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Hope is not a strategy

Toyota’s lean manufacturing system and GE’s Six Sigma can help you raise more money. The Core Process sure beats “hope” as a strategy for major gifts!

Here’s 10 Problems Hope Won’t Cure

1. Reliance on special events and annual giving as the main fundraising strategies, which results in a high cost-per-dollar raised as well as a smaller overall amount.

2. Foundation boards not aligned with major gift fundraising, which orients the program toward only smaller gifts and overly relies on staff work.

3. Executive and physician leadership not oriented to fundraising as a leadership responsibility, which leaves the fundraising staff without the influence that executives have in the community and that physicians have with grateful patients.

4. Cases for support that are inwardly focused on meeting operational and capital needs seen by management, and that do not inspire the excitement needed to attract high-dollar board members and donors.

5. Inadequate stewardship programs, which lead to poor donor retention and a higher fundraising cost to acquire new donors.

6. Staff organizational structures that promote neither effective teamwork nor performance-oriented specialization, causing inefficient and ineffective use of time.

7. Absence of multiyear strategic development plans and performance metrics, which leads to static or declining levels of investment and little or no year-to-year improvement.

8. Lack of process, rigor, and accountability, resulting in wasted time, poor follow-up with potential donors and lackluster results.

9. Disconnects between fundraising operations and the institutions they support, which lead to inappropriate goals and cases and to organizational behaviors that do not support a climate for fundraising success.

10. Relatively small staffs and inadequate resources compared with the potential that could be raised, which leads to leaving large amounts of money on the table.

Performance Advantage N.A. helps nonprofit organizations increase fundraising production. We blend Toyota’s Lean and GE’s Six Sigma with proven fundraising wisdom. Performance Improvement simply allows you to spend more time doing what you do best.

We’d be happy to help you grow your fundraising staff, prepare for a major campaign, create a compelling breakthrough case and attract new major gift donors, while boosting your ROI and lowering your CPDR.

Call or email me for a free consultation. My cell is 269‐208‐3577. My email is sareed@mpicompanies.com

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There’s got to be a better way

You spend too little time doing the things why you became a fundraiser and you do best

Your people devote too much energy to “fiefdom” goals rather than mission

You spend too much time in internal meetings and busywork

Your people have too few clear operating parameters

You tried everything “in the book” to do better

Your people struggle for professional respect

You know you could raise more if only …

Fundraising Performance Imperatives (FPI) is:

  • A process-based, metric-measured approach to front-line development that creates a highly focused, self-managing team working in The Core Process to achieve higher levels of fundraising production; and,
  • A high-ROI organizational design to reduce overhead and rebalance the organization to put more resources at the front line at a lower CPDR.

FPI is primarily based on three sources of performance improvement knowledge and data:

  • Ongoing research by AHP to identify those factors that drive high performance;
  • Proven Lean Six Sigma and quality principles from the commercial world; and,
  • Our own observations over the past 12 years in developing and refining the FPI system with pioneering fundraising operations.

Come with us on a journey to personal or organizational high-performance.