Funding Hacks for Geeks

Tomas B. Krag

wire.less.dk

About Us

Who am I? Who are we?

• My name is Tomas Krag, and I am co-founder of wire.less.dk
• wire.less.dk is a small non-profit
• We have worked since 2001 on wireless projects in the developing world
• We have succesfully funded a few small projects with wireless
• We have no fundraiser, and n0 long-term funding plan!

What we do

• We believe that wireless community projects offer the potential for sustainable communication networks in the developing world
• We are passionate geeks, who have a background in technology
• We do training, arrange conferences and do research. Looking for ways to make it easier to deploy locally run wireless networks in the developing world.
• We work mostly with Civil Society / non-profits and educational institutions.
• We fill all roles in the projects we work on, from project managers, over fundraisers to geeks in residence.

Why am I up here?

• Because we have worked as an independent non-profit since 2001
• Because I am NOT a professional fund-raiser
• Because we have successfully found small-scale funding for 2 projects in the last few years
• Because we have wasted at least 3-4 months writing funding proposals that stood no chance.

Our Funding

• Funding that we got
  • Open Society Institute
  • Boell Foundation (Indirectly)
  • IDRC (with partners)
• Funding that we didn't get
  • World Bank: Infodev proposal
  • DANIDA

Disclaimer

• I am speaking from limited personal experience
• I say things the way I see them (no politics)
• None of what I say may apply to other situations or countries
• It took us 2 years to go from idea to actually having money in our accounts for projects

Funding Projects

Many sources of funds

• Remember there are many sources of funds
  • International Agencies
  • Government development funds
  • Corporate funds
  • Private foundations
  • Individuals with money

Funders are different

• Each funder looks for a certain type of project
  • First you must define your project
  • then, you can research appropriate funders
  • try to figure out if the funder matches your needs
  • find ways into the organisation
  • ask
  • ask
  • ask

Be faithful to the ideal

• Do what you believe is right, not what you think the funder wants
  • Funders are strange, there is no way to read their minds anyway
  • Continuously changing tracks does not send a message of coherency
  • You sleep much better this way
• It always pays in the long run

Research is gold

• Find out which funders are out there

  • In your region
  • In your field of interest
  • Related areas of interest

• Find similar projects

  • if you can't beat them, join them :-)

What do Funders Want

• Funders are under pressure
• People are scared of the unknown
  • Funders doubly so!
• Sometimes bigger is better
  • I said sometimes!

3 Tips to Calm the Funders

• Replicability is gold
  • Documentation is golden!
• Together we shall win!
  • Project Partners make you stronger
  • Especially cross-border partnerships are strong
• Funding your project is a leap of faith
  • The trick is to take the uncertainty out of your project

Writing proposals

• Asking questions helps
• Experience is a plus
  • Find previous grant recipients
  • Look for proposals on-line
• Follow the funder guidelines
  • Even if they make no sense to you!

Discussion time

• Share your tips
• Share your successes
• Share your failures