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w w w. m a i n e b i z . b i z 9 G i v i n G G u i d e 2 0 1 4 – 2 0 1 5 Ken BAKeR President Abundance Non Profit G ifts-in-kind have always been a part of nonprofit support. ese contributions have been, for the most part, limited to items that the nonprofit solicited and usually fit a specific need. Other donations were not sought because the nonprofit had difficulty in storing, using or converting the items into something that they needed. is has all changed with the advent of a grow- ing barter industry where soliciting anything that has value in the marketplace opens up a tremen- dous new source of support for the nonprofit. Last year barter contributed $19 billion to the U.S. economy with approximately one million businesses, nonprofits and professional people in the country using barter on a regular basis. Most barter exchanges are members of national organizations that offer millions of dollars of goods and services available on trade with normal fees for trade-exchange brokering averaging 10%. e nonprofit can place goods or services in the trade exchange for sale and accrue trade dollars in their account to be used for future purchases as they are needed – providing an opportunity to acquire goods and services that the nonprofit is currently paying cash to receive. Every trade dollar spent by the nonprofit repre- sents one U.S. dollar saved. Saved dollars add to the budget thus stretching funds at a time when cash is in short supply. Here's how it works. Recently a store was about to unload end-of- season merchandise in the discount marketplace. Instead the store chose to work with a trade exchange and its favorite nonprofit. e merchan- dise was sold on trade at fair market value. Trade dollars earned from the sale were credited to the nonprofit account. Sometime later, the nonprofit required electrical work in its building and the trade exchange provided an electrician member, who used his time and expertise to do the job. e nonprofit received its required electrical work and the budgeted funds for the project were left in its bank account while the electrician earned trade dollars that he used for a family vacation. is all came about even though the store's donation could not be directly used by the nonprofit. Frequently, larger donations are made because it means no cash is needed. ose that would like to support the nonprofit but lack the cash can now donate unused time, skills, space or product. In many cases used equipment becomes an excellent donation, sometimes delivering fair market value as credit to the nonprofit when it might otherwise have had to be discounted by the donor. Under the trade exchange, the donation of goods or services are often made by those who might not otherwise donate because it's a lot easier providing a good or service than it is actual cash. As a corporate marketing and public relations tool, the opportunities presented by donating to a non- profit to be used for barter have been overlooked for years with the potential for increased nonprofit donations limitless. e added cost of learning the barter program may appear to be overwhelming. Like any program it takes time to learn how to manage its many benefits. A trade broker may be available to pro- vide support but there still remains the need for a person within the nonprofit to access its needs and oversee the program. In order to get the most from the benefits offered, barter requires attention. It's not a com- plex or difficult task to those who know what he or she is doing but it does require an understand- ing of the basics. Coaching is sometimes avail- able and when properly set up the position can be self-supporting with no out-of-pocket expense. e learning process should be designed so that an individual within the nonprofit can take over the task in a reasonably short period of time and it's even possible to reward this person with items of value available through the trade exchange. If used properly, the barter program can con- tribute to the nonprofit program for years, leading to the expansion of existing programs as well as the introduction of new programs. Stretching the nonprofit budget One of the Maine Winter Sports Center's Youth Program trips to Gulf Hagas this summer, taken from atop Chairback Mountain, part of Maine's 100-Mile Wilderness and the Appalachian Trail. using gifts-in-kind on barter exchanges "As a corporate marketing and public relations tool, the opportunities presented by donating to a nonprofit to be used for barter have been overlooked for years …"

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