board development
Ask most CDO’s where their highest level of frustration and their highest level of opportunity intersect and usually that intersection is at the board level. Strong, philanthropic, forward looking boards are essential for campaign success as well as for organizational advancement. We train and coach in everything from job description preparation, member search processes, efficiency, effectiveness and board structure.
campaign assessments and readiness
Athletes don’t run a fast marathon without a plan, preparation and training. Assessments of campaign readiness with practical, prioritized steps to retain and augment strengths, mitigate threats and remedy weaknesses are essential to volunteer, staff and organizational success.
campaign planning
Campaign Goals and Objectives are your organization’s destination. The plan is your roadmap to get there. It aligns with organizational Strategic Plan and revenue needs. And it guides volunteers and staff toward meeting agreed upon benchmarks using best practice metrics to guide progress. Staff, budget, revenue forecasts and marketing are integrated into all plans.
executive coaching
Executive coaching often goes hand in hand with strategic, campaign and philanthropy planning. Having worked in executive suites for most of our careers, we know the concerns executives face and how they want to learn and grow. We speak their language. We can communicate with their boards. We know the hot buttons. And we know when to tell them what they need to know.
CDO's have their unique needs and concerns. Every day they feel the pressure of meeting goals and managing teams to greater effectiveness. Drawing from our extensive experience in their shoes, we coach them on management techniques, volunteer development and large gift strategy.
feasibility and market studies
We believe that campaign success and understanding the marketplace in which your campaign will operate are “must do’s” not “may do’s”. Studies give interviewees an opportunity to give useful feedback on the case statement, react to campaign revenue goal size and recommend prospects who should be cultivated and/or engaged with the campaign.
staff planning and training
Campaigns represent an opportunity to retool staffs and to bring all, current and new, up to speed with best fundraising practices. We do this with one on one coaching, full team training and boot camps that provide concentrated, integrated, highly interactive training modules for fast cultural and expertise improvements.
strategic planning
Strategic Plans are the drivers of compelling cases, ambitious fundraising campaigns, philanthropic revenue growth and board engagement. We facilitate highly interactive Strategic Planning that challenges clients to think boldly, plan imaginatively and implement practically.
additional services
Long term campaign coaching and counsel
Vendor search processes, including case writing, direct marketing agency and more
Executive search
New foundation planning and set up
Gift acceptance policies and best practices