To operate a nonprofit, you'll need to raise funds. The first step to finding donors is to make an effort to cultivate public support for your organization. Here is where your mission statement and goals will come in handy. Host a public meeting to talk about your organization's goals and plans. Advertise this meeting through press releases, newspaper articles, social media outreach, and paper advertisements. Explain what your organization hopes to accomplish and why at your first public meeting. Develop an online presence. As you begin to publicize your nonprofit, it's vital to develop a web presence. You want people to be able to locate your website for more information. There are many sites that provide website templates and allow you to operate a website for free or a small price. Create a mailing list. Compile a list of animal-loving friends and colleagues. Ask them to suggest additional people to add to your list. Ask people to provide their e-mail and physical address when hosting your first public meeting. When you begin setting out requests for donations, you'll have a list on hand to pull form. Contact the media. Hit up local newspapers and radio or TV shows. Send out press releases. A short human interest interest segment on the nightly news can do wonders for gaining support for your organization. A membership program can help support operating costs of your nonprofit. Members are not the same thing as board members in that they do not get voting power. They are simply regular donors for the organization. You can make your membership program as simple or complex as you want. Some membership programs offer benefits for members, like special prizes like tote bags or water bottles. Other nonprofits simply ask members to donate because they believe in the cause. How you execute a membership program is up to you. To recruit members, send out pamphlets and other publications explaining what you're doing for animals and why. Explain any benefits or perks of membership. If you have different levels of membership (such as gold, silver, and bronze) explain what each level entails. Sometimes simple phone calls are a great way to raise funds. Have board members phone people on your mailing list and ask for donations. Keep in mind many people are wary about giving money over the phone, so prepare for setbacks and resistance. Once again, go to your mailing list. Use this to send out e-mails and letters asking for money. Have a simple means to donate online. A GoFundMe page can work well, as well as a section of your own website where people can easily donate. You can provide addressed envelops in letters so people can easily mail in checks to your organization. The first step to dealing with your organization's money is to establish some kind of accounting system. A good system will document income and expenses in easily understandable categories. It's a good idea to hire a bookkeeper or accountant at this stage. If you do not have familiarity regulating money, a qualified accountant can help you decide how to allocate funds. Create a budget. Based on your goals, needs, and current funds decide how the money you've earned will be allocated in the coming financial year. Once again, a qualified accountant or bookkeeper can help with this process. Establishing an accounting system is vital to a nonprofit. Not only does it help board members have a clear understanding of how money is being spent, the IRS requires you put together a budget to prove your nonprofit status.

Summary: Cultivate public support. Start a membership program. Make phone calls. Send e-mails and direct mail. Establish an accounting system.

Determine how fluent you want to become and set small goals that will help you gradually reach your desired level of knowledge. Small steps are easier to work through. For example, if learning 40 new words each month seems intimidating, tell yourself to learn 10 new words each week. The smaller goal might be easier to work toward. Change your goals if you need to. If your current goals are too stressful and difficult to meet, you'll become discouraged and may quit your studies as a result. On the other hand, if your current goals do not challenge you enough, you may become bored and quit your studies because of that. Practice your verbal (listening/speaking) and written (reading/writing) skills each day. Schedule your practices for one specific time each day, and commit to studying during that time. Tell your teacher, classmates, friends, or relatives about your schedule and ask them to check on your progress. You might feel more motivated to stick to your schedule if you're worried about the consequences of straying from it. Take an actual English class or find a small group of other English students to practice with. Studying the language with other people will allow you to learn from each other. Formal English classes work well because they are led by professional teachers. Trust your English instructor. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or ask questions; correcting you and answering those questions is part of your instructor's job. When learning English informally, try to work in small groups instead of large groups. Smaller crowds may make you feel more comfortable and less embarrassed. Don't be afraid of making mistakes when you practice your English. If you stop yourself from practicing because you feel insecure about your current skill level, you won't be able to improve. When you don't feel confident, review the progress you've already made with your English studies. By realizing how much you've already accomplished, you might feel encouraged to continue improving yourself. Learning English can be its own reward, but if you have difficulty motivating yourself, find other ways to reward yourself for reaching your short-term language learning goals. The reward can be related to your English studies, but it doesn't have to be. For example, you might reward yourself after reaching a major goal by visiting an international festival or other event that attracts English speakers. You might reward yourself after reaching a small goal by buying your favorite snack or visiting your favorite restaurant, though. At the beginning of your studies, learn enough basic grammar to express and understand meaning. Focus on learning more advanced grammar after you learn how to speak English conversationally. Don't worry about memorizing the rules of grammar and using each rule in every conversation or piece of writing. If you try to apply every rule of grammar, your English might seem too stiff and unnatural. Thinking about proper grammar as you try to communicate will also prevent you from conveying your thoughts quickly. Be patient. Learning English easily does not mean that you will learn the language quickly. Take as much time as you need to understand the language instead of trying to speed through the learning process. Practice consistently. If you do not study or review past lessons on a regular basis, you might forget about the information you learned. Regular practice is the only way to remember English on a long-term basis. Don't be discouraged about how long the process takes. No one can fluently speak or write English after only studying for a few months, and you will probably need to study for at least one or two years before you can hold conversations in English. It will probably take an even longer amount of time before your English sounds natural and fluent.

Summary: Set goals. Schedule daily practice. Study with others. Be confident. Reward yourself. Improve grammar gradually. Keep practicing.

Outdoor cushions are going to get dirty there's no way around that. However, you can limit how dirty they get by brushing loose dirt from the surface whenever you notice it. This will prevent the dirt from becoming deeply ingrained in the fabric. To limit staining, try to wipe the spilled substance from the cushions right after it happens. If that's not possible, get rid of the spilled substance as soon as you notice it. The longer it sits on the fabric, the more ingrained the stain will become. When a liquid spill occurs, use a clean cloth to blot the substance up. Never rub the spilled liquid, since this will force it deeper into the fabric fibers. After you've soaked up as much as possible, proceed with the spot cleaning technique. Don't forget to sprinkle the corn starch on oil-based stains first.
Summary: Brush dirt off the fabric regularly. Wipe up spills as soon as possible. Blot gently at liquid spills.