Step one: Readiness Assessment

Are you ready for a major fundraising effort? Most nonprofit organizations are not. Ask yourself a couple of questions to gauge your readiness:

• What community need are you trying to address? If you’re simply trying to make payroll or find some additional operating support, this is not the direction for you. If, however, your organization is uniquely positioned to address a pressing need in your community, there may be public, corporate, foundation, and individual financial support available.
• Does your community’s leadership – both private and public – want this initiative to happen? In most cases, they carry the checkbooks. If they disagree with your vision, you may be spinning your wheels. If, however, these business and community leaders agree that your organization is best-suited for the task at hand, they will pull out their checkbooks.

If the answers to these two questions prove positive, Integrity Fundraising will consider conducting a Readiness Assessment for your organization. This service is free of charge and involves time spent onsite by Integrity Fundraising’s team with your organization’s executive committee and staff. During this phase, we accomplish the following:

• Information, information, information – We ask questions, lots and lots of questions. What’s your mission? What’s your annual budget? Who are you Top 10 funders? Who are your strongest advocates? Have you ever run a major fundraising effort in the past? How much do you raise on an annual basis? What have you accomplished since inception? What did you accomplish last year? What do you want to accomplish now? And on and on…
• Develop the plan – We take all the information and ideas developed above, and we flesh out the details:
• How long will it take to implement this strategy, build this building or solve this crisis?
• How much will it cost? Include all estimated expenses including building materials, personnel, marketing, etc.
• Who will benefit? We never ask for donations when raising millions of dollars; instead we look for investors who will benefit from your plan. But remember that investors expect a return on their investment (ROI), so we therefore go a step further and quantify the benefits of implementing your plan. This ensures maximum financial support.
• Fundraising – How will you go about raising the dollars needed? This takes place in two phases and is discussed in steps two (Feasibility Study) and three (Capital Campaign).

Go to Step Two: Feasibility Study >>