Fequently Asked Questions

An advancement/philanthropy consultant helps nonprofit organizations fully integrate, strengthen and effectively manage its operational strategies and tactics in constituency-building, relationship-management, communications/education/marketing, trust stewardship and philanthropy. Typically, the consultant’s services will address operational areas such as: 

• Strategic & Tactical Planning 

• Building Constituency 

• Managing Constituent Relationship & Trust 

• Organizational Advancement Audits  

• Institutional Positioning & Public Relations  

• Marketing Communications  

• Governance Management & Board Relations 

• Fundraising & Donor Relations 

• Annual & Legacy Giving 

• Major-Gifts & Capital Campaigns  

• Stewardship of Philanthropic Support 

The consultant brings outside perspective, tested methodologies, and practical experience gained from years of working with many types of organizations in the advancement of their missions and interests. 

A nonprofit organization should consider retaining an advancement/philanthropy consultant when it faces a significant opportunity, challenge, project or transition requiring specialized expertise, objective assessment, or additional skills and experience capacity beyond what the organization’s governing board, staff and volunteers can bring to bear. An experienced outside consultant can provide guidance that will materially increase the likelihood of success. 

An excellent example is the preparation, organization, conduct and management of a major-gifts campaign for capital and/or endowment needs, as well as campaigns combining annual and major-gift needs in a single effort. 

The most successful nonprofit organizations recognize that fundraising is both an art and a discipline. While passion for mission is indispensable, substantial philanthropic support requires strategic planning, disciplined execution, and experienced leadership. 

Engaging a qualified consultant at the right time can save years of trial and error, strengthen institutional credibility, and significantly enhance the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission. 

Advancement/philanthropy consultants might be retained to help define and address a nonprofit organization’s need for revitalization and strengthening of its constituency-building, constituency-relationship/trust management, public relations or major-gift and annual-giving initiatives. Conducting an advancement/philanthropy audit might be a central feature of such a project. 

An organization also might engage the services of an advancement consultant for projects involving communications, public relations, marketing and special events, as well as for initiatives focused on governance management and board relations. 

The decision to engage the services of a nonprofit advancement consultant should always be one collaboratively made by the organization’s governing board and chief executive officer, along with input from senior staff members. The circumstances can involve situations such as the following: 

• Entering New Phase of Physical/Programmatic Growth 

• Philanthropy Program Is Underperforming 

• Limited Internal Staffing, Experience & Expertise 

• Constituency-Building Efforts Underperforming 

• Eroded Constituent/Donor Trust 

• Weak/Ineffective Relationship & Trust Management 

• Executive & Board Leadership Transitions 

• Governing Board Needs Training & Direction 

• Contributed Income Plateaued for Several Years 

• Previous Advancement/Philanthropy Efforts Fell Short 

• Major-Donor Support Is Minimal & Inadequate 

• Leadership Lacks Campaign Experience 

• Governing Board Not Engaged in Fundraising 

• Organization Lacks a Strategic Advancement/Philanthropy Plan  

• Need for Objective Advancement Assessment (Audit) 

• Ineffective Communications & Marketing 

• Preparing for Major-Gifts or Legacy Giving Programs 

• Conducting a Feasibility/Planning Study 

• Capital Needs Exceed Annual Fundraising Capacity 

• Launching a Capital or Endowment Campaign 

• Ineffective Case Development & Articulation 

• Temporary Capacity Constraints 

Essence & Definition: 

• A capital campaign is an extraordinary, extended and intensive major-gifts fundraising effort intended to generate philanthropic support for a capital project designed to significantly strengthen an organization’s ability to carry out its mission, conduct its programs and provide its services. 

• A capital campaign seeks to solicit major gifts from carefully selected and evaluated prospective donors in order to support the acquisition or improvement of a significant capital asset for the organization. 

• A capital campaign can be conducted for “brick-and-mortar” needs (i.e., building or renovating facilities, etc.), special projects (i.e., purchasing equipment or other assets), an endowment fund for future needs, or a combination of such needs. 

• A capital campaign is designed to advance the strategic, longer-term interests of the organization, while annual giving is intended to raise funds for current, annual operating and programmatic needs. 

• A capital campaign represents an important, strategic moment in the life of the organization’s advancement and philanthropy program and initiatives. 

• The philosophy and the values that help to underpin a capital campaign should be consistent with the goals, values and culture of the organization itself. 

• A capital campaign must be tied to a project that is justifiably needed and well-defined and -understood. 

• A capital campaign must be “owned” and conducted by the organization’s governing board. 

• A capital campaign must be based on volunteer commitment to the mission. 

• A capital campaign helps broaden the organization’s overall philanthropy program. 

Characteristics: 

• Capital campaign goals are big — larger than routine philanthropic initiatives. 

• Capital campaigns lift an organization to a higher plane of organizational advancement. 

• Capital campaigns are rare occurrences and special events, usually not happening more than once every 10 years in most organizations. 

• Most capital campaigns are conducted to meet long-term strategic planning goals or to help fund major initiatives of the organization. 

• Most capital campaign funds are raised in advance of the program’s public announcement.  

 Campaign Phases: 

Preparations & Planning – 

• Retention of professional fundraising counsel 

• Development of campaign organizational structure, overall strategy and plan 

• External environmental assessment and internal readiness measurement 

• Recruit campaign leadership and train volunteer corps 

• Research and develop prospect lists and evaluate each prospect’s capacity/inclination 

• Produce campaign materials; develop preliminary goal and gift charts 

Solicitation Phases – 

• Family & Lead/Advance Gifts  (“quiet phase”) 

• Leadership & Major Gifts 

• Campaign launch/announcement and public phase 

• Concluding gift solicitations and clean-up 

• Victory celebration 

Pledge-Fulfillment & Maintenance Phase – 

• Manage pledge fulfillment and delinquency 

• Maintain involvement/interest of donors and volunteers 

• Use campaign success to expand and invigorate overall philanthropy program. 

• Professional counsel brings experience, knowledge, technical skills and external vision to a campaign. These benefits most always get translated positively to the campaign’s bottom line and overall goal achievement. 

• TCG brings its staff’s more than four decades of experience in fully integrated, nonprofit organizational advancement — from constituency-building, cultivation, communication and relationship/trust-management, to all aspects of philanthropy, fundraising and donor/investor relations. 

• The involvement of professional counsel in a campaign is even more critical in organizations with limited philanthropy staff resources and modest or limited board and staff experience in major-gifts fundraising. 

• Professional counsel provides a skilled and helpful outsider’s neutral perspective on the organization, the building or endowment project and the campaign, and serves to integrate the board, staff and volunteers into a more cohesive, effective team and synthesize their views and energies for more certain goal achievement. 

• Professional counsel serves the campaign as manager, administrator, teacher, coach, referee, cheerleader, problem-solver, negotiator, troubleshooter, investigator, skilled writer and editor, publicist and, occasionally, “armchair psychologist.” 

• Professional counsel will assess the potential for negative impact of the campaign on annual giving and other fundraising initiatives and activities, and help the organization to better manage the relationship of the campaign to annual giving and the overall philanthropy program. 

• Consultants guide and strengthen the organization’s own fundraising efforts, but do not replace the board and staff leadership. 

• The services of professional counsel usually pay for themselves through more effective campaign management and greater contributed income. 

• TCG offers highly competitive fee schedules for professional counsel and fully integrated advancement and campaign services. 

General Preparations for the Campaign: 

• development of the Case for Support documents; 

• audit of annual giving and potential for negative impact from the capital campaign; 

• development of an overall strategic plan for cultivation and solicitation of identified/qualified donor prospects for lead gifts and a process and plan for cultivation and solicitation of all other prospects; 

• education and orientation of the governing board relative to its “ownership” of and responsibilities during the capital campaign; 

• education and orientation of the governing board and all key volunteers relative to responsibilities during the capital campaign; 

• identification, evaluation, recruitment, education and orientation of campaign leadership, including the Chair/Co-Chairs, Honorary Chair/Co-Chairs (if any), Steering Committee members, other major division chairs/co-chairs; 

• development of orientation/training initiatives for all campaign volunteers; 

• orientation/training of early segments of volunteer force; 

• establishment of a broad-based program of constituency cultivation, community outreach and education (on the need for the project and campaign); 

• assembly of a major prospect list and establishment of a formal process for identifying and evaluating all prospects for their awareness of mission/need, inclination to give and giving capacity. 

Implementation & Management of the Campaign Plan: 

• organization, planning and conduct of a major-gifts campaign for capital needs; 

• launch and management of the initial or “quiet” phase of campaign solicitations (i.e., leadership gifts: governing board, staff, key volunteers, top prospects, etc.); 

• preparations for a kick-off event for the public phase of the capital campaign. 

• supervision, coordination and management of the campaign leadership, steering committee and staff; 

• supervision of the campaign leadership and staff in the development, management and maintenance of the campaign prospect list; 

• supervision and management of the campaign leadership and staff in the implementation of all established campaign solicitation strategies; 

• coordination of the campaign relationship to annual giving and other fundraising initiatives; 

• preparation of all campaign materials; 

• assistance, as might be needed, with the actual solicitation of specific prospects; 

• appropriate coordination with the governing board and campaign leadership for all public/community relations, media relations and communications initiatives; 

• assistance with computerization/software needs and donor-file management; 

• assistance with management of all donor communication (i.e., gift acknowledgements, etc.) and campaign donor records; 

• assistance with campaign pledge fulfillment and delinquency management; 

• other needed follow-up. 

General Preparations for the Feasibility Study:  

• assist organizational leaders to establish a working committee for the study;  

• assist with definition of the core project rationale and details (i.e., purpose, costs, etc.); 

• development of an overall plan and schedule for implementation of the study; 

• assist with identification and evaluation of principal organizational constituencies and the leading individuals who populate them; 

• development of the preliminary statement of need or “case statement” for the proposed or planned campaign;  

• assist with preparation of the list of individuals to be invited to participate as study interviewees; 

• preparation of interviewee invitation letters and all informational materials related to the mailing;  

• assist with the organization’s process of invitation mailings, telephone follow-up and scheduling of all confidential interviews;  

• assist the study working committee with all other preparatory activities. 

Implementation, Conduct & Management of the Feasibility Study:  

• partner with study working committee to ensure efficient implementation of the process; 

• conduct all confidential, one-on-one interviews with individuals identified by the organization during planning for the study; 

• maintain appropriate records of all confidential interviews (N.B.: all such confidential  records remain the permanent property of advancement counsel); 

• prepare a mid-term (i.e., half way through interviews) report to the organization’s  governing board summarizing general findings from interviews; 

• prepare a final Report of Counsel on all study interviews, including: appropriate interpretation of study findings; observations relative to volunteer leadership, potential donors and public awareness; recommended goal, schedule and other courses of action related to the planned campaign; 

• informational presentation to the governing board on the study’s final report. 

Management of General Outcomes of the Feasibility Study: 

• assist study working committee with establishment of an appropriate, preliminary goal (dollar amount) for the planned campaign; 

• assist the study working committee with preparation of a preliminary list of identified, potential donors to the planned campaign and prospective volunteer leadership; 

• assist the study working committee and the governing board with preparation of an appropriate timeframe/schedule for the planned campaign; 

• assist the study working committee in addressing potential challenges related to external awareness or overall strength/integrity of case statement. 

TCG is well-equipped and pleased to provide advancement counsel and direct services to a nonprofit organization for campaigns or initiatives designed to address needs in any aspect of building constituency, managing constituent relationship/trust, public relations/communications, marketing communications, governance management, special events, philanthropy/fundraising or a combination of these foci. 

Advancement projects can be of short or longer term, depending on their overall purpose, design, complexity and goals. They also might be considered as “big” or “small” in light of their complexity and duration, but advancement projects are always considered as “big” by an organization committing itself to the costs and demands facing them in the initiative. 

TCG engages in service to all clients under the terms of either a simple Letter of Agreement (LoA) or a more complex Service Contract. Typically, shorter-term projects will be governed by an LoA, while contracts typically will govern longer-term projects such as major-gifts fundraising campaigns. Both TCG and the client sign and execute an agreement or a contract before any services are rendered. Normally, the client is presented with an up-front payment or deposit to seal an agreement or contract. 

Depending on the duration of the project, TCG’s counseling and direct-service charges are structured on either a project basis or a per-diem fee, whether the program focuses on building constituency, managing constituent relationship/trust, public relations and communications, marketing communications, governance management, special events, philanthropy/fundraising or a combination of these foci. 

For shorter-term projects like feasibility/planning studies and other types of environmental assessment, such as an advancement audit, or for a distinct public relation/communications initiative, charges are based on an overall project fee. 

TCG’s counseling and direct-service fees for major-gift campaigns and other longer-term fundraising projects normally are based on a per-diem rate. We are pleased to offer discounted fee schedules, where possible, and are eager to discuss them with clients operating on constrained budgets. Actual fee schedules will depend on the specific factors involved in a particular campaign. Fees are billable in half-day increments; after four and a half (4.5) hours, the full per-diem rate applies for that day. 

A “day” is considered to be a full business day — normally between seven and nine hours. However, as circumstances, schedules and client/project priorities and needs might dictate, all TCG counselors are pledged to “do what it takes” to complete a specific day or a component of a program, as might be needed. 

The actual fee schedule for any major campaign, whether for fundraising or other concerns, will be based on the various, critical factors of that campaign, such as the overall size and expected duration of the program, as well as the number of TCG counselors/consulting associates required to conduct and manage it properly. 

In most major-gift fundraising campaigns, the fees for advancement counsel and direct services are a major component of the campaign’s overall operating budget.