Interim Development Leadership

Leadership transitions - whether planned or unexpected - can be a source of anxiety for a development team and executive and board leadership. Throughout our careers, each of us has been part of leadership changes and has served in key roles throughout times of organizational transition. Whether it is your CDO, VP/Director of Development, Executive Director or CEO, we can:

• Offer confidential support and guidance to your development team, executive director, executive leadership team, board members and any other key folks impacted by the transition period.
• Manage and motivate development staff to ensure that fundraising plans stay on track throughout the duration of the transition.
• Conduct an assessment of current fundraising efforts, practices, and opportunities, and offer recommendations to inform the priorities for your search. 
• Support the search process: While we are not a search firm, we can help throughout the process in myriad ways, including, providing guidance as you develop your position description and posting process, screening candidates, utilizing our own networks to spread the word, and developing interview questions.
• Provide guidance and support throughout your onboarding process, helping you organize and prioritize how your new leader becomes acquainted with your organization, its people and processes, and your board. 

All successful fundraising campaigns start with an informed, strategic, and comprehensive plan. If you are wondering if it is time for your organization to launch a major fundraising campaign, a feasibility study is the place to start. We work with organizations to build their strategic vision, develop a case for support, advise on financial goals, gather information from internal and external stakeholders, and create a report with observations and recommendations that will serve as a roadmap for your campaign.  

We work with CEOs, CDOs and other executive leaders, development teams, and board members to build, improve, and implement relationship-based programs that will set up your organization for success and sustainability. 

We provide the tools and training needed to organize and prioritize your prospects, secure donor visits, make solicitations, and create meaningful cultivation and stewardship practices to position your program for long-term growth and success. We offer support with:

• Building and managing a principal and major gifts portfolio.
• Creating a simple and effective data-informed moves-management program to plan and track a donor’s journey.
• Advice on strategic use of events to grow your major giving program, allowing your organization to become less reliant on events-based fundraising.
• Using data and metrics to plan for your program’s growth.

A strong annual fund is the foundation of any successful fundraising program. Focusing on growing your annual fund is critical to having a diverse and sustainable donor base, ensuring your organization’s ability to be flexible and nimble during times of change. 

We can work with you to take a deep dive into your annual fund program elements–direct mail, email and other digital solicitations, events, messaging and collateral, acknowledgement process, tracking and metrics–and offer expert guidance and recommendations to help make your annual fund stronger, more dynamic, and reliable for the future. 

Confidence leads to successful fundraising and developing that confidence requires intentional focus on skill-building. Development work can be mysterious and intimidating for those who are unfamiliar with the process and its rewards. And we know that comfort levels vary widely when it comes to asking for money. We believe in the power of demystifying fundraising work and making it less scary and, instead, an empowering experience for executive leadership, program staff, and board members. 

We can work with you to develop a customized, highly interactive training experience that will meet folks where they are. In addition, we can develop a menu of options to help you consider how best to meaningfully engage program staff and board members in your fundraising program. 

A development program is only as strong as its members. A strong team requires knowledge, resources, and leadership. Knowing how to structure, support, and lead a top-notch development team is critical to a successful fundraising program that meets and exceeds its goals year after year. 

We have worked on teams of all shapes and sizes - from mighty one-person shops, to large, well-resourced teams. Our extensive experience building and retaining high functioning development teams will inform the advice and resources we provide to you and your team. We will take the time needed to get to know your organization, your team, and your program and provide recommendations for areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.

So much of the development process depends upon the written word, and creating development content can be very time-intensive. We can provide support for your writing process at the early, middle, or final phase for a variety of development materials. 

Whether it is a donor newsletter, annual fund appeal series, personalized major donor solicitation, case for support, or development policy update–we bring our years of experience and highly developed communication skills to the table, and will partner with you to produce the product you need.  

When your organization has a culture of philanthropy embraced by your leadership and board, its fundraising program stands a better chance of long term success. Your board may be fully trained and happily engaged in fundraising or they could be actively avoiding and rejecting the idea. More likely, they are somewhere in between. Regardless of where your board sits on this continuum, we can help by meeting you and your board where they are to more effectively engage board members in fundraising.