BRENDON MCLARTY MEMORIAL FOUNDATION CASE STUDY
The Brendon McLarty Memorial Foundation (BMMF) was established after the sudden and tragic death of 16-year-old Brendon McLarty, who suffered a fatal asthma attack during baseball practice the last day of his sophomore year. Armed with a mission to raise asthma awareness, advocate, and provide direct service to Oklahoma schools, BMMF partnered with Write On Fundraising to build a grants program from scratch. Their initial goal was to raise all operating revenue through grants.
Interview with Jennifer Blair, Co-founder of BMMF
The
Challenges
Develop a compelling narrative around needs, outputs, outcomes, and evaluation methods for an unproven nonprofit
Quickly cultivate relationships with many donors to determine which partners might be the best fit for the nonprofit’s funding goals
Meet an aggressive fundraising goal on an abbreviated timeline
Our Approach
Write On Fundraising works with grant programs in what we call “emerging,” “scaling,” and “mature” developmental phases. BMMF was an emerging program. Our strategy for organizations new to fundraising is to establish a strong narrative and measurables, qualify a larger portfolio of prospects, and get as many “at bats” (grant submissions) for the nonprofit as possible. This aggressive year-one approach opens many doors, pulls down quick wins, and lays the groundwork for deeper and more meaningful partnerships in the future.
The Results
Met and surpassed the nonprofit’s fundraising goals
Raising more than $300K for the start-up organization
Quickly positioned BMMF to become self-sufficient and bring the grant writing function in-house
Sample Pages from our Case for Support
