Non-Profit Contributions vs. Fear!!! (or for-profits)

SolidGrnd

So...I am a start-up non-profit organization. We are still in our infancy but growing well. I ran into a little issue today...a family friend expressed concern over the staying power of the nonprofit and her making a donation. I tried to kindly express that donations are what determine (not fully but you get the idea) the staying power of the non-profit (if it is a 501(c)3).
How have some of you overcome the stigma of EVERYONE elses failures!? It seems like the idea of a start-up failing makes it VERY hard to get people to take you seriously, even if the idea is a firm one!
Just curious if anyone else has experienced this...and how they overcame this issue!? 

sarahleighm

Leah,
When we started our education foundation we ran into the same
problems. "What`s going to happen to my money when you dissolve?"
Love that negativity! We ended up promising that should the E Cubed
Foundation end up having no staying power then all donations would be
handed over to the Community Foundation to be used for educational
purposes for all of our rural schools. This seemed to appease the
naysayers and I am happy to say that we are still going strong and are
now in our fifth year. We still run into some people who think that we
have an alterior motive for their money, but these people are slowly being
won over when they see how the rural school students are benefiting
from the programs we have brought into the schools.
If I can help you with any fundraising ideas let me know.
Keep up the good work
Cheers
Sarah

SolidGrnd

Yeah, we have board members that are credible...and that has definitely helped. I think the hard part about "borrowing" credibility is that the industry is extremely saturated and it is difficult to find non-profits in your arena of expertise who are willing to "share the wealth". Which is another issue...the saturation of the industry. Even though there are few nonprofits (if any) that do what I am doing...there are soooooooo many non-profits in general that finding funding is hard. Everyone is fighting over that last tiny piece of meat at the table!
Sarah...I would LOVE some help with fundraising ideas...especially start-up fundraising. We jsut finished our first mailing which was to friends and family for seed funds. It went pretty well considering it was such a small mailing. I am always interested in new ideas though...and at this point...we could use them!
I am going to start working with local orgnizations to "team" so they can use our services...and hopefully that will add some credibility as well. Thanks for all that ideas guys! Much appreciated!!