Summary of Fundraising Consulting Services

  • Comprehensive fundraising program assessment and planning including annual campaigns and feasibility studies for capital campaign readiness
  • Strategic planning including key constituent groups, particularly the Board
  • Board development, including board responsibilities, board orientation and mentoring
  • Annual and capital campaign consultation and implementation planning
  • Major gift strategy and solicitation planning, with emphasis on training of volunteers (especially Board members) in the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship processes
  • Planned Giving strategy development as part of the major gift solicitation process
  • Program design and outcomes-based program proposal development and grant writing for health care, education, environmental stewardship, disaster relief, safety net, maternal/child development and positive youth development
  • Incorporation of communications and public relations into the fundraising plan, particularly the use of integrated marketing, e-marketing and new social media, including Facebook campaigns.
  • Marketing materials design:  Annual reports, newsletters, brochures, e-newsletters and related website design and implementation.
  • Advocacy and solicitation training for Board members and key volunteers
  • Executive search to assist in securing the most appropriate development professionals for your organization.

Overview:

Focused Fundraising, CT LLC has a broad ranges of services to assist you with strategic planning and fundraising needs, including executive search.  Our rates start at $100 per hour and will depend on the breadth of services required.  We look forward to assisting you. In addition, we offer workshops and training for organizations that wish to access short term training for their Board, volunteers and staff.

Organizational Planning and Development:  Strategic Planning

Non-profit organizations that seek funding for their programs must first have an overall organizational strategic plan.  Fundraising and fund development planning must be tied to the overall strategic plan and ideally considered as part of the overall plan.  Such a planning process will

  • Implement an organizational assessment, including staffing plans and structure
  • Benchmark organizational process to similar institutions
  • Revisit the mission and vision of the organization, ideally in a Board and Senior staff retreat
  • Review annual operating practices within the light of a multi-year strategic plan and new constituencies to be served
  • Develop an organizational strategic plan with the Board, Senior Staff and key stakeholders.
  • Develop an organizational action plan to achieve the strategic plan goals by choosing specific strategies and related indicators of success and timelines
  • Implement the strategic plan with quarterly evaluation points to monitor progress on goals developed in a dashboard format.

Program Planning and Evaluation:

Organizations are dynamic and changing entities that must keep pace with changing needs in the community.  Any organization that undertakes new programs and related fundraising should consider the following process to ensure that programs meet community needs and that new ones address unmet needs:

  • Evaluate current programs including outcome measurements
  • Implement a needs assessment process to determine where there are unmet needs in the community that the organization could help address
  • Implement feasibility studies to determine and potential for selected new programs
  • Include surveys in feasibility studies to solicit feedback from various constituent groups both within the organization and in the community.

Board Governance and Board Development:

Excellent Board governance is important not only to the organization’s success, but also to the organization’s ability to secure public and private financial support for the organization’s mission and vision.  In recent years, successful organizations have demonstrated the importance of governance to achieving their organization and financial goals.  The Board must come to see their roles not just as overseers, but as key players in the organization’s success including strategic planning and fundraising.  Focused Fundraising, CT LLC can help organizations to

  • Implement Board annual self assessment and the quality of the job individual Board members are doing for the organization
  • Update your By-Laws and Board/individual Board Member job description and expectations, helping them to understand their roles and responsibilities in the non-profit world of today
  • Create a culture of strategic thinkers, advocates and doers who care passionately about the organization’s mission and vision
  • Create a process in which you identify, cultivate, recruit, train and retain valuable and effective Board members
  • Make effective use of your Board members’ time by having a clear agenda for meetings, by articulating where decisions need to be made and where discussion is valuable and engaging for all participants
  • Build an effective partnership between your Board and your CEO, including key staff, such as the chief development officer, who will help achieve Board goals
  • Continuously ensure that the Board is involved in strategic planning and monitoring progress through involvement in discussion of results quarterly by reviewing dashboards of progress on goals
  • Structure committees so that Board members will be doing meaningful work
  • Build an awareness among Board members of the importance of advocacy to achieve the organization’s mission and vision as well as its fundraising goals
  • Create a defined process for identifying and recruiting Board members who will be effective participants.
  • Evaluate the success of your strategic plan and build on it and the Board members’ talents and vision.

Fundraising/Fund Development:

In order to achieve the mission and vision of the organization, the leadership of the organization needs the financial resources to help carry out its plans.  Fund development must work with Board and staff to enhance the relationships with the community of donors, both individual and institutional constituents, to achieve fundraising goals both for today and for the future.  Only some of fund development happens quickly; most of ongoing success is the product of years of careful relationship building and stewardship in which all stakeholders have a role.  To assist with this process, we can help you to

  • Provide comprehensive fundraising program assessment including all components of an annual campaign as well as feasibility studies for capital campaign readiness
  • Research and provide benchmarking data on programs at similar institutions in order to provide perspective on best practices in your field
  • Facilitate development of a fundraising strategic plan, including all constituent groups, particularly the Board, that works with and is an outgrowth of the organization’s overall strategic planning process
  • Provide annual and capital campaign consultation and implementation strategies
  • Assist in developing a major gift strategy and solicitation planning, with emphasis on the training of volunteers (particularly Board members) in the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship process to ensure growth in major giving
  • Facilitate development of strategies for incorporating planned giving as part of all major gift solicitation processes
  • Assess special events plans and dollars raised as well as how Board and volunteers are involved in fundraising and “friend raising”
  • Incorporate communications and public relations into the fundraising plan, particularly the use of integrated marketing strategies, e-marketing and new social media to engage younger donors
  • Design marketing materials to enhance development efforts:  Annual reports, newsletters, brochures, e-newsletters and related website design and implementation
  • Train Board members and constituent groups on the importance of advocacy to achieve the organization’s mission and vision and to achieve important fundraising goals.

Grant Resource Development and Grant Seeking Process:

  • Assess program design and create outcomes-based program proposals for grant submission
  • Research funding sources and establish grant-seeking plans for the year that include related goals and reports on progress on those goals
  • Create plans for Board involvement in advocacy that would augment the grant seeking process.

Special Events:

  • Review plans for current special events and develop future ideas
  • Review goals of the special event which ideally should be expanded beyond money making to include community building, especially in these days as COVID winds down and community members are able to gather once again.
  • Discuss how involvement of Board members, volunteers and major donors can enhance overall fundraising not just fundraising at this one event.

Executive Searches:

  • Assess current fund development plan for needs
  • Revise job descriptions for executive staff needing replacement, including departmental and individual responsibilities
  • Create a profile of an ideal candidate for this position; make related salary recommendations
  • Create position description and plans to advertise in appropriate venues, particularly on line as well as online staffing websites.
  • Screen candidates and provide opportunities for organization to interview in person the top two to three candidates.