#405 - Yes! Your Nonprofit Is Allowed To Do This

Most nonprofit leaders think their biggest problem is raising money. Ny Whitaker says the real problem is influence, and money follows influence. Ny is the founder and chief strategist of Project NYNE, a former White House senior advisor and NYU professor of leadership who has spent 30 years building relationships with elected officials and teaching nonprofits to do the same. We cover why you build the relationship before the budget cut, not after. Ny walks through what a productive meeting with an elected actually looks like: lead with a problem in the district, name the three things your organization does that nobody else does, attach a dollar figure, and ask for the legislative director or budget director instead of the constituent services person who can't move money. She also clears up the thing that keeps a lot of organizations frozen. Your 501(c)(3) can do advocacy. What it cannot do is partisan political activity. That confusion is costing the sector power it already has. I pushed her on ROI too, because I was an ED with city council discretionary funding and the paperwork-to-dollars ratio felt brutal. Her answer is about what that money unlocks: matching funds, other agencies, introductions your elected can make, and being first in the queue the next time a pot of money opens. Plus the version of all this that fits a one-person shop. One thing a week. And the story of the organization that lost $100,000 in a city budget cut on a Thursday and had it restored by Monday. Important Links:Connect with NyProject NYNEMy Big Ask Gifts ProgramMy Book, Get That Money Honey My Newsletter Join the Free Webinar