Your free sample business plan for nonprofit organizations covers a wide
range of business types, from ballet schools to zoological gardens.
KEY CONSIDERATION
Unlike other businesses, yours is not
concerned with profit. But it is very concerned with service.
Service to a specified clientele is a given in all nonprofit organizations.
Before taking one step further, define who
will benefit from your non profit organization. School children?
Laid off workers? Immigrants? Whatever that group is, that is
what you need to quantify in your business plan. This free sample
business plan for nonprofit organizations will help you do that.
For the purposes of this discussion, let's
assume that we are planning a museum for our area. We will be
expanding from a tiny one room museum into a modern, 100,000 square foot
facility. While the museum will get some government support, the bulk
of the funding will come from private sources.
WHO WILL THIS MUSEUM
SERVE?
Make a list of all the populations that
will benefit from the new museum:
- school children;
- artists;
- adults who enjoy art;
- the entire cultural community of the
area, including musicians, playwrights, book authors, and all manner of
craftspeople;
- the merchants near the new facility;
- the business climate of the area;
Then make a list of all the
organizations/entities that serve these populations, such as:
- parents;
- school board;
- art schools;
- universities and colleges;
- theaters and their patrons;
- the chamber of commerce;
- every trade organization in the area;
- etc. -- it's a long list!
Use this second list as your base of
funding sources. A lot of these sources cannot give money directly,
but they can certainly help you. For instance:
- Ask the PTAs to sponsor fundraisers;
- Ask school children to have cookie sales
and art sales;
- Ask art schools to provide
"preview" nights at their facilities, and provide you with a
list of their sponsors;
- Ask theaters for a list of their
sponsors;
- Ask the chamber of commerce to sponsor
fundraisers and give you access to their members;
- Go to every organization of any kind in
your area that will talk with you.
Then search through a
solid
grants directory for large organizational funding. The fact that
you are looking so extensively locally will serve you well with the large
charities.
The free sample business plan for nonprofit
organizations assumes that you will address the needs of each individual
group in your plan. Quantify it. How many hundreds of thousands
of people will this museum touch? How many millions of tourist dollars
will it bring into the community?
STRONGEST ADVANTAGE
Your strongest advantage may be the tax
deduction you can offer. It may be the cultural enhancement to the
area. Pinpoint it. Focus on it.
STRONGEST DISADVANTAGE
There are so many organizations vying for
funding that it is often difficult to be heard over the din. Having a
business plan ready, as outlined here in your free sample business plan for
nonprofit organizations, will place you head and shoulders above the others.
OVERCOMING THE DISADVANTAGE WITH YOUR FREE SAMPLE
BUSINESS PLAN FOR NONPROFIT
Use solid statistics to back up your
claims, and put those stats into charts that are readily comprehensible.
One of the most respected sources for
financial comparative information and demographic information is BizMiner.
Look for the Industry search box and enter "organization".
You will see a list of a number of
different types of cultural and civic organizations, including art schools,
ceramic school, music and drama schools, botanical gardens and museums.
On the page that appears, choose the type
of nonprofit that is most like yours, and you can order both a Financial
Analysis and a Marketing Research Report on this type of company.
These reports will be invaluable to you as you develop your free sample
business plan for nonprofit organizations.
Prove that you have the marketing background and skill to make the
nonprofit successful.
Here it is really is WHO you know, much
more than WHAT you know. Create a strong advisory board of community
members. Not only can they help you with locating funders, but just
having their names on your letterhead will go a long way to getting
introductions.
Grant organizations also like seeing a
strong management group. One person just doesn't do it. Even if
one person can actually run the nonprofit, it takes a board of respected
people to keep an eye on it. Don't ever try to go it alone.
YOUR ONLINE
PRESENCE IN ADDITION TO YOUR FREE SAMPLE BUSINESS PLAN FOR NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATIONS
Flash and dash isn't your
cup of tea. But having an online presence, a site that will
demonstrate what you are doing, and how far along you are, can be
immensely helpful. See Online
Business Plans for an idea or two on how to accomplish this.
THE LAST
WORD ON YOUR FREE SAMPLE BUSINESS PLAN FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
Bill Clarence, a real grants
expert, has created a series of free videos to help you get started.
Click here to access those videos: Government
Grants and Foundations.
More than any other type of
business plan, yours needs to demonstrate flexibility. You may be
presenting to a PTA group in the morning, the chamber of commerce in the
afternoon, and a soiree of benefactors in the evening. Each group
needs a presentation tailed especially to its focus.
Also, your business plan for
your nonprofit organization must demonstrate creativity.
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Free Sample Business Plan for Nonprofit Organizations
