Fall Funder Series: A Discussion with Shireen Zaman, Program Officer, BUILD // Ford Foundation

Welcome to the Fall Funder Series, where Sherry Quam Taylor demystifies common misconceptions about how organizations can secure general operating revenue. First up is Shireen Zaman of the BUILD program at the Ford Foundation. As a Program Officer, Shireen works directly with organizations in identifying their greatest fundraising needs and preparing a funding strategy that best supports those efforts. 

Shireen gets real about what she looks for when choosing organizations to support. It's important to remember that there are real people behind these funding efforts who are eager to connect with motivated, resilient organizations. Sometimes, all it takes is a quick introductory email or message to access a grove of new funding opportunities.

 

What You Will Discover: 

✔️ Funders are human. Take the time to organically build a relationship with a funder by utilizing all of their available resources, attending webinars, or simply having a conversation.

✔️ Think about ALL of your overhead. Organizations may include the funding they need in the present, but will that be enough to sustain your mission in a way that attracts larger funders?

✔️ The most impactful relationships take time and consistency to build. Don’t be discouraged if your efforts don’t immediately produce results.

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Shireen Zaman is a program officer on the BUILD team, working to advance the foundation’s efforts to support and develop stronger, sustainable, and more effective social justice organizations and networks across the globe. Shireen has more than two decades of experience in the philanthropic and nonprofit sector, spearheading organizational transformation, resource development, and program management at a variety of organizations.

Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, she was the director of the RISE Together Fund, a donor collaborative at the Proteus Fund. At RTF, she worked to identify, invest in and build the capacity of grassroots organizations from Black/African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities in the US. She was a founding member and served on the advisory council of the Emergent Fund, a pooled fund dedicated to supporting US grassroots organizing and power building in communities of color, including Black, Indigenous communities. Prior to her work in philanthropy, Shireen was the executive director of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, where she led the strategic expansion of a Michigan-founded think tank into the Washington, DC policy space. She was also the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Vital Voices Global Partnership where she partnered with women leaders across the region to support their work in the areas of human rights, health and political leadership.

Shireen was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for her work as an Asian-American woman leader. She holds a BA in human development from Boston College and an MA from the School of International Service at American University. She studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo and is currently completing a coaching certification program through Coaching for Healing, Justice and Liberation.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shireenzaman/

Website: https://www.fordfoundation.org/

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Welcome to the Business Behind Fundraising podcast, where you’ll discover how to raise the kind of money your big vision requires without adding more events, appeals, or grant applications. Learn how to stop blocking overall revenue growth and start attracting investment-level donors with Sherry Quam Taylor.

Sherry Quam Taylor’s unique approach and success combine her background of scaling businesses with her decade-long experience advising nonprofit leadership teams. With out-of-the-box principles and a myth-busting methodology, proven results, and an ability to see solutions to revenue problems that others overlook, her clients regularly add 7-figures of revenue to their bottom line.

If you need a true partner to show you how to fully finance your entire mission, both programs, AND overhead, year after year… You’re in the right place!

 

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