The Children's Center in Detroit is an amazing organization that has served as a safe haven for children and families living at or below the poverty line for almost 100 years. They help children experiencing trauma caused by abuse, poverty and neglect to heal, grow and thrive.

In 2012, The Children's Center was raising money, but not nearly enough to adequately fund the growing need for programs and services children and families desperately needed:

• Their annual appeal raised less than $100 two years prior and actually lost money one year later.
• Events were underperforming, grant applications were few, and individual donations were down.
• Lack of leadership and board alignment on their development priorities.
• Not enough board members were engaged in their fundraising efforts.
• Working with an inaccurate donor database.
• Had no monthly giving program.
• They had a fundraising plan, but it wasn't getting the traction needed to meet their fundraising goals. 

With no clear path to achieving their annual fundraising needs, The Children's Center was stuck.

Their CEO reached out to me and asked if I would take on the role of Chief Philanthropy Officer to transform their fundraising program. I told them, yes, but under one condition: I could continue working in my business, Fundraising Transformed. They agreed, and we were off to the races. 

Early on, I learned their primary funding sources were events and the government. However, while the government was an important funding source, it cut funding year-over-year. With their signature events underperforming and individual donations plateauing, the pressure was mounting to raise more money. This combination made it impossible for The Children's Center to fill the critical financial gaps and continue providing much-needed programs and services to Detroit children and families in need.

To decrease our heavy reliance on a few annual events and government funding for the growing need for our programs and services, I announced to the executive leadership and board I was going to create a robust and innovative annual fundraising plan loaded with strategic Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs).

What was the outcome of my bold, BHAG-loaded ultimate annual fundraising plan? 

We tripled philanthropy in just three years. Then doubled it again before I left to return to my business, Fundraising Transformed, to work full-time.

• You may be using an outdated fundraising plan that does not reflect an accurate assessment of your current donor data, fundraising performance, and current trends to help you better understand where you are now so you can get you where you want to go.
• You don't have the insights you need to identify those fundraising campaigns, events, and initiatives that are high-performing.
• You have not established success criteria that accelerate results and help you enhance, scale, and build upon your success in the coming year and beyond.
• You may not have the insights you need to determine which fundraising campaigns, events, and initiatives are NOT performing well or what may be missing from your current strategy and plan.
• You don't have the information you need to distinguish the root cause of the problem and assess if it can be remedied to turn around results or if the campaign(s), event(s), or initiative(s) should be retired and how to do just that.
• You don't have seamless integration between annual fund, major gifts, and planned giving. Every donor development activity has a role within one or more of these three foundational areas and ideally moves the majority of your supporters through the pipeline over time.
• You may not have the time or capacity to evaluate how emerging technologies and tools can help you raise more money. Or to determine the what, how, and when of innovation.
• You don't know how to explore the risk and return on investment of emerging technologies and your organization's risk tolerance.
• You may not have the time or may know how to explore the staffing and professional development required to equip and empower your high-performing development team.
• You don't know how to start with creating a structure for accountability, performance measurement, and reporting to help you build momentum.

What was Marie's biggest fear when considering this training?

In this masterclass, I'll teach you the same strategies, tools and innovative approaches I used to lead the Legacy of Life Foundation's development team through my 2- day intensive called The Intentional Fundraising Plan (value $23,500). What was the impact of my training on their fundraising goals? I'll let Marie tell you herself.

Still wondering if The Intentional Fundraising Plan Masterclass is for you?

Our ideal students fall into one of three categories: brand new to the fundraising profession, individual fundraisers or members of a larger development team or experienced fundraisers who want to scale their fundraising program to new heights.

Here’s what you and I know to be true:

The pressure on fundraisers has never been greater.

You're charged with raising even MORE money during these challenging and disruptive times.

It can feel overwhelming — and frustrating — when trying to raise MORE money with the same ol fundraising plan — or LACK thereof.

Then there's the matter of how to improve your donor retention rate.

And how to get meetings with elusive donors.

To make matters worse, you don't have leadership and board alignment on development priorities, let alone a clear path to achieving your fundraising goals.

And while not enough board members are engaged in your fundraising efforts — they still expect you to somehow improve your fundraising results.

You're feeling stuck. I get it.

The good news is you don't have to go it alone. 

I can help you get unstuck. Enroll and I'll see you on the inside.

How do I rocket-launch my fundraising expertise? You learn from Tammy Zonker, that's what you do!

Stevie Shumate, Chapters Health Foundation, Tampa