Fundraising at oikos in the past has been typically centralized around one or two people. To make the work easier for everyone and more central to our work a new Fundraising Focus Circle has been created. This Circle hosts representatives from each of the oikos Initiatives, plus our Volunteers and Board Members that are interested in helping us fundraise.
The Fundraising Focus circle is an attempt to bring all of us together, making things transparent, keeping everyone aware of what is going on, sharing responsibilities, and making things less centralized. We use our Fundraising Circle to coordinate and meet together twice a month to advance the many fundraising efforts we have in place to support our programs. This Circle touches each of the other organizational circles of oikos.
People belonging to this circle are usually engaged in the following fundraising activities:
Lead research
Grant writing
Corporate fundraising
Alternative fundraising
The Fundraising Support Circle belongs to the wider Admin & Support Circle. It is meant to enable successful fundraising for the whole team. It is needed to have someone to host the team, keep an overview and keep up the energy for the team.
Responsibilities of the circle are:
Hosting the FF circle meetings and the team
Strategizing and inviting the rest of the team for it
Providing structure and processes with the help of the tools available to us (Airtable, Google etc.)
Managing fundraising volunteers
It currently contains of 1 co-president, 1 board member and 1 employee.
Fundraising work streams or areas of focus can include the following areas:
Foundations & Grant Writing
Large foundations
Medium-sized & smaller foundations
Best practices
Businesses, banks and other private institutions
(2.1.2) Medium-sized and smaller foundations
Next to the larger foundations out there, the foundation landscape is broad. Foundations can take any size, grant requirements, potential funding sums & criteria, so there is a huge diversity and no "one-size-fits-all" answer to the perfect grant proposal. For medium-sized and smaller foundations, the application processes are oftentimes much less formal. In some cases, they might still have an online portal or documents to fill. Others require you to send a self-made project/program proposal including a budget via email that meets the descriptions of oikos projects and goals of the organization. These processes are less formal, take less time, though also the funding sums are usually smaller. Especially tor these grant applications, we have fliers and other materials that can be used to apply.
Learn more about it here:
Workshops/Training
There are many roles you can be involved with to help move fundraising forward. Some are below:
JOIN the FUNDRAISING CIRCLE - Every two weeks we meet to talk specifically about fundraising efforts and provide updates to each other. Here is a great chance to work on the things most important to our circles' fundraising efforts. The event is always on the oikos calendar and our meeting minutes are below so you can follow along.
RESEARCH LEADS - Lots of help is needed to check the many potential fundraising opportunities that we come across on a regular basis.
Review AirTable for background information and add research notes you find.
Check SalesForce for past connections to individuals/companies.
Browse the organization’s website and determine if its values align with ours.
Find key individuals on their website and on LinkedIn
Read about their Sustainability and Impact in any useful Reporting you find
Suggest leads that are good for outreach to and document what needs to be submitted for a successful application.
MAKE OUTREACH - Connect with potential donors and partners to request support. Utilize the resources that each initiative and circle at oikos creates to tell the stories about the work we do. You’ll see some resources below on fundraising specific to our different programs.
Connect through:
Grants and Applications
Direct Contact and Email
Proposals and Fliers
**Please coordinate with your teammates and the fundraising circle to inform others on what outreach you are making.
DONATIONS - Donations to oikos can be made directly to us using our bank details or through our donation pages. Also, we are often running crowdfunding campaigns that
TO DO - ADD LINK FOR DONATION PAGE -
IMPACT and RELATIONSHIPS - oikos has a pretty big community and part of our work should include developing these connections to be supporters of our work. There is also a network of partners
NOTE - What areas are we forgetting about that you can help us with?. –
oikos has a pretty big community and part of our work should include developing these connections to be supporters of our work. There is also a network of partners to develop connections to and from.
What is needed for our donors
Demographics & impact Data!!!
Impact Matrix
Engagement Data ← should go on Impact Matrix
Social Media - click through rates, followers, engagement
Website - views, connections, SEO ratings
Newsletter
ADD EXAMPLES -
Alumni
Spider Humans Airtable and past LEAP Participants Airtable
ADD AIRTABLE LINKS -
REPORTIN
| LEAD STAGE | Description / definition | Steps to take |
|---|
Who is oikos? - on-boarding from
How is oikos working? -
Email - Get your oikos address
Miro - Sign up and join the
Discord - communication channel
AirTable - research
AirTable - update
SalesForce - review for prior contacts
Check out some to help you
& Field Guide-
& Field Guide-
2022 Circle Notes -
Volunteer Check-Ins -
Alternative Fundraising Meetings -
Co-President Check-Ins -
> Role Descriptions -
> Onboarding Checklist -
> Applications -
oikos Budget Docs and
Salary Tracking and ADD 2023 DOCUMENT
Projection of Cash Flows
For More Details Check Out The
Learn more about how we got here in this slide show:
oikos has worked with a few larger Swiss or European foundations to fund major oikos projects. Grants have been recently written to groups like and with a larger budget and in-depth programming, using grant-specific applications. These foundations are oftentimes either governmentally funded or consolidate smaller foundations/donors under one roof. Grant processes are usually more formal, require detailed information and thus, take more time. Though once received, the funding can secure our activities over a longer period of time. Furthermore, detailed reporting on our impact and how the money was used is usually required. For a successful grant application, work closely with the program’s circle to design an application that meets grant characteristics. There are a couple larger foundations out there to apply to, be targeted and well-researched, and develop relationships with the foundation personnel. See our for more info.
Applications to smaller foundations, corporations, and partners may require simpler, non-formulaic applications that meet the descriptions of oikos projects and goals of the organization. Recent proposals included funding for Basecamp, sustainable finance programming from , a budget for Camp 2023 from , and the oikos Academy. Often times you’ll need to create a flier with your proposal, a document describing program specifics, and a budget. The level of detail depends on the relationship and needs of the organization.
Check out the Partnerships Circle and User Guide for more information on how relationships should be managed at oikos. With applications, you’ll want to develop connections through email and calls to ask questions, review proposals, facilitate donations, report on programming, and hand over projects. Check out notes on AirTable, Salesforce, and in the project, documentation to track important information. Check out our map of Donor Relations on Miro for more (LINK) and our Drive for .
We’ve been trying to provide opportunities for internal workshopping, learnings, and improving the process we work with. There are lots of resources available online that might be of use , , , and others. Check out our Fundraising Google Drive for and previously used resources.
Stakeholder Perspective
oikos members represent the young, critical, sustainability-oriented, digital-native generation = important stakeholder for all future oriented companies
oikos is an international supra-university institution = important education-related stakeholder
Human Resource Perspective
oikos directly connects more than 1200 students = relevant pool of sustainability-oriented and project-experienced future employees
former oikos employees and oikos alumni = relevant pool of experienced sustainability employees
CSR/Sustainability Perspective
oikos enables the development of future leaders through project leaderships, international positions and leadership program = valuable partner for youth-related CSR efforts
oikos enables capacity building for sustainability = valuable partner for education-related CSR efforts
oikos enables sustainable impact on education and universities as well as economy and communities = valuable partner for sustainability partnership
Marketing Perspective
oikos members represent a young, critical, sustainability-oriented, digital-native generation = access to pioneering customer group for sustainable goods and services
oikos has a global network with local organisations in many countries = access to local network in current/future market
New |
|
In research |
| Airtable Update the lead stage and further information for Airtable via this form |
Selected for fundraising | YAYY - Our initial research showed that the organization seems to to be a fit. The host who researched the organization either decides for themselves or consults the team to select the organization for a fundraising approach (and not to archive them) |
Outreach/application preparation | We are starting to prepare reaching out to this organization or preparing a grant application (in case of a foundation) |
In conversations | We are in conversations with the organization, maybe have a first call with them (more applicable for businesses/potential sponsors) |
Applied/funding requested | We have officially applied for a grant or requested funding and are waiting for a response |
Donation confirmed | SUCCESS - Our application/request was successful and the organization confirmed a donation |
|
Add the organization to the Airtable
Make sure there is a Google folder for the organization in the correct lead stage folder on . Use existing organization folders or create a new one if necessary.
Ensure there is a main document (factsheet/ongoing notes) for the organization. If none exists yet, to document your research and add it to the folder.