Making an impact, working in collaboration with marginalized individuals and groups, and creating a culture of belonging is the work that Jessie Sutherland, Director of Intercultural Strategies and one of Raise a Dream’s community members, has done passionately for many years. It is with tremendous joy that we acknowledge Jessie for being a recipient of the prestigious BC Achievement Foundation 2023 Community Award:
The Community Award program celebrates British Columbians who go above and beyond in their dedication and service to others. It honours individuals who devote their time and energy to making their communities more caring, dynamic, beautiful, resilient and inclusive.
Recently, I was speaking at a writer's mastermind group. The topic was how to bring your project to life and build your community. We were focused on books and author communities, but the strategies apply to any entrepreneur, film maker, or media creator with a project and a message for the world.
Funding your projects, raising dreams and bringing plans into reality are big topics to cover, but it really got me thinking about some of the key activities that have helped me bring my books and our Back Home Again movie to life. And, of course, the strategies were rooted in relationships and collaboration.
In this article, you’ll find a few of the project strategies I shared. You can apply these strategies to your books, projects, launches of books and your other programs.
If you’re an entrepreneur, having big dreams to raise and bringing projects to life can be inspiring goals. But to fund your projects, you may run into challenges. In fact, lack of funding and support are often what smothers the dream from being brought to life.
Collaboration and sponsorship could be the funding game changer.
Think of collaboration as two or more people (or businesses) coming together to solve an issue they could not have otherwise solved on their own. This is why collaboration can help amplify messages, start movements and create a bigger impact.
Nonprofits, charities, and service clubs... have you considered having one of your staff, board, volunteers or clients contribute stories to a collaborative book?
One of the missions of many nonprofits, charities, and service clubs is telling their story, the stories that connect donors, funders, and sponsors to their cause.
Being part of a collaborative book is a great way to share a story about your organization. You can then use the book as an ongoing fundraiser, prizes for your events, and as recognition gifts for donors, sponsors, volunteers, board members… and the list goes on. You can even have sponsors buy bulk quantities of the book for you to then give away or use for fundraising or in your programs with clients.
Spring is often a very busy time for organizations and entrepreneurs that receive government funding. Contracts may have come to a close on March 31st and new contracts (and funding) often start April 1st.
Unfortunately, it can be a stressful time if those in charge of funds and programs face the challenges that emerge upon learning that government funds may be clawed back or not approved.
With these funding challenges in mind, it’s important to look for solutions, especially involving collaboration, to see if there are funding opportunities that are being overlooked.
The current times we are living in with social distancing, mandated isolation and a global pandemic along with natural (and man-made) disasters are creating significant challenges for nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurs, and purpose-driven professionals.
In many cases, a situation like a health pandemic or a disaster can result in an entrepreneur or organization struggling financially, losing good staff, reducing or cutting operations, and even failing. These types of crises can definitely and deeply impact an organization’s morale and sense of connectedness.
Collaboration and preparedness are key in bouncing forward and safeguarding your ability to do what you love, serve your clients, and stay connected.
After working with several communities, organizations, and businesses who have experienced natural disasters, below are a few learnings to share to ensure that your passion remains intact and to help you get through the challenges that occur after a disaster.
Let’s face it... raising dreams and building a business can be tough and isolating, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Raising big dreams like the ones you have takes a team. But who says you need a huge budget to build a team?
Below are a few ways that we have built teams to raise dreams without a budget (or while the funds are being generated to pay a team).
Speakers, trainers, keynote presenters, and seminar leaders... have you started growing your business through collaboration and sponsorship?
If not, now's the time to get started. There are billions of dollars available in corporate sponsorship, and your next presentation, speaking tour, book launch or philanthropic project could be uplevelled in income, impact, and influence through corporate sponsorship.
Recently, Charmaine led a mastermind session with speakers who have a successful speaking business and are committed to now building their speaking business through corporate sponsorship and collaborating with influencers.
For speakers, keynoters, and seminar leaders who are serious about growing their speaking business through collaboration, sponsorship funds, and influence, one the first few things you must have clarity around is the value that you bring to the sponsor (and their audience).
When corporate sponsors invest time, in-kind contributions, and sponsorship funding or dollars into your big dreams and projects, they are looking to get return on investment.
You see, sponsorship is a marketing relationship where the sponsor is helping you (e.g. contributing cash and other resources or products to your projects), but you are also helping them.