Grassroots Partnerships: The Key to Unlocking Your Fundraising Potential
Track: Recreation Programming

Thursday, May 5, 2016 | 10:45 to Noon

Speaker:
Jeff Milkes, Southeast and East Services Manager, Portland Parks & Recreation

Session Description:

Each summer, Portland Parks and Recreation offers 125 outdoor concerts and movies, teaches children to swim and provides 110,000 free lunches at 50 different playground sites. This is all part of the City's Summer "Free for All" and as the name suggests, all for free. For Portland Parks & Recreation,  the program is anything but free, costing about $1.8 million. Even during the great economic crisis, Portland was able to grow the program through innovative grassroots partnerships. These partnerships provide 80% of the funds needed to sustain the program.  During the session, you will learn the keys to unlocking your fundraising potential through grassroots partnerships.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will learn to identify and organize grass roots groups to raise funds for summer special events in their own community.
• Participants will learn to leverage volunteer groups to increase revenue.
• Participants will learn to market summer events such that sponsors, businesses and individuals will seek out and compete for sponsorship opportunities.