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hey y'all so in this video I'm sharing four places to find free resources for your non-profit in your local area let's get into it [Music] hey y'all this is Tiffany with boss on the budget I help new and small nonprofits get up and running so if you need help with your non-profit why haven't you subscribed to my channel yet I have a bunch of resources I have over 100 videos to help you on your non-profit startup journey I am extremely passionate about helping new and small non-profits and so I provide free information free training to help get you started on your journey so make sure you are subscribed now I just recorded a video on places to find free training for your non-profit you should also check that out I'm linking that above but I am talking about today places in your local area in your local geographic area where you can find non-profit help all right I also want you to wait to the end because I have a bonus tip I love giving bonus tips I'm going to share a bonus tip of where you can also find trainings in your area that are specific to your local industry number one place that I always tell people to check in with is the non-profit Association in your area now the number Association is an organization set up to support its members and its members are non-profits in the local typically nonprofits in the local area so their whole mission is around getting you support now a lot of times they'll expect dues and if you're smaller they may have like a sliding scale or may allow you to get in for free or may allow like scholarships or something but they are typically a membership structure where you have to pay some kind of dues but the nonprofit Association is set up to support nonprofits so they often have resources and guides on their website especially for starting a non-profit so if you've heard me talk about starting a non-profit you'll know that starting a non-profit starts in the state that you're incorporating in it does not start at 501c3 status it does not start with the federal government if you are confused by this or this surprises you make sure you check out this video that I'm linking above about how to start a nonprofit and also make sure you download my free non-profit startup checklist which I'm linking below so you may not realize that you got to incorporate in the state first whatever state you're deciding to incorporate in you got to start there first and when I'm trying to figure out the lay of the land in a state I often find the non-profit Association because they will have links to really good information they may have links to sample documents like sample bylaws or sample policies and they also are great because they have a directory of non-profits often listed on their website and so if I want to check out other non-profits if I want to understand what other nonprofits are doing or to do my research like I talk about all the time when you're starting your nonprofit looking at other organizations I start there because that's a great resource that you can tap into to be able to understand how the nonprofit World works in your local area not every state has a non-profit Association though so just make sure you do your research and figure out if there is one that this in your area an alternative to this could be your chamber of commerce you absolutely should be tapped in to your chamber of commerce Commerce in your local area and to see what resources or training that they provide but also your local United Way which also had can have like a membership structure and your United Way can also funnel money to your non-profit if you are associated with the United Way now they're set up differently from location and location so I can't speak to every United Way but I know definitely in my area they the United Way in my area does fund other local nonprofits they receive money from different campaigns that they do and they funnel that out to other non-profits so the bottom line is check into whatever associations that are built around businesses specifically non-profit businesses because they will have resources that are often free to help you along your nonprofit Journey the second place is your Community Foundation I think Community foundations can often be an untapped resource especially for people who are new because why in the world would you even know that a Community Foundation exists I didn't know years ago that they existed but they very well do exist and a lot of times Your Community Foundation can be the funding Powerhouse in your local area meaning they can give out a lot of money or be responsible or oversee giving out a lot of money in your local area so Community foundations are just public foundations that are set up to funnel money in the local community and I just learned myself that Community foundations don't necessarily have to fund in their local community they tend to but if they are managing a pot of money or a fund for someone else that person may be interested in funding a different location that's not in the geographic area maybe they have some kind of attachment right like maybe they went to a certain college and they want to give money to a student at a college or something like that then they can give in other places as well but it's really important to be tapped into your local Community Foundation because they have a pulse and the people who have money in the local area and they often give out their own grants as well but the other reason why you want to tap into your Community Foundation is because they are also put in place to help support the nonprofit industry in the local area so often Community foundations will sponsor trainings or they'll give you access to Consultants or they'll provide resources on managing your non-profit sometimes they'll give away space they'll do so many different things to help nonprofits in the local area but the key is being tapped into them talking to them sharing information about what you do because if they don't know that you exist then they don't know what your needs are and I in particular feel very strongly that non new non-profits and small nonprofits absolutely need to be tapped in because your needs are a little different than establishment profits and so you need to be able to communicate what those are to community foundations right so establish nonprofits for example may need help you know managing their large donor bases or doing large Capital campaigns but you're not there yet because you're still in a development phase where you're getting there it's year it may be years until you get to that point so you're in a different phase you may need help with getting your first donors or understanding like how even to track information or strengthening your financial infrastructure the kind of support you need is different but if you're not advocating for your non-profit if you're not being vocal about what your needs are or tapping in to your program officers and other staff at your community foundations they won't know so that's why it's important to talk to meet people to share what you're doing so that you can really make sure you can tap into the right resources for your non-profit another place that you may not have thought about it's a great resource for training for your non-profit is your local library so often the local library will have free trainings or they'll sponsor trainings in your area to help you with certain things about your non-profit I just recently did a training for a local library it was completely free on how to start a non-profit right and they brought me and they sought me out they have a grant in that local library to support local business owners and that person who manages that Grant noticed that a lot of people were asking about non-profits so she made it her business to find Consultants who speak to non-profit development and non-profit startup and that's how she found me so there are often libraries just like that who have staff in place who their job is to find resources for people in the community so if you're not tapped into your local library you should be because they often will have access either access to trainings or they'll sponsor their own trainings and resources for your non-profit and the other thing that I like about local libraries is they often will have subscriptions to things like lynda.com like lynda.com is a platform where you can get courses on all kinds of topics and you can often if you go to the library you can tap in and access those courses for free right so there are so many things that are untapped in your local library that you may be missing because you just don't go and even in the pandemic a lot of libraries were giving access to their subscriptions virtually so if you do not have a local library card you should be thinking about how to get your library card me personally I grew up in the library my mom always had us in the library we were there almost every week getting books checking out books my thing was comic books but we were always there doing our homework or doing our research so this is back in the day before we had computers in the house I am dating myself but even still like libraries have evolved over time and there are a lot of different resources that you can grab or you can have access to in your local library the other thing I'll say is I did a video before about what to do when you need space for your non-profit and you can't have a building like you can't afford a building yet I'm linking that video above but your libraries can also be a resource for space as well so maybe you want to hold a training or you want to hold a session for your non-profit and you need space you can tap into your library and they may offer either free or low-cost space for your non-profit and finally your local business or Economic Development organization in your local area so this is what I'm talking about is a local government agency and the name may be different because from state to state they just name things differently agencies have different names but it's usually the economic development or the Community Development Office they often will have resources or trainings or like leadership cohorts that they'll sponsor for local business owners or they may Target small businesses because they're trying to stimulate the local economy and they understand the importance of small business owners and the importance of making sure that small business owners survive it's key to the local economy so they're going to put resources in place to make sure that you can stay afloat and you absolutely as a non-profit founder are a part of the small business group right you you are a small business owner even though you don't technically own your non-profit but you should still consider yourself that way and think about different resources that you can tap into that are sponsored for small business owners now there are certain certifications that you can't get as a non-profit um that don't aren't really designed for non-profits but that shouldn't stop you from still tapping into those offices to see what they have available for you they will often sponsor free or low-cost trainings or mentoring opportunities and I would just get to know the people in the office I would stop in say hello talk about your non-profit because that kind of networking will take you places that you never imagined so a lot of people ask me well how do I get a building or how do I get this or how do I get people to notice me or how do I get media attention and things like that a lot of times it's often just talking about your non-profit and making strategic alliances with people in these local offices in your area because the more they know about you the more they understand your story and what you do the more they can mention you and vouch for you in the places that they have access to that you may not have access to so the key to all of this is really being open and networking for your non-profit so I promised at the end of the video to share a bonus resource of what where you can find training opportunities or just resources for your non-profit and I'll just share this your local government leaders so particularly to people on your County Council or state government because I know states are structured a little bit differently but for me here we have what's called a County Council and our council members often sponsor events to support different groups in the county and they have an eye to supporting especially in my County small business owners so often they will put together mixers or happy hours or networking events and I know that this isn't like a straightforward training opportunity or like a straight up like educational resource but it could work wonders for your non-profit so what you need to do is make sure you are on the mailing list or are following on social media your local County council person and check for events that they're sponsoring or events where they're going to be because they often put out events where there are opportunities for you to meet other people in the local community so you can Network so just like I just said before with the local business development office it's very similar you want to be able to meet new people to share information about your non-profit because the opportunities will open up once you open yourself up all right so always be open to share don't be ashamed to talk about your non-profit because closed mouths don't get fed all right so people need to know what you do and people can't support you if they don't know about you alright y'all I hope this video was helpful thank you so much for supporting Boston a budget and for supporting my channel if you need help with your non-profit make sure you visit me at .bostonabudget.com and I will see you in the next video foreign [Music] foreign