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Hi Ho Silver away!
By Sue Devic
Cultural organisations across Australia can saddle up and ride into the sunset with a new publication just released by the Australia Business Arts Foundation (AbaF).
Building Relationships and Securing Donations— A Guide for the Arts better known as the Silver Book was launched in June by the Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp.
The Silver Book was developed specifically for the arts sector and it will be invaluable to cultural organisations large and small.
It is a step-by-step guide that targets cultural organisations looking for the best way to develop relationships with donors and potential donors and explains how to maintain strong relationships. Better still, the Silver Book assumes no previous level of experience in fundraising.
So, whether you are a novice or just want to brush up on your techniques, the Silver Book will help you on your way.
Scattered throughout the Silver Book are inspiring real life examples and quotes from people involved in fundraising and philanthropy. At the end of each chapter, a brief summary wraps up what you've covered in your reading—very useful when you are ticking off everything that you need to do to be well prepared to write your proposal or make a presentation at a meeting.
Preparation is the key to embarking on a giving program and each chapter of the Silver Book sets out how to do just that. Chapters include what motivates donors; how to put together a fundraising team; how to build relationships with individuals, foundations and business; how to research the market; how to actually ask—which can be daunting—as well as how to prepare your own giving plan.
When developing the Silver Book, AbaF consulted widely with individual donors, arts organisations and philanthropic foundations to ensure the book would be relevant, useful and would lead the way in building and securing successful, long-term relationships. Even a quick glance through the Silver Book shows they have succeeded.
The Silver Book is one of several essential AbaF publications available to cultural organisations.
The Australian Government established AbaF in recognition of the important contribution of business expertise, investment and individual involvement to building a thriving and sustainable cultural sector.
The Government is providing $6.4 million over four years to help AbaF connect business, donors and philanthropic organisations with the arts community. The Silver Book will certainly help people to develop and maintain these links.
The Silver Book—Building Relationships and Securing Donations—A Guide for the Arts was designed to be used in conjunction with skills development workshops delivered by AbaF. The book is $30 or comes free with the $125 workshop.
Visit the AbaF website at www.abaf.org.au to purchase the book, enrol in a skills development workshop or to find out about other AbaF activities.