FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
FAQ 1: What are seven streams of income for non-profits?
Answer: In planning your scalable budgets, determine where your funds are coming from. Federal grants are only one stream of funding for non-profit or for-profit organizations. If you expect to grow or expand a financially healthy organization, understand seven categories of funding. If your organization is in its infancy, you might want to start with number one as you work towards applying for grants. Use the chart below to determine what percentage of your budget will come from each category of funding.
1. Individual Funding Sources
Individual funding could come in the form of an annual banquet, fundraising events, or crowdfunding.
2. Retail Funding Sources
A retail funding example would be in-kind donations from a store.
3. Retail Sponsorships
Retail sponsorships may pay to participate in your event in exchange for advertising. For example, they may buy a banner or table at your annual event.
4. Corporate/Foundation Grants
These funders provide grants to organizations to help carry out their missions.
5. Local Grants (Agency, City, & County)
Local grants help to fund programs that improve the lives of residents locally.
6. State Grants
State grants or corporative agreements that are state-specific which may provide funding for a variety of programs and services with accountability.
7. Federal Grants
Federal grants are just as the name indicates, from the federal government. These
grants are usually larger but usually require more accountability than other funding streams.
FAQ 2: Do all funders require an audit for organizations to receive funding?
Answer: The simple answer is no. Although some funders do require an audit, there are others that do not. Even if funders don't require an audit, your organization may want one for the benefit of financial transparency.
However, as with many new organizations, the initial audit cost may be a factor. If that is the case for your organization, you may consider having a review vs. an audit. Some funders will accept that instead. It's a good idea to check with several agencies that you will apply to before incurring that expense.
FAQ 3: What are the business licenses requirements for each state?
Answer: The best place to fine the answer is at the state office it self. Use this link to find the state requirements needed for your business to legally succeed in the state you choose to operate in. Just click here and locate your state.
FAQ 4:What are the 4 D's for new entrepreneurs?
Answer: The first of the four D phases is Discovery. In discovery, you are researching and exploring businesses that offer a similar service to yours. This can include reading related blogs and articles, watching videos, and checking outlook statistics for the industry. Once you feel you have a good understand of what you plan to do, you can start contacting businesses that are not in direct competition to gain additional incites.
The second phase is Designing your business. In this phase you take the information that you gained in the discovery phase and develop your own plan for the operation of your business from startup to success. Hopefully, you left no stone unturned in the discovery phase, so you are able to use the successes and failures of others to assist you in successfully planning your business.
The third phase is Defining your business. Your business design gives you a rough guide for how your business will operate, but in this third phase, you want to ensure that you have smoothed out all of the rough edges. You may want to do a trial run during this phase.
The fourth phase is to deploy your business. This phase assumes you have researched and uncovered enough success tips in your discovery, design and defining phase to assist you in avoiding the pitfalls and landmines that are sure to arise as you are on the road to success.
Starting a business is a speculative sport, so there are no guarantees. You could win big, breakeven or lose, but the 4 D's should at the least reduce the probability of losing.