Partner Agency Resources

Applications are ready for the 2025-26 Campaign!

March 1, 2025

So apparently this year it was February that came in like a lion and went out like a lamb… which brings us to March! Here at OCFA, March is the month for accepting applications for our *next* Red Envelope Campaign. Yes, it takes a lot of advance planning to have everything ready to go by August 1st.

If you are intending to participate as a partner agency again for this upcoming campaign (8/1/2025 – 7/31/2026), please complete your application by March 31st.

Here’s a step-by-step way to ensure you’ve got all your ducks in a row and that the actual completion of the application will be a snap:

1) Who will complete the application? Check in with the other contacts from your agency and decide who will complete the application, in order to prevent duplicate submissions.

2) Review our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): Next, please review our MOU (updated for 2025), which you can share with your board or others in your organization to ensure you are aware of the parameters of participation and can commit to the partnership required to be part of the campaign.

3) Start to gather the information you’ll need to complete the application. Have your tax ID # (EIN) handy, as well as necessary contact names, phone numbers, and email addresses of your agency representatives. We’ll also need your mailing address (which may be different from your physical address).

4) Ensure that you are up to date with the WA Secretary of State Charities Division, and determine your renewal date. (Visit the WA SOS Charities site, and use the Charity/Fundraiser/Trust search on the bottom left of the page.)

5) Review how you’re currently represented in the Nonprofit Directory on our site. Find your name on this alpha list and take a peek at the 150-word description; from there, click on the embedded “Donate Now” button and check out your 35-word description.

Once you’ve checked off all of the above, you can find the application here. If you’ve got all your info lined up and ready to go, it should only take 10 minutes to complete.

Best,

Lisa

PS – We’ve still got 5 months to go in our current campaign, so don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or for support there, too! It’s true that the biggest fundraising push for us is at year-end… but we do process donations year-round. Our current 2024-25 campaign runs through 7/31/2025 — so there’s still lots of time to encourage folks to give! Donations received from 1/1/2025 through 7/31/2025 will be part of your August disbursements, when you will also receive your shares of the Community Fund (1 share for every donation of $20+).

January 21, 2025

Hello all, and welcome to 2025!

Great job on the year-end push by everyone. Lots and lots (and lots and lots) of donations arrived within the final hours of 2024. Whew!

When all the dust settled, our numbers had climbed to $2,350,194.63. Amazing!!

At long last, we have fully reconciled all these donations, and have cut the first round of disbursement checks, i.e. your allocations from this $2.35M received between 8/1/2024 and 12/31/2024. The checks have been mailed over the MLK weekend, and should find their way to you within a few days.

Also, your corresponding (Fall 2024) donor data is now available on the Partner Portal.  If you don’t have your agency’s login and password for the portal, check with your organization’s Primary Contact. If you are unable to find it, email me. Please remember that all donors have received a gracious acknowledgement/tax letter from One Call for All, so do not send acknowledgement letters or tax receipts. You may call, email, or send an informal note to thank them, if you’d like. Remember that most donors have given to MANY organizations and do not want to be inundated with notes.

Again, although the biggest push is at year-end, we do process donations year-round. Our 2024-25 campaign runs from 8/1/2024 through 7/31/2025 — so there’s still lots of time to encourage folks to give! Donations received from 1/1/2025 through 7/31/2025 will be part of our August disbursements, when you will also receive your share of the Community Fund (1 share for every $20+ donation).

And if you’re planning ahead, applications for participation in the 2025-26 Red Envelope Campaign (which will run 8/1/2025 through 7/31/2026) will be available coming in March. You’ll hear from me again at that time 🙂

Cheers!

-Lisa

Lisa Timmins, ED

Email: director@onecallforall.org

Voicemail: 206-842-0659

Grants, Learning Opportunities, and Other Events

For those who are interested, below are a few opportunities/events of note for Winter 2025. Feel free to let me know if you know of something that would be beneficial to share with your fellow Partner Agencies.

• The Bainbridge Community Foundation (BCF) has a number of upcoming events, mini-courses, etc., including New Approaches to Strategic Planning with David Harrison on Jan 23rd at 10:00 am; Major Gifts Fundraising with Brittany Kirk on Feb 6th at 10:00 am; a Non-Profit Design mini-course with David Harrison on Wednesdays in March, starting Mar 5th at 3:00 pm; and an event on Planned Giving at BPA on Apr 26th at 3:00 pm with BCF Executive Director Jim Hopper. (You can contact Jessica Henshaw at BCF with any follow-up questions.)
• Additionally, the Bainbridge Community Foundation (BCF) has two annual grant cycles; many of you may be eligible to apply here as well. See https://bainbridgecf.org/grants/how-to-apply-for-a-grant for schedule and more details. The Community Grant Cycle will open for applications on Feb 25th (their Capacity Building Grants are generally in the Fall); contact Debbie Kuffel at BCF if you need more info.
• The Bainbridge Island Rotary‘s Community Grants application cycle is typically open in October. You can learn more about the eligibility requirements and application process on their site: https://www.bainbridgeislandrotary.org/community-grants/
• The Nonprofit Learning Lab offers free nonprofit webinars on a variety of relevant topics, from fundraising and marketing to IT and DEI; check out their latest lineup.

Slides and Notes from the Red Envelope 101 webinar

Thanks to those of you who were able to attend one of our webinars. So much info to share in such a short time! If you’d like to review what was covered or share with those who weren’t able to attend, click on the link above to view the Google slides. Be sure to check out all the “speaker notes” underneath each slide for more detailed info.

Below is the snapshot (as shared in the webinar, Slide 3) of our annual timeline, which can be an informative overview to share with everyone at your organization, to help them understand our annual cycle and how things flow with the Red Envelope Campaign:

How to make the most of your partnership with One Call for All? 

We have a few ideas, including (but certainly not limited to) the following:

>> Make a plan

Download a Red Envelope Planning worksheet: Red-Envelope-Plan-2024 to complete with your team (board, volunteers, staff) to make the most of your participation in the campaign this year. This is a Word document so you can edit it for your specific needs and add your own ideas.

>> Spread the word

• Incorporate our logos: Right-click on any images you’d like to save and use on your site or in social media.

• Wear/distribute buttons and magnets: We have buttons for your board, volunteers, staff, and donors to wear. They say “Ask me where I give!” (see above) and we hope they will help you spark conversations about what matters most to YOU — your organization. We also have bumper magnets that say “I GIVE!” We’ll mail these out to donors if they request one. Make sure you request one when you make YOUR gift. We hope to see a lot of these around town, celebrating philanthropy!
• White envelopes: We have small reply envelopes for you to use in mailings, in person, and at events. The best timing for use of these would be November and December (or anytime for off-island donors). Let me know if you’d like some!
• Display yard signs: If you have a OCFA yard sign, place it where you work, where you live, at your nonprofit, at a place of business, or anywhere else you think it would help make the campaign more visible. You can return these at the end of the active phase of the campaign, keep them year-round, or store them to use again. If you don’t already have one, let us know. Feel free to stagger your use of them throughout the campaign season. If you have events of any kind (program events, concerts, fundraising events, volunteer events, etc.) bring a sign so that it helps people remember to give. Hopefully it will end up in photos as well 🙂
• Create and display posters: If you have the ability to easily make color copies, you can use the artwork from our yard signs to create posters or visuals that you can display anywhere that makes sense and will help remind people to give.

>> Keep us informed

We’re genuinely interested in the good work you’re doing, and the more we know about it, the more we can do for you. Tell us stories about what’s going on with your agency, invite us to events or for a quick site visit, or just email if you want to share some news or ask for help.

>> Your Board of Directors

Board members are KEY to success in the Red Envelope Campaign. We are happy to have a OCFA ambassador visit your board meeting to talk about this. Please put One Call for All on your board agenda for October, and include this Board To-do list. Give everyone an “Ask me where I give!” button and encourage them to start conversations with friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

>> Paid ads

In the past, many of you have (wisely) purchased ads in the Bainbridge Review special insert section, which will be sent out the last Friday in October. There are also advertising options in PNW Bainbridge and Tideland magazines, ads on the ferry, and the Islander (published by the Kitsap Sun).

>> QR Codes

Email us if you’d like us to create a QR code for a flyer, poster, or display for you. This is a great opportunity for touch-free, covid-safe fundraising in person. When someone points their smartphone camera at a QR code, they’ll  be automatically connected to your organization’s unique URL, making an online donation on the spot super quick and easy. This is a good option if you are approached by supporters or volunteers who offer to hold a fundraising event to benefit your organization… they can do this on their own and it’s so low-maintenance!

>> Email