PSO Facilitator Guide Resource Mobilization

Capacity Building:
Resource Mobilization
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
(150 minutes)

Session set-up:
• Business cards

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Relate resource mobilization to capacity building
• Introduce their VISTA project
• Identify the core elements of a resource mobilization plan
• Apply the “rule of three” when requesting resources
• Ask for in-kind donations

Time Steps Resources/

Materials
1. Introduce the session and discuss outcomes. Overhead:
Session
Outcomes

20 minutes Resource Mobilization Introduction

2. Ask about the participants’ experience in
the area of resource mobilization. Share
your experience in the area of resource
mobilization.

Note to Facilitator:

Engage participants throughout the rest of the

session by sharing your experiences and refer-
encing theirs, when appropriate.
3. Explain the importance of developing skills
around resource mobilization: fundraising and
resource mobilization are always a part of the
nonprofit world. Even if their assignment is
not explicitly called “resource mobilization,”
most VISTA members do at least some
resource mobilization during their year of
service.

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5 4. Ask participants to briefly introduce Chart Paper
minutes themselves at their tables and discuss what
they think resource mobilization is all about.
Bring the group back together. Elicit answers
from the large group. List their responses on
chart paper.

Anticipate some version of the following

responses:
Government Special events
Foundation grants For-profit ventures/enterprise
Individual donors Planned giving/bequests/ trusts
Internet donation sites Telemarketing
Fund-raising dinners Fee for service
In-kind donations Corporate donations

5. Remind them that resource mobilization is Overhead:

one of the six components of the Fieldstone Fieldstone
Alliance Framework. Graphic

6. Show overhead of Resource Development

Definition
Resource Development: Overhead:
The effective organization successfully secures Resource
Development
support from a variety of sources to ensure its Definition
revenues are diversified, stable, and sufficient
for the mission and goals. The resource develop-
ment plan is aligned with the mission, long-term
goals, and strategic direction. The organization
has high visibility with key stakeholders and links
clear, strategic messages to its resource devel-
opment efforts.

Fieldstone Alliance description within Capacity-

Building Framework

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7. Reference the overhead “Resource Overhead
Mobilization.” Walk participants through & Training
the overhead’s key points, by stating that Material:
Resource
resource mobilization:
Mobilization
• Is people-based and requires strong relation-
ship-building skills

• Requires interpersonal and organizational

skills similar to those used to recruit and man-
age volunteers, and to organize projects

• Is very closely linked to marketing and com-

munications

• Is successful when there is a plan for diversi-

fied and stable avenues of participation, and
that plan is worked systematically

• Is securing cash and/or in-kind resources,

which is critical to the long-term life of pov-
erty-fighting projects
8. Emphasize that success generally comes
to those who have a plan for diversified and
stable avenues of participation, and work their
plan systematically.

Key Point To Make: Resource mobilization is

not about arm-twisting or begging for funds; it’s
about engaging their community in the vision and
mission of their sponsoring organization and its
efforts to address poverty in their communities.

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9. Many of the items on our earlier list are forms Overhead:
of fundraising, but how do they relate to Fundraising vs
capacity building? Development

Use the “Fundraising vs Development” overhead

to focus on the difference between the two:

• The fundraising staff work to bring in the

money an organization needs to carry out its
programs.

• The development staff’s primary responsibil-

ity, however, is to oversee fundraising, rather
than to actually raise money. This person may
write grants, research foundations and corpo-
rations, and oversee or implement other fund-
raising strategies, but she or he works mostly
behind the scenes, establishing a structure for
effective fundraising.

One development director characterized it this

way, “In fundraising, you make do with what you
have. You keep the organization going and out
of debt. In development, you start with what you
have and you help it grow.”

10. Ask participants, “Which of these descriptions

sounds more like capacity building for the
sponsoring organization? Why?”

Key Point To Make: Development efforts will

help build the organization’s capacity for the
long run. VISTAs may find that they will be doing
some of both during the next year.
11. Since VISTA’s focus is on capacity building,
emphasize that they need to be able to
make distinctions between short-term gains
(fundraising for one event) vs long-term (e.g.,
setting up a fundraising database).

Key Point To Make: To be capacity builders,

VISTAs must be clear about what they will do for
their organization to help it grow.

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Culture of Philanthropy
1. Your real task is to help create a culture of Training
philanthropy. Have participants look at the Materials:
description of a “Culture of Philanthropy” in Culture of
Philanthropy
their training materials.

Text in Participant’s Training Materials:

For a not-for-profit organization to be truly
successful and effective, the organization
must develop a culture of philanthropy.

This means that everyone in the organiza-

tion … from the janitor to the president of the
board … understands that philanthropy and
fund development are critical to organization-
al health AND that each individual (both the
janitor and board president) has a role in the
process.

First and foremost, everyone is an ambas-

sador for the organization’s service, and for
philanthropy and fund development. Being
an ambassador means doing one’s own job
well, understanding how all the various jobs
in the organization create one integrated sys-
tem, and—most especially—treating all the
organization’s customers (clients, donors,
volunteers, community people, etc.) with care
and respect.

Background Information:

The training material, “Culture of Philanthropy” is

an excerpt from an article by Simone P. Joyaux,
ACFRE (Advanced Certified Fund Raising
Executive), who says:

Philanthropy and fund development—inextricably

entwined—belong to the entire organization.
Every individual. Every department. All
volunteers.

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Key Points To Make:

• Everyone is an ambassador for philanthropy

and fund development.

• If the quality of the program is not high, it

doesn’t matter what the fundraiser does.

• If board members don’t talk enough about the

organization with their friends and colleagues,
it doesn’t matter how hard the executive
director tries to raise funds.

• If the receptionist isn’t sufficiently helpful,

the best direct mail solicitation will not be as
effective as it could be.

2. Have participants think for a moment about

their sites (if they are familiar with them) and/
or their member assignments or resource
mobilization, in general.

Ask that participants turn to a neighbor and

discuss:

1. What does this theory mean about

resource mobilization?

2. What impact would this framework have on

organizations?

Their answers may range from, “It’s a good fit to

what my sponsor is doing already,” to “This could
radically change the focus of what I would be
doing.”

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Key Points To Make:

• People sometimes get so focused on the

short term (amount of money raised) that they
forget the long-term effort (creating a system
for resource mobilization, establishing a good
reputation, increasing awareness of their
issue, establishing a network of supporters).

• Our task is to help our sites build the capacity

to support their projects over the long run—
long after VISTA leaves the organization.

30 minutes Introducing Yourself as a VISTA

1. Tell participants they will explore what
it means to be an ambassador for their
sponsoring organization. The next activity is
one that all participants will be doing soon
after their service begins, if they have not
already done so—introducing themselves as
VISTA members.

Key Points To Make:

• It is important to be able to establish contact

and introduce themselves and the program to
members of community organizations, local
businesses, and other stakeholders in their
efforts. They are ambassadors for their VISTA
projects and for AmeriCorps*VISTA.

• Building relationships is critical to their suc-

cess as a VISTA. Establishing contacts and
building relationships comes before asking for
any kind of support (e.g., recruiting, network-
ing, resource-gathering).

• This section will give them the opportunity to

become comfortable introducing themselves
and their program through role-play.

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2. Go through the criteria for a confident and Overhead:
clear introduction: clarity, brevity, eye contact, Criteria for
voice, body language, physical presentation, Confident
and Clear
listening ability.
Introductions

3. Introduce the concept of an “elevator Overhead: A

speech.” They will have one minute—the time Conversation
it takes an elevator to go from the first to the About Your
Project
fourth floor—to engage the listener in who
they are, what their project is about, and what
a VISTA member is.

As a guide, use the overhead, “A

Conversation About Your Project,” as an
example. Participants will be asked to think
of an interest tickler, piquer, and captivator to
engage listeners.

Note to Facilitator:

You may want to briefly demonstrate the conver-

sation with someone in the room.

4. Have the participants use their handout, “A Training

Conversation About Your Project,” to write Materials:
out their introduction—including their name, A Conversation
About Your
the organization they are with, and a brief
Project
description of their project.

• The introduction should be communicated

in no more than three or four sentences.

• Participants should also prepare a

response to the question “What is an
AmeriCorps*VISTA?”

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5. For the introduction activity, you have two
options for how participants will work:

Option 1:
Ask the participants to break into pairs and select
a person that they don’t know. Have them prac-
tice their introductions with each other. The lis-
tening partner should note the criteria for a con-
fident and clear introduction (clarity, brevity, body
language, eye contact, voice, body language,
physical presentation, listening ability) so they
can provide feedback to the speaker.

Option 2:
Form a wagon wheel and have participants prac-
tice their introductions in two minute segments
with their rotating partners. The listening partner
should note the criteria for a confident and clear
introduction (clarity, brevity, body language, eye
contact, voice, body language, physical presen-
tation, listening ability) so they can provide feed-
back to the speaker.
6. Have the pairs thank their partners and return
to their seats.
7. Use the overhead, “Questions About Your Overhead:
Presentation,” to process the experience. Questions About
Popcorn out answers. Your Presentation

• As the speaker, what were the easiest and

hardest parts of introducing yourself and
your project?

• As the listener, what worked and what

were the challenges of the presentation?

• What impact does physical presentation

and body language have on the listener?

• What strategies did you use to strengthen

your presentation?

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8. Refer the participants to the handout, “Get Training
the Goals in Your Memory Bank.” As they Materials:
become more familiar with their project, Get the Goals
in Your Memory
they will want to identify the dollars, donated
Bank
items, and services/help that they need so it
can become part of their conversation.

20 minutes How To Develop a Resource Mobilization Plan

1. Lead a mini-teach on How To Develop an Overhead:
Effective Resource Mobilization Plan. How To Develop
an Effective
2. Show the VISTAs the overhead: How to Resource
Mobilization Plan:
Develop an Effective Resource Mobilization
Stages
Plan: Stages.

Note to Facilitator:

Depending on the group dynamic, decide if

you want to give each table a component to
work on to define or if you want to popcorn out
the answers from the entire group. Chart their
answers and add the information to each catego-
ry that they may miss.

Note to Facilitator: Training

Materials:
The goal is to give the participants the big pic- How To Develop
an Effective
ture of what is needed to put together a resource Resource
mobilization plan. It is not intended to be an Mobilization Plan
in-depth discussion about each category. Refer
VISTAs to the detailed Training Material, How To
Develop an Effective Resource Mobilization Plan.
This is meant to be used as a future reference—
not during the session.

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Key Points To Make: How To Develop an
Effective Resource Mobilization Plan

Research

• Evaluating the organization’s future finan-

cial needs and goals

• Reviewing the organization’s past work in

resource mobilization

• Reviewing what works and doesn’t within

your community

• Studying which funders support your type

of project

Plan

• Creating a long-range fund-raising plan

and updating it yearly

• Establishing fund-raising goals

• Selecting the strategies to pursue the

needed resources

• Selecting the kinds of programs or proj-

ects you will develop and/or implement

• Designing the format of the database/

deciding what data you will need to collect
on your donors

Conduct

• Maintaining fund-raising records

• Writing and sending fund-raising letters

• Visiting major donors

• Sending thank-you notes or overseeing

that task

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• Training board, staff, and volunteers in
fundraising

• Instituting a public relations program

• Maintaining a process for adding new

board members

Evaluate

• Evaluating a process for adding new

board members

• Monitoring the amounts raised

• Collecting feedback from the volunteers

involved in the process

• Monitoring the response rate

• Reporting to foundations or large donors

on specific projects

3. Ask VISTAs to take out their sticky notes from

the “Understanding the Member Assignment
Session.” At their tables, ask them to discuss:

• What will you be doing in resource mobili-

zation?

• What connections do you see between the

components that we have just reviewed
and your member assignment?

Key Points To Make:

• VISTAs, work in resource mobilization usually

involves all four components. We are not ask-
ing them to pigeonhole their work, rather to
see how comprehensive it might be.

• Reinforce that they don’t do this work alone.

• It is important to learn the history of resource

mobilization within the organization.

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4. Show overhead and ask them to consider: Overhead:
Resource
• How does this work contribute to the Mobilization
Activity
capacity of the organization? Questions

• What are the implications of your assign-

ment in terms of the transfer of skills once
you leave the organization?

• What questions do you now have for your VISTA Notebook

in back of binder
supervisor about your member assign-
ment? List the questions in your notebook.

2 minutes 5. Refer participants to “The Giving Pie” in their Training

training materials and have them analyze the Materials:
information. Giving Pie—
Source of
Contributions
Background Information. The source of
these two pie charts (Giving USA) reports
annual giving from four sources of contribu-
tions: individual donors (living); bequests by
deceased individuals; foundations; and corpo-
rations.

6. Ask participants:

• What do these data tell you about fund-

raising and sources of funding?

• What implications do they have for your

work? How will they influence your think-
ing during your VISTA service?

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Key Points To Make: Participants should be
able to arrive at these conclusions but may need
your help. Giving USA 2006 indicates that in
2005:

• Individual giving is the largest single source

of donations. It accounts for 76.5 percent of
all estimated giving in 2005.

• Estimated charitable bequests of $17.44 bil-

lion are 6.7 percent of total estimated chari-
table giving for 2005.

• Foundation giving was 11.5 percent of total

estimated charitable giving in 2005.

• Corporate donations were 5.3 percent of the

total estimate for charitable gifts.

7. Refer participants to “Giving Pie: Recipient Training

Organization” in their training materials. Materials:
Instruct them to take a minute to analyze the Giving Pie:
Recipient
information.
Organization
Background Information:
This pie chart analyzes contributions received
by types of organizations.

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8. Ask participants:

• What do these data tell you about fund-

raising and those who receive it?

• What implications do they have for your

work? How will it influence your thinking
during your VISTA service?

Key Points To Make: Participants should be

able to arrive at these conclusions but may need
your help.

• The type(s) of organizations that received the

most contributions are religion and education.
Those which received the lowest percent of
contributions were international affairs and
environment/animals organizations.

• Contributions fluctuate from year to year.

• Knowing where more available money might

be may help identify where to direct efforts.

• Advise participants that they should refer to

these pie charts during their VISTA service.

9. Explain that within each of these giving

categories, it is ultimately people who make
the decision to support or not support you
with their resources. Sometimes it is an
individual, and sometimes it is a group of
individuals; the human element is always
present.

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Key Points To Make:

• Cardinal Rule: “People give to people

because of people.”

• Ultimately it is people who give donations of

money or in-kind services. Thus, relationship
building is essential.

• Networking and communications are also

linked to successful resource mobilization
efforts.

• Ultimately, it is a human being who makes

the decision when face-to-face solicitations
are being made, when written grant proposals
are submitted, or when resource mobilization
deals are struck.

• There are fundamental principles that apply

within each form of resource mobilization
strategy, but the bottom line is connecting
with people who have an interest in your
mission.

10 minutes Break

1 hour In-Kind Donations and Making the Ask

1. Build on the discussion of funding in terms of
cash contributions to introduce the concept
of in-kind donations. Give examples, if
necessary.

2. Now tell the group that they will be practicing

how to connect with people to solicit in-kind
donations based on the following scenario.

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Read to the Group:
Each project represented in the room is working
with a sponsor organization that is holding a spe-
cial event fundraiser. The event includes a pan-
cake breakfast, with an auction and raffle prize at
the end of the meal. The VISTA members have
been assigned to get as many in-kind donations
as possible for the event. The in-kind donations
will be used to offset the cost of the pancake
breakfast, and/or to provide items for the after-
breakfast auction. Once all the in-kind donations
are identified, the best one will be assigned as
the raffle prize.

3. Distribute the business cards so that each Business Cards

pair has one card. Ask the participants to
pretend that the person/company represented
on the card lives and works in the town in
which the member serves.

4. Tell them that they should focus on the

company represented on the card, and, when
available, the position of the person named
on the card. Given the pancake breakfast,
auction, and raffle scenario, what kind of
donation would make sense for this person/
company to make to the event?

Reinforce the idea that they must think stra-

tegically. Ask them if they know why they
should ask for three things.

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Key Points To Make. The following information
needs to be well understood.

• In resource mobilization the “Rule of Three”

refers to always asking in threes. The key to
the Rule of Three is that you ask for a fairly
significant gift. If the person asked responds
with a “No, I can’t do that,” you ask for a sec-
ond, less significant gift. If that gift is denied,
you ask for something much smaller that is
virtually impossible to say “no” to. Why is this
important? Why three asks?

• The Rule of Three is an age-old, time-tested

rule. It applies to both asking for money and
asking for in-kind gifts. It works because,
deep down, people DO want to help make
a difference in the world, and there is a psy-
chological discomfort that grows when indi-
viduals say “no” over and over. If you make a
small request on the third ask, you will almost
always get a “yes.”

• Corporations and businesses are more will-

ing to donate products than cash to nonprofit
organizations.

• The market value of an in-kind gift can be

more than double the value of a cash dona-
tion from the same donor, since the gift’s cost
to the donor is only the product’s wholesale
cost, which might be only half of its market
price.

• Translation: The company can give more

things than money when you find ways to
make use of business model or product.

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5 minutes 5. Ask the participants to take five minutes to
identify three things this person/company
could donate to the event.

6. Highlight the process of “Making the Ask” by Overhead

showing the “Stages of an Ask” overhead & Training
and referring participants to the page in their Materials:
The Stages of
training materials. Quickly review the notes
an Ask
below to discuss each stage:

Opening

• Establish a relationship

• Explain mission/purpose

• Identify needs

Discover

• Their motivations

• Their frame of reference/point of view

Present “the Ask”

• Frame the presentation from their point

of view

• Capture their heart and mind

• Talk about what they can do to:

• Help you and/or the organization

• Probe current needs

• Satisfy their interests

Listen

• Focus

• Don’t interrupt

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Respond

• Draw out more information

• Attempt to overcome objections

Closure

• Check for understanding

• Do follow-up immediately

• Leave the door open

7. Use the overheads “The Smart Ask” and Overhead:

“What Is a Smart Ask?” to further clarify The Smart
and introduce the “Making the Ask” practice Ask, What is a
SMART Ask?
activity.

8. To do the “Making the Ask” activity, show the Overhead:

“‘The Ask’ Scenario Instructions” overhead. “The Ask”
Instruct pairs to find another pair to team with: Scenario
Instructions
1. Each pair will find another pair to team up
with for the ask.

2. Both members of the solicitation team

should have a speaking role in the ask.

3. Both pairs will take turns being both the

askers and the prospects. The prospects
will assume the role of the organization/
individual on the business card.

4. Each solicitation team has five minutes to

present their “ask.” Focus on making the
request(s) that you have already listed
with your partner.

5. Each solicitation team critiques their own

“ask” presentation and then receives
feedback from the other pairs. Use the
“ask observers” sheet to help you with the
critique. Could they have asked for some-
thing more? Less? Different?

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9. Advise participants to use the handouts, “The Training
Stages of an Ask” and “The Ask Observer’s Materials:
Sheet” as they do this activity. The Stages of
the Ask, The
Ask Observer’s
Handout

10. After five minutes, reconvene the group Overhead:

to process the activity. Ask participants the The ASK
following questions: Scenario Debrief
Question
• Was it hard or easy to come up with items to
request from the individuals/firms on the busi-
ness cards? Why?

• What were you thinking or feeling as you

made your request? How did it feel to be the
prospect?

• What did you learn from this process?

• How can you use this experience to improve

your project?

Key Points To Make:

• Ask them to consider how they would convert

the in-kind donation into an ongoing relation-
ship with the donor. Where will the record of
this donation be once you leave the organiza-
tion?

• Reinforce the Rule of Three and remind par-

ticipants that the number-one reason that
people give is the same as the number-one
reason that people volunteer: They’re ASKED.

10 minutes Conclusion and Evaluation Forms

1. Conclude the session by explaining to
participants that resource mobilization is a
process. Emphasize that just like anything
you do, the journey is not straight, but
consists of many twists and turns.

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2. Solicit from participants some key insights
and strategies they gained from the session.

3. Refer participants to the additional Training

resources in their training materials titled, Materials:
“Stakeholders,” “Resource Mobilization
Stakeholders
Resources,” and “Case Statement”
Resource
Mobilization
Resources

Case Statement

4. Ask participants to rate the statements on Evaluation Forms

their evaluation forms related to the Resource
Mobilization session and ask them to also
complete the rest of the form.

Collect the forms from participants and return

them to the RTL.

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Capacity Building: Resource Mobilization

VISTA Pre-Service Orientation – Session Flow

Outcomes, VISTAs Resource

resource introducing mobilization plan
mobilization & themselves & & pie charts
capacity building their project

InKind
donations & Closing &
making the ask evaluation

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