Fundraising Counsel: Assessment, Annual Giving, and Implementation

Could you double or triple philanthropic revenue? Are you effectively engaging your leaders? Do you have the right level of talent for your opportunity? Where does ROI suggest you should invest? What activity should you discontinue? These and many other questions form the appropriate level of assessment at the launch of every fundraising engagement. Following the assessment—which maximizes the insights from your existing data—we create risk/reward options for you to consider and recommendations particular to you. And because a recommendation could be just that, we also develop the strategy and implementation required to ensure you get the results you seek.

Examination of a five-year baseline analysis to understand trends that have contributed to fundraising success, new donor acquisition, donor retention, gaps in programming, and to create assumptions that form a springboard for looking ahead. This baseline examines results from four important angles: audience contributing, gift levels being realized, effort resulting in dollars, and purpose of dollars. Our analysis also considers return on investment and cost per dollar raised.

Funding priorities workshops to learn and assess what fundraisers should focus on and why, depth and breadth of content and cost, existing data sets and how they can inform our work, engagement of various stakeholders, and whether priorities are likely to have the impact and results from donors that your organization desires.

Building of a data-driven prospect model that scaffolds over what you see as your foundational capacity data and extends it to a useful model that blends giving behaviors and patterns (loyalty and gift levels), engagement (where useful), assignment, and moves management to assess capacity and identify various types of prospects.

Formation of a staff-to-opportunity analysis that combines prospect opportunity with an understanding of each job function on your team such that we can build a staff investment plan that may be required to optimize fundraising success.

Engagement of organizational leaders and volunteer stakeholders through one-to-one interviews to gain an understanding of how they engage, when they engage, whether they are advocates for fundraising, and whether they have what they need from your development team to succeed. Further, this engagement helps illuminate their perceptions of the fundraising program from their vantage point.

Goal and metric setting that reflects the intersection of your current program, opportunities for philanthropic growth, shifts in staff and talent that will impact results, best practice around revenue expectations, and investment budget.

Is your annual giving program as robust as it could be? Is it providing a pipeline of major donor prospects? Do you need to raise more unrestricted funds? A robust annual giving program is the foundation for ongoing, unrestricted support for most nonprofit organizations and is key to filling your pipeline for major gift prospects. By analyzing past giving, comparing that data against trends in the market and leveraging outside data, we can determine how to shift your annual giving strategy to achieve maximum results.

Whether you need to establish an annual fund or want to take your existing annual giving program to the next level, you will benefit from strategic direction and support for your annual giving program and the help you need to achieve your annual fund goals.

As former annual fund leaders, senor consultants on our team can partner with you to bring annual giving best practices to your program and/or strengthen those that you already have. We can assess your current program and make recommendations for enhancing your work and elevating your results. We can partner with you to identify the best direct response agency that aligns with your work, mission and goals, and you will have the support to develop and implement sustainable leadership annual giving programs.

Choosing options and crafting recommendations does not need to signal the end of an engagement. You can decide to remain partners while you launch your program in a new direction or reform your approach. Some engagements benefit when we work together with your frontline fundraisers, operations teams and even Boards to implement a new program, processes, or systems, or even assist in onboarding new fundraising staff. You can also engage us to facilitate message workshops to help fundraisers more effectively pitch philanthropic priorities. And most often, our clients keep us on to help coach staff and volunteers in the day-to-day work of engaging prospects and closing gifts.

Every nonprofit–whether in education, health & science, environment, the arts, or social justice–recognizes that fundraising plays a key role in an organization’s ability to meet its goals, deliver on its mission, and achieve its long-term vision. This is where the right fundraising counseling partner can make all the difference. As a dedicated full-service fundraising counsel firm with unique insights into the fundraising candidate marketplace, Development Guild draws on its strategic and honed consulting services, data analysis expertise, and cross-sector intelligence to get results and achieve new levels of success for your nonprofit.

When it comes to fundraising counsel companies, not all are created equal. With a full-service fundraising counsel partner like Development Guild, you’ll receive the support you need to meet and exceed your philanthropic goals. Our fundraising counsel consultants bring a fresh perspective and innovative approaches to the challenge of effective and sustainable fundraising. 

From recruitment for CEOs, C-suite positions and fundraising positions to identifying untapped donor potential to developing innovative new cultivation, stewardship, and growth strategies, our team can ensure you have the staffing, capabilities, plans, and vision you need to maximize your philanthropy. As a fundraising counsel partner committed to achieving the best possible results for your organization, our team can assist you in reallocating your fundraising budget, maximizing return on investment, and staying agile and navigating challenges throughout the project, whatever they may be.

At Development Guild, we offer a wide range of services, backed by data insights, to provide fundraising campaign counsel that gets results. These services include: an assessment, in which we examine a five-year baseline analysis, host funding priorities workshops, build a data-driven prospect model, form a staff-to-opportunity analysis, and engage organizational leaders and volunteer stakeholders; annual giving counsel, in which we analyze your current program and provide recommendations to strengthen your strategy and create sustainable results; and/or implementation counsel, in which we help your team turn our recommendations into action. This ongoing fundraising counsel supports our clients as they facilitate change at both the executive level and on the frontline of fundraising. 

Our mentorship, analysis and data-driven approach can transform your fundraising goals and achievements. Ready to start rethinking your fundraising capabilities? Get in touch and talk to our fundraising counsel consultants today.