Aquatics Nation. This is your community, and I am your host of the Aquatic Today podcast, Jamal Hill. So strap in whether you're on your way to work here already there. Let's get inspired. Let's get it going. We're back aquatics today. Aquatics Nation. It is your host. Jamal Hill. The host is with the most is really glad to be here with you guys today. Look, this is what we got on the chopping block today. I want to talk to you about how to get more funding for your program than ever before. I got five ways how we're going to do that. All right. First things first, though. You know, we got to start off with the quote, man, I'm an inspirational guy. Check this out. Many people take no care of their money to. They come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. That's a quote from Johann Wolfgang. And what we're talking about today, we're talking about getting funded, getting your programs funded, and Johan said something really, really interesting there, right? Most people don't consider their money until it's nearly gone. The other, you know, a quarter of people, half of people don't think about their time till it's right. Mr. Procrastinator, put your hand up. Don't think about their time till it's nearly gone. There's something there. The third part of that, that money in that time. These are core elements to life for us, right? No matter what your profession is, life ultimately comes to the crux of one word, and that's called relationships. So the same way the most people, you know, are careless about their money are careless about their time. They're careless about their relationships. The most valuable asset to getting your programs funded, the most valuable asset to moving yourself into a new is really just a new financial space. Whether that's personally or for your program is there are the relationships that you invest in. OK, so I want to share a story with you guys. This is this is younger, Jamal. OK, I'm wet behind the ears and early days. I don't even know the foundation had exactly started just yet. And you know, I that I'm saying like it was a decade ago, this is only a few years ago. So it just goes to show how much growth can happen when you really learn and apply certain principles. I have a mentor. And you know, it was the early days of the foundation because I was fundraising. I'm looking for in the nonprofit space. We don't call them investors looking for a contributor. Donors, sponsors. So my mentor calls me over to his office and he sits me down is like, how to bring a friend over here? And I just wanted to tell him, your story, man. It's really empowering. Really inspiring. If you don't know the Jamal Hill story, well, hey, you need to go check out Swim Up Hill. But or you know what? I might cover that another episode here. Long story short, here he's bringing over a friend, really wealthy guy, a multimillionaire and just an amazing heart and spirit. And we sit down, and at this point in time again, I don't know the difference between up and down. I'm thinking dollars on the dollar side, and only if you don't have money for me to progress this mission. Dude, I don't want to talk to you. So we sit there for about two and a half hours and I tell him my story. He tells me his story. He even gives me some really, really good advice about how to progress the mission. But at the end of it, he didn't put any money in my hand. He didn't write a check for ten dollars, let alone $5000. And dude, I was upset. I was so heated I was annoyed. I was upset. I left. And my mentor called me the next day just to kind of recap, and I told him, Hey, look, man, to be honest with you. Dude, I don't think I should come out there anymore. You brought me this guy. Nothing even happened of it, and that was an extremely valuable lesson. I learned that he said, Look, we got to get you out of this mindset that the dollar stops on the day. OK. The person I just introduced you to has more. No one just will improve your character way more than any check he could, right? You ever would in terms of quality of a human being outside of that. This dude, this is the most given person I know. But Jamal, you got to remember who the people help. Who do people give to people, give to people they know they like and they trust? And I'm not telling you this is some type of marketing ploy or scam or telling you to go out here and build this. And then you disingenuous relationships because it's just going to backfire. Blow up in your face. Don't do it, OK? But at that point is when I really first started to understand, do people are will push this mission forward? And then I started thinking of and started thinking of it, not as fundraising, but as friend raising, building meaningful relationships. Some of those bring money. Some of those bring other resources to take. Some of those bring wisdom, insight and just joy. OK, so that's a little story about Jamal. Since that time, though, I listen to him, dude. I just started to get to know this guy. We became really good friends on the on the Swim Up Hill Foundation. This guy is actually one of the board of directors for my foundation now a few years later. So that just goes to show you. I was ready to throw it all away. I don't ever want to meet this guy again. Mr. Mentor, dude, I can't believe you're wasting my time bringing me all the way out here. For some guy who doesn't, I don't want to hang out with you anymore or just a really immature, you know, truly an immature understanding of. A fund raising and driving a mission and just almost like, I'm going to go there, do a little bit of that capitalist poison, right, especially that happens to a lot of our youth, our young men, I guess it's happened to a young woman now. Just what kind of money is the end all be all in if you don't got a dollar? Guess what? I don't got that time for you, and what we're losing is connection. We're losing relationships that's at the heart of everything. OK, so don't let that go over your head. That's it. Here go five quick tips to help bring you more funding. All right. Number one, I just said it. Relationship The number one thing is relationship. Get to know you just get to know people. OK, get to know the existing donors. Get to know if you're an agency in the city. Get to know you're a get to know your school board. Get to know the people that donate to that. Get to know the people that are council members. Get to know people like me and your community, other nonprofits. Relationships will take you farther than you can ever imagine. I promise you. OK? You need to get out there and start developing some meaningful relationships. Obviously, the initial on front is about the mission you're looking for, like minds and like hearts. But I'm telling you, is this is not transactional. This is not transactional. But you will be exchanging value, OK? You will be out there building relationships with people that you want to help. And guess what? That's going to end up coming back around. So that's number one relationship. Number two, what I want you to do is you gotta study different funding avenues, OK? A lot of you and I won't even say a lot of you know about grants. I think most of our organizations are either funded from some private family or donor, or some of you have programs and services more on the private side that fund your organization. And then some of you, you know, are just kind of waiting for that stipend from the city, right? This is our budget this year and for some reason always cut Parks and Rec and they cut the pool within last, don't they? But hey, I want you to start thinking about different funding avenues and sources. How can we raise money to progress our mission? I've got the Jamal people come. I've got this great idea for programs, but I keep being red lined here with the budget. We'll get creative. I promise you. Nobody's boss is going to tell them that they don't want them to raise more money and fund. So sit down, get creative. You know the sky's the limit. All right. Number three, you gotta develop a team. You got to develop a team around your fundraising plan strategy efforts. It cannot be just you, Mr. Leader. Miss, Miss, do it all, Mr. and Mrs.. I got this. It can't be all. It has to be done my way and my way. Only it cannot be just you, OK? This is going to help take a lot of that pressure off you because you need it other places. But guess what? The will is still turning. You're still gaining the momentum. And sooner than later, once you guys discover these avenues and resources, that stuff will be paying dividends to your organization, I promise you. Number four, I want you to look into, you know, I got two resources for you four numbers four and five here. Number one thing, you guys got to look more into grant funding. OK, look more into grant funding; Federal, state, local level. There are grants out here for your swim education programs for your lifeguard training program, for your but your recruitment programs for the marketing to boost your recruitment programs. That stuff is out here. A great resources to check out Grant Central U.S.A.com Itβs a Great resource for not only getting somebody on your team trained on how to find grants and things of that nature that appropriate how to find those opportunities, but also maybe to bring in as a consultant and have some done for you services. So that is one option. The number five thing. And here goes another return. I want you to consider hiring some interns. When you're building out that team, consider hiring some grant interns, people with a base level of knowledge that you can bring in and you can train them up. And guess what? They're going to get a lot of value and experience. You're going to get to progress your mission. And three to six months from now, that grant intern and those 20 hours they spent the week could easily turn into $50k to $200000 for your organization. OK. It's that simple. So for those grant interns, a great place to start looking. Igrantwriters.com. Look, that's it. That's the show for today. Thank you all I know today with a little bit more focused on our aquatics professionals. But trust me, there's something. For everybody. We're all trying to fund our dreams if you're not. Listen, wake the heck up and get busy. Couple of announcements on February 23rd. Aquatic today is having our partners meet, so we were down in Tampa, Florida, for the AOAP Conference. We've got a lot of partners from that conference coming together. The love in the media platform that is aquatic today. If you haven't had a chance, go check out the new YouTube videos. They're going crazy right now. Other than that, on March the 1st, there will be a state of aquatics addressed by yours. Truly, President Jamal Hill and I will be addressing the state of aquatics at the exact same day that Joe Biden will be addressing the state of our nation. Final Final Final heads up March. The 23rd Aquatics today is hosting the Aquatics Equity Summit. And guess who one of our keynote speaker is none other than Miriam Lynch of Diversity in Aquatics, the executive director over there at the Aquatics Equity Summit. This is going to be the perfect place to learn more about how to empower your community and create a place for them to be fully seen and heard through aquatics. This event celebrates what makes us different in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, education. National origin doesn't matter. It's here to unite us as one aquatics nation with a deep passion for all things swimming. With that said, thank you all for tuning in and have a blessed Tuesday and an amazing week, as always. Hey, suit up. Take the dove and be the hero. Jamal Hill signing out.
