Fundraising Success – Public Private Partnerships
How we partnered to raise funds in a unique public and private partnership between high net worth donors, corporate social responsibility funding and local municipalities.
This client is a nonprofit whose founders have engineering and management skills in sustainable management. They had successfully implemented environmental projects that relied on combining corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from private enterprises with community contributions and local government funding. They were unable to replicate this early success in fundraising.
When we met with them, their board was composed of very capable professionals, without access to personal giving or a network of high net worth donors. The organization had no support staff to fundraise or even maintain engagement with existing board members. Their project execution relied heavily on hiring project staff in construction and engineering for the duration of that activity. The founders were actively engaged in all aspects of the organization including implementing core service solutions.
Situation Assessment
The organization needed to address multiple challenges at the same time. The lack of nonprofit staff to build out fundraising capacity or perform basic tasks such as scheduling board meetings or following up on CSR grant proposals, was hampering capacity development and long term goals. The board members, while providing oversight, were not contributing to addressing fundraising needs, and had not identified this as part of their role and responsibilities. Board meetings occurred quarterly. Board members were out of the loop in situations that could have benefited from their support.
Teamqore assessed the Executive Director’s skills, board roles and responsibilities, and organizational structure and processes. We reviewed the CSR prospecting, proposal development, presentations and follow-up. We conducted interviews with board members, joined board meetings, and reviewed board reports and documents. We conducted extensive conversations with the Executive Director to articulate the scope of change that the nonprofit was able to accomplish. After conducting a comprehensive gap analysis, we worked with the nonprofit client to review our findings and offered the following opportunities.
Solutions & Implementation
- Wrote an impact report, case studies and success stories for the agency, that were reused in their website and at CSR and high net worth donor pitches
- Developed job descriptions and found pro bono staff with skills in proposal writing and website development
- Coached leadership in listening and presentation skills when engaging with an audience outside the water-sanitation world. Set up presentation strategies playing to each member’s strengths, allowing the ED to lead on technical pieces and board members to lead on management pieces
- Expanded the board and utilized new board member onboarding as a trigger to rewrite board roles and responsibilities
- Conducted board training and provided mentorship on ways in which they could provide development support
- Established 100% board giving, with a give and get policy as an annual practice
- Identified 3 major donor prospects within the expanded nonprofit board and founding staff
- Developed a fundraising proposal where a high net worth donor would bring in 20% of the total project cost, contingent on the balance being met by CSR and municipal funding. The nonprofit was successful in getting commitment from a donor in order to activate the fundraising plan.
- Defined board meeting procedures; helped the board manage its own reports, minutes and calendar; developed a process where board members could be accessed between board meetings
Impact
- Board and staff have an improved understanding of each member’s core skills, roles and responsibilities
- Organization bandwidth and impact were significantly expanded in a cost-effective manner through the use of reliable pro bono partners
- Increased partnership from the board, and engagement in development as a collective priority
- Established a fundraising model that could leverage a lead gift into cementing public and private partnerships
- Contributed to a sense of success and accomplishment that translated into effective communication with funding partners