FUNDING YOUR COALITION
While it would be nice to think that forming a landowner coalition will not cost much money, the reality is that costs can add up quickly depending on how you proceed ahead. However, if you recognize the time, effort, and money invested in a landowner coalition can have significant long term benefit, the upfront costs can be easily justified. The key is to recognize there will be costs associated with forming a coalition and come up with creative ways to help fund your group.
The following are examples of costs that you should expect to occur - depending on your goals for the landowner coalition - and include, but are not limited to:
- Group Website - it goes without saying that you really need to have a website for your landowner coalition. It is one of THE most effective ways to promote your group and exchange information with your membership.
Please note, having a landowner coalition website can easily pay for the cost of hosting for one year with the amount of paper and printing costs you will save by having information online. However, you will still need to consider paper copies for some information because some of your potential and future members may not have access to a computer.
- Paper and Photocopying - For membership forms, fliers, newsletters, informational documentation, etc. While it may be reasonable to use a home computer for printing small numbers of handout, you will probably find that it is best to use a professional copy center. Besides cheaper overall rates for bulk printing, Staples has a great rewards program that can add up to great cash back rebates quickly.
- Group Promotion - Things like newspaper ads, business cards, and group flyers are all great examples of how to advertise and market your landowner coalition. While there are costs associated with these methods, they can be very effective at growing your membership.
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Please note, this section is not meant to discourage you from forming a coalition, it is only intended to help make you aware of potential expenses so you can do preplanning in advance to come up with creative solutions on how to fund your landowner coalition.
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Funding Expenses
Expenses for the landowner coalition can be funded in a variety of ways such as:
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- Individual contributions and donations by members. Please note that unless you are a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, then donations to your group will not be federally deductible.
- Contributions by local business – many local business may be willing to donate to your organization, especially if you allow them to advertise on your website – this can be done using a simple link or banner advertisements. A good place to start to find a listing of local businesses is with your local Chamber of Commerce
- Grant opportunities by private companies and foundations – there may be opportunities for grant opportunities locally (include link to grant opportunities). The one downside to applying for grants is the requirements can be very specific and writing a grant can be very time consuming, however, there are a number of books (link) and companies that can provide assistance.
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Accepting Donations Online
You can accept credit card donations online by including a Paypal button on your website. Paypal has become the standard for accepting online payments easily. To accept donation online, you first need to set up a paypal premier or business account. One big difference between these accounts is the business account allows you to display your business name and logo, while the Premier (personal) account displays the Paypal account owner and name.
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When signing up for a Paypal account, you'll want to sign up with Website Payments Standard. This will allow you to easily add Paypal buttons to your website and allow people to use their credit cards to pay online. People paying or donating to you online do not need a Paypal account to do this.
There is not a monthly fee with Paypal Website Payments Standard, you just pay a small transaction fee and transaction percentage - based on volume of transactions. The highest fees you'll pay (based on lowest transaction volume) is 2.9% of transaction amount + $0.30 per transaction.
Paypal provides very easy reporting mechanisms as well as the ability to issue refunds and send requests for money. You can learn more at the Paypal website.
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OTHER RESOURCES
Additional resources on funding your coalition:
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