Highlights
Assessing Needs
Developing Opportunities
Deepening the Commitment
The Challenge
When S&W engaged with Venture for America, they were in the midst of a search for their next CEO and in the beginning stages of strategic planning. They had several key issues facing the organization, to include the following:
- VFA’s catalytic and sustaining supporters were mainly foundation and corporate funders; many cultivated through their founder who was no longer involved.
- VFA’s donor community being so shallow put them in a vulnerable position; they needed to begin broadening and diversifying their donor base, most especially by engaging individual donors.
- VFA had a healthy universe of ambassadors and evangelists who could be activated and leveraged more broadly.
- VFA needed to ensure their staff, systems, trainings, communications program, and technologies were in place to support a broader fundraising program, reaching all donor audiences at all levels.
The Solution
S&W made a series of recommendations for Venture for America around engaging and aligning their paid and volunteer leadership, offered a new staff structure with job scope descriptions for all roles and a three-year horizon for ramp-up, offered a number of improvements in Development operations, reporting, and technology, screened their available prospect data and made engagement recommendations, and developed a suite of new communications assets, to include: a new capsule case for support, grant language, and a full-scale digital communications strategy complete with approaches organized by key prospect audiences.
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