The Perfect

Development Office

What is the

Perfect Development

Office?

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Aligned strategies and responsibilities

The Perfect Development Office has...

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The Relationship Pyramid

Holiday card list

Acquaintance

Group friend

One-

on-one

Best friend

Aligned Strategies and Responsibilities

Entry Level• Direct mail• Events• Social media

Donor acquisition(Impersonal)

Transition from impersonal to personal

Mid Level• Small group• V2V

Deep donor engagement

(Highly personal)

Top Level• F2F• Trusted Advisor

Aligned Strategies and Responsibilities

Strategies must be in balance

The top gets the priority

Mid level doesn't mean "middle sized"

The primary goal is upward flow

Activity must be relationship driven

Aligned strategies & responsibilities

Attainable goals, metrics, and incentives

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The Perfect Development Office has...

Setting Attainable Goals

Biggest reason for staff turnover

Should not only be needs based

Should involve development staff

Should consider current activity repertoire

Should be re-forecasted throughout year

Financial goal

Donor retention

Growth in current

donors

New donors

What are attainable

metrics?

Aren't financial incentives

against the rules in

fundraising?

No - Not if done correctly!

The Right Incentives Make it all Work

What do you need from each

activity?

Who is primarily responsible?

What are the specific goals of

each activity?

Who is responsible for the

overall development goal?

Create a Scorecard for each

Staff Member

Define 3-4 metrics for each

Only 1 should be $ to raise

Tie the metrics to what is needed for overall success

Be creative

Involve staff members in the process so they understand

and own the metrics

Aligned strategies & responsibilities

Attainable goals, metrics, and incentives

A focus on high capacity donors

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The Perfect Development Office has...

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The Greatest Potential for

Growth in any Development

Operation is in the Existing

Donor Base!

2.8.132.7.14

FOCUS ON HIGH CAPACITY DONORS

The Focus of Most

Nonprofits

The Untapped

Potential in every

Nonprofit

Two Factors Determine the Capacity of a

Prospective Donor

How much wealth he/she has

How much of that wealth he/she

chooses to give

Determining Quality

Prospects

Capacity

Access

Relevance to mission

Inclination

You have a finite amount of

work time.Should you spend it with

the 5 nicest people

or

the 5 people who could

fund the entire mission

Engaging high capacity donors

Take the time to create a donor plan

Learn their passions and interests

Show them how their last gift was used

Propose a specific project from budget

Affirm their decision to give

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The Perfect Development Office has...

Aligned strategies & responsibilities

Attainable goals, metrics, and incentives

A focus on high capacity donors

Support from non-fundraising leadership

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Development won't grow if you

don't support it with the right

care and nourishment.

CFO - Finance

Human Resources

Programming (mission)

The Board

To thrive, Development needs support from:

We are not a

fundraising board!

Yes You Are!!!

Expectations of Board:

Leadership by

example

An engaged board should...

Have conviction for the mission

Give their personal resources

Rank the mission in their top 3

Introduce their network

Participate as an impassioned volunteer

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The Perfect Development Office has...

Aligned strategies & responsibilities

Attainable goals, metrics, and incentives

A focus on high capacity donors

Support from other departments

A strategy to reward & retain key staff

The average tenure of

a development officer

is 18 months.

The result of turnover is:

Sense of instability among staff

Spinning of wheels instead of progress

Constant focus on training instead of

growth

Turnover is most often the result of:

Lack of loyalty to your mission

Too high of expectations

Lack of opportunity for personal growth

Keep your best staff by...

Hiring from your constituency

Protecting them from unrealistic

expectations

Compensating them fairly

Creating a retention plan

The Results of the

Perfect Development

Office:

Success!

Sustainable growth

Passionate and engaged donors

Happy and content staff

An active board

MissionAdvancement.com

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