Found Money’ for Your Cause

[Lee Cruz]

Source: http://causect.wordpress.com/

Everything about fundraising is Relationship Fundraising. That is the theme of every post. That is the point of this post. Greenwich-based Atlantic-Pacific Capital (there are dozens of these in Fairfield County, the world’s capital of such firms) raises capital for private equity, real estate, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, technology and hedge fund placements, as well as private placement financings in support of acquisitions, buy-outs and growth capital transactions. Founded in 1995, Atlantic-Pacific has raised in excess of $35 billion for its clients and has developed strong and unique relationships with over 4,000 alternative investors worldwide.

So, why this post? You think APC’s worldwide clients who owe their livelihoods at least in part to APC would pay attention if they received an invitation to send a greeting to APC in a Tribute Journal that is a key component of an event to honor one of APC’s principals? Is a Tribute Journal, even a $10,000 full-page greeting (remove the word AD from your vocabulary), a rather inexpensive way of keeping that relationship vital? Might APC notice if a key client were not front and center in such a Tribute Journal? You will find that if this is done correctly the people represented in the Tribute Journal will always far outnumber the people who actually attend the big gala. This is one way a Connecticut charity can raise money, serious money, from as far away as Hong Kong.

Take Christian H. Voss for example. He just joined APC as a Partner to work alongside Founder and Chairman James Manley to head the Direct Private Placements Group. Prior to joining APC, Mr. Voss was Managing Director and Head of Private Capital Markets for Cantor Fitzgerald in New York and London (far more relationships there to tap into). He holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Villanova University and an MBA from Fordham University Graduate School of Business. He’s new to town, but his relationships are legion.

Forgive the tactical thinking of causeCT, but a charity would do well to send him a greeting card congratulating him on his new position and invite him for a tour. Better if you can find a peer to extend that invitation (he probably has lived in CT all along anyway). Months later your charity has a relationship with Mr. Voss. Because your charity was the only CT charity (assuming he does not have his own causes) to engage him, you can develop a reason a honor him.

If he says yes, the fun really starts if he also says Yes to your working with his secretary to make sure that everyone who is important to him has the opportunity to send him a greeting. You get the point. This example appears merely because the notice of his new post appeared today. But if you were to honor Mr. Voss (or anyone else of his stature) in this way? That’s a 6-figure Tribute Journal alone, let alone the gala itself. Money on the table.

Your beneficiaries? That found money on the table is their money. Your charity has the moral authority to capture that money. causeCT cares about your beneficiaries and so it is all-in on offering you tactics that work to help you find and capture that money that they need. Only you can get it for them. This is not about raising money for the fun of raising money. CauseCT is focused on meeting the needs of your beneficiaries and it attempts to accomplish this by helping you find new money.