In the "Dear Kim" feature on fundraising for Idealist.Org for June 2006, Kim Klein outlines the basic steps required for setting up an endowment.
See http://www.idealist.org/features/dear-kim_sec6.html (scroll down to the letter that starts "Our organization is largely funded by grants...." Idealist published responses by Kim Klein to questions about fundraising in occasional columns as Features on the site.
Tony Poderis (http://www.raise-funds.com/) wrote to NONPROFIT (http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit) on October 16, 2002:
You can adapt the following major gifts plan outline. You can expand on the components as necessary, assign responsibilities, and develop a timeline --- and you should be ready to go.
Major Gifts: Development Of A Total Plan
- Set a target - preliminary Major Gifts goal; what it is you want and need to raise.
- Rate and evaluate all previous donors and new prospects for potential giving in the various categories you develop as memberships for annual giving or named opportunities for capital and endowment campaigns.
- Develop a gift table of amounts of contributions and numbers of prospects related to each level. Decide where the cut-off point will be for those you will consider as "major gifts."
- Settle on the official and public campaign goal.
- Develop divisional goals for trustees, other individuals,
corporations and foundations.
- Recruit a Chair or Co-Chairs and a solicitation committee. The number of prospects you want to have personally solicited is divided by the five or six calls you want each solicitor to make to = the number of solicitors in the committee.
- Settle on the benefits, privileges, named opportunities --- the "perks" for the donors and what specific things the respective gifts will "buy" for the good of the organization.
- Produce a written and compelling case for support.
- Print solicitation materials as needed: pledge cards or gift-return envelopes, letterhead, etc.
- Develop a publicity - communications plan
- Secure pre-campaign leadership, challenge and matching gifts.
- Prepare full donor-prospect profiles with all the information
necessary for the solicitors to know as they make their contacts relative to any previous support to the organization, etc.
- "Kick-Off" meeting of the committee to select their prospects and to commence their major gifts solicitations. Provide solicitation training and instruction.
- Suggested letter to all prospects from the Chair to introduce the solicitors and apprise the prospects of the upcoming requests for their support.
- Periodic meetings of the committee for progress reports and for other possible prospect assignments.
- Timely acknowledgement and recording of gifts.
- Regular meetings, site visits, entertaining, etc., with major
prospects for cultivation and solicitation.
- Constantly review progress to date, and make evaluations,
corrections, and projections.
- Final report meeting and follow-up all solicitations to completion.
- End of the Major Gifts Campaign
- Donor and volunteer recognition event
- Ensure "delivery" of all the "perks" and benefits promised to the donors. Appreciation event and/or other recognition for volunteers.
- Final assessment and review of what worked and what didn't to
prepare for the next campaign.
- Cultivation and stewardship ongoing program.
To help with the development of your written plan, you might
find the following article/document of use. Though it relates to a consulting agreement, you need only transfer the consultant's duties to those to be carried out by staff and volunteers. It might very well be the exact plan you are looking for. "Consulting Agreement For An Annual Fund Campaign" http://www.raise-funds.com/012202forum.html
As well, do examine the many major-gifts-campaign-related documents and exhibits in my: "Exhibit & Document Library" http://www.raise-funds.com/exhibitlist.html. A meeting agenda, gift table, sample letters, and many other major gifts campaign material, are all there for you to adapt to your campaign.
*Permission to reproduce this material is not required; credit to the author -- Tony Poderis -- is appreciated.
Posted 10/18/02 -- PB
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