Out of the boat

Spent yesterday morning with Mark and Brent from Bridgeway Foundation at their Roadshow, which was hosted by International China Concern.

A great event open to non-profits to hear about Bridgeway’s and their funding priorities for 2009.

Their new mission and vision, to me, leave them open to be used of God to do great things through the organizations they make grants to:

Vision
Humbled by Jesus’ life, we envision a bold philanthropy that stretches the ability of people and organizations to learn and serve at the margins.

Mission
Bridgeway Foundation will stimulate innovation within the social sector and strengthen organizations’ capacities to serve in Canada and the world. This will be accomplished through careful financial and relational partnerships with other risk-taking donors and charities to sow seeds of transformation in communities.

They broke down each statement pretty much by each word and phrase and explained the reason behind the wording and what it meant to them. I like the fact that they don’t want to be a consistent donor to your cause, but rather fund an initiative, expansion or project that stretches you and your organization… to the margins.

Brent explained to us what partnership meant to them, very helpful to know!

I appreciated the openness and transparency that Mark and Brent spoke to us with. I also appreciate that they would be walking with me, helping me through the process of applying to Bridgeway if a concept paper was accepted and a full application invited. January 1st is just around the corner!

Last night I was invited by Richard Taylor and David Knight of The Wellspring Foundation for Education to hear Craig Kielburger speak at the Bell Centre in Surrey.

The evening was sponsored by Investors Group and was a great event.

I had a chance to do a bit of networking and hear an amazing speaker. What I’ve taken with me from last night it the fact that it is possible. It is possible to end the most extreme cases of poverty (More than 1 Billion people live on less than a dollar a day) in the world in our lifetime.

At our last board retreat, we were discussing potential board members and I suggested 3 people. They were all recognized as good prospects for our board; one stood out a little more than the others. The board and my ED asked me to speak with him. So, I scheduled a breakfast meeting with him today.

He is an amazing well-connected man who allowed me to bounce many ideas off of him, adding insight and wisdom into some of the obstacles and situations I am facing in my work.

Best of all, he is willing to be considered by our board for appointment.

I’ve decided to start blogging.

I’ve decided to start blogging about work and my experiences, successes and struggles as a reluctant fundraiser.

Let’s see how it goes.

I have been working at African Enterprise Canada since July 1, 2005. In September of 2007 I became the full-time Director of Development. I was previously the Development Manager in a part-time capacity.

Now here’s the kicker… I have no fundraising training, well just a bit. I have been through a 4 day session with Roger Mitty, Director of Fundraising, Research and Consultancy Ltd in England. Roger led a fundraising seminar for the whole of African Enterprise and I attended. I did learn a lot, as Roger admitted, there is a whole lot more to learn.

I am a web developer and graphic designer, so certain things about my role have been easy to embrace. Other things have not (read grant writing, proposals and asking for money!).

So, I have spent the last 10 months or so looking around to find resources to help me in my role and here’s what I’ve found to be useful:

• Craigslist Foundation’s Nonprofit Boot Camp
• BigOnline Canada
• Open Hands, Mark Peterson’s blog
• A Small Change, Jason Dick’s blog
• ePhilanthropy Foundation
• Network for Good
• TechSoup
• GiveMeaning.com

I’ll be adding more. Got any suggestions to help me?

EDIT: PS: I’m working on a theme for the site.