y, more and more businesses and corporations are offering funds. The downside is that they often have stipulations as to the size, type, and even designate specific, hence pre-qualified, charities. They may not be as apt of fund the smaller, local organizations or already have certain pet projects theyI was a softball coach for my daughter’s softball team and know a bit about the problems associated with small sports’ clubs. Every year, we needed uniforms, replacement equipment and, if we won in the playoff’s, individual awards and trophies which we had to somehow provide. All this takes money. Therefore, at the advent of each spring season, we scoured the neighborhood for sponsors or donations to make this all happen.

Begging for funding isn’t exactly my idea of a fun April day. The head people would get on the phone calling business friends and associates hoping to secure a sponsor that would be happy to see their, “Benny’s Car Wash,” or “Lucky Lou’s Bar-B-Q,” logos on the kid’s uniforms. Of course, we would be excited with a small donation as well, without having to print special promotions on the t-shirts. We finally found a local restaurant that stepped forward and gave us the several hundred dollars required to begin the season.

That was the frustrating part. It was only a few hundred dollars, in most cases. It was too much to ask a bunch of parents to donate and not enough for a full-blown fundraiser. This “middle-ground” is far too common for many charitable groups. Luckily, more and more businesses and corporations are offering funds. The downside is that they often have stipulations as to the size, type, and even designate specific, hence pre-qualified, charities. They may not be as apt of fund the smaller, local organizations or already have certain pet projects they

efore, at the advent of each spring season, we scoured the neighborhood for sponsors or donations to make this all happen.

Begging for funding isn’t exactly my idea of a fun April day. The head people would get on the phone calling business friends and associates hoping to secure a sponsor that would be happy to see their, “Benny’s Car Wash,” or “Lucky Lou’s Bar-B-Q,” logos on the kid’s uniforms. Of course, we would be excited with a small donation as well, without having to print special promotions on the t-shirts. We finally found a local restaurant that stepped forward and gave us the several hundred dollars required to begin the season.

That was the frustrating part. It was only a few hundred dollars, in most cases. It was too much to ask a bunch of parents to donate and not enough for a full-blown fundraiser. This “middle-ground” is far too common for many charitable groups. Luckily, more and more businesses and corporations are offering funds. The downside is that they often have stipulations as to the size, type, and even designate specific, hence pre-qualified, charities. They may not be as apt of fund the smaller, local organizations or already have certain pet projects they

uld be happy to see their, “Benny’s Car Wash,” or “Lucky Lou’s Bar-B-Q,” logos on the kid’s uniforms. Of course, we would be excited with a small donation as well, without having to print special promotions on the t-shirts. We finally found a local restaurant that stepped forward and gave us the several hundred dollars required to begin the season.

That was the frustrating part. It was only a few hundred dollars, in most cases. It was too much to ask a bunch of parents to donate and not enough for a full-blown fundraiser. This “middle-ground” is far too common for many charitable groups. Luckily, more and more businesses and corporations are offering funds. The downside is that they often have stipulations as to the size, type, and even designate specific, hence pre-qualified, charities. They may not be as apt of fund the smaller, local organizations or already have certain pet projects they

l hundred dollars required to begin the season.

That was the frustrating part. It was only a few hundred dollars, in most cases. It was too much to ask a bunch of parents to donate and not enough for a full-blown fundraiser. This “middle-ground” is far too common for many charitable groups. Luckily, more and more businesses and corporations are offering funds. The downside is that they often have stipulations as to the size, type, and even designate specific, hence pre-qualified, charities. They may not be as apt of fund the smaller, local organizations or already have certain pet projects they

y, more and more businesses and corporations are offering funds. The downside is that they often have stipulations as to the size, type, and even designate specific, hence pre-qualified, charities. They may not be as apt of fund the smaller, local organizations or already have certain pet projects they prefer to target.

So what are your alternatives to knocking on doors, tapping friends, family, or business people? You might begin searching the Internet, but a word of warning. If you do a Google search for “fundraising,” you’ll receive over 133 million hits. And most of these are businesses that are offering products for you to sell. In other words, they aren’t exactly wealthy businessmen eager to throw money at you. No, you’ll have to dig deeper to find the company that funds a small group, like you represent.

There is one that currently is taking applications from charities that would like funding for their causes. Although they focus on nurses that represent charitable organizations, it is not a requirement for funding. Try thenurseschoice.com and check out their program designed for small, local charities without any actual selling involved. If you are a nurse or know one, all the better. They offer funding in over fifty communities throughout the United States. It’s painless and worth a try. What have you got to lose?