Fundraising
Fundraising means gathering the money a project needs to succeed.
Both non-profits and for-profits need funding of different types.
Non-Profit Fundraising
Non-profits must communicate the value of their good-doing to audiences with resources and reasons to fund them. There are several kinds of non-profit fundraising. Donation raising aims at wide audiences of potential donors, and grant writing aims at specifically targeted funding sources.
Donation Driving
Wikipedia uses donation driving to gather the funds it needs.
Grant Writing
Grant writing can net large amounts of money from large institutional sources like foundations and government agencies.
For-Profit Capital Raising
"Venture capitalists weren't keeping their gripes to themselves; they were grousing on blogs and even sending angry notes to Ted. To help assuage some of the criticism and prevent the site from erupting into a nonstop flamefest, Ressi invited VCs to post "certified" profiles in which they could tell entrepreneurs about their funds in their own words. More than 200 venture firms, including Benchmark Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, have done so. But many VCs weren't satisfied and began to ask the companies they'd funded — and any entrepreneurs they'd met — to submit reviews, in attempts to boost their profiles. "We're trying to build up a collection of rankings that (we hope!) will signal to entrepreneurs the quality of our firm and our people," one VC said to an entrepreneur in an email obtained by Wired. Ressi's own investors even called him and asked him to post some reviews to the site; of course, they didn't realize that he was the angry founder who had started it in the first place.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-12/ff_funded?currentPage...
Angel Investors
"For one thing, venture capitalists are not the only source for entrepreneurs seeking funding. Angel investors, individuals who tend to take smaller stakes in early-stage companies, are growing more organized. Fifteen years ago, they began forming organizations to pool revenue and exchange information on deals; today there are more than 200 such groups. Last year, angel investors and venture capitalists each invested about $26 billion in startup companies. But since 2002, the amount that angels have invested has grown three times as fast as the amount from VC firms, according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. (And angel investments don't include "friends and family" contributions, an even more viable early-funding source.) Meanwhile, "superangels" — startup godfathers like Ron Conway, Pierre Omidyar, and Peter Thiel — offer some of the same experience and insight as VCs but usually on friendlier terms. Shawn Gold says Weblogs, of which he was president, got bankrolled with $300,000 from billionaire Mark Cuban. "We didn't need VC money," he says. "It was profitable in four months and we sold it for $25 million in 16 months."
Upsales
Agent Pugsly’s personal skill (something Agent Pugsly has learned or wants to learn) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 05:07Groups: Cold Calling, Field promotions, Fundraising, Product Demonstration, Viralink Industries
In addition to being able to sell ice to eskimos, I can also sell a Premium Ice Storage Unit (styrophome container) to an eskimo as a way to 'preserve the ice from external contaminants and to ensure the highest quality standards'.
Door to Door wireless security "repair"
Agent Pugsly’s personal idea (something Agent Pugsly believes) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 05:03Groups: Computing, Door to Door Computer Repair Agents, Fundraising, Product Demonstration, Techknow Computers, Viralink Industries
Home users with improperly configured wireless networks are BROADCASTING a need to technical help! Create a flyer outlying the negitives to running an improperly configured wireless network. Inform the inhabitants of the house that you scanned them and noticed that they have a serious security flaw. Usually this is a generic router name with a default password or disabled security keys. Offer to help configure the network to be more secure and to offer a short training class on how to use wireless securely. This service should cost between 50-500 dollars depending on configuration and could very well be a lead to more work.
If nobody is home it SHOULD be possible to leave them a note and a contact number/email and get callbacks.
Door to door system backups and recovery disk creation
Agent Pugsly’s personal idea (something Agent Pugsly believes) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 04:55Groups: Door to Door Computer Repair Agents, Fundraising
Door to door work is hard without having a few tangible services ready to sell. A good service is to offer to create complete system restore disk sets for a users machine. Educate them on the joys of backups and create the dvd disk sets using your mobile kit for them to restore to if they need later. This is a good ice breaker sale and is non-invasive to the users machine.
Great for leaving a business card, easy as pie to do, and can range from 10-200 dollars. Some unscrupulous agents are known to always have a screensaver on disk that shows an old school text application with a really slow progress bar on it for 'per hour' jobs.
Foolishlessly slap items together and call it art for profit.
Agent Pugsly’s personal idea (something Agent Pugsly believes) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 04:48Groups: Fundraising, Viralink Industries
Art is a lie. An untrained person can glue, stick, wrap, and hang items to each other. If any time is spent at all creating a pattern than that will generally suffice to create the illusion of creativity. Once this is acheived you can attempt to sell this item for a profit.
I would like to hide clues to hidden things inside such art so that if it ever breaks someone can find what looks like a treasure map or something.
Buy antiques in the Midwest and sell them on the coast.
Agent Pugsly’s personal idea (something Agent Pugsly believes) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 04:46Groups: Fundraising
In the midwest heirloom class furnititure is somewhat more common than it is on the West coast. Sometimes this stuff shows up in auctions and rummage sales. Many places in the midwest will have rummage sale days for an entire town or area. These are exceptionally good times for hunting out high quality antiques.
Antiques are usually very bulky items so it would probably be best to ensure item sale before shipment. This may mean that a storage unit needs to be had somewhere centerally located in the midwest for agents to hold purchased goods unti they are ready for mass long-distance transit.
Grow Produce and Sell It
Agent Pugsly’s personal idea (something Agent Pugsly believes) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 04:40Groups: Fundraising
Grow lots of produce. Then sell it.
Grown mushrooms and ginsing are known 'cash crops' that can make a suprising amount of profit.
Magic Invisibility Beans
Agent Pugsly’s personal idea (something Agent Pugsly believes) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 04:35Groups: Fundraising
One I had in my possession the following object.
5 small black beans
1 small baggie
1 staple
1 card stock card with instructions
The object was labeled very plainly "Magic invisibility beans". The instructions where very occult in nature and involved a human head and very expensive brandy.
Myself and another agent where able to clear over 10/hr selling magic beans to passerbys. I gave a dozen of these items to a small child who asked me for money. He said he made over 20 bucks and thanked me when next I saw him.
Exotic Cigarettes
Agent Pugsly’s personal idea (something Agent Pugsly believes) posted by Agent Pugsly Tue, 2008-02-19 04:30Groups: Fundraising, Viralink Industries
"Premium, hand rolled, exotic, blah blah" cigarettes in a glossy pack. Each in an individual compartment. Marketed as a premium object. Target college kids on vacation and in magor dance club strips.