Philanthropic Fundraising Services
Philanthropic, or charitable, fundraising is the foundation upon which the Pitcher Group has built three decades of consulting experience. We can help you with every stage of the philanthropic fundraising solicitation process from case development and campaign/appeal plans, to prospect lead generation; and from prospect meetings, all the way to donor stewardships. The following are Pitcher Group philanthropic fundraising services:
PLANNING
Case Clearance
In many charitable organizations there are more funding needs than there is fundraising capacity. When this occurs, a process of case clearance must be used. Case clearance identifies the ideal combination of project priorities, diversity and appeal. The Pitcher Group can assist you with this review process. In larger organizations, we can help broker which projects become part of a formal campaign, which become part of a stretch goal initiative and which should be deferred until the next campaign. Finally, as part of an appraisal process, we can test a short list of potential case items with prospective donors and volunteers to determine which garner the most support.
Case Development
Developing a list of items to be funded is merely the first step in the case development process. It is also important to detail — the need for each case item; examples of the impact on individual people; how your organization is well-suited to address the need, the plan to meet the need; and the funds required. Case development is often more than just a writing exercise. Developing the rational for case items can require research and planning. Once all the case items have been developed, a case statement should be drafted. The case statement is the foundation for all fundraising communications, promotional materials and solicitation tools. The Pitcher Group can direct all aspects of case development. We can provide the strategic insights and writing skills to ensure your fundraising efforts have the best possible start.
Recognition and Naming Plans
Even donors whose primary motivation is philanthropic respond positively to thoughtful recognition programs and naming opportunities. As such, creative stewardship initiatives can help you raise more money immediately. Furthermore, your current donors are your best future prospects. So, recognition programs help you raise more money over time. Thanks in large part to our sponsorship work, the Pitcher Group team is highly effective at creating recognition programs and naming plans. We even have a proven track record designing programs that have created dramatic new funding opportunities. Our creativity will help you raise more money.
Pipeline Systems
It can be difficult to know how much cultivation you need to do before soliciting a gift. Fundraising organizations often ask too early in the solicitation cycle resulting in being turned down by donors. Likewise, with donors sometimes taking months to reach decisions, knowing if you and your team are making enough progress to achieve your fundraising goals on time can be a challenge. In this case, fundraising organizations sometimes respond too late to adjust their strategy in time. A Moves Management and Solicitation Pipeline system can help you address both of these challenges. Moves management identifies how far each prospect is in the solicitation cycle and identifies tasks for moving prospects each step of the way from initial contact to final decision. A solicitation pipeline takes that request cycle information, and calculates your overall probable results to let you know in advance whether you are likely to achieve your goals. The Pitcher Group can help you develop a moves management and solicitation pipeline system tailored to your organization.
Campaign Plans
Fundraising campaigns can be challenging projects both for the difficulty in raising large amounts of money and for the number of tasks that must be completed to achieve success. A comprehensive campaign plan details both the overall strategies and individual tasks that provide a roadmap to reaching your financial goals. The Pitcher Group can layout the divisions and stages of activity required to meet your specific fundraising circumstances. Our campaign plans are designed to be active reference tools that underpin your success.
RESEARCH
Prospect Identification
On those occasions you need to identify additional prospects for your charitable fundraising program to be successful, Pitcher Group research partners can conduct a prospect identification program for you. By examining support of other and additional factors, we can provide you with a list of prospects with a demonstrated propensity to support your initiatives.
Prospect Profiles
The best source of information about a potential donor is from the prospect themselves. The Pitcher Group can assist you with this direct discovery process. However, sometimes you may require detailed information about a prospect prior to meeting. Pitcher Group research partners can provide you with detailed prospect profiles. These biographical reviews examine affiliations, financial capacity and precedents and areas of interest relevant to philanthropy.
Asset Appraisals
For your fundraising campaign to have a reasonable chance of success, there are key assets you must have in place. You must have a strong case, capable and motivated volunteers, donor prospects with sufficient financial ability and affinity as well as sufficient infrastructure to support solicitations. The best way to gauge potential volunteer and donor support is by interviewing your best prospects. The Pitcher Group can provide this feasibility study process. We review this research process as not something to be done before seeking donations, but as the first in fundraising. People who have been consulted tended to be more supportive of your efforts.
Marketplace Scans
It can be useful, particularly when supporting volunteers such as a board members, to know the fundraising activities and success of other organizations in your vicinity or those doing similar work to yours beyond your community. The Pitcher Group can provide you with scans of other relevant charities (and partners) or even detailed case studies of particular organizations and programs. Our goal is to help you learn from the efforts of others and to adapt to marketplace conditions.
SOLICITATIONS
Cultivation
If you have a prospect that you are meeting for the first time, you will likely want to engage them several times before asking them for money. With a Moves Management strategy in hand, the Pitcher Group can help you develop and deliver the activities that cultivate your prospects.
Proposal Development
A sponsorship proposal is an investment prospectus where the return is a social good rather than a financial payout. The Pitcher Group can help you develop proposal content about your organization and your fundraising case. We tailor our proposals to the specific needs of each prospect. As with our sponsorship work, our proposals typically include stretch requests for additional opportunities beyond a base request. When tailored to the needs of donors, we find these supplemental requests often receive funding. As always, we work to help you achieve maximum success.
Solicitation Materials
Whether you need something quick and serviceable, or of professional design standard, the Pitcher can assist you with solicitation materials. We offer solutions crafted by either our fundraising consultants or our design and writing partners depending on your needs. Beyond graphical design, we focus on the functional characteristics that your materials should include to maximize your success. For example, we look at when you should and should not use projected presentations. Our functional and graphical design services include introductory leave-behinds, presentation visual aids, proposals and more.
Request Presentations
The Pitcher Group approach is to act as one of your team members, ready to participate in any task. We will not go ask for money on your behalf without you, but nor do we expect to sit back and just give advice while you do all the work. As such, we can assist you with solicitation calls. We can participate in any stage acting as technical experts or full pitch-participants. Our goal is to make sure you have all the resources you need in a solicitation presentation.
Gift Agreements
Other than charities having an obligation to use gifts as directed by donors, a tax receiptable donation must come with no legal strings attached. However, comprehensive gift agreements are valuable tools for ensuring transparency and accountability thus avoiding misunderstandings between donor and charity. The Pitcher Group can provide you with both templates and individual agreements that provide each donor with confidence in providing a current donation, and help cultivate each donor for a future contribution.
FULFILLMENT
Recognition Fulfilment and Donor Stewardship
Again, your best future prospects are often your current supporters. The Pitcher Group can assist you to recognize each of your donors through multiple mediums. We can also help you implement a broad-based program of relationship building with your donors with specific tools such as events, mementos, donors walls, thank you letters and more. As with our sponsorship programs, we maintain a database of all the recognition and stewardship efforts available and the specific efforts for each donor.
Donor Reports
A good donor reporting process to your supporters provides you with the perfect opening to discuss new giving opportunities. The Pitcher Group can help you develop a reporting methodology that excites donors about their participation. We can also design a report document, assemble needed information and draft report content.