Managing Money in Your Group

This training walks through various ways to raise and manage money in your group for things like chapter activities and conference scholarships.

Managing Money Background

CCL groups are typically very creative about finding low cost ways to get the work done. 90% of our groups manage their finances informally and spend less than $1,000 in a year (most spend less than $500). Keeping things simple and informal allows more time to be spent on actions to build political will!

But as chapters grow in size and capacity, they sometimes find it useful to open a bank account and introduce more accountability into their processes. This also lets them take on bigger projects, such as raising funds to help their members go to the CCL conference and lobby day in D.C. Should you decide to start local fundraising, be sure to read the material here first so that you can coordinate with our national fundraising. (If you want to raise funds for CCL nationally, we welcome that - see this training. Contact Christopher Anderson at christopher.anderson@citizensclimate.org for more information).

Groups often wonder if they can raise money for their needs through CCL or CCE by having people donate money earmarked for their group. Unfortunately, the complications of managing that for hundreds of groups without jeopardizing our outstanding audit reports (necessary for receiving major grants from foundations) means that the national office is unable to offer this.

Chapter Fundraising Strategies

If you want to begin fundraising for your group, here are some ideas to help you:

First, we have a favor to ask! Unlike many organizations, CCL and CCE only ask for money twice a year, in November/December and in March, because we think it is annoying to send requests for money every week or every day like some groups. We ask that you coordinate with us by only fundraising for your group in the other nine months of the year.

We therefore respectfully request that chapters refrain from fundraising in the months of March, November and December, including communications such as save-the-date notices for upcoming fundraisers.  

Many groups have successfully raised significant funds by:

• Asking group members, family and members of the community to contribute, whether in person, via email, or through Facebook or other social media platforms. Such efforts are MUCH more effective if followed up with a personal phone call.
• Throwing themed house party fundraisers with special speakers or guests. Please note that CCL insurance does not include liability for such events.
• Holding a special event to raise money (and awareness of our work!), such as a climate concert, a potluck or a film screening.

Note: Donations to your CCL chapter won’t be tax-deductible, and recent changes to the tax code have limited the ability of many people to take charitable deductions for their donations anyway. Even before the tax code changes, most CCL groups have had no problem meeting their fundraising goals without tax deductibility. There is often a lot of untapped goodwill in the community for what we are doing!

How you handle the money matters, so don’t forget the best practices discussed in the Handling Finances section below.

Bank Accounts and Applying for an EIN

For advice on chapter bank accounts and applying for EIN please contact Olivia Melonas, Chief Financial Officer, at olivia@citizensclimate.org is available for guidance.  

What's the difference between a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organization?

Citizens’ Climate Lobby or CCL is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. 501(c)(4) organizations can engage in unlimited lobbying so long as it pertains to the organization’s mission. Donations made to 501(c)(4) organizations are not deductible, though some businesses who make these contributions often write them off as advertising or business expenses.

Citizens’ Climate Education, or CCE, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 501(c)(3) organizations are not allowed to endorse or oppose political candidates, or donate money or time to political campaigns, and are permitted to lobby for only a very small percentage of time. Donations made to 501(c)(3) organizations are deductible to the full extent of the law as charitable contributions.

Handling Finance 

However you raise your money, it’s important to handle the funds with care. We strongly recommend that two or more people always handle the money, both when it comes in and when it goes out. Responsibilities of such co-treasurers may include:

• Overseeing a chapter checking account
• Itemizing expenses on a spreadsheet to share with the broader chapter
• Signing off on expenses before making purchases
• Reimbursing members for approved expenses

Such practices provide a high level of  transparency, helping to assure donors that their money is being handled well while protecting the persons handling the money.

Raising money for conference scholarship

Note:  CCL offers scholarships to cover the conference attendance costs for June 2024. Check out our inclusion and conservative scholarships. Apply ahead of the deadline of April 15th.

National and regional conferences offer volunteers in your group a wonderful opportunity to connect with CCL volunteers and staff from around the region or country, to deepen their skills and knowledge, and to return to your group feeling more committed and inspired than ever. But it can be expensive.

For many people, knowing that there is the possibility of some help with travel expenses makes it easier to decide to attend a conference.

The conference fees reflect a subsidy to every registrant by being set well below the cost of the event. Many groups have found it helpful to do some fundraising on their own to help members of their group attend a national or regional conference.
 

Suggestions for Fundraising for Conference Scholarships

• Passing the hat. The simplest way to help someone is to informally pass the hat at one of your meetings to collect money for your members who are going. People who can’t go to a conference are often happy to help someone else who can.
• Hotel and airline points. People who have extra hotel points or airline points can use them to subsidize lodging or transportation for a particular volunteer by buying the ticket for them using the points.
• Fundraising events. Some groups hold a community fundraising event and invite everyone they know to help send citizen lobbyists from their community to represent them in D.C. If you do this, it’s important to read the section above on handling chapter money in CCL. These donations will not be tax-exempt, and you’ll need a bank account for handling the money, as well as someone to make decisions about giving out the scholarships.
• Crowdfunding platforms. Individual volunteers or groups have used crowd fundraising platforms such as GoFundMe to solicit donations to help them with their travel costs.
  • The web platform will deduct a small percentage of each donation but provides an easy way to set up a web campaign. Once the page is created, sharing it on Social Media and emailing it to your friends and family can help you reach a lot of people.
• Local coordinators. Your group can also help people to decide to go by having someone keep track of who is going. Your local volunteer coordinator makes it easy for people to find roommates and to make plans together by helping people who are going connect with each other.
• By signing the Liability Waiver for Room Shares, you will be given access to a forum to find roommates and to make travel plans together. The more you can create a team spirit around attending the conference, the more people will go, and your group will gain the benefits that come with empowering more people.
• If none of these options work for your needs and you have a specific request feel free to contact your Regional Director who can help you explore alternatives. 

Managing Money At Group Level

Identifying Your Chapter Needs

1. Some of us have inhibitions about raising money. We think things like: “I hate asking people for money” or “People won’t go to the CCL Conference because it’s too expensive” or “Our tabling doesn’t look so great, but it’s all we can afford.”  
   • It’s easy to get disempowered around money. Instead, you could stretch your comfort zone and say instead: “I say that money is not a barrier for anyone from this chapter who wants to go to Washington D.C. (or for us to have an attractive tabling kit). I say it’s possible to raise the money to fill that need.”
2. Get clear about what is needed. Start by letting people know that your chapter will support them.  
   • Example: People may want to go to CCL’s Washington D.C. conference, but finances might be inhibiting them from even considering it. Let them know that “we will raise money to support people who want to go. We’ll contribute to travel and registration expenses.” Have them commit … register.  Have them be specific about what they need … dollar amounts.
   • Example: The people say they need $300 to attend. Or, we need supplies for tabling – a tent, a table, etc. and we’ve priced each item, total is $500.
3. Explain to folks that, for your chapter to financially support them, you will agree to an amount with them ahead of time, you’ll let them know what kinds of expenses are eligible, and they will need to save receipts to submit for reimbursement. 

How to Ask

1. Try sending an email ask. It puts all the information in one place and makes it easy for potential donors to say yes.   
2. Use the mindset: “Some people don’t have time for CCL but would love to financially support specific CCL activities. All we have to do is clearly ask and make it easy to give.”
3. Put all the “to” names in “bcc” so that replies will go only to the sender.
4. Your ask should:
   • Have a message title that gets potential donors to open the email
   • Inspire your audience with the need in a few words 
   • Offer them an opportunity to help
   • Contain everything readers need to know to respond positively

Example Email Template

Title: Seeking $500 to send our CCL teen members to D.C. Lobby Day

Fellow Climate Supporters,

We are so impressed with the teen leaders who have joined our chapter recently.  They are known at their high schools as Climate Leaders and are known to us by speaking out about living their adult lives in the changing climate we are leaving them.

Three teens are now registered for the Washington D.C. Conference and Lobby Day.  Young people always get special attention in lobby meetings and these impressive young people are perfectly suited for that! 

We are looking for $500 to help fund the trip for several of these teens. Can you help? To be clear, these donations are not tax-deductible ... sorry.

If you are a Venmo user, you can transfer your donation to [name]’s account (search for her name), and she will reimburse the teens’ expenses from funds received. If you want to give more traditionally, forward this message to [email] for further instructions.

Thanks for being part of this important work. Now ... as always, it takes a village, and we are a resourceful village that makes things happen.

• Send out the ask.
• As people respond, send appreciation and respect to each of them promptly by return email.
• Keep track of pledge amounts and who made them.
• Once sufficient pledges have been received, wait a day or so and send out a message “ending the ask."

Title:  Raised! $500 to send our teen members to Washington Conference and Lobby Day

• Thanks to all those who considered and responded to our request. We now have receipts and checks are being mailed to meet our goal! Thanks for making it easy. Generosity smooths many paths.

Title:  The Hat Was Passed ... and Returned Full!

• The response to the message below has once again confirmed our experience: Citizens’ Climate Lobby people are the best! Thank you ... thank you ... to everyone who responded to our request. Our Hat is now full and we have what we need. We will give a report of the results once all the checks arrive. Let us pass back to you what we learned: ask for what you need ... and you will be pleasantly surprised!

The Fundraising and Accounting Workbook

• The Fundraising and Accounting Workbook is a Google spreadsheet created by the CCL NC Raleigh-Durham chapter.
  • The link contains 3 sheets: Check Register, Expense Detail, Income Detail
  • Make a copy of the workbook to customize and use for your own chapters' accounting. 
  • Questions? Contact CCL Volunteer and workbook creator Libby Searles-Bohs for support: libbysearlesbohs@gmail.com
• As donations come in via Venmo or checks, let donors know you’ve received them and thank them again.  
• Promptly deposit any checks and record each donation in the “income detail” spreadsheet and the “check register” spreadsheet. Make a copy of the checks that were deposited and store hardcopy for later reference (auditing).

Reimbursement

Make it clear ahead of time, to those we’ve pledged money:

• That they will need receipts to get reimbursement
• What kind of expenses we will reimburse
• How you will be getting the reimbursement to them  
• Electronic receipts are acceptable, e.g., scanned and emailed.  

When they submit receipts, look them over to see that they match what we agreed to. It’s okay to be picky about this, as taking things seriously when you spend your local donor’s money provides trust in your work. Store the receipts in the cloud (e.g., Google Drive) and try to give each one a filename that starts with their date (YYYY-MM-DD). Each expense / reimbursement gets recorded in the “expense detail” spreadsheet and the “check register” spreadsheet.

Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)

• Jean Ritok

Download PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation.

To skip ahead to a specific section go to the time indicated in parenthesis.

Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)

Important Considerations 

(2:06) 

Setting Up A Bank Account 

(11:30) 

Nuts & Bolts Of Local Money Management 

(17:45) 

Email Templates 

(25:50) 

Workbook Walkthrough 

(34:24)

• Jean Ritok

• Download the podcast

• How To Write A Fundraising Pitch
• What has worked well for your group? Share on the Chapter Organizing Forum