The Readiness Assessment is used to determine the clarity and unity among an organization’s internal constituents. This includes the board, administration, and other insiders related to the organization’s future and their vision, particularly as it relates to capital requirements. In addition, the assessment will evaluate the current advancement systems, procedures and staffing as an organization prepares for a major campaign.
During the assessment, through a combination of data collection and analysis, and individual interviews, the focus will be on answering the following questions:
- Are your advancement systems ready to support a major campaign?
- Do you have sufficient staff prepared to support a campaign?
- Do you have policies and procedures in place for planned giving, endowment gifts, etc?
- Do you have a compelling draft of the case for your campaign?
- What successes or challenges have you experienced during past campaigns?
- What is the capacity of your top 100 donor prospects for the campaign?
- Who are the qualified prospective individuals and foundations with the capacity to give gifts of six and possibly seven figures to interview during a feasibility study?
- Who are prospective volunteer leaders and solicitors for the campaign?
- Are the board, administration and key volunteers informed and supportive of the proposed campaign?
- What is the recommended time frame for launching a feasibility study and capital campaign?
The FOCUS Group has a high commitment to customize our services to the needs of each client. We believe a client does not benefit from a boilerplate feasibility study filled with canned analysis. Instead, based on over thirty years of experience, The Focus Group provides the best research and analysis a development dollar can buy. Analysis that is individual, thorough, and professional.
A carefully crafted feasibility study will assist an organization in formulating realistic and achievable plans for the proposed capital campaign. The feasibility study includes extensive and significant data collected through structured, confidential interviews with major donors, board members, key volunteers and staff.
Specifically, the data collection and analysis focuses on the following:
- The reputation and image of your organization among its constituencies.
- The respondents’ review of and specific recommendations for improving the draft of the campaign case statement and the proposed initiatives for your organization to grow and strengthen its mission.
- Your organization’s potential for recruiting the volunteer leadership required to lead the campaign.
- A dollar goal for the campaign based on prospect research, the respondents’ projections of their gifts, and extrapolations based on the respondents’ gift projections.
- Data related to potential planned gifts and the potential for setting a goal for planned giving.
- The campaign plan and strategy to raise the funds.
- How to deal with obstacles or problems that would limit or impede a successful campaign.
- Organizational chart, timetable, staffing and budget for the campaign.
The FOCUS Group also offers a Feasibility Review that mirrors a prior Feasibility Study and provides current data after:
- Significant time has passed since a previous Feasibility Study was conducted
- There has been a major organizational change (a merger, for example)
- Or, an organization has questions about the credibility of a Feasibility Study undertaken by another firm
The scope of a Feasibility Review is narrower in regards to prospect research and number of interviews.
Every nonprofit planning a capital campaign wants to be successful. The FOCUS Group offers expertise focused on meeting capital campaign challenges head-on, as well as being attuned to the culture and personality of the client. The FOCUS Group takes clients through a carefully crafted campaign strategy, driven by the experience our firm has to offer, yet individually tailored to meet the needs of the organization.
Windshield2020® is a cloud-based software program, created by The FOCUS Group, which maximizes the effectiveness of nonprofits managing capital campaigns and annual funds. By providing a “forward-looking” strategy, Windshield2020® supplements traditional fundraising software that often serves solely as a “rear-view” strategy tracking donor history and pledges, and performing accounting calculations. It is designed to manage complex campaigns and projects by coordinating staff and volunteers through research, preparation, solicitation, and follow up to succeed in meeting your financial goals.
Windshield2020® is built around a relational view of fundraising. It manages fundraising at any level (local, regional, national) and also manages multiple campaigns concurrently.
Windshield2020® addresses these key prospect management components:
- Know and prioritize your major donor prospects.
- Track communication with prospects, and plan for next contact steps and dates tailored to the individual prospect.
- Assign prospects to a primary caller (or solicitor) and manage and track the progress of each caller and their respective prospects.
- Accurate and up-to-date “best case” and “worst case” scenarios for your campaign or annual fund.
- Develop and assign strategies for cultivating and soliciting each prospect based on their priority and relationship to an organization.
- Create attributes as descriptors for prospects with similar affinities – for example “board member,” “alumnus,” “NY region,” “Small Business Owner,” – and use these attributes to filter down the overall prospect list.
- Create various reports with detailed information useful for internal communication and progress reporting.
