Fundraising Services

Pre-Campaign Feasibility Study

Campaign Implementation Services

Organizational Assessment and Fundraising Readiness

Annual Fund Development Planning

Other Services

Pre-Campaign Feasibility Study
Feasibility studies are the first critical step in planning for a capital or advancement campaign. Pre-campaign studies help nonprofit organizations gauge donor and community support for a specific capital project, program enhancement, or endowment effort (or often, a combination of the three). Feasibility study services include:

• Assistance with the drafting of a "case for support" document and an appropriate cover letter to introduce the case.
• Conducting face-to-face interviews with pre-identified community stakeholder constituents to determine:
  
  • Community impressions of the organization and its mission.
  • Community reaction to the proposed project, program enhancement, or endowment effort.
  • Feasibility of initiating a successful community based campaign.
  • Suggestions regarding community leadership for a campaign effort.
  • Suggestions regarding potential donor candidates for a campaign effort.
  • Personal willingness to be involved in campaign leadership.
  • Personal willingness to support a campaign effort with a individual or corporate/foundation gift.
    
• Delivery of a comprehensive report detailing donor/community reaction to the proposed campaign effort.

Feasibility studies are usually conducted over a three month period.

Campaign Implementation Service
Hopkins Fundraising Consulting offers comprehensive management of your organization's campaign, including working with your leadership team to:

• Refine the organizational case for support.
• Develop campaign literature and ancillary materials.
• Identify and recruit appropriate campaign leadership.
• Develop a sound campaign organizational structure and campaign timeline.
• Assist with the creation of gift policies, gift accounting, and donor acknowledgement policies.
• Train volunteer solicitors.
• Provide all materials for campaign meetings, including agendas, training materials, drafts of solicitation letters, grant templates, gift charts, and acknowledgement communication vehicles.
• Assist with the development of donor prospect lists and evaluation processes.
• Assist with the development of solicitation strategies to maximize donor input and enhance giving.
• Coordinate planning for public kick off strategies, including creation of news advisories and press releases.
• Provide guidance to staff regarding gift pledge systems and appropriate donor follow-up.
• Provide overall management of the campaign effort to ensure careful planning and timely execution of identified fundraising strategies.

Most serious advancement efforts take 12-18 months to complete and often require outside counsel to manage the project from the planning stages to the final ribbon cutting. Hopkins Fundraising Consulting has extensive experience in guiding nonprofit organizations through successful campaigns and would welcome the opportunity to assist your organization in meeting its goals.

Organizational Assessment and Fundraising Readiness
Preparing your organization so that it can initiate a successful fundraising program is a critical task. Hopkins Fundraising Consulting often partners with nonprofit organizations to assess an organization's proficiency with regard to fundraising and to ready the nonprofit to increase its fundraising efficacy. This service includes:

• Review of the organization's mission for clarity.
• Assistance with the development of a community impact statement.
• Assisting the organization with an assessment of current and future financial needs.
• Review of staff and Board roles, development of job descriptions, and development of accountability standards for all those involved in organizational fundraising.
• Assisting with the development of an appropriate fund development budget for the organization.
• Training of staff and Board leadership regarding effective solicitation methods.
• Training of staff and Board leadership with regard to maintaining relationships with donors as a method for maximizing future donor support.
• Review of current donor software/recommendations regarding software.
• Review of gift accounting and acknowledgement procedures.
• Development of gift policies.
• Assistance with the development of a "case for support" and printed/marketing materials related to fundraising.
• Testing the mission and vision of the organization with 8-10 community opinion leaders (optional).

Annual Fund Development Planning
Organizations with structured annual fund plans typically raise more money than those that approach fundraising without any defined strategy for success. Hopkins Fundraising Consulting is prepared to assist your organization in creating a 3-5 year annual fund plan that clearly defines your fundraising objectives, develops carefully planned strategies for achieving those goals, and results in delineated benchmarks to ensure that your organization is effectively executing its plan. This service includes:

• Assisting the organization with an assessment of current and future financial needs, including a review of annual revenue streams (i.e. including funds secured through earned income, fundraising strategies, and other methods).
• Review of the organization's recent fundraising history and current fundraising strategies including special events, direct mail, grant writing, planned giving, major gift solicitation, and board solicitation.
• Development of a written 3-5 year annual fund plan that clearly outlines fundraising objectives for the defined timeframe.
• Assisting with the identification of potential donor constituencies and with the development of strategies to reach those groups.
• Identification of "best practices" in regard to mailing programs, special event fundraising, and grant writing.
• Assessment of current Board leadership and assistance with identification and recruitment of future Board members.
• Training of staff for effective Board solicitation.
• Training of Board leadership for their role in the fundraising process.
• Development of staff benchmarks to determine the success of the defined fundraising program.
• Assistance with the development of donor recognition vehicles to heighten donor interest in supporting the organization.

Other Services
Hopkins Fundraising Consulting offers several other short term services to assist nonprofit organizations with their fundraising needs, including:

• Development of the Case for Support.
• Mentoring of new development staff.
• Board training workshops for new/existing Board members that focus on:
  • The role of the Board in successful fundraising efforts.
  • Leadership and giving.
  • Creating reasonable fundraising expectations.
  • Volunteer solicitation efforts.