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Fund Development Strategy Strategic Fund Development for Sustainable Operations
Fund Development StrategyStrategic Fund
Development for Sustainable Operations
AcronymsPHE-EC: Population Health and Environment Ethiopia Consortium
CSO: Charities and Societies Organizations
DA: Development Agent
EFCSA: Ethiopian Federal Charities and Societies Agency
ETB: Ethiopian Birr
ICT: Information Communication Technology
GTP-II: Growth and Transformation Plan – Two
MDG: Millennium Development Goals
ROI: Return on Investment
SLOR: Strength – Limitation – Opportunity – Risk
SDG: Sustainable Development Goal
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ContentsAcronyms.................................................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................5
Section-I: Introduction.........................................................................................................................7
1.1 PHE-EC Background..................................................................................................................7
Vision and Mission Statement..................................................................................................8
Core Values.....................................................................................................................................9
Core Development Interventions............................................................................................9
Development Theory.................................................................................................................11
PHE-EC’s Strategic Development Priorities (2016-2020)..............................................11
1.2 Introduction to PHE-EC’s Fund Development Strategy..............................................14
1.3 Rationale for the Development of Fund Development Strategy.................................16
Section-Two: Context Analysis.......................................................................................................19
2.1 Literature Review....................................................................................................................19
2.2 PHE-EC’s Fund Development Practice Analysis............................................................25
PHE-EC’s Fund Development Posture..................................................................................25
PHE-EC’s Fund Development SLOR Analysis.....................................................................26
Strengths.......................................................................................................................................26
Limitations.....................................................................................................................................27
Opportunities................................................................................................................................27
Risks................................................................................................................................................28
2.3 Fund Development Best Practices.....................................................................................30
Section-Three: PHE-EC’s Fund Development Strategy..........................................................33
3.1 PHE-EC’s Fundraising Model............................................................................................33
3.2 Fund Development Goals, Objectives and Strategies................................................35
Overarching Goal........................................................................................................................35
IV. Help Donors Understand the Problem That Needs to Be Solved....................37
Section-Four: Monitoring and Evaluation...................................................................................41
4.1 Expected Outcomes...............................................................................................................41
4.2 Monitoring..................................................................................................................................42
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4.3 Evaluation..................................................................................................................................43
4.4 Reporting....................................................................................................................................44
Success Enablers................................................................................................................................45
References............................................................................................................................................46
Appendices............................................................................................................................................47
Appendix-1: Ethical Standards.......................................................................................................47
Appendix-2: Fundraising Letter......................................................................................................48
Appendix-3: Story Telling.................................................................................................................49
Appendix-4: Offline and Online Giving........................................................................................51
Appendix-5: Marketing Materials...................................................................................................53
Appendix-6: The Comprehensive Formal Case Statement...................................................55
Appendix-7: Fundraising Committee Sample Roles and Responsibilities Composition..................................................................................................................................................................58
Appendix-8: Identifying Potential Source of Support.............................................................60
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Executive Summary Population Health and Environment Ethiopia Consortium (PHE-EC) is an Ethiopian Non-Government Organization that was initiated in November 2007, formally established in 2008, and received legal certification from the Ethiopian Federal Charities and Societies Agency-EFCSA in 2010 with Registration Number 1496. The Consortium embosoms a network of 66 member organizations coordinated by a Secretariat based in Addis Ababa. The Secretariat is governed by a board that is accountable to a general assembly of member organizations.1
PHE-EC engages itself with various local, national, and international stakeholders on various development agendas. Its coordination and development involvement is resource-intensive. To this effect, it has become imperative that it guides its resource mobilization with framed fund development strategy. The fund development strategy is, therefore, meant to define and guide PHE-EC’s fund development activities to ensure development effectiveness and sustainability.
Participatory approach and assorted methodologies have been employed in developing PHE-EC’s fund development strategy. Both primary and secondary sources were examined. Literature and document review, online research, questionnaires, interviews, focused group discussions, and consultation with stakeholders have been administered. Key stakeholders were engaged, ongoing consensus has been built with the Board of Directors and Management Team. Tailored training on fund development was given to participants drawn from Board of Directors, leaders of member organizations and staff members and finally the strategy was co-developed.
The overarching goal of the fund development strategy is to sustain PHE-EC and its integrated multi-sector development programs through strategic and
1 PHE-EC Strategic Plan (2016 – 2020).
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continuous fund development endeavors. Respective objective and core strategies have been articulated to guide the fund development actions.
Rightly implemented, the fund development strategy is hopped to accelerate the realization of organizational vision and mission and effective implementation of strategic plan, facilitate development effectiveness, and solicit more resources by attracting and retaining more donors from local and overseas sources for sustained operations.
PHE-EC’s fund development effort is estimable. However there is room for improvement with regard to securing more funds by expanding donor bases and attracting and retaining larger grants. There is also a need to improve organizational administrative structure and technical capacity, performance, donor engagements, and securing funds from local sources.
This document outlines findings of internal and external analysis, review of literature and best practices, fund development goals and objectives, implementation strategies, guiding principles, and monitoring and evaluation systems.
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Section-I: Introduction 1.1 PHE-EC Background This section describes the organization’s brief history, development approach, vision, mission, core values, core development interventions and development priorities.
Population Health and Environment Ethiopia Consortium (PHE-EC) is a consortium of local and international charities dedicated to facilitating enabling environment for its members, enhance their development effectiveness and meaningful and coordinated contribution in the national and global development endeavors.
PHE-EC has birthed out of subsequent national, regional and global efforts which triggered multi-stakeholder partnership engagement to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals-SGDs in all countries. As stated in Paragraph 54 of the United Nations’ General Assembly Resolution A/RES/70/1 of 25 September 2015, the seventeen interdependent SDGs call for integrated efforts of both developed and developing nations alike. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which came into effect in January 2016, are universal set of economic, social and environmental goals that UN member states are expected to achieve by 2030.
PHE-EC exists to address the composite interlink between humans, health, and environment through integrated development endeavors. It bases its development approach on the assertion that communities can hardly exercise adequate stewardship over their natural resources and environment without addressing their health, nutrition and economic needs and resilience to climate impacts. In this sense, PHE-EC advocates a holistic and inclusive development. To this effect, the Consortium in conjunction with its members organizations and wider stakeholders, seeks to improve access to family planning services, which works in a complementary fashion with health,
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environmental management, climate adaptation and mitigation, and alternative livelihood activities to enhance rural development and preserve local ecosystems. Its underlying philosophy is, thus, ensuring local and global synergetic multi-sectoral partnerships towards a more effective achievement of health and environmental conservation outcomes, building resilience of communities by ensuring community participation and ownership.
PHE-EC is engaged in fund acquisition and technical assistance, conducting research and knowledge dissemination activities to identify and raise-awareness of good practices, advocating for improved policies and programs to build an appropriate enabling environment, and actively engaging in global conferences and networks. The Consortium has played an important role on the global climate change agenda including participation in COP15-20, Rio+20 and ICPD beyond 2014. It has made significant contributions to the Ethiopian Government’s Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy (CRGE) through its membership in the CRGE Facility National Advisory Committee, technical committee member of the National REDD+ and engaging in national plans and strategies.2
Vision and Mission Statement
2 http://www.phe-ethiopia.org/pdf/phe_paris_brochure.pdf
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"To see Ethiopia with a sustainable use of resources, resilient ecosystems, sustainable livelihoods, and a healthy population"Vision
Core Values
Respect for Nature and Human Well-being Partnerships and Collaboration Equality, Rights and Diversity Accountability and Transparency Community Ownership, Participation and Empowerment
Therefore, PHE-EC’s underlying core value exhibits uniqueness in that it engages communities, government, development agents, development partners and nature at large.
Core Development Interventions
PHE-EC’s core development interventions include but not limited to; researching development projects and the sector; resource mobilization for community development projects; building technical and institutional capacity of member organizations; networking members, similar service providers and development partners nationally and globally; and principled dialogue with policy makers. The following diagram succinctly describes the organization’s core interventions.
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"To contribute to sustainable development in Ethiopia by promoting and enhancing the integration of population, health and environment through multi-sectoral approaches"
Mission
The nation of Ethiopia, which has embraced the SDGs, has a long-term vision of becoming a country where democratic rule, good-governance and social justice reigns, upon the involvement and free will of its peoples.3 Ethiopia has successfully achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and currently implementing its Second Growth and Transformation Plan – GTP II (2015/16 - 2019/20), which aligns with the SDGs.
The Ethiopian Government understands that the implementation of GTP-II and the realization of the SDGs involve global partnership and the engagement of various development actors in the country. In this regard, the Civil Society Organizations – CSOs have key role to play by facilitating resolute efforts and tailored processes to effectively translate the development agenda into results at the grassroots level. Although the CSO sector in the country has experienced drawbacks owing to narrow operating space, there is a sense that the overall landscape is exhibiting some improvement. Emphatically, the shift in emphasis from relief to long-term development on the part of the CSOs has increased their relevance and
3 MoFED (2010), Retrieved from http://ethiopians.com/Ethiopia_GTP_2015.pdf
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Core Intervention
s
ResourceDevelopmen
t
Policy Dialogue
Networking Capacity Building
Research
acceptance by the government.4 Better understanding has been gained globally over the years and apparently CSOs can play pivotal role in localizing the SDGs by defining, implementing and monitoring strategies. In similar fashion, the Ethiopian CSOs are believed to accelerate the implementation of GTP-II and the fulfillment of the SDGs by ensuring accountability and effectual service delivery.
Development Theory
PHE-EC adheres to integrated multi-sector development approaches. Towards this end, the Consortium envisions to see Ethiopia with a sustainable use of resources, resilient ecosystems, sustainable livelihoods, and a healthy population. To this effect, the Consortium progressively builds the capacity of its member organizations through tailored services. This effort has enhanced the capacity and solidarity of member organizations, which in turn has contributed to sustainable development in Ethiopia by promoting the integration of population, health and environment.
PHE-EC’s Strategic Development Priorities (2016-2020)
At this junction PHE-EC is dedicated to achieving the following six strategic goals that have been prioritized in its current strategic plan.
Strategic Goal 1: Advancing Family Health and Women’s Empowerment;4 http://Worldbank.org/CSandDevEthiopiaSnapshotView.pdf
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Integrated Multi-Sector Development
Approach
Strategic Goal 2: Facilitating the Attainment of the Demographic Dividend;
Strategic Goal 3: Addressing Climate Change and Environmental Degradation;
Strategic Goal 4: Contributing to the National and International Sustainable Development Targets;
Strategic Goal 5: Advancing Multi-Sectoral and PHE Integrated Approaches and Capacity; and
Strategic Goal 6: Become an Internationally Recognized Center of Excellence on PHE and Multi-Sectoral Approaches.5
As stated in its strategic plan document6 since its establishment in 2008, PHE-EC has experienced massive organizational growth both in terms of scope of services and impacts. Its unparalleled commitment to advancing a multi-sectoral integrated approach for addressing family planning, reproductive health, environmental conservation, climate change, and human wellbeing in Ethiopia and around the world is worth noting in this regard. The following could be noted as key development achievements;
Facilitating the implementation of pilot PHE interventions by member organizations in over 40 woredas in Ethiopia, which have directly impacted over 800,000 beneficiaries;
Raising awareness and creating lasting value on multi-sectoral integrated development approaches with stakeholders;
Generating funds through local and international partnerships to support capacity building, research, and the implementation of interventions, as well as facilitating the channeling of funds directly to members and partners;
Playing active role in national, regional and global sector forums;
5 PHE-EC Strategic Plan (2016-2020). 6 Ibid
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Conducting research, generating evidence, and engaging in policy dialogues on a range of critical issues, including the role of multi-sectoral partnerships in various development endeavors;
Initiating and strengthening multi-sectoral park management systems in the Simien Mountains and Awash National Parks through the Strategic Climate Institutions Program;
Working with partners to pilot an innovative multi-sectoral approach to mitigate the problem of environmental degradation in the Bale-Eco Region through the Support for Horn of Africa Resilience initiative funded by the European Union;
Engaging stakeholders through continuous communications by developing tailored audio, video, print and online resources; and
Establishing formal partnerships with Ethiopian universities on demand-driven research engagements.
These achievements are made possible through the collaborated efforts of stakeholders. As a matter of fact, in order to sustain and scale up the achievement milestones, continuous engagement with stakeholders becomes essential. The communications strategy, thus, is believed to facilitate sustained engagement, organizational and development effectiveness.
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1.2 Introduction to PHE-EC’s Fund Development Strategy PHE-EC’s development role has increased over the years. In order to live up to the ever increasing responsibility, the organization has been examining its resource posture. Although it has proven track record in soliciting more funds, the organization doesn’t have strategic document that would guide its fund development effort. The Board of Directors and the Management Team have come to realize that such limitation would eventually hamper both program and organizational sustainability. To this effect, the organization has embarked on to developing a fund development strategy.
Participatory approach and assorted methodologies have been employed in developing PHE-EC’s fund development strategy. Both primary and secondary sources of data were referred. Literature and document review, online research, questionnaires, interviews, focused group discussions, and consultation with stakeholders have been administered.
PHE-EC’s Fund Development Strategy is a customized guide that outlines strategies on how to solicit funds continuously from various sources in order to ensure development effectiveness and organizational sustainability. This document outlines findings of internal and external analysis, review of literature and best practices, fund sources, fund development objectives and strategies, respective outcomes, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
In the process of developing the strategy, key stakeholders have been engaged, literature has been reviewed, best practices have been benchmarked, and ongoing consensus has been built with leaders of member organizations, Board of Directors and Management Team.
The document has four sections. Section-I is an introductory part that describes the background of PHE-EC, introduction to the strategy document, and the rationale behind crafting the fund development strategy. Section-II
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involves analysis of context within which the organization operates. It states findings of up-to-date professional literature in the sector with emphasis on profiled research findings and practices of other organizations. Then, it analyses PHE-EC’s fund development practices. And benchmarks best practices as the basis for the strategic document development. Section-III involves overarching goal and objectives and implementation strategies. Section-IV sketches out strategic management systems. It elucidates underlying guiding principles that the organization must adhere to, M&E and reporting systems, and key success enablers.
Finally, list of helpful free sources for fund development are attached as an Appendix.
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1.3 Rationale for the Development of Fund Development Strategy No organization can survive on vision and mission alone. There is always inexorable need for resources. Raising needed financial resources to pursue organizational goals has always been an uphill battle for organizational executives. ‘‘Successful fundraising is the right person asking the right prospect for the right amount for the right project at the right time in the right way.’’ The word right is used six times in this sentence. These six rights are the six critical success factors in any fundraising campaign.7
Its effective development approach and proven development track record have uniquely positioned PHE-EC to play an increasing role of coordination and leadership within the sector, which implies the need to strengthen its resource capacity. For an organization such as PHE-EC that aspires to bring about development by mobilizing meager resource to address vast unmet social needs, the matter of strategic fund development becomes so critical. Emphatically, in a context where the funding landscape has become fragile and highly competitive, the need to develop a strategic fund development guide is so crucial.
Although PHE-EC’s resource mobilization ability has increased over the years, the matter of sustainability has not been fully addressed yet. As a matter of fact, ensuring project and organizational sustainability plus meeting members’ resource needs remained challenge to the organization.
Increased competition among fund seekers, donor fatigue and a higher level of sophistication among donors has changed the nature of fundraising, philanthropy and development altogether. Donors do not give to organizations because they have needs; they give them because they meet needs. Therefore, the need for the nonprofit sector to go beyond fundraising and to apply development principles is growing. Fund development gives an 7 Stanley Weinstein (2009). 3rd Ed. The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management (The AFP Wiley Fund Development Series.
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opportunity to build stronger communities through new models for action that are based on results, not needs; on investment opportunities, not organizational financial urgency. This strategic document will bring up to date, systematize and effectuate PHE-EC’s fund development actions towards sustained operations.
PHE-EC engages itself with various local, national, and international stakeholders on various development agenda. To this effect, it has become imperative that its resource-intensive multidimensional and multi sectoral development effort is sustained through strategic fund development endeavors. The fund development strategy is, thus, developed to define and guide PHE-EC’s continuous fund development to sustain its operations.
This strategy is meant to acquire donors of time and money who stay with the organization for sustained social development. Ultimately, it’s to help PHE-EC survive and thrive. Fund development objectives and respective strategies that would guide actions have been articulated.
Rightly implemented, the fund development strategy would help achieve organizational vision and mission and effective implementation of strategic plan, and would solicit more resources for sustained operations.
In the final analysis, the primary reason to develop fund development strategy is to raise more resources for development activities in a more strategic manner thus enhance organizational effectiveness and ensure sustainability. The need for developing communications strategy has originated from preceding analysis and recommendations. Moreover, diverse members’ and other stakeholders’ expectations and PHE-EC’s strategic directions outlined in its strategic plan (2016-2020) have armored the development of fund development strategy at this junction.
The fund development strategy is believed to add the following values:
Ensures organizational effectiveness;
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Better materializes PHE-EC’s multisectoral development ambition; Strengthens PHE-EC’s resource mobilization capacity; Strategizes fund development activities; Sustains development programs and the organization; Enlarges donor base and secures more funding; Retains donors and increases donor loyalty and generosity; Rewards donors for their generosity and development partnership; Enhances accountability; and Promotes development effectiveness all together.
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Section-Two: Context Analysis 2.1 Literature Review As has been proved, the non-profit sector is highly relevant to our society today. Among others, the nonprofits add value to society by;
1. Delivering a wide range of services to people by bridging the gap between government investments and actual community needs;
2. Strengthening the other two sectors; namely the for profit and the government sectors by providing corrective and compensatory effects; and
3. Serving as a humanizing force by offering people an opportunity to share resources.8
Over the years, the fund development endeavors have exhibited drawbacks some of which are stated below.9
Treating philanthropy as mere means of financial transaction and means of achieving organizational goals;
Inadequate donor-centrism and relationship building; Abysmal governance system and poor engagement of board members; Lack of well-equipped workforce; Excessive focus on how rather than sufficient focus on why; Sense of entitlement on the part of fund seekers; and Luck of long-term commitment of donors.
Corporate giving currently accounts for nearly 10 percent of all charitable donations nationwide, and most experts agree that the flow of corporate resources earmarked for nonprofit programs is on the rise.10 Yet, many fund raisers are held back from tapping this gold mine by the fear they don’t know
8 Michael J. Rosen (2013). Donor-Centered Planned Giving Marketing: Nonprofit Essential.
9 Ibid
10 https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Successful+Corporate+Fund+Raising
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how to "play the system" correctly. When it comes to soliciting corporate funds, even old hands at private fund raising find themselves stymied by the lack of clear-cut answers to such critical questions as: "How do I find out which companies give and how do I obtain information about them?" "Who are the funding decision makers, and how do I appeal to them and cultivate relationships with them?" "What hidden strings and pitfalls should I be aware of when soliciting corporate funds?"
Successful Corporate Fund Raising provides in-depth answers to these and all your questions about finding and winning corporate funds. The distillation of Scott Sheldon is more than two decades of experience as a corporate fund raiser; it provides a complete blueprint for developing and maintaining successful corporate fund-raising programs at nonprofits of all sizes.
Fund development is not a separate and independent activity that can be pulled out whenever there is the need, focused on by only a few, and ignored the rest of the time. Instead, fund development is an ongoing, rewarding (but invasive) process that engages all staff and every board member in some way. Fund development affects and is affected by everything your organization does, from client service to communications to board member recruitment (but this does not mean that the only qualification for board members is the ability to raise money).11
Effective organizations understand that fund development goals and strategies focus on things other than money. In this regard, some scholars argue that in their fund development efforts, nonprofit organizations must focus on the following.
Position themselves as organizations that meet needs; not as organizations that have needs;Focus on program results; not just on financial goals;
11 Simone Joyaux (2012). Retrieved from www. nonprofitquarterly.org.
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Develop shared value with funders; not proposal transaction;Present nonprofit as vital development agents whose services are needed and must be enhanced; and See the process of revenue generation as an integral part of social development endeavor.12
Some argue that donor-centered approach is successful strategy in raising resources for organizations, which connotes raising money and interacting with donors that surfaces what donors really need and put their needs first. Scholars argue that such approach has three lasting values.13
a. It retains more donors longer, giving them time to develop their philanthropic resiliency;
b. It causes donors to increasingly give generous gifts; and c. It raises the performance of even active and loyal donors to the next
standard.
Major Fundraising Strategies
Like generals preparing for battle, fundraisers must be sure that they are gearing up for the right war, using the appropriate strategies for the situation. The following are the most common fundraising strategies.
1. The Annual Fund Drive: The goal is to encourage supporters to make multiple gifts throughout the year. It’s characterized by:
a. Raising operating funds;b. The contributions received are unrestricted;c. The strategies are designed to produce a broad base of support;d. The emphasis is on single-year contributions and pledges.;e. The approaches used most frequently are direct and select mail,
email appeals, telephone solicitation, and special events;
12 Kay S. Grace (1997). Beyond Fund Raising: New Strategies for Nonprofit Innovation and Investment13 Michael J. Rosen (2013). Donor-Cenetered Planned Giving Marketing: Nonprofit Essential.
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f. It relies on a large number of requests; and g. Response rates and gift levels increase when list selection
improves, segmentation techniques are mastered, and the message is honed.
2. The Capital and Endowment Campaign: sending out volunteers to their capital campaigns with plans shaped by their successes in their annual fund drives. It’s characterized by:
a. Donors are encouraged to make multiyear pledges;b. Most capital campaigns are preceded by a planning study;c. Capital campaigns are intense;d. The emphasis is on visionary capital projects;e. The emphasis is on pacesetting leadership contributions; andf. The most effective fundraising strategy for capital campaigns is
person-to-person visits and solicitations. Intense relationship nurturing activities are integral to the process.
3. Special Project Support: seeking special project support is a mode of fundraising that falls somewhere between annual fund drives and capital campaigns. The appropriate approaches are grantsmanship and major gift fundraising for various projects. The major gifts can come from affluent individual supporters or from corporate donors.
4. Hybrid Models: Nonprofit organizations rarely engage in a single fundraising mode. To be effective, nonprofit leaders must learn to manage a mix of fundraising activities. Effective resource development professionals must become comfortable with providing leadership for a visionary capital campaign while maintaining strong annual fund drives—with their time consuming mail appeals, phone campaigns, and special events. At other times, the resource development staff must maintain their annual drives while meeting multiple grant application deadlines for special project support.
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There are three broad giving categories; Direct Cash Support, In-Kind Support and Corporate Volunteerism.14 Therefore, PHE-EC is hopped to diversify its resource generating mechanisms for better effectiveness. The request for donation is less an appeal for money to meet organizational budget goals than an invitation to join in an entrepreneurial venture, an opportunity to invest in a process that will pay dividends in a form of stronger and more vital community.15 Thus, it’s time to infuse the non-profit sector with innovation and investment strategies.
Like institutional strategic planning, good fund development planning is a process that builds organization-wide understanding of and ownership for philanthropy and fund development. Like the process of institutional planning, the best fund development planning process generates learning and change, and produces alignment and shared accountability. And, just like institutional strategic planning, effective fund development planning also produces results.
Components of the Fund Development Planning Process
According to some sources, the most effective fund development planning process accomplishes the following:16
Engages key stakeholders in order to gather quality information, build understanding, and enhance ownership;
Assesses the return on investment (ROI)—productivity and effectiveness—of current and proposed fund development activities;
Assesses the internal and external environments in order to respond to challenges, capitalize on opportunities, and fix stuff that needs fixing;
14 K. Scott Sheldon (2000). Successful Corporate Fund Raising: Effective Strategies for Today’s Non-profits.15 7 Ibid.16 ACFRE | www.simonejoyaux.com Creating a Fund Development Plan That Produces Ownership and Results.
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Ensures that volunteers (board members and other fundraising volunteers) understand the most critical principles of philanthropy and fund development;
Reaffirms values, vision, and direction;
Sets goals and strategies and tests their feasibility;
Tests the charitable contributions goal for the institution’s budget and forces adjustments to that budget as needed;
Defines measures and benchmarks.
Therefore, fund development is strategic in its nature, adheres to core values and aligns with core principles. Overall, the following could be sated as best fund development practices.
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2.2 PHE-EC’s Fund Development Practice Analysis AYSOL reviewed the organization’s financial statements and subsequent audit reports, conducted interviews with the Board of Directors and a Focused Group Discussion with the organization’s Management Team and leaders of member organizations at various platforms. The fact is that PHE-EC does not have a formal fund development strategy at the junction. However, the assessment indicates that PHE-EC has successfully been raising resources for its projects and has had a steady increase in its annual budget over the years. Detail analysis is described as follows.
PHE-EC’s Fund Development Posture
Since 2014 PHE-EC has been able to engage about twenty donors with different capacities on various development projects. According to external audit report of 2015, 2016 and 201717 it has been able to mobilize funds as follows.
Year Funding Source Funds Mobilized in ETB2017 Donations 23,133,632
Other Sources 205,659Membership Fee 62,500
SUB TOTAL 23,401,7912016 Donations 13,722,250
Other Sources 6,425Membership Fee 41,500
SUB TOTAL 13,770,1752015 Donations 7,498,975
Other Sources 65,062Membership Fee 36,110
SUB TOTAL 7,600,1462015-2017 GRAND TOTAL 44,772,112
17 PHE-EC (2015-17) End Year External Audit Reports 1, 2, 3.
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As could be observed from the above table, the organizations’ annual fund has shown steady increase from ETB 7,600,146 in 2015 to 13,770,175 in 2016 and to 23,401,791 in 2017. This evidences 181% annual increase in 2016 and 170% in 2017.
The funding sources are primarily three; donors, consortium members, and miscellaneous means. Donors’ contribution takes the lion share with 98.7% in 2015, nearly 99.6% in 2016, and 99% in 2017. Income from other sources amount to 0.8% in 2015, nearly 0.06% in 2016, and 0.8% in 2017. Likewise, membership fee only constitutes a portion of the financials; 0.5% in 2015, 0.04% in 2016, and 0.2% in 2017. The funding base has grown over the years and most of the donors have exhibited increased generosity and loyalty. As learned during discussion with the Management Team, the increasing funding is related to increased solicitation, organizational visibility and competence, which built donors’ confidence gradually.
PHE-EC’s Fund Development SLOR Analysis
Strengths
Has a strategic plan that guides its action; Has string partnerships with member and other organizations; Identifies development projects and writes 15-20 proposals annually; Executive Director of PHE-EC is also the chairperson of the Ethiopian
Civil Society Association offering better partnership opportunity; Sub-granting strategy to partner organizations that have technical
capacities; Proven compliance with donor requirements; Well networked and engaged in many platforms, which enables it to be
informed and better identify funding possibilities and resources; Making relentless effort to engage donors; Improving staff capacity in project cycle management;
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Delivering grant projects beyond donor expectations; PHE-EC has gone a long way to align itself with global strategies (SDG,
climate strategy) and national strategies (sector, regional, etc); Sensitivity to and compliance with donor requirements; PHE-EC knows its task, its contribution, what kind of fund capacity it
needs; Vision to grow donor base and development projects in various parts of
Ethiopia; and Adaptive culture and continuous learning learned from previous
failures.
Limitations
No formal resource mobilization strategy; Lack of desired level of focus in terms of its message as an
organization; Limited effort to grow further in donor identification and engagement; Exclusive reliance on donor funding; Poor effort in soliciting local funds; Failure to generate income from internal sources; Member organizations are not paying their annual fees; Securing short term funding that last only 1-3 years; Limited funding not allowing the organization to fulfill all its goals; Lack of donor database; Poor access to core funding (unrestricted donations); Need for further team building; Internal fund development systems are not institutionalized; Minimal engagement of staff members on fund development; and Poor involvement of Board of Directors in fund development.
Opportunities
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Positive feedback from existing donors; Fund availability for environmental or conservation causes; PHE-EC’s close relationship with sector’s government offices; PHE-EC’s alignment with global and national development priorities; Possibility of collaborative fund development approach by submitting
bids with partner organizations.
Risks
Fierce competition over funding within the sector; Tradition of labeling charities as rent seekers; Lack of giving culture in the country decrementing securing funds firm
local sources; Dynamic and changing donor priorities; Mere focus on projects at the expense of organizational sustainability; Lack of clear legal framework for NGOs to do their own IGA; At times, donor expectations and national legal framework don’t align; Multifaceted community needs; Lack of coordination of effort among the various development actors.
PHE-EC can optimize its fund development endeavors by capitalizing on its strength, mitigating its limitations, tapping into its opportunities and addressing its risk factors.
The organization has unique prospect to attract more donors and secure more funds. Among others, it’s in a better shape to consolidate its experience, extend the horizon of its development interventions, present itself as key development agent, and better engage its donor development and partners in order to solicit more funds for its development efforts.
The organization must also ensure the involvement of the Board of Directors and staff members in fund development efforts. Besides, building strategic partnership that directly applies to fund development is crucial. Diversifying
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funding bases and building internal technical and institutional capacity to be more competitive in the sector deserve attention in future undertakings.
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2.3 Fund Development Best Practices 1. Understanding Donor Mind
Donors make their investments based on their relationship to the asker. Donors give to people they trust. Donors invest in projects that have a positive impact on their community, the nation, and the world. From a donor’s viewpoint, institutions do not have needs. People do.18
2. Relationship-building
Relationship-building program is, perhaps, the single most important part of a comprehensive fund development program. At its heart, fundraising is the art of nurturing relationships. So, our first job is to build strong, mission-based organizations. Successful fundraisers also form relationships with people who can help garner the resources needed to carry out the organization’s mission. As such, relationship-building strategies must hold a central component in fund development plan.
Some Proven Relationship Building Practices
1. Newsletters and General Mailings;2. Highly Personalized Mailings that Do Not Request Funds;3. Invitations to Tour the Nonprofit Organization’s Facilities;4. Social and Informative Gatherings and informal Mealtime Get-together;5. Focus Group Discussions to Share Information;6. Invitations to the Annual Meetings;7. Individualized Strategies to Engage Individual Donor;8. Publishing Names and Photographs of Donors and Potential Donors;9. Prompting and Generous Acknowledgment of Every Contribution; and 10. Attending Donor Events.
18 Stanley Weinstein (2009). 3rd Ed. The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management , The AFP Wiley Fund Development Series.
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3. Identify funding sources
Not any funding resource is helpful for organizations. It’s important to research those sources that have resonating values, and similar geographic and sector priorities. Of available pull of donors, therefore, it’s mandatory to zoom into those donors that have propinquity. It must also be noted those with proximity may have priorities and capacity limitations.
4. Personal Solicitation
It’s important to make sure that fund development strategy includes personal, face-to-face solicitation. In this regard, organizational Board members help makes these solicitations.
5. Funding mix
Organizations must have balanced funding sources that would foster stability and credibility.
6. Measures
It’s important to define what to measure in fund development. It’s important to measure more than money and the number of donors. It’s also important to measure the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of relationship-building strategies, board member performance, donor loyalty plus other qualitative and quantitative values.
7. Timeframes
It’s important to include a calendar, organized by months of the fiscal year. That is, in addition to the fund development strategy, there must be implementation action plan broken into years, quarters and months.
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8. Accountability
Responsibilities and comparable authority should be delegated. And, responsible groups should be hold accountable for actions and deliverables.
9. Monitoring progress and evaluating effectiveness
Personnel, tools and system should be in place to track progresses continuously.
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Section-Three: PHE-EC’s Fund Development Strategy 3.1 PHE-EC’s Fundraising Model
Built up on its proven practices and in adherence to sector bets practices, PHE-EC shall adopt the CEPID Fund Development Model. The details are described as follows.
I. Community Change and Engagement: PHE-EC is a strong believer in the multidimensional role of community in its development endeavors in the entire project management cycle. It shall, thus, device creative ways to understand pressing community needs, norms and values, engage communities and enhance their ownership and participation that would ensure sustainable community development.
II. Ethical Grant Management: PHE-EC understands that ethical standards have an impact on sustainable resource development. To this effect, it will set and meet high ethical standards to ensure accountability and unwavering credibility. (Refer to Appendix-1 for Ethical Standards).
III. Performance Management: PHE-EC works for and towards result. It ensures that layers of genuine results are well planned, pursued, tracked and communicated to stakeholders. Resources shall be dedicated to activities that produce outputs, outcomes and impacts that ensure organizational effectiveness and social transformation.
IV. Institutional Caliber: In order to live up to its responsibility, PHE-EC shall continuously remain agile and adaptive by up surging its technical and institutional capacity.
V. Donor Relationship Management: PHE-EC understands that at its heart, fundraising is the art of nurturing relationships. It doesn’t treat donors as source of money; they are development partners and
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humans who value and respond to relationship. To this effect, it’s committed to building genuine trust with all its donor partners. PHE-EC shall engaged development stakeholders through principled and strategic ways.
PHE-EC CEPID Fund Development Model
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PHE-EC
Community
Performance
EthicsDonor
Institution
3.2 Fund Development Goals, Objectives and Strategies
Overarching Goal
Objective-1: Strengthening Organizational Capacity
Strategies
I. Re-analyze and develop action plan to thoroughly address fund development related Strengths-Limitations-Opportunities-Risks identified in this strategic document;
II. Strengthen existing fund development team through envisioning, training, coaching and by developing operational guideline;
III. Dedicate a separate unit to fund development work; IV. Create local and overseas volunteer group that would help with fund
development; V. Assessing capacity needs of Board of Directors and staff members in
relation to fund development cycle, building their technical capacity through tailored interventions and fully engaging them in fund development activities in principled and accountable manner;
VI. Ensure that screening interviews with candidates clearly communicate the philanthropy and fund development expectations of board members, along with other performance measures.
VII. Ensure robust organizational governance that would ensure credibility, accountability and ethics;
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The overarching goal of the fund development strategy is to sustain PHE-EC and its multi-sector development programs through strategic and continuous fund development endeavors.
Goal
VIII. Institute the practice and culture of optimum use of resources;IX. Review and upgrading organizational policies and procedures in a
fashion that enhances overall organizational efficiency;X. Mainstream resource mobilization skills in future Board, staff and
volunteers recruitment, development and promotion; XI. Mainstream fund development agenda into every organizational
meeting;XII. Strengthen internal control system and ensure transparency; XIII. Practice performance management system;XIV. In order to mitigate the loss of skill due to turnover, introducing team
approach in entire fund development cycle including proposal writing, project follow up, reporting and stakeholders engagement;
XV. Quarterly assessing and addressing organizational fund development capacity gaps; and
XVI. Ensure continuous organizational learning by reinforcing adaptive organizational culture and by preparing lessons learned document each year and applying those lessons to ensure improvement.
Objective-2: Identifying Viable Development Projects
Strategies
I. Clearly articulate your development brand into project proposals;II. Develop set of criteria to select development projects; III. Identify development projects as a team;IV. Focus on projects that combine national/global development priorities,
donor niche, and community needs and still are compatible with organizational mission and readiness;
V. Better engage communities in identifying new sellable development projects;
VI. Identify development projects that reduce needs instead of those that meet community needs;
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VII. Diversify development projects that align with organizational vision and mission;
VIII. Work on projects that have large funding opportunities; and IX. Prioritize development endeavors that foster cooperation and sharing
of resources.
Objective-3: Improving Effective Donor Management System
Strategies
I. Develop a comprehensive donor data base;II. Have responsible person or a team who would continuously search for
more donors that have resonating values, and similar geographic and sector priorities;
III. Focus on building trust and healthy rapport with donors;IV. Help Donors Understand the Problem That Needs to Be SolvedV. Exert maximum effort to get to understand each donor better;
VI. Diversify and personalize ways to engage each donor;VII. Adhere to principles and practices stipulated in the organizations
communications strategy in engaging donors;VIII. Develop donor management system that involves, donor
accountability, donor retention and donor reward system;IX. Celebrate periodic donors’ day and recognize their contribution; X. Devise for ways to engage donors more creatively and personally;XI. Assess donor needs, suggestions and future intentions; XII. Visit donors periodically; XIII. Share announcements and news via live streaming, or going live from
the field; it’s perfect way to demonstrate authenticity and transparency;
XIV. Invite donors to field visits and to participate in organizational events; XV. Understand and adhere to donor compliance requirements; and XVI. Exhibit transparency by sharing information including audit reports.
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Objective-4: Building Diverse Strategic Partnerships
Strategies
I. Map strategic local, national and global development partners;II. Diversify effective and efficient ways to engage member organizations;III. Actively and proactively participate in existing platforms; IV. Initiate new feasible development partnerships;V. Exert effort to enlarge operating space through evidence-based
dialogue with policy makers; VI. Partner with professional institutions to allow sharing of knowledge;VII. Foster sector-based partnerships among member organizations and
beyond;VIII. Strengthen collaboration with other consortiums and similar service
providers top share resources and experiences;IX. Build development partnership with local and overseas business firms
and foundations; and X. Use appropriate technology in engaging stakeholders.
Objective-5: Ensure Program and Organizational Sustainability
Strategies
I. Increase annual fund capacity at least by 25% each year over the next five strategic years (2019-2023).
II. Develop annual fund development operation plan each year to guide sustainable actions;
III. Devise evidence-based more effective and efficient approach to secure 100% membership fee;
IV. Diversify funding mix in writing proposals;V. Periodically show case your success stories, plans and needs;VI. Diversify ways donors can donate money by using technology;
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VII. Practice a range of local and overseas fund raising strategies by engaging stakeholders;
VIII. Introduce entrepreneurial approaches into social services; IX. Scale up existing successful projects;X. Negotiate well with donors to have increasing budget to creatively
cover overheads;XI. Integrate value creation into development practices as non-
monitorial means to ensure sustainability;XII. Engage with funders through tailored promotion activities and
effective communications; andXIII. Ensure organizational effectiveness by aligning development
projects with organizational vision and mission.
Objective-6: Practice Evidence-based Management System
Strategies
I. Assure strong data management system that tracks quality information to support strategic conversation and decision-making;
II. Optimize use of a management information system to collect information about donors and prospects;
III. Capture, document and communicate life change and success stories;
IV. Prepare fund development reports that analyze trends and implications;
V. Engage staff, committees, and the board in strategic conversation to support quality decisions; and
VI. Boost monitoring and evaluation unit.
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PHE-EC’s Fund Development Objectives
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PHE-EC
Sustainability
Donor Relationship
Organizational Capacity
Dev't Projects
Data M'gt
Strategic Partnership
Section-Four: Monitoring and Evaluation 4.1 Expected Outcomes No
Outcome Indicator Means of Verification
1 Increased Donor Base
More number and type of donors providing funding to PHE-EC
Annual Audit Report
2 Improved Donor Loyalty
Number of retained donors and longer stay of donors
Annual Audit Report
3 Improved Donor Satisfaction
Donors’ good will, positive attitude and constructive involvement with PHE-EC
Donor satisfaction survey /feedback report
4 Steady Rise in Funding
Increased type and amount of funding each year
Annual Audit Report
5 Increased local support
Increased amount of membership fee, internally generated revenue, and other funds from local sources
Annual Audit Report
6 Improved organizational capacity
Improved level of success in identifying and implementation projects
Stakeholders testimonies, management reports, and annual activity and audit reports
7 Program Community ownership Terminal evaluation report
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sustainability of development programs
8 Organizational sustainability
Securing needed funds to cover overhead costs
Financial Statement
7 Increased Fund Raising Involvement
Increased number of Board of Directors, staff members and volunteers in fund raising
Management Report
4.2 Monitoring Monitoring in here refers to regular follow-up on the progress of the implementation of the fund development strategy. It primarily assesses key activities and immediate outputs. Evaluation refers to periodic assessment of major milestones in the implementation of plans set in the strategy. It focuses on appraising key strategies and outcomes.
PHE-EC’s Monitoring and Evaluation Structure
PHE-EC’s Fund Development Team or designated personnel will be fully responsible for the M&E of the fund development strategy. The PHE-EC Executive Director ensures the effective implementation of the strategy.
In order to track ongoing performances, identify and address gaps, various monitoring mechanisms shall be put in place. The following briefly sketches out the monitoring framework.
No
Monitoring
Timeline
Monitoring Domain
Monitoring Structure
Deliverable
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1 Daily Daily Activities and Daily Outputs
Fund Development Team/Personnel
Daily Performance
Journal
2 Weekly Weekly Core Activities and Respective
Outputs
Fund Development Team/Personnel
Weekly Performance
Report
3 Monthly Monthly Core Activities and Respective
Outputs
Fund Development Team/Personnel and
Executive Management Team
Monthly Update
4 Quarterly Quarterly Major Interventions and
Respective Outputs / Outcomes
Executive Management and
Board
Quarterly Performance
Report
4.3 Evaluation In order to track major achievements, draw and recycle lessons, annual and final evaluation mechanisms shall be put in place. The following briefly sketches out the evaluation framework.
No
Evaluation Timeline
Evaluation Domain
Evaluation Structure
Deliverable
1 Semi-annually
Mid-Year Performance
Executive Management Team
and Board
Mid-Year Evaluation
Report
2 Annually Annual Plan Board and General Annual Report
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Assembly
4.4 ReportingThe major reporting ranges included but not limited to monthly report, quarterly report, semi-annual report, and annual report. The reports are expected to link activities, outputs, and outcomes to the overall organizational vision, mission and Strategic Goals. Among others, the reports would cover the following key areas:
Timeline of the reporting period, Achieved quantitative and qualitative results against set targets, Strategies that describe processes and practices, Indicators and means of verification that would validate the achieved
results, Challenges or gaps and proposed solutions, and lessons learned.
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Success Enablers Success enablers are elements that are vital for effective implementation of the fund development strategy. The following seven factors have been identified as success enablers for the strategic plan.
1. Creating awareness with keys stakeholders through orientation and training;
2. Creation of a separate work unit to coordinate the fund development strategy;
3. Developing subsequent annual fund development action plan; 4. Allocating needed resource for implementation; 5. Developing supportive documents outlined in the implementation
strategies respective to the six fund development objectives;6. Leadership commitment and managerial actions to realize the
implementation of the aspirations outlined in the strategic document; 7. Effective monitoring and evaluation;
Finally, PHE-EC uses the following documents as the basis for monitoring and evaluation:
1. Fund Development Strategy; 2. Strategic Plan Document;3. Annual Operation Plans; and 4. Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Semi-Annual plans and respective
reports.
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References ACFRE | www.simonejoyaux.com Creating a Fund Development Plan That
Produces Ownership and Results.
http://www.phe-ethiopia.org/pdf/phe_paris_brochure.pdfhttp://Worldbank.org/CSandDevEthiopiaSnapshotView.pdfK. Scott Sheldon (2000). Successful Corporate Fund Raising: Effective Kay S. Grace (1997). Beyond Fund Raising: New Strategies for Nonprofit
Innovation and Investment.MoFED (2010), Retrieved from http://ethiopians.com/Ethiopia_GTP_2015.pdfMichael J. Rosen (2013). Donor-Centered Planned Giving Marketing: Nonprofit
Essential.
PHE-EC Strategic Plan (2016 – 2020).PHE-EC (2015-17) End Year External Audit Reports 1, 2, 3.
Stanley Weinstein (2009). 3rd Ed. The Complete Guide to Fundraising
Management, The AFP Wiley Fund Development Series.
Strategies for Today’s Non-profits.
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Appendices
Appendix-1: Ethical Standards Ethical standards have an impact on resource development. The public expects charitable institutions to be held to the highest ethical standards, and when those standards are breached, donors withhold their support. Ethics is not an exact science. To be sure, there are many gray areas. Mechanical decisions are not possible, but decisions must be made. There is widespread agreement on a broad range of ethical responsibilities. Nonprofit organizations are recognized as having both internal and external ethical responsibilities.
The external ethical responsibilities include:
Stating the truth in fundraising, marketing, and public relations; Meeting obligations to donors, vendors, and external stakeholders; Providing service recipients with services of the highest possible
quality; Ensuring product safety; Protecting the environment; and Observing the letter and spirit of all laws that pertain to the nonprofit’s
external activities.
The internal ethical responsibilities include:
Ensuring worker health and safety; Ensuring fairness and equal opportunity in all human resource
activities; Nurturing moral common sense within the institution; Preventing harm to others; Respect the rights of others; and
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Observing the letter and spirit of all laws that pertain to the nonprofit’s internal activities.
Appendix-2: Fundraising Letter
Keep some simple rules in mind in writing letters to donors
1. Personalize your letter. Use first names if possible. Spell the name right.
2. Thank the donor for his or her past support. There’s nothing worse than writing to a long-time donor as though he never gave before. Say thanks first before you ask again.
3. Tell a story. Stories win out over facts. Collect heart-warming stories from the people you serve so that you always have a good one to include in your fundraising letter.
4. Make the donor the hero. Don’t talk about your organization very much. Talk about the great good your donor can do by donating.
5. Write conversationally. Tell your story and make your pitch as though you’re talking to a good friend, your next door neighbor, or your grandmother.
6. Make a specific ask. So much money is left on the table by charities that never say exactly what they want the donor to do. Say what you need and for what and when you need it.
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Appendix-3: Story TellingProblem with the typical fundraising appeal is that we have good information about the problems we have and how much money we need. But what do you know about the audience who will receive this appeal? Who are they? What are their demographics and psychographics?
Understanding and Writing for Your Audience
Understanding who your audience is can be incredibly powerful information that improves your fundraising program. But first you have to gather the data. Some of the data can be found in your donor data base or door surveys.
Here are a few sample questions to ask donors to get to know them:
Why do you give to our organization?
Of our programs, which do you most enjoy supporting?
What age range are you in?
Overall, how satisfied are you with the stewardship you receive?
Do you enjoy reading our newsletters?
Choosing the Right Story for Your Nonprofit’s Appeal
Step 1: Start by Brainstorming a List of Possible Stories
Write down every possible story you can think of that might illustrate the appeal’s message in action.
Step 2: Prioritize Your Story Options
Once you have created a list of possible stories, the next step is to prioritize which stories you are most likely to use. Your message and your audience are your central focus, so if the story doesn’t jive with them, then it’s not a good story to tell.
Some criteria to consider are:
How well does the story relate to the message?
How well will the audience relate to the story?
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Step 3: Interview for Multiple Stories
So far you’ve done the legwork to find a few potential stories for your fundraising appeal. The next step is actually to get the stories. This means interviewing people.
Step 4: Decision Time
Once the interviews are done, revisit the message and the audience to make a decision about which story to use. Storytelling is a wonderful way to transform your organization’s fundraising appeals. Follow the steps outlined here and you will be on your way to writing a fundraising appeal that your donors will love.
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Appendix-4: Offline and Online Giving
As a nonprofit leader, you are always looking for ways to improve your fundraising efforts, especially when it comes to increasing both offline and online donations. While you can promote online giving via social media, email, or on your website, have you thought about expanding online giving using traditional methods? By using offline (as well as online) marketing strategies, you will reach a much wider audience, which can increase the amount of money you raise for your mission.
Here are four ways you can use offline marketing strategies to improve your nonprofit’s online fundraising:
1. Promote mobile giving during fundraising events.2. Send out direct mail with ways to give online.3. Create marketing materials that supporters can take with them.4. Launch a checkout charity campaign to raise awareness.
Your organization can do so in many ways, such as:
Showing a video of your mobile giving method during your event. Having an event speaker walk guests through the donation process. Engaging with donors using text messages during the event.
In your appeal, you can promote online giving by:
Including the URL to your website or online donation page. Providing instruction on how to give via text message. Placing a code that directs donors to your mobile donation form.
Please refer to senior-friendly marketing materials with tips that can apply to all donors.
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On Facebook: Upload your campaign video directly into Facebook, along with a short blurb and link to the online fundraising page where your friends can enter their donation. If you post the appeal on a business page on Facebook, pay to boost the post so more of your fans will see it. If you are asking for donations through your personal profile, tag several friends you think may be interested so that it will show up on their profiles (and so they will be directly notified).
On Twitter: Upload your campaign video directly into a tweet, adding any relevant hashtags and the link to the online fundraising page. Make sure to pin it to your profile so that visitors will see it first. Be sure to schedule tweets, at least once per day, that talk about the campaign and ask for donations.
On LinkedIn: Publish a short blog post on LinkedIn Publisher about the campaign, embedding the video and adding photos to make it more visual. Do this also on medium, a free blogging platform, to increase your reach and expose your fundraiser to a wider audience.
On Instagram: Put the link to the online fundraising campaign in your bio. Create a square graphic with Canva encouraging people to visit the link and make a donation to support your campaign.
Across all platforms, invite your friends and family to spread the word and share the campaign, and say thank you.
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Appendix-5: Marketing Materials
Here are few tips to keep in mind when creating your marketing materials:
Maintain a consistent brand. Just like you would with your nonprofit website and social media accounts, keep your brand consistent. That way, when supporters see your brochure or postcard, they instantly know it belongs to your nonprofit.
Break the text into short paragraphs. When reading an article with large blocks of text, people are more likely to skim the content rather than read it all the way through. The same goes for your fundraising materials.
Use visuals to enhance your message. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Best of all, photographs and graphics convey emotion and show donors your mission’s impact, which can lead to more donations.
Include a “Ways to Support” section. Include ways supporters can contribute. This can be anything from the URL of your donation page to upcoming events that require volunteers.
Please refer to affordable tools nonprofits can use to help design print promotions.
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— key qualities of successful nonprofits.
Your organization can create a secret, or private, invite-only Facebook Group of donors and go live within that particular Group for even more exclusivity.
Your donors want to feel included in your work, and they need to know that even the smallest donation had an impact on the problem at hand.
Donors, large and small, do their best to make the world a better place. Our job as nonprofit professionals is to show them that they mean everything to us and that our work is not possible without them.
Using social media to convey this message can add so much to your donor retention strategy.
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Appendix-6: The Comprehensive Formal Case Statement19
The comprehensive formal case statement is a written document that states the major reasons for supporting a nonprofit organization. It forms the basis for all other communications. This most important document answers the following questions:
1. What is the organization’s history?
— Founded when and by whom
— Major accomplishments of the organization
— Milestones in the organization’s history
2. Whom does the organization serve?
— Demographic information: age, ethnicity, gender, geographic area, socioeconomic background, religious affiliation, etc
— Describe a real person who benefits from the organization
— Share testimonial or anecdotal true-life experiences.
— What needs confront the people served by the organization?
— What pressing problems does the organization address?
— What challenges do the people served face?
3. How does the organization address these challenges?
— What programs does the organization offer?
— What services are provided for people in need?
19 Stanley Weinstein (2009). 3rd Ed. The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management (The AFP Wiley Fund Development Series.
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4. What is the organization’s reputation for managerial and business acumen?
— What evidence can be offered pertaining to the organization’s stability?
— What evidence can be offered pertaining to fiscal responsibility— for example, years of deficit-free operations?
5. How is the planning process described?
— Who participated in the planning process? (This is especially helpful when well-known community leaders played a key role in your organization’s strategic planning.)
— How broad-based was the process?
— How thorough was the planning process?
6. What are the goals for the future? (This is the most important section of the case for support.)
— What are the program, financial, facility, technology, administrative and governance, and human resource and diversity goals?
— How will those in need be served better?
7. How will the donor’s investment be used?
— Why is the fundraising campaign being conducted?
— What are the organization’s key budget items?
— How do these expenditures relate to the organization’s mission and services to people in need?
8. How will the donor’s involvement be acknowledged?
— Describe gift opportunities.
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— Describe the intangible benefit the donor receives by this philanthropic investment.
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Appendix-7: Fundraising Committee Sample Roles and Responsibilities Composition• At least 6 volunteer members
• Board members (Committee Chair should be a Board member)
Roles and Responsibilities
• Review all previous year fundraising activity including Annual Appeal and make recommendations for improvements for new fiscal year.
• Conduct a fundraising SLOR analysis and revise and update the previous fund development plan based on findings.
• Hold staff accountable for implementing the strategies of the fund development plan within stated timeframes; measure progress toward goals monthly; troubleshoot with staff as necessary.
• Maintain shared fundraising calendar.
• Analyze relationships with current and prospective major donors and funders, and develop individualized strategies to cultivate or strengthen those relationships.
• Analyze relationships with current and prospective corporate sponsors, devise sponsorship packages, and work with staff and Board to develop relationships. • Work with Finance Committee to determine annual development budget.
• Work with staff and outside consultants as required to plan and execute fundraising and friend-raising events.
• Along with Executive Director, meet with current and prospective major donors and funders (foundations and corporations).
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• Tap respective networks for potential donors of money, time and in-kind support.
• Copy staff on all donor email contacts (and alert staff about phone contacts) to ensure CRM is updated; request relevant reports from staff via CRM to inform decisions.
• Report back to the full Board during board meetings.
• Meet monthly and as needed.
• Determine Board fundraising expectations and goals; provide guidance for Board members on meeting fundraising goals; track progress toward fundraising goals both for individual Board members and for the Board as a whole.
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Appendix-8: Identifying Potential Source of SupportSources of support might include:
Government funding, including city, county, state and federal grants
Foundation support, be it general funds or project support
Corporations, both financial support or in-kind contributions, from local or national corporations,
Individual donors, including volunteers and/or financial contributions
Staff should assess the organization’s current sources of support as well as its strengths to create a long-range fund-raising plan that will leverage the organization’s current assets. To create the long-range plan, staff should ask itself the following questions:
Regarding foundations:
Do we have an existing network of foundations that might put us in contact with other foundations?
Do we have foundation supporters that might be willing to increase our grant level or provide multi-year funding?
Do we have a list of foundations that provide support in our area of work, but we have not yet approached them or have been unsuccessful in our approach?
Do we have the staff capacity to write effective grants and if not, who will be responsible and what training might be needed?
Regarding Government Funding:
Are we aware of potential government funding sources?
How well does our work lend itself to government contracts/grants?
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Do we have the staff expertise to write government grant applications? If not, what training will we need?
What are the pros and cons of pursuing government funding?
Regarding Corporations:
Does our cause lend itself naturally to corporate funding? In other words, is there a natural partnership between the business goals of a local or national corporation and our work?
Do we have any contacts with local or national corporations, either through staff or the board of directors that might provide us support?
Regarding Individual Donors:
Do we already have a list of individuals who support our work either through financial contributions or volunteer hours? If so, what do we need to increase these individuals’ annual contributions? If not, do we have a board of directors that is willing to help develop a list of potential donors?
What staff capacity do we have for individual fund-raising and what training or resources are needed?
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“People want to be a part something bigger than
themselves such as impacting communities. Treat your
donors as partners and investors by providing
information and frequent updates on what their
donations helped build. Don’t deal with donors like
ATMs. Communicate with them like friends.”
