Help us develop a fundraising strategy that will support the growth and continuity of services to our community!

With the Legacy Teacher Project (LTP) and the Operations Manager (OM) position, we have effectively increased our annual operations budget by $55,000 without matching revenues to cover the added expenses. We need a skilled volunteer to help us craft a business development strategy that will make the teacher succession project and the OM position sustainable.

Specifically, we would like assistance with developing a fundraising plan that includes:
* Short-term, mid-term, and long-term planning
* Training on how to talk with and cultivate our current donors

We are a non-member organization solely dependent on dana, donations, course registrations, and volunteer support. As our senior faculty age and near retirement, to bring in a new generation of teachers and to ensure the longevity of our organization, we established the Legacy Teacher Project in which we contracted with three vipassana teachers for two years, with each receiving a stipend, in the hopes that they will want to continue teaching with SIM beyond the terms of their contracts. In addition, we hired a part-time Operations Manager to ease the burden of and to retain our overworked volunteer board, as well as to ensure the smooth day-to-day operations of the organization.

The LTP began in early 2023 and the OM in December 2023, and, with no fundraising efforts pursued to pay for the added expenses, SIM ended the year 2023 in the red. We again face a shortfall this year in the range of $36,000.

We have two members of the fundraising committee, both of whom are board members, who will work with the skilled volunteer. We have the board, fundraising committee, operations manager, and senior teachers who will assist with various aspects of implementing the fundraising plan. We will provide the skilled volunteer with any relevant information needed for the project.