Casey Thomas

Portfolio Assignment #1

Factors Impacting HandyCapable

HandyCapable is a ten year old nonprofit with a mission to enrich the
lives of people with special needs by teaching them technology skills in
an inclusive environment. Through our efforts, HandyCapable provides
greater access to technology and economically challenged people and
nonprofits. A variety of external and internal factors impact the
fundraising options and strategies that are available to the
organization. The organizations Executive Director, Ann Tubaugh shed
some light on the fundraising context in which HandyCapable operates.
This section will discuss what she shared and how the organization is
navigating the factors that impact its fundraising both internally and
externally.
Externally, HandyCapable is in a landscape in which many large local
foundations that would otherwise have given to HandyCapable are
committed to a new initiative, Say Yes to Education, for the next three
years. The Weaver Foudnation, Cemala Foundation, and Community
Foundation have told the Executive Director of HandyCapable in no
uncertain terms that their funds are committed for the next three
years. They are not able to fund new initiatives or build new funding
relationships at this time. For this reason, and to address the need for
HandyCapables services, the director is considering expanding
services into Forsyth County which has more funding available. She is
considering doing computer distributions in Title 1 schools, and
Forsythe County has plenty of Title 1 Schools. Additionally, Tubaugh is
actively seeking relationships with other nonprofits in Guilford and
Forsyth counties to work on projects together. She is considering giving
10 computer to each nonprofit with which HandyCapable can build a
lasting relationship and work on a project.
Grants are important to HandyCapables operations, especially in
terms of how it can provide education to children through camps in the
summers. HandyCapable offers summer classes on building computers
for which grants are needed to pay for hard-drives, memory upgrades
and snacks. These are small grants, but are important to the
organization and if grant sources become vulnerable could impact
what HandyCapable can offer the community. These computer classes
are also a way for the organization to build relationships with other
organizations, especially schools. For example, it has helped them to

build a relationship with the Canterbury School, Brown Summit Middle

School and with low-income children from a variety of schools who
come to HandyCapable through their relationship with North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical University.
Another external factor that impacts HandyCapable is the world
economy. When computer donations drop (which may be likely to
happen as companies have smaller budgets for new technology and
hold onto their old computers), HandyCapable has fewer computers
that it can sell. This impacts the organizations fundraising significantly.
Right now though, they have plenty of computers, due to large
donations from Lincoln Financial and Moses Cone Healthcare.
Another challenge facing HandyCapable is changing technology. As
technology changes, it is a struggle for the donation-reliant
organization to keep up. When HandyCapable receives older models of
computers that are not upgradable, or would not do well on the
market, they have to recycle them. As new advances and products
come out at an ever-quickening pace, the organization faces
challenges in ensuring their stock of computers is relevant to the
needs of their customer base.
In addition to external factors facing HandyCapable, there are also
internal factors that shape the fundraising strategies the organization
pursues. For example, the organization has a new director with a
development background after being led by its more programmatically
focused founder for the past ten years. Because of this, the
organization is just now building an annual fund and the new director is
building lots of foundation pieces of the organizations infrastructure
and working to build more relationships in the community to be able
to get us to the point where we can get to the large fundraising and
move from a founder-level organization to an organization that is
poised for growth. This lack of fundraising infrastructure means that
larger opportunities like capital campaigns, major gifts programs, and
planned giving will have to wait until the organization has the internal
capacity, donor-base, and deep relationships to support them.
Looking to the future, Tubaugh mentions the national context in which
aging BabyBoomers with developmentally disabled children are asking
Who will take care of my child? Part of that question can be
addressed through building skills for the job-market, which
HandyCapable does. In Tubaughs long-term vision for the organization,
HandyCapable will build a work-training center that will serve
developmentally disabled people.

Based on the context in which the organization is operating, among

existing donors I would make a case for them to receive funding to
help the organization maintain its stability in a time of tight funding
among local foundations. I would also do exactly what the Executive
Director is doing in trying to broaden the organizations reach in
general and then its donor base. Primarily, I would make the case for
the organization serving people with special needs through teaching
them technology skills. I would use the organizations other functions
to bolster that point.

The Case for HandyCapable

Who We Are
HandyCapable Network provides people with special needs with a
space to learn technological skills and a with sense of purpose through
using those skills to provide low-income individuals and nonprofits with
rehabilitated computers and technical support.
What We Do
Currently, HandyCapable serves 15 HandyTechs and provides
affordable computers and tech services to nonprofits through ought
the Triad region. The organization also offers a summer camp that
teaches elementary and middle school students how to build
computers. Many of these students are from low-income families, and
so are many individuals who purchase our computers. In this way,
HandyCapable is bridging two digital divides: one based on income and
one based on age.
What We Believe
We believe that everyone has a right to access the technology that has
become so integral to our world. We also believe that people with
developmental disabilities have the right to employment, and advocate
for individuals with special needs by helping them improve their
marketable skills and through educating employers.
How You Can Help
You can help by donating your personal computer or by having your
workplace donate computers. Through your donation, our organization
is able to sustain itself, provide opportunities for developmentally
disabled people to learn and contribute to their community, and
provide support to nonprofits all over the triad doing good work. You

can also make a tax-deductible monetary donation to HandyCapable

that will fuel our efforts.
Together We Can
We are not just an organization, but a community. With your
contribution, together we can grow the network of people supporting
our HandyTechs and the people they support. We aim to have 500
donations of $50 or more by the end of the year. As local resources
tighten, our individual donors become more important than ever.
Contribute and become part of the HandyCapable Network today.

HandyCapable and the Total Development Plan

HandyCapable is in a new phase of leadership and is transitioning into
a comprehensive development plan as part of its organizational
infrastructure. The new Executive Director, Anne Tubaugh, brings a
background in development and is taking over the organization, which
has been directed by its founder for the past ten years. The previous
director was focused almost exclusively on program development and
fundraising efforts were enough to sustain the organization, but were
not done in a systematic or comprehensive way. Through integrating
fundraising into the boards activities, building relationships with
potential donors, and developing an annual fund, Tubaugh aims to
position HandyCapable for growth.
The organizational infrastructure is one thing Tubaugh is addressing.
Currently, the organization has 7 staff, and previously no staff time was
directed to fundraising. Tubaugh has hired a part-time staff person to
engage in marketing activities to build HandyCapables brand. As an
Executive Director, she has dedicated a large portion of her time to
building relationships in the local community, reaching out to
foundations, and building the boards role in fundraising. At every
board meeting, board members write hand-written thank you cards to
donors. This serves to help donors feel recognized and to further
engage the board in fundraising.

Tubaugh is building an annual fund through dividing the year into

quarters and reaching out to funders a designated amount of times
each quarter. Each quarter, donors receive a newsletter, a mailing and
an ask to give. After 12 months of data, she will be able to segment
donors into at least two camps: those who respond every time they are
reached out to and those who respond once a year. She will also
determine which givers are larger givers (which she distinguishes from
a major gifts program), and interact with them more. Additionally, as
part of this annual fund cycle, she will enlist the board in a call-a-thon
prior t the Fall Mailing, and will thank them for their annual support
before they mail out their end of year ask. This will help HandyCapable
stay on the minds of donors who are likely receiving a flurry of mail
from other nonprofits as the holidays near.
When asked about plans for other types of fundraising, Tubaugh
explained that the annual fund is the most practical place to start,
especially in addressing the need to grow the donor base. Like Seiler,
(Seiler, 2010) the Executive Director of HandyCapable believes in the
utility of annual funds in broadening an organizations reach and to
building relationships as she starts strengthening the organizations
fundraising capacity. Other types of fundraising require circumstances
that HandyCapable needs to build up to. For example, a capital
campaign would require a larger donor base, a feasibility study,
alignment between the Executive Director, Board and Stakeholders,
and a strong shared vision for the campaign and what it would support.
Planned giving requires stronger relationships with donors, as do major
gifts. That said, Tubaugh is working up to requesting major gifts
through organizing HandyCapables first fundraising event in April. In
addition to raising $10,000, she hopes to build relationships through
the event that will lead to major gifts.
This kind of personal outreach is important for HandyCapable, because
as the Executive Director said when asked who donates, The average
individual has interacted with us in one way or another. People donate
to HandyCapable either because they received a laptop or tech
services from them, because they have someone in their life who is
developmentally disabled, or because they had another connection to
the organization and donated before. In addition to money, the largest
type of donation the organization receives is in the form of computers.
Two of their largest donors are not individuals, but organizations
Lincoln Financial and Moses Conethat prefer to offload their old
computers with HandyCapable instead of throwing them out. To
further these relationships, build visibility and allow the work to make a
case for itself to donors, Tubaugh plans to offer tours that will allow
people to see the Handi-Techs at work.

Volunteers also donate a large amount of time. The HandyTechs

themselves volunteer and there are 15 of them. On Saturdays, when
HandyCapables official volunteer program is in session, on average 10
people come out, but there are about 60 volunteers who are active and
come regularly. The organization also has a few older volunteers who
come out to do computer distribution. They have interns as well from
Guilford Countys Vocational programs, GTTC, and ECPI. Students
enrolled in Guilford County Schools volunteer as well for tracked
service-learning hours. Currently, HandyCapable is involving volunteers
in fundraising for the first time as well. The Executive Director is
working with a committee of volunteers to plan the fundraising event
in April that will celebrate 10 years of HandyCapable.
Tubaughs leadership style embodies the Total Development Plan
model of fundraising, with its emphasis on integrating fundraising into
other parts of the organization, and making sure that the organization
works cohesively to serve its mission well enough to raise funds. When
asked about the relationship between fundraising and the
organizations other activities, Tubaugh said Fundraising in my mind is
at the center of everything we don. This is a perpetual argument
between the program person and the fundraiser. The program person
will tell you that without a program you cant have funds and the
fundraising person will tell you that without fundraising you cant have
a program. Everything we do programmatically needs to lead back to a
reason to support our mission. Its important that our service is top
notch. If a person is getting their computer fixed, or buying a
computer, its important that they have a great experience. Its
important that when a handi-tech comes in and spends a day with us
that they have a good experience, that volunteers have a good
experience. Its important that the staff understands that this is part of
our culture. Its not a foreign concept to them that we need to raise
money. A lot of times in a nonprofit, the person who is raising money is
the only person who understands why we are raising money, but not
here.