So, you hosted a wildly successful fundraising event last year and this year, you want to grow your corporate sponsorship program. 

After sponsors wrote the check last year, you sent them a heartfelt thank you note but realized you haven’t connected with them since. Now you’re racking your brain for the best way to make the ask again.

And, maybe like us, you’re really sick of the transactional nature of event sponsorships and are ready to shake things up. 

What if there was a better way to secure corporate sponsors?

So, you’re planning a fundraising event for your nonprofit and you want to secure some corporate sponsors. But you're not sure how to go about it….maybe your last sponsorship deck didn’t get any sponsors, or you spent more time on the phone than you did planning the event…or you’re just not sure what to include to make this year’s event a success.

Good news: a winning sponsorship deck is simpler than you think! A good sponsorship deck is a powerful tool you can use when you’re pitching corporate sponsors for your next fundraising event.

One of the common challenges people face when pitching corporate sponsors is not knowing what to include in their sponsorship deck. This can lead to a lot of wasted time and energy spent on putting together a deck that doesn't actually tell potential sponsors what they need to know. So, how can we do better?

So you want to throw a fundraising event. Sounds fun! But before you dive into your event (and hopefully start raking in donations) hit pause: fundraising events are not magic bullets...they take a lot of planning and hard work, and the return on investment can be pretty low.

It's summer! And whether your fiscal year is almost over, or you're smack-dab in the middle of the year, summer often comes with a pause in frantic fundraising activities.

As an amazing nonprofiteer, you know that grant writing is essential for getting grants (obviously!). But what do you need to know about crafting grants that will catch the attention of reviewers? 

The Giant Squid Group team writes a lot of grants, and we have a running joke: “Hey, what's it like to be a grant writer?” 

When I put on my “grant writer hat” and dive into the song-and-dance of grant deadlines, character counts, and funder priorities, sometimes it feels like I’m doing nothing but reinventing the wheel.

Congratulations on winning a grant! Your nonprofit has worked tirelessly to get this far - but there's still more work to be done!

If you are struggling to get grant funding, there’s a good chance the goals and objectives you include in your grant proposal are the reason.

You’re looking for ways to raise money for your new nonprofit, and want to hire a pro to help you win grants. Your budget is tight now, but if you’re awarded the grant, you’ll have tens of thousands of dollars. So, why not pay your grant writer a percentage of the grant you receive, since it’s the grant writer’s job to get you that money anyways, right?

Most nonprofits are laser-focused on getting donors. But what about keeping them?

Donor stewardship is a critical aspect to any fundraising operation. If we had a nickel for how many ED’s have told us they don’t like making thank you calls, we’d be on an island getaway right now!

So, you’re a grant writer and are submitting several applications a month. You find yourself needing to streamline your process to meet deadlines and win more money! My friend, it's time you consider adding a boilerplate to your toolbox - assuming you don’t already have one.

Sometimes, communicating with donors is scary. There’s a perceived power dynamic between the money-holder and the money-asker that drives the stories we tell. What would the donor want to hear? How do I tell our story in 750 characters? Does this story make us seem less than perfect?

If you are growing a grants program, it can be tempting to just submit as many grant proposals as possible. But, when it comes to winning grant funding the most important thing isn’t how much you write. Instead, it’s finding grants that really align with your work.

What do you do when you see a problem in your neighborhood, whether it’s a stray cat, an individual experiencing homelessness, or a school library without books?