The Development Fundamentals & Planning Course Curriculum

is a roadmap for steady progress and growth.

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Creating an Effective Development Plan - 

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It all begins with a plan. Without a development plan nonprofit organizations wander aimlessly through the many complex fundraising processes. With an effective plan, organizations accelerate their fundraising success!
 

• Fundraising 101

  • What exactly is fundraising? What fundraising is not.

• Developing your overall framework for development concepts, philosophies and strategies

• Developing your fundraising priorities

• Developing your Strategic Plan

  • Operating without a development strategic plan is a mistake. A comprehensive and detailed development strategic plan is a must for all nonprofit organizations. It is the cornerstone for fundraising success. A good strategic plan will use proven strategies to turn common goals into actionable steps and execution across all levels of staff and board.

• Developing all your policies and procedures

  • Every nonprofit organization needs comprehensive written policies and procedures for gift acceptance, gift processing, donor recognition, donor privacy and confidentiality to provide clarity and safeguards for the organization.

• Developing your Case for Support

  • From the smallest donor to the large foundations, prospective donors need to know why they should your organization. The Case for Support is an internal document that clearly defines needs the organization’s programs, history, goals and potential outcomes based on achieving defined fundraising goals.

• Developing your Annual Fund plan

  • The Annual Fund is the backbone of all development departments. Raising funds for general operating needs as well as building a wide base of supporters from which Major Donors will emerge is critically important to every nonprofit organization.​

• Developing an effective Major Gift plan and strategy

  • The 80/20 Rule (the Pareto Principle) absolutely applies to fundraising – 80% of most nonprofit organization’s gifts come from only 20% of their donors. While it makes sense to invest more time with these donors, your organization must also devote time to those donors, and prospective donors, who share your tops donor’s characteristics.

• Proper segmentation of your existing donor records

  • One-size-fits-all does not apply to donor relations – From appeal to the thank you, effective donor relations begin and end with personalization, personalization, personalization!

  • Donor database software options

• Creating an effective direct mail strategy

  • Direct mail is the workhorse of every Annual Fund program. An effective direct mail strategy is absolutely essential

• The how and why behind segmenting for all direct mail campaigns

  • Simply personalizing each letter is not enough, different segments of your donor base should receive different versions of the letter and reply form tailored to their giving history.

• Using data analysis and predictive modeling tools like PoliGen™

  • The days of mailing to cold lists are over, use technology to mail only to those who look most like your current donors. Predictive Modeling is the ideal way to understand your existing donors and find your best donor prospects.

• Direct response strategies

  • From the outer envelope to the content within, it all matters.

  • Budgeting for direct response

    • Partnering with the right vendors to maximize your budget and ROI.

• Establishing a calendar/timeline/goals/assign tasks

  • Create a specific plan for the year with deadlines.

• Creating an effective Donor Contact Plan

  • An effective Donor Contact Plan (sometimes referred to as “Moves Management”) provides the framework for engaging donors, increasing donor retention and leads to ever-increasing numbers of major donors. 

• Segmenting the database

  • Everything begins with knowing who, how many and the giving history of your existing donors. From new and entry level donors to major gift donors, nonprofit organizations must prioritize their staff and board’s time – a detailed contact plan for donors of all sizes guides donor contact and recognition strategies, creates efficiency and most importantly, results!

• What is your development philosophy?

  • The who, what, when, where and why behind all your development strategies must be codified and known to all on your staff and board

• Budget

  • Developing and staying within a realistic fundraising budget is critical to success. But what’s realistic? What is the industry standard for the ratio between fundraising expenses and dollars raised or dollars spent on programmatic needs? Defining these figures is critical to accelerating your fundraising success.

• Calendar/timeline/goals/assign tasks

  • Create a specific plan for the year with deadlines

• Board Development

  • Your board can and should play a significant role in raising funds for the organization.

• A review of your existing by-laws and board member structure, culture, personalities, and expectations

• Developing new philosophies and a culture of fundraising for the board

  • Change is never easy, especially for nonprofit boards. Specific strategies are needed for the transition.

• Policies, procedures and job descriptions for board members

  • All board members must know exactly what is expected of them. Policies, procedures and job descriptions set these expectations.

• Advisory Councils/Boards

  • When does it makes sense to use an Advisory Council to supplement a board’s activities?

• Ethics in fundraising

  • Given the scrutiny from donors, government and the media, nonprofit organizations must be aware of and conform to the many best practices needed to maintain the highest ethical standards.

 

• Fundraising for Christian organizations, why it's different

 

Also covered in the course

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• Online fundraising tools, strategies, best practices

• Grant writing

• Donor and prospective donor research

• SWOT planning

• Capital campaigns

• Planned giving

• Creating donor reports

• Fundraising via email and social media

• Crowdfunding

• Charity watchdogs (Charity Navigator, Guide Star, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and others)

• Monthly giving programs

• Peer-to-peer fundraising – Salon events

• Special event fundraising

 

Your organization will receive all the digital files for the personalized Strategic Plan, all the personalized Policies and Procedures, the personalized Case Statement, personalized board job descriptions, donor reports, the Donor Contact Plan, budgets, Direct Mail best practices, as well as examples of direct mail letters and reply forms, fundraising philosophies, calendars for direct mail, annual fund and major donor strategies. Also included is an extensive list of resources for fundraising trade organizations, certifications, free resources and recommended vendors for direct mail and other needs.