Blog

Resources for Nonprofits in Orlando and Beyond 

Running a community initiative, social project, or nonprofit is a lot of work – and for many of Crave’s leaders and alumni, it isn’t always the full-time gig. You have a lot on your plate, with family, jobs, and other projects. We do what we do because of our passion, heart to serve, and personal experiences. Sometimes the administrative, fundraising, and marketing work that it often takes to run a successful project are put on the back burner. 

But did you know that there are many free or reduced price resources for nonprofits that can help make your work easier? Crave leaders often start nonprofits in Orlando, but many of these resources are available for nonprofits in other states, as well as unregistered community initiatives. 

Resources for nonprofits in Orlando area: 

• The City of Orlando offers a variety of initiatives for nonprofits to receive funding, training to be a neighborhood board member, and more. 
• The Edyth Bush Institute is no stranger to Crave and is a resource that everyone in the Craveverse should bookmark!

Funding/Finances 

• The Awesome Foundation: The Awesome Foundation is a global community that funds small projects with grants of $1,000 – and you don’t have to be a nonprofit to qualify. In fact, the Orlando chapter prefers to fund smaller, grassroots initiatives that aren’t already accepting a lot of funds from donors. 
• Free Online Grant Writing Courses with certification: Nonprofit Ready offers a range of free courses online, including grant writing topics. If you want to break into the world of securing grant funding for your project or nonprofit, this is a useful learning resource.
• Pledge: Pledge is an online fundraising tool that covers the credit card fees that other fundraising platforms charge the donor. They have options for small businesses, nonprofits, and even individuals to fundraise. 

Marketing/Digital Advertising

• Google Ad Grants: If you run a registered nonprofit, you can apply for up to $10,000 in Google ad credit (must apply and qualify). If you secure the funding, Donorbox offers a thorough explanation of how to effectively use Google ads.   
• Canva: Create beautiful graphics and images (like we have at Crave 😉) with a free for nonprofits Canva pro account! 
• Mailchimp: If you are or are planning to utilize a lot of email newsletters, Mailchimp offers a forever free plan and then a 15% discount to nonprofits if you want to upgrade. 
• Buffer: Manage all of your social media scheduling, tracking, and analytics with this schedule tool. There is a free plan, but if you need to upgrade to a paid plan, they offer 50% off for qualifying nonprofits. Their cheapest plan is $6/month, so that would be $3/month if you qualify! 

Admin/Management Tools: 

• TechSoup: This is a nonprofit itself that offers free or discounted hardware, cloud services, software, and technology for other nonprofits. 
• Copy.AI: If you are up for trying out AI, this writing tool is useful for generating content in multiple languages, improving your writing, and other tasks that will save you precious time and brain power. 

If you aren’t a registered nonprofit yet, Merchant Maverick has an overview of the steps to take to becoming one. And if you are a Crave leader or alumni with a nonprofit in Orlando, reach out to your facilitator or info@cravefla.org for further information and assistance about the process! 

Olivia Blase

Crave III Alumni

Crave’s Social Media Coordinator

Introducing FX Crave, Class I

This is a transcript of a speech that Crave V leader, Seven Charlestin, gave at a Wake-Up Wednesday rally last month at the Pulse Memorial in Orlando.  The entire speech can be found on our YouTube channel.

I just want to advocate for my community … 

I thought it’d be good to come out and represent and speak for my neighborhood and, especially, my chapter of March for Our Lives. A lot of black communities don’t have the luxuries to be able to advocate for themselves the way they want to, because a lot of the social aspects of gun violence are crushing a lot of our neighborhoods. People who want to advocate for issues like gun violence have to risk their health and well-being, especially since a lot of the work that we’re doing in our communities is not paid.

And we don’t have the platform to do the type of work they want. I, like a lot of the other organizers I know in Pine Hills, whether we’re sick, injured, hurt, et cetera., are doing this civil work to try to support our community and prevent gun violence, daily.

Among other things, I want to talk about just some social aspects of gun violence and kind of the roots of them and how they transpire in my community, especially. Gun violence is an epidemic everywhere in America, but, in black communities, it’s 18 times more likely for a black American to be a victim of gun violence than a white American and any other community. And, most of those root causes are poverty, lack of access to resources, and the availability of guns.

One thing that I’ve been focused on a lot for the last two years is male patriarchy and just the way that our men are being raised and socialized, especially in our culture. Males for the most part are 50% of the population in America, and we’re over 80% of the suicides by gun violence.

And men are over 80% of the gun homicide victims. And, as far as it comes to mass shootings, just about 95% of mass shootings are taking place by men. And it’s largely because of the way that we’re socialized. Women have the same type of mental health issues, the same type of rates of poverty, et cetera. But, the way that men are raised to be, to fight for their identity above everything else is one of the key causes, I believe, of gun violence, especially in my community, where black males are especially a large faction of gun violence victims and offenders.

That’s something that my chapter of March for Our Lives focuses on in my community, mainly just finding ways to help young men, and kids in general deal with conflict resolution and understand how they can affect their community from a public safety standpoint.

I just wanted to come out to advocate for my community because, without me or one of the other few people from Pine Hills who is always advocating for gun violence prevention, I don’t think we will be represented. I want, as the fight against gun violence continues, I want people to remember that the black communities that are really at the brunt of some of this gun violence and the fact that, after the gun, I mean, if we ever get an assault weapon ban, we still need help with all the other root causes of gun violence, where it comes to just the help that boys and men need and, poverty and all those other aspects.

So thank you, guys.

Seven Charlestin

Crave V Leader

Photo by Agulia Creative

Staying True to Your Mission

Crave alum Olivia Blase from Class III sits down with Class V alumni Keisha and Mark Bishop, of Lyles Brothers’ Sports Foundation, to talk about their experience running their nonprofit, their involvement with Crave, how to effectively work as a couple, and staying true to their mission instead of chasing funding. Get to know this inspirational and down-to-earth couple even better!