Pulling Money Out of a Hat

1
Pulling Money Out of a Hat

• Strategies for stretching your interpretation
  budget and making big ideas a reality

2
Review

• What is meant by cognitive dissonance?
• What are the key variables discussed in the
  theory of planned behaviour?
• What is meant by formative evaluation?

3
Objectives of Today

• To discuss strategies to achieve big results with
  small budgets, including the use of volunteers,
  partnerships, grant writing and the importance of
  marketing
• To explain the basics of marketing

4
Readings

• Porter, A. L. and Howard, J. L. 2002. Warning
  visitors about the potential dangers of dingoes
  on Fraser Island, QLD, Australia. J. Interp.
  Research. 7 (2) 51-64
• Department for Environment and Heritage 2005.
  Success through Partnership. Government of South
  Australia

5
Before you use the excuse Cant do it, dont
have enough x, y or z Important Steps to
Consider

• Identify what you have
• Identify what you need
• Identify what benefits you can offer volunteers,
  sponsors, funding organisations etc
• How to ask for what you need
• Importance of removing peoples objections

6
Great ideas galore but no resources?

• Management
• Motivation
• Marketing
• The Art of Asking

7
Great ideas galore but no resources?

• Management
• Motivation
• Marketing
• The Art of Asking

Accepted
Resisted
8
Four Steps to Magic Money

• What do you HAVE?
• What do you NEED?
• Who has what you NEED?
• How do you get what you NEED?

9
Step 1 What are you about?

• Core business of your organisation, vision of
  where you want to be

10
An Exercise for Cleland

• Think about your interp product as it is now
• Identify the benefits of it
• List the target publics who could use each
  product
• E.g. programs, trails, visitor centre, exhibits
• Prioritise your products to the audience you
  are targeting

11
Some more thinking for Cleland

• What business does the public think you are in?
• What products or opportunities do they think
  you have?

12
Differentiation
13
What makes you special???

• What sets you apart from other federal and state
  conservation agencies, hundreds of non-profit
  wildlife reserves, zoos, aquariums, nature
  centres etc etc
• Be specific

14
5 Factors that might make your different

• Variability of project opportunities
• Complexity
• Significance
• Stability / Durability
• Visibility
• Risk
• Familiarity

15
Step 2

• Knowing what you need

16
What are the options?

• Dont do it
• Modify it so it fits within the budget
• Get the money/resources from somewhere else ie.
  Fill the GAPS
• Grants
• Alliances
• Partnerships
• Sponsorships

17
Categories of Need

• People
• Goods
• Skills
• Structure
• Services
• Cooperation / support
• Money

18
People

• How many people are needed?
• To do what?
• For how long? (hours/week days/month
  months/year)
• What types of skills are required?
• What energy level/ personality type required?
• Will they work individually or in teams?
• What level of responsibility is required?
• Can it be flexible, shared?
• What rewards might be available?

19
Volunteers and Donors

• Let people know what you want
• Think about the context of your community
• Who is likely to volunteer, what incentives would
  they be interested in
• What incentives will cause disharmony amongst the
  group
• Make the work meaningful
• Be proactive about management
• Make sure they understand their role, your vision
  and appropriate boundaries.
• Acknowledge their help

20
Goods

• What specifically is needed?
• To do what?
• For how long?
• In what quantity?
• Why is it needed?
• Could we get this some other way? eg. Needing a
  service rather than a good)

21
Skills

• Have you listed all specific skills needed?
• Mandatory or desired?

22
Structure

• Have you got a structure that will work for this
  project?
• What are the demands of the current structure?
• Where is it strongest? Weakest?
• What restraints are likely to be problems?
• Who are the power sources and decision makers?
• Is it flexible

23
Service, Support, Money

• What services would help?
• What support do you need?
• Sometimes you just need money but again be
  specific
• How much, over what period, for what, who will
  benefit from the purchases?

24
Step 3

• Who has what you NEED?

25
Two winners
Motivations
Management
Benefits
What we want
26
Step 4

• How do you get what you need?

27
The 4Ps of Marketing

• Develop the right PRODUCT
• Support it with the right PROMOTION
• Put it in the right PLACE
• At the right PRICE

28
The Marketing Mix
29
Types of new products
Source Wikipedia, 2008
30
The process of product development

• Idea generation
• SWOT
• Idea screening
• E.g will the customer benefit, what is the
  forecasted growth in target market, what is the
  expected competitive pressure, will it be
  profitable?
• Concept Development and Testing
• Who is the target market? Who is the decision
  maker? What features most important? How can it
  be produced cost effectively?
• Business Analysis
• Estimate profitability
• Market Testing
• Use proto-types, test the product in typical
  situations, conduct focus groups, make
  adjustments
• Technical Implementation
• Commercialisation
• Launch the product, produce and place
  advertisements

31
Important Product Decisions

• Name
• Functionality
• Quality
• Packaging
• Other relevant
• Styling, branding, warranty, safety, accessories,
  service

32
Important Price Decisions

• Pricing strategy
• Fairness
• Value for money
• Choice
• Discounts, seasonal pricing, bundling

33
Important Place Decisions

• Distribution is about getting the product to the
  customer
• Distribution channels
• Market coverage (inclusive, exclusive, selective)

34
Important Promotion Decisions

• Promotion represents the various aspects of
  marketing communication
• Promotional strategy
• Advertising
• Personal selling
• Public relations and publicity
• Marketing communications budget

35
The Art of Asking

• Most people who do volunteer do so because they
  were ASKED
• Most people who dont were unaware of
  opportunities and/or hadnt been asked

36
Use your networks

• Eg. Meetings, Volunteer newsletter, Department
  Magazine, websites, phone calls etc

Wish List 1 microscope for student groups
studying micro-invertebrates 1 computer
projector 6 x backpacks for educational
toolkits 8 x sifters for kids interp project at
archeological site
37
The 6Rs of Asking

• Research
• Reduce reasons to say no
• Rapport (opening)
• Relate (make your case)
• Request exactly what you want
• Remember to follow-up

38
Research

• Know as much as you can about your audience
  (potential funders, supporters, volunteers)
• Know who the leader is / right people to talk to
• When the fiscal year ends
• When they do their budget planning
• Past giving patterns (frequency, amount, length
  of partnership)
• Interaction history between your agency and them
• What competition you have for their support
• Their purpose (key interests)
• Their structure
• Characteristics of members, supporters,
  shareholders

39
Reduce Reasons to Say No
Think about why we say no
40
Build Rapport in your opening

• People give money to people
• Reflect their style (eg. Professional, casual,
  friendly)
• Be organised
• Use your interp skills -- EROT

41
Relate

• Get your case across in a succinct manner but in
  a manner that relates to the person
• Make it relevant. Select information that is
  Meaningful, Memorable, Moving.

42
Request

• Dont forget to ask for what you came for

43
Remember to Follow-Up

• If you promised to get back to them with some
  piece of information do it promptly
• Always thank people for their time even if they
  say no.

44
Once you have partners dont lose them!!!!

• Keep people in the loop
• Make people know they are appreciated

45
Successful Partnerships

• Formulate a vision early and remind people of it
  constantly
• Develop a common understanding of the issues and
  participants
• Create ownership among participants
• Seek common ground and act
• Stop occassionally and evaluate the process
• Be patient and leave time for fun

46
Writing Grants

• Get organised quickly and evaluate probability
• Do it properly or dont do it at all.
• Research the grant organisation and the relevant
  regulations.
• What are their key interests?
• Who has got the grant before?
• How much did they ask for? For what?
• Are you eligible?
• Could you build the strength of your application
  by linking in with key issues

47
Writing Grants

• Understand the grant requirements
• Eg. Do you need to match the funds, are you
  eligible, what restrictions are there in terms of
  how you spend the money, how does it need to be
  submitted
• When is the closing date
• Make sure you show your project is significant
• Get support letters organised early and make sure
  they help rather than just fulfil a checklist
  requirement
• Give yourself plenty of time for chasing things
  up.

48
Important Components of Grant Applications

• Title
• Introduction
• Statement of Significance
• Approach/Methods
• Budget allocation

49
Dont forget what you do have

• On-going professional development is important to
  maintain motivation as well as skills
• Provide training opportunities for full time
  staff, seasonals and volunteers
• Use a strategic training approach
• Remember the principles of learning
• We learn best when we see direct relevance
• Create a career structure for interpretation
• Provide feedback to staff