If food is nourishment to a person, money is sustenance for most nonprofit organizations. Yet many small organizations rely on one-off efforts and get-rich events in place of real fundraising strategies. Just because an organization is small, or volunteer-run, or located in a rural area, does not mean its leaders can't professionalize their fundraising, establish effective processes, and build genuine relationships that will lead to the ultimate goal: people giving to people. Beyond the Bake Sale: Fundraising for Local History Organizations meets organizations where they are, cutting through all of the assumptions and mumbo-jumbo, taking professional fundraising strategies and scaling them to an accessible level. Designed specifically for small cultural heritage organizations, this book is written with their unique challenges in mind. From caring for objects-based collections to succeeding with minimal (or no) permanent staff to grant writing for those who've never written grants, this book is for local history organization leaders doing critical work to care for our shared history. Complete with explanations, examples, and thought-provoking questions, this book challenges local history leaders to brainstorm, communicate, experiment, and plan. Blank worksheets encourage readers to put ideas down in writing and establish processes to build upon. Whether read cover to cover or used as a reference text for specific topics, users will find material that begins with a broad overview before narrowing to focus on tips and tactics that will help grassroots fundraisers feel more comfortable, confident and confident in their efforts. Above all else, this book is grounded in the idea that fundraising is an intentional, people-focused process built on genuine, personal relationships. This philosophy should be as accessible to leaders at small cultural heritage organizations as to anyone else doing important nonprofit work in their communities.
About the Author: Jamie Simek helps organizations get organized. She is a systems thinker specializing in non-profit resource development at small and mid-sized museums. Her 20-year career in organization and constituent relations includes stops in university and alumni relations, student organization advising, veterans services, fundraising training, and grant writing. As the fundraising educator for Local History Services at the Indiana Historical Society, she was responsible for teaching fundraising, grant writing and evaluation methods to hundreds of local history organization leaders.First at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, and now at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, she is the grants manager and a member of the advancement team. By embracing her roles as both fundraising professional and museum professional, Jamie is committed to learning and sharing everything she can about resource development at museums of all sizes. Her unique professional background provides multiple perspectives that are helpful to small and medium-sized cultural heritage organizations. From working with local history organizations as a field services officer, to serving as a grant fund administrator and review panel facilitator, to preparing multiple proposals each year as a museum grant writer, Jamie understands the benefits and challenges that are inherent to these groups. She has served as a session and workshop presenter at AASLH annual meetings, chaired the StEPs Enhancement Fundraising Committee, authored the summer 2018 AASLH Technical Leaflet on fundraising basics for local history organizations and provided fundraising training to the Field Service Alliance on behalf of the American Alliance for Museums. She also provides fundraising training, grant writing, proposal critiques, and program design and evaluation reviews as an independent consultant. She holds a bachelor's degree and Master of Science in Education from Purdue University and is a 2019 graduate of the Syracuse University V-WISE (Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) program.