• You need development but have never established a comprehensive program before
• You’re preparing your organisation to embark on a much bigger campaign effort and not sure if you have the bandwidth
• You are seeking to engage your Board in your fundraising efforts when they have not been engaged before
• You want an objective opinion on your fundraising program and a plan for bringing it up to best practices in the field
• You want to begin to think strategically around how your fundraising program operates and what impact that it can have towards your mission through greater diversification in strategies
• You are seeking to restructure your fundraising office and need a plan to get you to goal
• Your fundraising results have remained stagnant over the past several years or even have declined
• Or, because you are just sick and tired of doing things the way that they have always been done in the past

DCS provides development audit and planning services for those organisations looking to stop “doing what they have always done” and ramp up their fundraising.

What is a development audit and how can it help YOUR organisation?

A development audit is an internal assessment of the organisation’s fundraising program and its readiness to embark on new development ventures. It is the foundational component of a development plan.

The audit will look objectively at the organisation’s fund development efforts, comparing it with other organisations of similar size and scope and with acceptable standards of the profession.

The audit will examine:

• Involvement of Board, staff, and volunteers in the fundraising process and will offer recommendations on how to best use the human resources available to the organisation.
• The strengths and weaknesses of the organisation’s development infrastructure, including fundraising software and other technology, systems and procedures, donor communication, cultivation, and stewardship. Recommendations will be provided to improve each area.
• The current integrated development program for diversification, sustainability, and best practices and provide recommendations for greater alignment towards national charitable giving trends.
• The internal and external readiness of the organisation to mount a significant capital campaign effort within a year and provide specific preparatory recommendations.

How our DCS TEAM plans for the short and long term fundraising for YOUR organisation?

The Development Audit Report and Recommendations produced above will serve as the basis of the organisation’s long- and short-range development plans. To develop these plans, our DCS TEAM will take the audit findings and recommendations and complete the following:

• Develop appropriate strategies and objectives for each recommendation found in the audit.
• Assign timelines, budgets, and areas of responsibility for each strategy of the development plan.
• Develop action steps, assign areas of responsibility, assign a budget (income and expenses), establish timelines, and establish an evaluation process.
• Present the finalized plan to the Development Committee who then presents to the Board. If there is no development committee, the completed plan is presented to the Board.
• Evaluate the planning process and develop a plan implementation process.

The 18 to 24 months long-range development plan will include goals and objectives in the following areas:

• Infrastructure and capacity (technology needs, staffing, Board and volunteer involvement, etc.)
• Donor relations (research, cultivation, stewardship, etc.)
• Communications (Case for Support, media relations, online presence, etc.)
• Fundraising activities and constituencies, including annual targets (annual fund, capital campaigns, planned giving and businesses, foundations, organisations, state and federal grants, other income streams, special events, and individuals and memberships, etc.)
• Fundraising methods (individual solicitation, telephone solicitation, direct mail, grants and foundations, memberships, earned income, special events, etc.)
• Capital campaign readiness and preparation, both internal and external.

The long-range development plan will serve as the basis for the yearly short-term operational plan for development. To develop this short-range plan, DCS will take the long-range development plan and complete the following:

• Identify areas in the long-range development plan that will have provided immediate areas of leverage to “jumpstart” the development program of the organisation.
• Create a short-range plan that has established these key leverage areas as fundraising goals with key metrics and proposed return on investments (ROI).
• Craft easy to implement action steps, timelines, and key benchmarks for each key fundraising goal and objective.
• Present the finalized plan to the Development Committee who then presents to the Board. If there is no development committee, the completed plan is presented to the Board.
• Evaluate the planning process and develop a plan implementation process.

Whether you are starting from “scratch” in your development office or you are looking to level up your current program, it all begins with a development audit and from there both a short AND long-range development plan.

The experience, credentials, education, and a proven track record to get you the results you need.

Don’t settle for anyone less than DCS when it comes to assessing and planning for YOUR organisation’s future fundraising. The above-proven methodology will provide you with a roadmap that will get you to GOAL quicker than you ever dreamed possible.