Stakeholder Update

We are certainly staying busy over at TOOF! Since joining the Austin Impact Accelerator, we have outlined an ambitious strategy to expand our outreach for funding. We have dissected our funders that we need to reach into two groups: private businesses that may want to partner with us as a marketing tool (business partners) and businesses or government entities that could employ the Workforce First crew (employing partners).

Our next moves, which are already underway, are to compile a list of 50 potential funders from each category, and to refine a separate pitch deck for each group.

Here are some of the challenges we are encountering:

• Businesses wanting to do in-kind donations instead of spending money.
• Inability to reach potential business partners (tech companies, hotels, and realty companies for example). I’m having trouble finding emails for them, so I’m reaching out to marketing or corporate responsibility specialists through linkedin, to no avail.

If anyone has any ideas on how to reach these businesses, or how to convert interest from a business to cold hard cash, do tell! Also, we would love a review of our decks that are going to both potential business partners and employing partners, once they are fully compiled.

Here are some wins from the past few weeks:

• Had a meeting with a venue for a potential fundraising event, and they are willing to donate the space. Next move: write up a proposal for the event.
• Finished applications for two local businesses to be part of their corporate giving initiatives. Reached out to several others to inquire for info on how to get involved.

We have a solid game plan, and a lot of work ahead of us. Until next time, we’re going to keep truckin’ on this, and keep looking to our cohort and mentors for advice and suggestions.