Services

Volunteer and Staff Training

Never a cookie-cutter approach, each session is tailored to priority client needs. Recent examples include:

Fundraising 101 - Learning the basics for successful results
Non-Cash Giving - Generous benefits for both donor and charity
Volunteer Development – How to empower friends and maximize contributions
The Effective Executive
Effective Boards and Committees
Take the Temperature of Your Non Profit – What’s working and what’s not. Taking charge of change.
Team Building – Helping staff and volunteers to work efficiently and effectively

Coordination of Capital Campaigns

Our niche are capital campaigns in the $500,000 to $5 million range where we can provide personal assistance with volunteer recruitment, training and oversight; gift tracking and data management; development of marketing communications; assistance with gift solicitation among other tasks. We advocate a 3-phase approach:

Precampaign Phase

A steering committee of volunteers is organized to clearly outline the proposed capital project and lay the foundation for the campaign (includes defining the case, preparing draft marketing materials, drafting organizational charts and timelines, etc). The campaign project is then quietly tested for support by meeting with select representatives of the organization’s membership and community it serves to explain the need and carefully crafted solution while seeking their input. Once the feasibility study is completed, the steering committee will work with IVY Partners to make a recommendation to the organization’s supervising board to proceed or not to proceed with the campaign and the likelihood for success. The campaign is NOT announced during this phase and no gifts are solicited.

Quiet or Leadership Gift Phase

A campaign committee (who is charged with “getting or giving” the gifts necessary to reach the campaign goal) is organized. Donor prospects are rated for their capacity to give and the committee focuses on contacting the top tier of prospects, those who are capable of making “leadership of gifts” of $10,000 - $100,000 or more over the term of the pledge period. Campaign committee members and others they recommend to solicit leadership gifts will visit these prospects personally. These initial gifts will be responsible for 60-65% of the campaign goal. This is called the “quiet” phase, because the campaign is not publicly announced until this phase is completed and 65% of the goal is pledged.

General Campaign

Once a healthy percentage of the campaign goal is achieved, there is an all out, community-wide initiative to reach out to as many prospective donors as possible. More volunteers are identified and trained for specific tasks to make gift solicitations as personal as possible. Although the average gift will be much smaller in this campaign phase, there will be many more donors participating. Contact will be made with ALL donor prospects who were not contacted during the leadership gift phase. The climax of the general campaign is the campaign celebration where volunteers and donors are publicly thanked for their many contributions to the project.