Advancement Counsel
We know that your forthcoming capital campaign, your annual giving program, and your entire advancement program must succeed. Today, philanthropic funds are an essential part of the bottom line, not a bonus. Without them services will be curtailed, new and necessary programs will fail to emerge, and salaries will not be competitive. That's a sobering reality and responsibility.
Consequently, every year hundreds of institutions and organizations find advancement counsel a valuable ally in the increasingly intense competition for philanthropic giving. This is true whether an experienced staff is in place or whether there is little or no staff assigned to advancement responsibilities. Marts & Lundy will work cooperatively with you to ensure that the leadership within your organization, as well as the dedicated staff, understand the processes and overall goal.
Annual Giving
Capital campaigns get all the glory, but the most successful campaigns are built on the shoulders of strong annual giving programs. An annual giving program should not only sustain your organization on a day-to-day basis, but it should also engage your constituents in your mission, focus their attention on your vision, and build their enthusiasm for your future.
Annual giving program counsel involves taking the long view and answering the difficult questions:
- Does my annual giving program consistently provide opportunities and reasons for donors to upgrade their gift levels?
- Do our outreach programs engage our constituents in our mission? Inform them of accomplishments?
- Does the reunion program develop new major and leadership gift and volunteer prospects?
- Do we provide and effectively communicate the availability of website donations?
- Do we effectively track when, how, and why a donor contributes? Do we use that information to build relationships with our donors?
In partnership with you, effective counsel can help you answer these questions, build on your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses. Our services combine a positive and creative application of experience with your unique circumstances. We are in the business to talk with you about what you can do. We want to help you maximize every opportunity.
Campaigns
A fundraising campaign can be seen as a series of options. The ones you choose shape both your campaign and your organization's long-term fundraising potential.
Marts & Lundy professionals, in addition to being fully conversant with all aspects of advancement programs, are campaign specialists. We won't make your choices, but we will help you select the best options, taking full advantage of our knowledge of successes and disappointments at institutions like yours. We will bring to you the newest ideas in the field and knowledge of what probably lies ahead in your campaign. As these choices are faced, resolved, implemented, and evaluated, everyone on your team, from the volunteers to the record-keeping staff, will gain expertise.
Through regular, timely discussions, campaign counsel will work with you to build the basis for a successful campaign - everything from designing the broad campaign plan and timeline to developing cultivation and solicitation strategies for key donors. Counsel will provide advice on your budget, staffing requirements, volunteer needs and training, as well as communications efforts and stewardship programs. Perhaps most importantly, counsel will help you stay focused on the campaign.
Gift Planning
Marts & Lundy's approach is to help our clients position their planned giving effort strategically within the broader context of the organization's short and long term plans. Gift planning, broadly defined, encompasses the totality of a potential donor's philanthropic endeavors with an institution.
The process of matching donor interest to institutional need depends upon a mutually advantageous gift plan. This process will include consideration of a range of charitable gift assets in combination with a variety of outright and deferred gift arrangements. A successful result will support strong relationships with donors as stakeholders in non-profit institutions and will maximize all giving.
Major Gifts
Whether starting at the $1,000, $10,000 or $100,000 gift level, your major gift program lies at the heart of your success. These donors will be your lead volunteers and your leadership donors of the future. Whether you are building a major gifts program from scratch or need to enhance an on-going program, counsel can provide the roadmap for your success.
Strong major gifts programs:
- Continually identify and add new donors to the prospect pool
- Develop special and on-going gift opportunities for major gifts
- Communicate widely the impact of these gifts
- Build high quality stewardship programs
All of our consultants are highly experienced in building successful major gifts programs. They will advise you on the most effective strategies for a vital and sustainable program as well as provide training for your gift officers and volunteers. Counsel may start with an assessment of your current program and then proceed to regular on-site assistance in implementing new or improved strategies for success. We will work with you to design a counseling program that meets you needs.
Counsel
It may be useful to have on-site counsel, from time to time, to assist in the implementation of gift planning strategies or to evaluate progress. Our consultants are also available to assist our clients in thinking through the most appropriate planned gift opportunities for particular prospects.
Workshops
Marts & Lundy gift planning specialists will be happy to work with you to create a one-day or half-day workshop devoted to gift planning and planned giving vehicles. These workshops may be tailored for internal staff audiences or for volunteers.
Gift Planning Group Specialists
Ilisa Hurowitz and John Lewis provide our clients with expert advice in creating, managing and assessing optimal gift planning programs. To learn more about these senior consultants, click on their names.
Governance & Leadership
It is no coincidence that the most successful institutions have executive leadership and trustee governance working in tandem toward a common vision for the future of the organization. They understand this work in the context of philanthropy - the spirit of achieving the institution's full potential.
Marts & Lundy has helped leaders at nonprofit institutions and organizations envision, plan, and fund their aspirations, through philanthropic support, for close to eighty years. During this time, nonprofit institutions have become increasingly complex in response to an environment that places ever-new demands and expectations on these institutions and their leaders.
A good board is a victory, not a gift
Inadequate board structure or board composition, leadership difficulties, and the need for organizational restructuring can lead to institutional dysfunction and even paralysis. Marts & Lundy brings an objective, dispassionate perspective to governance and leadership matters, while offering advice and recommendations on how to govern and lead an institution in a strategic, ethical, and humane manner.
Marts & Lundy consultants work in partnership with presidents, trustees, and senior administrators, to help nonprofit institutions respond to the challenges they face. As a firm, we know what has worked well in the past, we know what is working well today and we can help you plan for the future.
Specific services offerings:
Board Assessment
A critical review of Board policies and practices concerning board membership, member orientation process, committee structure and effectiveness.
Institutional Leadership Assessment
A critical review of the interactions amongst institutional leaders including trustees/directors, chief executive officers, chief advancement officers and chief financial officers.
Philanthropic Training
Workshops designed to help your institutional leaders understand the culture of philanthropy and provide staff and volunteers with the necessary tools to successfully raise funds for your institution/organization.