Opportunity and Delivery … Let’s OD!

Fundraising is all about opportunity.  Whether it is raising more money or promoting a charity, successful fund development involves identifying an opportunity and marrying it with cost effective delivery.

Knowledge-based fund development looks at how to build opportunity and record the findings so you can act when the time is right.  Knowledge-based fund development facilitates delivery, using methods and tools you’ve created to achieve a cost effective result.

We will examine fund development as a knowledge-based activity.   In particular, we will look at how it impacts on populating a fund development database.

Making Things Happen!

Anyone who has worked in sales knows the zing you get when one of those many calls translates into a potential opportunity.  We think fund development is much the same.  There is an old adage that says

“People who are successful will do the things that unsuccessful people won’t do”.

It is not just the zing of finding good potential opportunities, but more importantly, asking the right questions and recording what was collected in an useful form.

Knowledge-based data collection supports organizational continuity.  Too often, we see situations where a development manager starts a new position and wonders what their predecessor did.  Information is scant, or stored in many different tools or not stored at all.  This represents a significant loss of intellectual capital to an organization.  Another way of looking at this … is simply the need to start over.   How many times can an organization afford to start again?

Building a Delivery Structure

Chaos costs time and money.  Intellectual knowledge and intellectual tools are of great value to an organization.  When we go to work, we expect to end our day, confident, that we have not simply engaged in busy work, but have moved our annual fund development plan forward.

An organized work environment offers staff members a place that supports efficiency.  A Knowledge-based environment supports effectiveness and efficiency.  Having a toolkit that everyone can access reduces both costs and protects organizational assets.

Opportunity & Delivery working for You!

Knowledge-based Fund Development looks at your data: foundations, corporations, businesses, private donors, service clubs, associations, prospects, contacts, and your sphere of influence so that you can interact with them successfully.  Knowledge-based Fund Development collects your tools: forms, letters, procedures, and policies so that you can manage from a set of best practices saving time and money.

Knowledge-based Fund Development addresses both sides of the coin … the idea and the implementation!