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Greetings all,
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Tarrant Makers just got its 501(c)3 approved and we are in the process of investigating grants. Meanwhile, we've been limping along on donation jar, garage sale and director funding to keep the bank account open, etc.
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We're looking into a variety of other fundraising modes, to wit:
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- community swag (Tee shirts, mugs, etc) starting with Zazzle to get stuff done quickly, but ultimately wanting community production if we see the interest
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- raffles
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- angel donors (one approached so far; no response yet, considering others)
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I'm also curious about member consulting, with a percentage plowed into the org, but people seem lukewarm on the idea so far.
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Anyway, I'd love to hear from you all on what is working for you and even what hasn't worked. One mode that has not worked well for us at all is a paypal link on our site: despite several appeals, it goes unclicked for the most part. Anyone else had success with Paypal (or similar)? What about crowdfunding tools?
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We're partnering with educational and civic organizations for makerspaces, so no expense on our part there, but we would like an office and a promotions budget, for starters. I estimate needing $30,000 or so per year, minimum, based on lease rates and wishlists.
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Assuming we land one or more grants, initial funding could be largely just a bootstrap...
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Thanks,
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Randy Arnold, Tarrant Makers
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<a href="http://tarrantmakers.org/">http://tarrantmakers.org</a>
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