CHAPTER 6
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, WHO’S GOT THE
MONEY?
As a grantseeker, there are two sources of money you
need to know about. First, there is money available in
the public sector, the use of which is controlled by the
three levels of government — local, state and federal.
This money is generated through tax revenues, which
never seem to suffice, given well-known government
deficits, and never seem to diminish, given well-known
taxpayers’ complaints. Funding typically takes place
through grants and contracts, discussed in greater
detail in CHAPTER
7.
Next, we have the private sector, which can be
described as the area of non-governmental funding for
philanthropic or charitable purposes. Here, there are
well-researched, reasonable numbers to consider, as well
as one startling and powerful implication. Look at the
details:
| In 2002, private sector giving
totaled close to $240.92 billion. Of that total,
5.1% came from profit-making corporations; 11.2%
came from foundations; 7.5% came from bequests, or
gifts through wills and settled estates; and 76.3%
came from living individuals. |
The “startling and powerful implication” should be
obvious. The area of concentration for someone seeking
private sector dollars is clearly that of cultivating
individual giving. In fact, no greater financial
resource development challenge confronts nonprofit
organizations than that of developing such giving. (More
will be discussed about ways to approach private sector
funding in CHAPTER
8.)
| Giving USA, published
yearly by the American Association of Fund-Raising
Counsel Trust for Philanthropy, is an excellent
resource for details on the private sector and
philanthropic giving. Giving USA is
available for reference at the Nonprofit Resource
Library or for sale online at http://www.aafrc.org/.* |
In the following chapters, we’ll take a closer look
at public and private sector funding.
*AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy. 2003.
Giving USA 2003. Indianapolis, IN: Author,
8-9.
|
