The Development Assessment: Charting Your Roadmap to Peak Fundraising Success
Feeling like your organization is not raising as much money as you “should be”?
Today you are basecamp. You want to lead your organization to the peak of its fundraising success.
How do you ensure you're on the right path?
You may be:
Wondering about how your fundraising operations are performing and what it would take to optimize.
Just starting a new fundraising leadership position and learning to navigate an organization’s advancement landscape (which can feel like scaling a mountain).
Noticing gaps in experience and training where your staff could use support.
I know I was in that exact position when I began my role as AVP of Development / ED of Campaigns at San José State University.
So what did I do?
In my first 100 days I conducted my own Development Organization Assessment and the insights gained were invaluable in creating a multi-year vision and plan to maximize impact.
Organizations now hire me as a fundraising consultant at Brighter Philanthropy to conduct comprehensive fundraising program assessments and come up with a well-informed roadmap to success for them. Here is how I approach this critical process.
To conduct an advancement assessment of organizational culture, opportunities, needs and capacity you should ask key constituents – teammates, board members, significant partners across your organization, and leadership – a series of respectively relevant questions to better illuminate where you are and where you need to go.
Anchor your growing understanding of what’s working and what could be improved around the following three core questions:
Where is your fundraising program today?
What full fundraising potential could you reach if efforts and resources were optimized?
What do you need in order to maximize success and impact and what roadmap should you put in place?
Getting an outside audit, guidance, and customized staff advising from an expert like me can ensure you’re working smarter, not harder, but if you are blazing the trail on your own here is what I recommend…
Development Assessment: Illuminating the path for growth
Before diving into the details, it's essential to identify and leverage your program's strengths.
Begin by asking:
What's working well?
What are the pride points?
What is inspiring?
Next, ask the following of the respective people related to the following areas:
Past performance
What have fundraising results looked like in the past 3 to 5 years? Look at your organization’s giving data and trends over time, including:
Total number of donors (number of donors to all funds, includes hard and soft credit)
Total dollars raised
Overall donor retention rate
First-time donor retention rate
Donation retention rate
Upgrade rate (donor gave any amount more this past fiscal year than in previous fiscal years)
Pro tip: If you are not able to easily pull these stats from your CRM you can find them (and many more KPIs) out by running the FEP Fundraising Fitness Test.
How have fundraising goals been established and what has been the historical success rate in achieving them?
What accountability measures are in place for fundraising performance, and how consistently are they applied by management and the board?
How does your recent fundraising performance compare against that of your peer and aspirational institutions across these key metrics?
People
Talent alignment and optimal staffing:
Do you have the right people in the right roles to effectively execute your fundraising strategy?
Are job descriptions current, accurate, and reflective of the evolving needs of the organization?
Is the staffing level and org structure sufficient to achieve your fundraising goals?
Team dynamics and culture:
What has been the staff turnover rate in development over the past 5-10 years? What have been the contributing factors?
How would you describe the current team morale? Are there any significant team dynamics to be aware of?
Is there a culture of trust, open communication, and mutual respect within the team? Do team members feel heard and valued?
What is the quality of the relationships and communication between frontline fundraisers and operational support staff? Are there opportunities to enhance collaboration?
Do development staff feel a sense of ownership and motivation regarding the fundraising plan?
Professional growth and development:
What professional development opportunities are available and utilized by the team?
How effective are the onboarding and ongoing training processes for development staff?
How are development staff evaluated, and does the evaluation process support growth and performance improvement?
Processes
Donor strategy:
What is the landscape of key relationships? Which staff and leaders actively cultivate the top 25 individual, corporate, and foundation donors and prospects?
Are there cultivation, solicitation and/or stewardship plans documented for major and principal gift prospective donors?
How are prospective major and principal gift donors identified and qualified?
Infrastructure and policies:
What CRM, moves management, gift processing, accounting or acknowledgement policies or procedures are in place? Are they clearly documented and consistently followed?
How robust, accurate, and up-to-date is the donor data within your CRM?
Fund management and stewardship:
What are the established protocols and timelines for gift acknowledgement and appreciation? Are stewardship systems consistently implemented?
How are endowed funds managed and reported to donors?
How is planned giving managed, and is the program aligned with the organization's size and maturity?
Resources
Is the advancement budget strategically allocated to areas that demonstrate the greatest return on investment?
Does the development team have access to the necessary resources (financial, administrative, etc.) to effectively perform their duties?
How robust and current is the prospect research within your database? What resources (tools, personnel) are dedicated to prospect identification, qualification, and management?
Is the technology currently in place adequate to support and enhance your fundraising efforts? Are there opportunities for improvement or integration?
Does the organization use outside consultants to help develop or execute their strategic, development, campaign or marketing plans?
Leadership
How effectively are fundraising objectives and goals integrated with the overall institutional priorities and strategic plan?
In what ways are organizational leaders actively participating in and championing fundraising efforts?
How inspired and committed are your development staff to the leadership's vision for the institution?
Is there a strong sense of confidence and trust among the staff in the organization's leadership?
What has been the turnover rate among key organizational leaders over the past decade, and what impact has this had on the institution and its fundraising?
Communications and marketing
Brand strength and narrative:
What is the organization's current reputation and visibility within the community?
How powerfully and persuasively does your core messaging articulate the need for philanthropic investment and its potential impact?
Are compelling stories demonstrating the impact of donor contributions consistently shared across all relevant channels, both internally and externally?
Integration:
How effectively are fundraising communications and engagement initiatives aligned and integrated with the broader institutional messaging and alumni/parent relations strategies?
Does the online giving website clearly and compellingly convey the impact of giving, offering a seamless and positive donor experience?
Are regular communication materials and annual appeals strategically designed, effectively executed, and positively received by target audiences?
Strategic engagement:
Are events and engagement opportunities strategically leveraged to cultivate deeper relationships and advance fundraising objectives?
What past or present reputational challenges (scandals, PR issues, crises) exist, and how effectively have they been managed to mitigate the impact on internal and external constituents?
Culture of philanthropy and alignment across the institution
How effectively do development, alumni relations, and communications teams collaborate to optimize resources and leverage opportunities for greater impact?
Is there trust and openness in communication and relationships between advancement staff and other organizational partners?
How are fundraising successes celebrated within your advancement team and across the organization?
Are core values and ethical considerations regularly discussed and integrated into the work of the advancement team?
The board and volunteers
Staff-board partnership:
How would you characterize the working relationship between the advancement staff, organizational leadership and the board of directors?
What are staff perceptions of the board's understanding and support of development activities?
Board engagement and commitment:
How actively engaged are board members in the life of the institution, both during and between formal meetings?
Is there 100% philanthropic participation from board members in annual and campaign initiatives?
In what specific ways are board members actively involved in and advocating for the institution's fundraising priorities?
Volunteer engagement and recognition:
How effectively do you identify, recruit, train, and recognize volunteers to support fundraising efforts?
Donors
Donor engagement and perception:
How effectively are you communicating the impact of donor contributions back to your supporters?
How do your donors feel about giving to your organization?
What other organizations or causes are your top donors supporting?
Pipeline health and diversification:
What is the strength and depth of your donor pipeline across all giving levels, from annual fund to major and principal gifts?
How diversified are your revenue streams? Is the organization overly reliant on a few major donors, grants, or other specific income sources, or is there a broad base of support? What is the current breakdown of your revenue sources?
Great! Now how do you chart the best path forward?
Now that you've unearthed fantastic insights and recommendations from your colleagues, it's time to sift through the possibilities, prioritize, and scope out key improvements and investments. Synthesizing what you've learned and deciding the best path forward is often the hardest part. Let's work together to create your roadmap to peak success. I can help you with strategic game planning and implementation to ultimately empower your team, instill confidence, and meet your goals (both long and short-term).
If you have any questions or need further guidance, connect with me.
We can discuss how I can help assess your program. I can create recommendations and a step-by-step path built around your unique organization’s strengths, opportunities, and donors as well as current trends in philanthropy and benchmarking against peer and aspirational institutions. From there, I can also help you implement practices and oversee adopted strategies to ensure you’re always on track.
You got this!
Jen Stirling
Principal Consultant, Brighter Philanthropy —
Fundraising consulting for higher ed and K-12
As your partner, I’ll bring my considerable expertise, high-energy efficiency, optimistic realism, relational approach, and fresh perspective to guide your team and help your institution reach its goals, enabling more students to thrive. I offer support for campaign services, development organization assessments, staff coaching and board development.
