Advice on Fundraising Support to Hire Our First Paid Staff

Our goal for this Taproot Plus session is to receive guidance on strengthening our fundraising strategy so we can raise the resources needed to hire our first paid staff to support our mission and daily operations. At present, our organization is fully volunteer-led. While we are deeply committed to serving our community, our limited capacity makes it challenging to both deliver programs and dedicate consistent time to fundraising.

During this session, we would like to:

-Brainstorm specific strategies to diversify and grow our funding streams (individual giving, grants, corporate partnerships, etc.).
-Discuss best practices for creating a compelling case for support that clearly demonstrates the urgent need for staff capacity.
-Explore recommendations for systems, tools, or processes that could help us manage fundraising efforts more effectively as a volunteer-run organization.
-Get advice on prioritizing which fundraising activities to focus on first so we can realistically move toward hiring staff.

The context is that we are at a pivotal stage—demand for our programs continues to grow, but without paid staff, we risk being stretched beyond what volunteers alone can sustain. With a strong fundraising plan, we can take the critical step of hiring staff to expand and strengthen our impact.