Finding Funders: the art of successful research | Los Angeles, CA

Finding Funders: the art of successful research

According to a recent survey of grantmakers, between 40% and 75% of the proposals that they receive do not fit their guidelines. It is now recognized that the more thoroughly you conduct your research, ask smart questions, and cultivate foundation contacts, the more your organization will stand out from the crowd.

This session will cover the following topics:

Prospecting for new money: how to find suitable grantmakers in expected and unexpected places
Computer resources and technology: where to find the best information on grantmakers on the web
Making sense of foundation guidelines: and how to read between the lines
Is there a fit: how to decide whether a foundation's priorities are compatible with your mission

This session is ideal for beginning grant seekers who are getting their feet wet, and need step by step guidance on how to find appropriate funding.

Speakers for this session:

Viva Krasinski

Development Services Manager/Advancement Associate

P.S. ARTS

Viva Krasinski has ten years of experience working in small to mid-size nonprofits. In her most recent position, at P.S. ARTS, she has been a part of a two person team that raised $1.5 million last year, instituted the organization’s first individual giving program, and managed a grants calendar of 100 funders and prospective funders. Her recent accomplishments include the creation and funding of a Development Internship position and securing a $500K multi-year grant to support the organization’s capacity building and fund development efforts. In addition to her work with P.S. ARTS, Ms. Krasinski works as a freelance grant writer and consultant. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Los Angeles Chapter.

Mary Milelzcik

Associate Director

The Promises Foundation

During her 15 year career, Mary learned how to operate a nonprofit and fundraise without a large staff. In her current position, Mary is responsible for all grant proposals to foundations and corporate donors and works as part of a team on the annual fundraising event. She spends the remainder of her time consulting with small nonprofits and individuals on traditional and creative fundraising tactics. She has been a grants panelist for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission for the past several years, is a member of the AFP of Greater Los Angeles and recently earned her master’s degree in public administration at Cal State Northridge.

Julia Ringwood

Grant Writer/Fundraiser

Ringwood Fundraising Consultants

A native Californian, Julie began her career in fundraising in 1995 volunteering for AIDS LA and attending classes at UCLA through the Extension course for a Certificate in Fundraising. She began working for Community Counseling Service as a Development Director. Over the course of five years, Julie worked in the same capacity at Hathaway Children and Family Services, Junior Achievement, and Ride On LA, Therapeutic Horsemanship. Five years ago, she founded Ringwood Fundraising Consultants (RFC) and has been self-employed as a Grant Writer/Fundraiser for her own clients, raising between $500,000 and $1.7 million each year. Finding funding sources has always been a fun challenge and an enjoyable one. Prior to 1995, Julie worked as a Certified Court Reporter (CSR) for 10 years and an Insurance Agent for five years.

Los Angeles Fundraising Summit

A relationship approach to fundraising
Nonprofit fundraising has become highly specialized, and each segment of your donor market requires a different set of relationship management skills. Whether you are reaching out to private foundations, wealthy individuals or your own members, you need to understand who they give to, and why. The Los Angeles Summit focuses on the relationship aspects of fundraising, and offers you several ways to enhance your relationship management skills:

Day One:
In the morning, listen to a panel of private, corporate and community grantmakers who will openly discuss their philosophy on grantmaking, how they operate, and most important, how you can build a more successful relationship with the grantmaking community. In the afternoon, participate in seminars led by experienced grant seekers who have successfully secured many foundation grants, and have built successful relationships with the grantmaking community.

Day Two:
Attend a series of fundraising seminars covering the hottest areas of fundraising (capital campaigns, major gifts, annual giving campaigns, and many more). Panels of experts will discuss the latest developments in these fields, and then enter into a dialogue with the participants that addresses their most pressing questions.

WHY ATTEND THE FUNDRAISING SUMMIT?
Fundraising is primarily a relationship business, and with increasing pressures facing all nonprofit professionals to build key relationships, it is becoming more important, though much more difficult to meet people face-to-face. Our innovative Summit format provides the most efficient and cost effective use of time away from the office by enabling attendees to interact with experts in the field, as well as other nonprofit leaders.

CAN ONE ATTEND SPECIFIC SESSIONS ONLY?
We understand the demands that are placed on you and on your time. That’s why you can attend only the seminars that are of interest to you. Come for the day or stop by for a couple of hours. You pay for only the seminars you wish to attend and only for the information relevant to you. It’s a novel approach to learning that allows you to get exactly what you’re looking for in a short amount of time.

WHAT IS THE FORMAT OF THE SEMINARS?
Each seminar features a panel of 3-4 experts who will give a short overview of the key developments in that field. After that , we will move into a moderated discussion to explore what these developments mean for nonprofit organizations. During the seminar, panelists will engage with the audience in an interactive manner to ensure the real-world implications of these developments emerge, and the session will end with a summary of practical next steps.

HOW IS THE SUMMIT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER EDUCATIONAL EVENTS?
The Summit offers a unique format to help you accomplish the following:

Build relationships: to ensure maximum exposure to the experts and other nonprofit leaders, each seminar offers structured networking before the session starts
Hear different perspectives: the experts are drawn from different sectors of the nonprofit community to ensure cross-pollination of ideas and practices
Provide a global view: speakers give an overview of key issues so that you can eliminate any gaps in your understanding of the subject
Drill down to the specifics: speakers will also focus on providing specific answers to real-world questions that are common to most attendees
Obtain information you can use: the emphasis in all sessions is on avoiding theoretical discussions in favor of practical tools and techniques that nonprofit leaders can actually use

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SUMMIT?
The Summit is organized by the Center for Nonprofit Success, a nonprofit organization that specializes in bringing highly relevant information that nonprofit leaders need to run their organizations successfully. We developed the Fundraising Summit series as a follow-on to the Nonprofit Success Forum, a highly successful educational series on grantmaking that has been taking place around the country for the past two years. The Fundraising Summit drills down into specific areas of fundraising to give nonproft leaders cutting edge tools and techniques.

HOW DO I REGISTER FOR THE SUMMIT?
Simply click on the seminars listed below to learn more about the topics that will be covered in each seminar. Then select only those seminars that you wish to attend.

Location/Directions

The Summit will take place at the Golden Eagle building, which is located in the center of the Cal State Los Angeles Campus. The plenary session will take place in the Golden Eagle Ballroom which is located on the third floor. The Golden Eagle building is easy to reach by public or private transportation. The full address of the university is 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032

Public Transportation
The Golden Eagle building is accessible by Metrolink or Bus.

Metrolink: The Metrolink station is called Cal State LA and is located at the south end of campus below the MTA busway. The San Bernardino line is the route to CSULA and has stations in San Bernardio, Rialto, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Claremont, Pomona North, Covina, Baldwin Park, and El Monte.

Metro Bus Line: To find the bus lines that go to CSULA from your location, please go to www.Metro.net and put in the address you are coming from with the destination of CSULA. It will give you a list of all the bus routes to campus from your location.

Directions by Car

From Westside (approximately 30 to 45 minutes):
If traveling from Westside take the 10 (Santa Monica/San Bernardino) Freeway east. After the downtown interchange, you will see signs announcing the 710 Freeway. You will not be taking the 710, BUT when you see the signs, you must make your way to the extreme right lane to exit at Eastern Ave. The Eastern Ave. exit is about 500 yards before the 710. After exiting at Eastern Ave., make a left turn at the stoplight. Take the bridge across the freeway and continue straight on to the campus, crossing State University Drive. Go past the stop sign at Campus Road (about 300 yards from University Drive), to Paseo Rancho Castilla (PRC), the western edge of campus and continue north on PRC. Make a right onto Circle Drive for Parking Structure C (across from the Luckman Complex). If it is full, parking is available in Lot 5 next to parking structure C.

From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)/ Long Beach - (approx. 30 minutes):
If traveling from LAX: take the 105 (Anderson) Freeway to the 710 (Long Beach) Freeway north. If traveling from the Long Beach area: take the 710 (Long Beach) Freeway north. Go to the end of the 710, and make a left (west) onto Valley Blvd. Continue to Mariondale; make a left on Mariondale. Proceed to traffic light. To reach Parking Structure C, make a right onto Paseo Ranch Castilla (PRC) and continue on toward the south end of campus; the parking structure will be to your left (enter on Circle Drive), across from the Luckman Complex. ). If it is full, parking is available in Lot 5 next to parking structure C.

From Orange County (approx. 1 to 1 1/2 hour - San Diego approx. 2 to 2 1/2 hours):
If traveling from Orange Country take the 5 Freeway north to the 710 Freeway north. Go to the end of the 710, and make a left (west) onto Valley Blvd. Continue to Mariondale; make a left on Mariondale. Proceed to traffic light. To reach Parking Structure C, make a right onto Paseo Ranch Castilla (PRC) and continue on toward the south end of campus; the parking structure will be to your left (enter on Circle Drive), across from the Luckman Complex. If it is full, parking is available in Lot 5 next to parking structure C.

From Pasadena (approx. 25-35 minutes):
If traveling from Pasadena using surface streets, take Los Robles Ave. south (becomes Atlantic Blvd.) Follow Atlantic to Valley Blvd., and make a right (west) on Valley. Or take surface streets to Fremont Ave. south; make right (west) onto Valley. Continue to Mariondale; make a left onto Mariondale and continue to traffic light. To reach Parking Structure C, make a right onto Paseo Ranch Castilla (PRC) and continue on toward the south end of campus; the parking structure will be to your left (enter on Circle Drive), across from the Luckman Complex. If it is full, parking is available in Lot 5 next to parking structure C.

From Pasadena using the freeway, take the 110 south to the 5 south to the 10 (San Bernardino Freeway east. Watch for signs announcing the 710 Freeway. You will not be taking the 710, BUT, when you see the signs, you must make your way to the extreme right lane to exit at Eastern Ave. The Eastern Ave. exit is about 500 yards before the 710. After exiting at Eastern Ave., make a left turn at the stoplight. Take the bridge across the freeway, and continue straight onto the campus, crossing State University Drive. Go past the stop sign at Campus Road (about 300 yards from University Drive), and you are on Paseo Rancho Castilla (PRC), the western edge of campus. Continue north on PRC. Make a right onto Circle Drive for Parking Structure C (across from the Luckman Complex). If it is full, parking is available in Lot 5 next to parking structure C.

From Burbank (approx. 45 minutes to 1 hour):
If traveling from Burbank take the 5 Freeway south to the 10 (San Bernardino) Freeway east. (Take the exit to the 10 Freeway towards San Bernardino that is on your left. Merge onto the 10 Freeway going east). Watch for signs announcing the 710 freeway. You will not be taking the 710, BUT, when you see the signs you must make your way to the extreme right lane to exit at Eastern Ave. The Eastern Ave. exit is about 500 yards before the 710. After exiting at Eastern Ave., make a left turn at the stoplight. Take the bridge across the freeway, and continue straight onto the campus, crossing State University Drive. Go past the stop sign at Campus Road (about 300 yards from University Drive), and you are on Paseo Rancho Castilla (PRC), the western edge of campus. Continue north on PRC. Make a right onto Circle Drive for Parking Structure C (across from the Luckman Complex). If it is full, parking is available in Lot 5 next to parking structure C.

From San Bernardino (approx. 1 1/2 hour)
If traveling from San Bernardino take the 10 Freeway (San Bernardino) west; exit at Fremont Ave. Make an immediate left at the stop sign on Hellman Ave. Continue on Hellman, which becomes Paseo Rancho Castilla (PRC), continue toward the south end of campus on PRC. The Parking Structure C will be to your left, across from the Luckman Complex. Enter on Circle Drive. If it is full, parking is available in Lot 5 next to parking structure C.

Parking at the The Golden Eagle
Visitor parking is located in Parking Structure C or in Lot 5 behind it. Parking costs $6.00 per day. Exact change is required at the electronic parking kiosk. To get from Parking Structure C or Lot 5 to the Golden Eagle building you need to walk through Luckman Theatre Complex. The Golden Eagle building is straight behind the Luckman Theatre Complex.

Hotel Accommodations
Most hotels near the Summit venue are within the $159-$269 per night range. The following hotels are within a five-mile radius of the hotel.
1.    Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens    BOOK NOW      4.14 miles from venue
2.    Hilton Los Angeles San Gabriel    BOOK NOW       4.15 miles from venue
3.    Doubletree Hotel LA/Commerce   BOOK NOW       4.19 miles from venue
4.    Crowne Plaza Hotel LA Commerce Casino         BOOK NOW       4.68 miles from venue

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