Youth Sports Networking Seminar
"Financial Support for Youth Sports Programs”
March 24th 2014 at Temple University
Hosting Organization: Black Women in Sport
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Introductions
Nancy Peter: Introductions & welcome
Who has attended previous PYSC Seminars, and who is here for the first time?
How to become a PYSC Partner
Welcome from our host site: Norma Alicea Alvarez
o Explained work that the Center for Bioethics, Urban Health and Policy does in the community
Why did you come to this particular seminar?
o I am here because I need to know how to get funding for my organization
o It’s great to get out of the office and meet people
o Want to learn how to involve sports in my summer camp organization
o Looking for ways to collaborate and bring more opportunities and resources for the kids I work
with.
o Looking to keep my program sustainable
Announcements
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The Black Women in Sport Foundation’s 2012 Next Step Women of Color Mini-Forum, hosted
at Temple University by the Department of Athletics and the College of Education and supported in part by
the NCAA, will be held on Wednesday, April 18th at Ritter Hall, Room 211, located at 1301 Cecil B.
Moore from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. For more information check out www.blackwomeninsport.org
Village of Champions is hosting a Global Youth Service Day April 11-April 13th featuring youth led
service activities. For more information check out www.villageofchampions.org
Students Run Philly Style is hosting their annual Generation Run 5K on April 12th 2014 at 8am. For more
information check out http://www.generationrun.com/.
Legacy Youth Tennis and Education, formerly known as Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, will
host its 31st Annual Benefit on Saturday, April 26, 2014. For more information or to purchase tickets check
out their website http://www.legacyyte.org/.
Panelists
Heidi Warren-Starfinder Foundation
 Specific techniques we use that have worked for us over the year
 Foundation world is not supporting us in the way that they are supporting social services so we are trying to
get away from being so dependent on foundational grants. Foundations are good for launching new projects
but not always for sustaining your program
 Putt time into making those personal relations, you are inviting an opportunity for funders to invest in a
mission that they are passionate about and can make an impact in
 It is important to have a diversity of funding sources but think about depth over breath
 Start with relationships that you already have, who is on your board and what connections do they have.
Find the people in the companies you work with who have similar interest, the people who care about what
you do.
o Think about sponsorship funding and volunteering. Think about the skill sets within corporations
and how they may be a benefit for your organization.
o Do your homework and find folks with specific skills sets such as grant writing, web design, HR,
etc, and ask them to help you with a specific task
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This helps build a relationship, involve the donor with the work of the organization and shows
them that they are more than just a funding source. It also helps them look good as a member of
the community.
We recruit “team captains” who build their own “team” or 10 donors. When they reached the goal of
recruiting their team, they got a prize of sweatshirt, which made them feel appreciated.
o There was not a dollar amount goal but rather to simply ask someone to get involved in the
mission of the organization
o We created the materials, ask letters, and pitch and then asked the team captains to email their
potential team members one at a time-not email blasts! Follow up with personal notes and thank
you.
o Thank, thank, thanks as personally as you can.
o If you get a new donor, contact them and find out how they found out about your organization and
what made them want to get involved.
Jacquie Patterson-Legacy Youth Tennis and Education
 Collaboration is one of the most unique challenges but one of the most important components to sustaining
resources.
 We like to do place-based programs where we target specific communities to go and in work with. To help
do this, we make connections with a founding source in the community. For example the Well Fargo
Center partnered with us for funding.
o Also have a subcontract with Lindy Scholars-Alan Lindy
o Additional subcontract with Black Women in Sport Foundation to provide additional funding
 It is very important to be very clear when making collaborations about what each partner expects from each
other and how we are going to hold each other accountable. Have to put these expectations and details in
writing. It is not enough to just talk about it.
 Development Committee-with board members
o Go out of my way to meet with at least one board member a month
o Board Members are expected to give, not only financially, but through their connections and who
they can connect me to that might be able to provide funding
 Asking individual donors to make personal contributions is the way to go. It is just matter of making
connections to them, getting them to your site, showing them what you do and how they can help. Then
keep them connected! Update them on what you are doing and how they can continue to get involved
 Marketing materials-find a good web designer who can put together something nice that provides
information about your program, personal stories from kids and how funding can make an impact
o Want to have materials that you can leave with people and you must follow up!
Kevin Peter-Norris Square Neighborhood Project
 Have been doing fundraising with for a variety of youth and community organizations and have a full range
of funding levels
 How many of your organizations are involved with a contact sport?
o Everyone should raise their hand because fundraising is a full contact sport
o If you want to be successful, you want it to be a full contact sport
o Ultimately, the person making the decision is a person so you need to make sure that you are
engaging with the potential donor like they are a person. A phone call to start off with a great way
to make sure that you are not going to waste your time putting a proposal together when you may
not meet their minimal qualifications
o Go to networking events in which potential donors may be present to have a conversation ahead of
time
o Lasalle University nonprofit resource networking events http://www.lasallenonprofitcenter.org/
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Talk to board members and parents about potential donors that they may have contact with
Find out why your long time donors are donating and talk to them about the impact that they are
making and how they can make a larger impact.
Assess who your top donors are and how you can continue to engage them more
Social media is a huge opportunity to engage your organization with potential donors and open
yourself up to your donors networks. Social media isn’t going to be enough alone to get you the
funding you need but it is going to open you up to potential connections that you can follow up
with.
Q&A
How do you recruit and maintain board members?
o Jacquie: Kenny (our ED) does all of the board management but he keeps be cc’d or bcc’d on all of the
correspondence with them. We do a gap analysis every year to see what type of people we need on our
board and recruit members based on that.
o Kevin: To help recruit board members look at your donor and volunteer lists and look at who is a
consistently involved. Find out who they are, why they are involved, and then meet with them. How you
maintain board members-full contact. Update them on what is going on how and how to stay involved.
o The Art of Trusteeship-Book about being a board member
o Heidi-give them a specific job description
Is there any information out there about what type of board members meet the needs of your organization?
How do we find networking opportunities
o Kevin: If you are a new organizations-find people who have a lot of time and skills
o Association of fundraising professionals-Greater Philadelphia Chapter-the nonprofit center at Lassalle-has
a schedule for workshops
o Nancy: Online PD calendar-OSTRC http://www.phillyostpd.org/
If we are a new organization, do we build a track record in order to get larger donations?
o Kevin: Make sure that you have initial donations from community members or organizations so that when
you approach larger donors, you can show them that you do have support and interest from the community
o Jacquie: there are some organizations that were specifically interested in funding organizations with smaller
budgets so start looking there
o Heidi: Being able to express what the impact of what your work is critical. “Our organization affected 50
kids last year and this was the value and capacity of the impact we had on them. Some donors want only
stories, others want only numbers, so you have to prepared to provide both.
o The 7 faces of Philanthropy-Book
How do you identity potential donors?
o Jacquie: If you do not track your current and past donors you need to start doing that through a basic
database such as excel or Microsoft database. Keep track of who is donating and build of those folks to
make more connections.
o Essentials of Fundraising-Book
Feedback from Group Discussions
Heidi’s Group: Use your kid’s stories to help connect with donors. A key part of the effort needs to be building
affecting materials. Also check out Grassroots fundraising journal: grassrootsfundraising.org
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Jacquie’s Group: Additional resources for startup organizations, ways to look at programming and how to target
potential donors that way. Also talked about the challenges with programs targeting at women and how to try and
target specific donors
Kevin’s Group: Local resource-at the main branch of the public library that has a staff person to help you go
through data bases and such. Also check out http://foundationcenter.org/
Next Seminar
Monday, April 28th
“Working with At-Risk Populations”
Location: Starfinder Foundation
Register HERE
Interested Panelist should contact: Katie at: mogakm@gmail.com
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