Fundraising

[Milan]

Here's something which we could conceivably apply for:

New Student Initiative Fund

 

Every year our students have great ideas for events and projects to enhance the student experience. A new fund has been created to encourage and support these activities.

 

The Student Initiative Fund (SIF) offers financial support to a maximum amount of $5,000 to projects that enhance the student experience, foster a sense of community at the University of Toronto, and benefit students on the St. George Campus.

 

In order to be eligible for funding, projects should:

• contribute positively to the University of Toronto student experience

• reach a broad student community

• add value to the University of Toronto community

• broadly align with the University of Toronto’s mission, vision and values as outlined in the University’s Statement of Institutional Purpose

 

To learn more, please visit the Student Initiative Fund web page > www.sif.utoronto.ca.

[thugsb]

Good find. Let's go thru it on Tues.

[Milan]

Here is another email I got about the Student Initiative Fund. We should think about how much we might want to ask for and what we will be using it for.

Turn your great idea into reality!

Have an idea for an activity at U of T and need some funds to make it happen?

The new Student Initiative Fund is here to help.
 
The Student Initiative Fund (SIF) offers financial support to projects that enhance the student experience and foster a sense of community at the University of Toronto.

A committee of students and staff will review requests of up to $5000 and award funds for projects, events or activities that will benefit students at the U of T St. George campus.

In order to be eligible for funding, projects should:

o  contribute positively to the University of Toronto student experience

o  reach a broad student community

o  add value to the University of Toronto community

o  broadly align with the University of Toronto’s mission, vision and values as outlined in the University’s Statement of Institutional Purpose

Requests for funding from the SIF may be submitted by any University of Toronto student, or student group.

 

For more information please click the link below:

http://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/Student-Initiative-Fund.htm/?utm_source=bulletin&utm_medium=email&utm_content=student

[thugsb]

Not exactly fundraising, but we could apply for a Google Grant to get free adwords (to advertise a campaign), and also get help on Youtube to boost any videos we post.

http://www.google.ca/intl/en/grants/

http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits?info_lang=ca

Sadly Google Apps for Nonprofits is only available in the US. :(

[Amelia Rose]

Hello all,

Was there any followup to the Student Initiative Fund, If you require funding for the 2013-2014 year, the online application will be opened on May 1, 2013.  We should look into this, if we want to try to get out funding from them.

As for the Google ideas that were put out, we need to be an NGO or Registered Charity to make any of these happen.  Was there any followup to the Google Adwords?

There is the Good Idea Fund from Hart House that we can apply for next school year as the next deadline is March 4th.  The requirements are:

The Good Ideas Fund is open to all full- or part-time U of T students and to any U of T student group on all campuses

 

Funding priorities for the GIF include:

• Activities or projects that reflect the Hart House Vision
• Activities or projects that enhance or have a significant impact on student life on campus
• Activities or projects open to all students and that benefit all students
• Activities that promote diversity, collaboration and interaction between student groups

Full details of this can be seen here: http://harthouse.ca/good-ideas-fund/

As for others ways to get funding which will bring in little money depending on how much we do:

• Bake sales where we actually make the food and get a table at UofT.  Brings in little money.
• There could be a monthly movie night we host at UofT.  Brings in some money depends how big the audience.
• Events (teach-ins or speakers or actions/rallies) at UofT that we organize could bring on other groups that would fund our efforts.
• Last, we could do a fun night where people at UofT and the community can get to know 350.org Toronto.  Brings in some money, depends on how we do this.

Thanks,

Amelia Rose

[Amelia Rose]

Hello all,

I have 2 more way we can try for funding at UofT.

U.T.S.U. Funding:

We can try and get funding from U.T.S.U. (http://utsu.ca/section/34) once we have become a recognized group with them.  May 1st – 2013-2014 recognition opens, and we can apply to become a group.

From the FAQ (http://utsu.ca/section/1170), I have read that:

4. How many members does a group need to have to be eligible for U.T.S.U. recognition?
To be eligible for U.T.S.U. recognition a group must have at least 30 members, 50% of which have to be U.T.S.U. members.

5. What is a U.T.S.U. member?
A U.T.S.U. member is defined as any full time undergraduate student at the St. George or Mississauga campus.

11. Does our group need a bank account, or can you just write me a cheque?
The U.T.S.U. can NOT issue a funding cheque to an individual. A group must have a bank account in the groups’ name, with at least 2 signing officers on the account. To open a bank account, you need to request a letter of recognition from the Ulife Campus Groups Officer. Please visit the Campus Organizations FAQ’s page of www.ulife.utoronto.ca for more information.

The complete group form for the U.T.S.U is here: http://utsu.ca/section/1020

I have talked to a lot of people who have been apart of U.T.S.U. groups in the past and this helps the group massively in terms of what they give us for free.

Dean's Student Initiatives Fund:

Which has come and gone for this year but can try for the next year.  The criteria for this is here: http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/scholarships/dean-s-student-initiatives-fund-criteria/

Last is there a way we can update our Ulife Group Page: https://www.ulife.utoronto.ca/organizations/view/id/21074

Thanks,
Amelia Rose

[Milan]

is there a way we can update our Ulife Group Page

Monica and I can change some things about the page. Is there anything in particular that should be altered?

I updated our member number and my and Monica's roles.

[Amelia Rose]

This is exactly what I was thinking needing updating. Nothing else I can see needs updating.

[Amelia Rose]

Here is what I found going through the notes on the Grassroots Fundraising that Tools for Change had and previous notes.

NOTE: BANK ACCOUNT IS MOST IMPORTANT.

Need tracking system to know what number is going in and out. Also we need to keep a Members / Contact list and if they are a member keep track if they are U of T student.

All of this needs to be part of a larger strategy. We also need a case for support to show people why they should support us.

U.T.S.U Funding - Must have 30 members with 50% utsu members that are undergraduate from St. George or Mississauga Campuses. Need a bank account with 2 signing officers. May 1st is the start date.

Online - We need to get online fundraising going once we have a bank account. We can look into Paypal and others to get online donations.

Crowd Sourcing Online - We can use Indie Go Go with a video to raise funds that we need.

Email to members to donate.

Canvassing / Outdoor - This can be good but difficult as little money is raised for time put in. Should we do this once a month?

Asking NGOs, Unions, Religious groups, OPIRG, Community groups (almost all are email first then face to face meeting).

Grants -

Freedonia - Deadline was March 17th
Small Change Fund - Needs a Registered Charity to get involved from us or other group that let's us use them
Patagonia - April 30th deadline by unsure if charity is needed. Guidelines: http://www.patagonia.com/ca/patagonia.go?assetid=2942
Mountain Equipment Co-Op has grants but couldn't find the right information. Also we might be able to get a table inside the store if we ask them.

Phone Banking - We need to get our contact list updated and have a script that everyone can read. We could make this a party one day and get enough people to make this go faster.

Fee for Service - Do we have any skills in the group that we can do a workshop on for the public and ask them to pay / donate?

Events - If we put lots of energy into this, what is a good donation outcome? Depends on the each single event.

Thanks,
Amelia Rose

[Amelia Rose]

This is an update on fundraising. I have been researching a lot and came up with many things.

HAS THIS BE DONE:  There needs to be a Members / Contact list to keep track if they are U of T student plus if they are active or non-active.

First, 350 the mothership does a lot of videos, Why???  Not only to get people to come to their events or see what has happened, they are doing this to get people to notice them for fundraising and donating.  350.org Toronto needs to do more videos of their different events that happen if possible.  With this, the videos can be used to crowd-fund our group if there is a willingness to do that.

Connecting with Unions is good which I have gotten a few group names that can be approached but they are hard to go after.  What can be done is going to Student Unions and asking them (does anyone have contacts with them?).

Trying OPIRGs could be another way to get money but also teaming up with some of the groups that are already there could be another way to do fundraising.

There is the option of going to NGO's in Toronto as I have done in the past and getting them to endorse Toronto 350 and then asking them if they can donate to us.

Last, I heard LUSH (the beauty-bath store), gives out money: http://www.lush.ca/on/demandware.store/Sites-LushCA-Site/en_CA/Charities-Support and 350.org is a partner of theirs which would be good to try and get money from them.

As how to reach these groups, phone calls or personalized letters to these groups works.  This is where others in the group can help if anyone wants to work with me on letters to these groups that would be good.

Once there is a setup of the online donation on the website, if in each of the emails that goes out there can be a request for donations that would be good.

Whenever an event is put on by us, there needs to be a passing of the hat for sure this way people can donate to our causes.

Beyond all of this, I have a massive project idea related to the Summer Heat and Line 9 that could bring us funding for sure.  I was at the meeting last night of Line 9, and saw that everyone was thinking about June, August, September for events to have.  Since the Summer Heat events are in the last 2 weeks of July, why can't Toronto 350, do an event around Line 9 for that time?  If there is a YES for this, there should be a pitch made to the wider Line 9 list ASAP.

Thanks,
Amelia Rose

[Amelia Rose]

Another update on fundraising.

Has anyone asked the 350 Mothership if there is any funds they have for local groups?  I know that most of our communication goes through CYCC now but there might be funds somewhere there.  If we go to them, there needs to be a report on what we have done, pictures, articles, videos, whatever has been done.  Beyond this, 350 Mothership might be able to help us get grants and I can talk about this in more details.

Getting a big name speaker could be good for fundraising as we have said in the past Bill McKibbon is a good one but is super busy.  Another way, is to ask the Alumni of UofT to come and speak that would be interesting.  With this, there could be a debate about divesting or another issue based on our campaigns.  People that could be asked are Naomi Klein and/or Margaret Atwood.  All of this doesn't have to be done by ourselves but would be good to get something like this going.

What other groups has Toronto 350 worked with?  If there is a list that will help us understand what groups to contact in the future.

Thanks,
Amelia Rose

[thugsb]

Awesome, thanks for putting this together. We should discuss on Tuesday in depth.

[pres...@toronto350.org]

I agree. We will put fundraising on the agenda for Tuesday.

[thugsb]

For those of us who are nervous about banking with TD, this might alleviate some fears.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/redefining-the-meaning-of-ceo-at-td-bank/article12303633/

Not all of them. But maybe some.

[Amelia Rose]

Hello all,

I thought that LUSH had put in an application for us but they got back to me and said that we need to apply online.  Here is the guidelines: http://www.lush.ca/Charity-Pot-Funding-Guidelines/cp-funding,en_CA,pg.html and application: http://www.lush.ca/Apply-for-Charity-Pot-Funding/cp-apply,en_CA,pg.html If others can look at this and help me fill this out that would be good as this is really long.

Thanks,
Amelia Rose