Does anyone here work for a non profit or have experience with fundraising?

A friend of mine in Colombia started and runs a youth baseball program. He contacted me today asking me if I could help them with fundraising and or the procurement of equipment such as gloves, bats, balls, cleats, tees, etc. I want to help him but I have no experience in finding donors/groups who donate. I was going to send out letters to all of the MLB teams, some of the local schools in my area and some of the latino charity orginazations in my area. I was also going to send out letters to sporting goods companies seeking donations of equipment. Another thing that I was thinking of doing was going to local businesses and seeing if I could leave some kind of donation jar, however Im not sure of the legality of that. My question is, does anyone on here have experience with non profit/ fundraising? If so do you have any advice on the things that I could do? Any advice would be appreciated.

This is a segment that was done on the news about the program. I apologize that it is in spanish.

Contact MLB and see if they can help..

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/btf.jsp

Pinbreaker said:

Contact MLB and see if they can help..

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/btf.jsp

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I will do that. Thanks.

Fund raising is a TOUGH venture, so be prepared for a TON of rejections. Its not that people/businesses/corporations don't want to donate, its just that they get asked a LOT for donations, so they cant say yes to everyone. If you get 1 out of 10 to say yes, consider yourself lucky.

I did one earlier this year for a friend of mine that was going thru chemo. We went to local businesses with the flyer for our event and just asked if they would be interested in donating product. What we found was more of your mom/pop shops were the giving ones. Any business that fell under the "corporate" tag would have to go thru their corporate offices, which you rarely, if every hear back from. Quite a few would say "Sure, give me your flyer and someone will get back to you" which translates to "I have to say no, but don't want to to your face, so I will just say sure for now and say someone will get to you and never will, that way we both feel good about ourselves right now". Don't get me wrong, I fully expected those types of responses, so be prepared for the good and the bad. It hard to not get down with so much rejection, but you have to remember what you are doing is for the good and betterment of others and just keep your head up and push on.

As for soliciting for donations, be prepared to the fullest extend. It is best to have some type of flyer or documentation as to what you are raising for. Give details about the organization, who they will be helping, stats, etc. Dont get too "informative" as you may lose their interest, but be prepared to answer questions. Put yourself in their place. If you had a business and I walked in asking for donations, what would you ask me? You will probably be asked for a Tax ID by some, corporations/businesses like to be able to write off what ever they donate. If you do secure a donation, be sure to get a business card and contact name so you can send thank you letters if you so choose.

That's off the top of my head right now. Fund raising, helping others in need is a great thing to do, you will fell great knowing the smiles and joy you put onto others, especially kids. If you have other questions, PM me and I will do my best to answer from my experience.

Good Luck!

I do fundraising and asking for donations quite a bit for my job. I can tell you, I would not waste your time contacting every MLB team, 99.9% of the time you will get the response of they only do things for their immediate community. No matter the cause, they will not do it.

elmalo said:

A friend of mine in Colombia started and runs a youth baseball program. He contacted me today asking me if I could help them with fundraising and or the procurement of equipment such as gloves, bats, balls, cleats, tees, etc. I want to help him but I have no experience in finding donors/groups who donate. I was going to send out letters to all of the MLB teams, some of the local schools in my area and some of the latino charity orginazations in my area. I was also going to send out letters to sporting goods companies seeking donations of equipment. Another thing that I was thinking of doing was going to local businesses and seeing if I could leave some kind of donation jar, however Im not sure of the legality of that. My question is, does anyone on here have experience with non profit/ fundraising? If so do you have any advice on the things that I could do? Any advice would be appreciated.

This is a segment that was done on the news about the program. I apologize that it is in spanish.

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You BETTER APOLOGIZE!!!!!

...look into....

http://www.robertos-kids.org/

Our local youth baseball organization has made several donations to this group. Perhaps they can assist your friend.

MaineMule said:

...look into....

http://www.robertos-kids.org/

Our local youth baseball organization has made several donations to this group. Perhaps they can assist your friend.

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I just contacted them. Thank you.

I think it really helps also to have documentation showing the organization is a valid non profit such as some sort of proof of their tax exempt status as a 501c3 and also having the information needed for anyone who wants to claim the donation as a tax deduction. Unfortunately there's alot of crooks out there and without proof people will be leary and also more people might be more willing to donate

Sorry. Missed the part about it being a non-profit in Columbia. Not sure how what I said would work with a nonprofit outside the us

elmalo said:

I just contacted them. Thank you.

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Let me know how it goes- 3 years ago I coordinated a donation to Roberto's Kids of roughly 400 items. I had 3 crate sized boxes filled with old sets of uniforms and grey pants, catchers gear, old bats and lots of cleats. We were happy to re-deploy the items to kids around the world who would be happy to wear a circa 1985 polyester uniform with "Kiwanis Club" or "Webber Oil." Shipping may have cost us $100 +/- but well worth it to do so........

Mario1975 said:

I think it really helps also to have documentation showing the organization is a valid non profit such as some sort of proof of their tax exempt status as a 501c3 and also having the information needed for anyone who wants to claim the donation as a tax deduction. Unfortunately there's alot of crooks out there and without proof people will be leary and also more people might be more willing to donate

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You can look up valid EO's on the IRS website as well as those that have a revoked status or filed their 990-N Postcard, just need their EIN and name.

Mario1975 said:

Sorry. Missed the part about it being a non-profit in Columbia. Not sure how what I said would work with a nonprofit outside the us

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Yes, this is my big concern with the whole thing. I would love to take donations and things like that, however, I myself do not work for a non profit, so it is basically me asking someone for money and then sending it down to my friend. Right now I am just going to look for organizations who do this sort of thing so that it stays legitamate.

MaineMule said:

Let me know how it goes- 3 years ago I coordinated a donation to Roberto's Kids of roughly 400 items. I had 3 crate sized boxes filled with old sets of uniforms and grey pants, catchers gear, old bats and lots of cleats. We were happy to re-deploy the items to kids around the world who would be happy to wear a circa 1985 polyester uniform with "Kiwanis Club" or "Webber Oil." Shipping may have cost us $100 +/- but well worth it to do so........

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That is nice of you. My friend told me that last year some Colombian organization in New York sent 22 pairs of cleats. He said I should have seen the kids faces, many of them were crying, they were so happy to have an actual pair of cleats.

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. I appreciate it.