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Introduction



Welcome to our fast course in fund raising for cultural project. We will guide you in the labyrinthine world of funds providing you some useful and ready-to-use tools and asking you to keep practice through some easy and funny exercises. You could find out and improve your hidden funding skills! The course is aimed at Youth Workers and young people involved in their community who would like to manage a project on telling grandma story through a pop-up exhibition.

Aims of the course: - The aim of this course is to develop your basic funding skills and knowledge so you and
your team can manage a pop-up exhibition without problems.


What you will learn using our course.

  • Who is a fundraiser and which skills he needs
  • Work together with management and marketing member of your team
  • Find out real needs of your project and translate them in money
  • Draw up a budget
  • Find a fund: various kind of funds available
  • Express yourself and communicate your project effectively (communication skills –writing and
    speeching-)
  • How to communicate with your funder (find and keep him!)
  • What crowdfunding is, its advantages and disadvantages
  • How to manage a crowdfunding campaign
  • Use tools already available

 

Task



Task 1:- Who is a fundraiser? Which skills does he need? You will find out a real job description with specific

skills that you may already have but that you surely can improve. Watch our videos!

Task 2:- Which other team members does he work with? You need to make this cooperation as effective as
possible, in order to have a good result and also to build a good team spirit. A good job actually
integrated with others is not just a good job, it’s the beginning of a good project. Explore other part
of this guidelines and cooperate with your team members doing these exercises.

Task 3:- Which are the project’s needs? And above all, how can you translate these needs in number? Seeing
money under needs it’s the first step to draw up a good budget. In this case, ‘good’ means specific
and exact, two of the main skills of a fundraiser. Watch our videos, explore our links and list down
your pop-up exhibition budget.

Task 4:- How can you draw up a budget? Exercise yourself and fill out our format.

Task 5:- Which source of funding are available in your context? Find them out through some useful link we
provide you and list them. Which one is the best to fund your pop-up exhibition?

Task 6:- What is the best way to communicate with a funder? Watch some examples and exercise yourself.

Task 7:- What’s about crowdfunding? Learn how to manage a crowdfunding campaign and why it can be a
‘more than funding’ tool for your project. Actually plan your crowdfunding campaign.
Once everybody has a role you can get to work and start the initial stages of the project. Start learning
what you have to do.

Process



We are going to simulate the actual funding of your pop-up exhibition. If you’ve already planned one, use it! If not, try to imagine it. A suggestion: use your real context and team, do not invent them. At the beginning of each step you have to write down your answer at our question before you read learning materials. In this way you will understand your previous knowledge and how it changes during the course. It’s also a good way of self-evaluation!
Ready? Let’s go!

Step 1. Understand what exactly is the role of fundraiser and which skills he needs. List these skills (which ones you have in mind) and arrange them from that you think the most important to the less one. Then look at the job profile of fundraiser we provide you and try to correct yourself. Were you right, where you wrong? What does exactly change in your opinion about this role? Watch our experts tips!

Step 2. List you pop-up exhibition’s needs and try to translate them in money. Suggestion: brainstorm everything you think it needs for a pop-up exhibition, then ask your colleagues to check and add something to your list. Then circle in green things you already have and in red what you haven’t and arrange them in two different column. Now put aside the ‘green’ column and keep the red one. Do not forget to add the non-material ‘things’ you need, like each human resource or availability of location and support of institutions. You can follow our template!

Step 3. Arrange your list in a budget form: learn the great skill to be meticulous and specific!
Delete items from your ‘red list’ things you can’t buy with money and send them to other management sector of your team: their job is to reallocate aims.
Now give a number! Contact other member of your team or who can estimate the cost you need. You have to put a number (more specific possible) near each word of your list. Add the numbers. You have the whole amount your pop-up exhibition needs to be actually create and implemented.
N.B.: do not forget sustainability cost. How long do you expect it will last? Watch at the examples we give you and, if you need, try to follow our format: that tool can make your life easier!

Step 4. List the sources of fund you think you have. Now check our list and find out the best source of fund available in your context following the size and needs of your project. By process of elimination, select two chances. Keeping in mind management and marketing needs make your choice and present it to other members justifying it (in order to convince them).

Step 5. Learn some strict rules and funny tips to better communicate with your funder, valid for all kind of them. Exercise them with your team in some funny team games.

Step 6. Discover the advantages of a crowdfunding campaign in cultural project and tools already available: follow our links. Oh yes, remember! We can have different kind of crowdfunding: the four different types of crowdfunding all get lumped under this umbrella term of crowdfunding, but they’re actually very different. This is also an important question, because the rest of this series focuses almost completely on one of those types of crowdfunding. Depending on where you look online, you’ll see different answers and sometimes different terms, but the way I break it down, there are four distinct types of crowdfunding. 

Rewards-based crowdfunding 
Donation-based crowdfunding 
Equity crowdfunding
Debt crowdfunding

Step 7. Plan your own crowdfunding campaign. Connect your team and make it collaborate. Mix funding and marketing, funding and dissemination, people and institution, economic and cultural, artistic world: the new border of funding is matching!

 

Conclusion

Evaluation

  • Understand fundraiser specific role in a team
  • Understand specific skills
  • Be able to fill out a good budget
  • Be able to find out the right fund for your project
  • Understand how to communicate with your funder
  • Be able to manage a funding process
  • Be able to manage a crowdfunding campaign