> Hi Joe, > > edc's overhead is closer to 35 percent. But that isn't the major factor - > it's more that there's been a downturn in funding digital divide projects > and online communities.... > > Andy Carvin
Here's my take. I manage a service that like many good projects began as a volunteer project and is now largely grant-funded, with some very wonderful legacy volunteers still involved. We've been extremely fortunate to get the support we do. We are thinking about ways to not lean on one generous organization to keep us funded, both in terms of equity (one state funds us... everyone benefits... let's fix that) and in terms of sustainability (all the eggs in one basket etc.). We brainstorm a lot of ideas. One is to sell services, which we have had some small but successful ventures at. (You can be a nonprofit and sell things. We're technically not a nonprofit but the principle stands.) Another other is to partner with organizations who can share some special benefits of our organization while participating in the cost-sharing as well. A third is to do NPR-style fund drives and/or simply ask for donations. A fourth is to heavily promote a store (tchotchkes for a good cause, basically). A fifth is to get more aggressive about grants (though grant dependency is hard, as you know). There are undoubtedly more. None of it is easy... all of it takes (or in the case of new ventures, will take) a lot of time that I'd rather use on developing and promoting the actual service itself. I would still rather go out and raise the money for our services than return to a model where volunteer services drove the mission. I say that, however, not being in your shoes. In any event, you have my sympathy. Craigslist is having a nonprofit boot camp in SF next month. I don't know if you can afford to go, but I'm going. (It's a car ride and $50 for me!) Maybe some of us nonprofit types should trade shoes for a month... I could run DDN and you could be a digital librarian. It could be rejuvenating. :-) Karen G. Schneider Librarians' Index to the Internet http://lii.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
