Flickr Photo: matuko_aminiRaise your hand if getting funding for your tech projects takes longer than implementing the projects themselves.
Halfway through the year, most organizations are starting to think about budgets for the next year. The lobbying, pleading, persuading, and cajoling begin early as every one of your departments vie for a piece of the budget pie.
How do you get yours?
TechRepublic just published a video that points to five questions you should ask yourself before you make the pitch. It's for-profit focused, so I'll reorient their recommendations a bit:
What's the ROI? For some projects, it's easy to draw the line between implementing the project and saving or raising more money. But in the nonprofit world, delivering on your mission also matters. You'll need to think this through carefully and be able to tell your Executive Director what the expected outcomes are from the implementation, as well as how you intend to track and measure success. Beth Kanter has done some amazing thinking in this space.
Does It Align with the Organization's Priorities? And MISSION! If your organization is focused on better serving the clients you already have, proposing projects that will help recruit more clients doesn't make sense. Likewise, you need to articulate clearly how your project will serve your organization's mission. If you can't tie your project to the reason your nonprofit exists, it may not be worth doing. As Bennet Grassano writes on the TechSoup site, we "...often focus on the merits of one solution versus another, or on the nuts and bolts of specific system requirements. These are important considerations for choosing the right solution to do the job, but they are secondary to the discussion of whether or not it should be funded in the first place."
Know Your Leverage Points. In other words, think like your Executive Director. What motives her/him? Is s/he more likely to say yes if the project is proposed by a cross-departmental team? Is s/he really excited by anything that increases collaboration? What is s/he scared of? Get to know your Executive Director and design your pitch to play to that knowledge. The Johnson Center has a few ideas about how you can get to know your ED.
What's Your History, Part I? Do you have a track record of delivery on time and on budget? Or have you over-promised and under-delivered in the past? If you have a good history, make sure your leadership knows about it. Put it in your pitch! If your track record is more spotty, start with small projects and build your relationship back up.
What's Your History, Part II? Have your past projects delivered value to your organization? It's one thing to deliver on time, but quite another to deliver a project that accomplishes what you say it will. Set realistic expectations for timeline, budget, and impact so that you can deliver!
In addition to the TechRepbulic video, Michael Silberman of EchoDitto has an excellent post about the obstacles to getting your Web 2.0 projects resourced at your organization. He mentions these same five areas and more.
What about you? What strategies do you use to increase your slice of the budget pie?