Nonprofit leaders,

It's natural for you to feel daunted by the concept of planning a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign.

But if you jump into campaign planning without evaluating your current Development operation, the campaign won't just feel overwhelming--it will also be a risky endeavor.

At Sarah J Consulting, we're working with a nonprofit in this exact situation. The org originally approached us to conduct a campaign feasibility study, but through our exploratory discussions it became clear that any immediate campaign prep would be invaluable since the existing Development function is limited and needs TLC first.

So instead, we're starting the work together by conducting a comprehensive Development assessment that:

1. Evaluates their current fundraising infrastructure. For example, so far, we've discovered that most donor information lives in the gift officer's head--not the database--and that 1:1 major gift asks are nearly non-existent.

2. Assesses donor relationships. We're meeting with a big cross-section of people involved with the nonprofit, including a few top donors so that we can understand what they love about the org, how they feel about their interactions with the org, and what their interest would be in giving transformational-level gifts if asked.

3. Examines the culture of philanthropy. We're taking a close look at staff, board, and volunteers' perceptions of philanthropy at this organization. We're curious whether these stakeholders view fundraising and donor relationships as integral to their own work, or only to the Development team's work.

This only scratches the surface of what we look for in a fundraising assessment--especially one that precedes campaign planning!