Fundraising Advice & Counsel

Competition for financial support from foundations, individuals and government is stiffer than ever. Your organization's fund development efforts must constantly be monitored and adjusted to ensure you obtain the resources necessary to carry out your mission. ALlyd provides two options for fundraising advice and counsel which allow non profits access to consulting services they might otherwise be unable to afford.  

Option 1: Contract engagements for specific projects or initiatives. ALlyd consultants will advise your management team on a range of development issues and provide agreed upon deliverables.

Option 2: For an affordable monthly retainer, you have access to ALlyd expertise when you need it, while maintaining responsibility for implementing programs and suggestions yourself.

Either option will improve your organization's fundraising performance and help you meet your fundraising goals. Whether contracting for specific projects or having ALlyd on retainer, your organization can be secure knowing you will always have professional development counsel to call upon at reasonable rates.  Retaining ALlyd for general advice and counsel provides your agency with a cost-effective means to:

• obtain a basic evaluation of your development operation
• receive a set of initial recommendations followed by telephone and fax contact
• have ALlyd offer solutions to specific problems, develop or review materials, and give recommendations
• conduct a training seminar or rehearse an important solicitation
• implement suggestions made in a recently completed development audit
• have ALlyd spend a day or two each month helping you implement an effective pledge collection system or initiating a planned giving component into your development mix.

Fund Development Audit

A development audit will help your organization improve the overall effectiveness of its current development efforts. By focusing on how the organization may better use its present resources, ALlyd will determine the group's strengths and weaknesses and suggest cost-effective improvements to maximize your potential. Your current donors are your organization's best asset and care should be taken in cultivating them for sustained support over the long term. In an audit, we will train your team in the most effective methods of both donor solicitation and long-term nurturing. Approaching your problems from a fresh outside perspective, ALlyd can often recommend improvements which will make a big difference to your bottom line. The development audit is designed to correct ineffectual practices while suggesting proven approaches. When conducting a development audit, ALlyd has three goals in mind for your organization:

• to produce more contributed income immediately
• to implement proven fundraising practices that will help produce long-term growth in contributed income
• to share the most effective techniques with which to cultivate stronger relationships with current supporters.

Upon completion of the audit, ALlyd will present your organization with a proposed plan of action. Many of our clients see signifigant results in the first few months after an audit. The benefits continue to grow as the long-term cultivation of donors begins to pay dividends.

Capital Campaign Direction

ALlyd can guide your agency through the entire fundraising process. We will help you design and implement your fundraising plan, monitor the progress of your campaign, and suggest any adjustments necessary to ensure success. ALlyd will help you identify the best prospects through careful donor research and analysis, then help you develop and execute a plan to cultivate and solicit them effectively.

An in-depth feasibility study is the essential first step toward making your fundraising goals a reality. Will your constituency support your cause? Where are your strengths and weaknesses? Are you aiming too high or too low? ALlyd will help you identify campaign leaders, develop opportunities to secure prospective gifts, and determine a realistic time frame for successfully completing your campaign.  ALlyd will help your organization determine the following:

• The Donor Pool - Who are your current and potential supporters?
• Achievement - Is your goal realistic & achievable? Have you set it too high or too low?
• Lead Gifts - Who could make large gifts to support your goals? 
• Leadership - Who will give this effort their personal endorsement and set a giving example that others will follow?
• Timing - Will any other campaigns reduce your organization's chances of success? Would it be prudent to postpone the project a few months?

ALlyd will act as your campaign coach and assist you to organize and monitor all aspects of the campaign process. ALlyd can help recruit volunteer leaders and train them. Among other things, ALlyd will help you:

• draft the campaign plan
• design the organizational chart
• create a detailed timetable
• recruit and train volunteers
• conduct prospect research to identify and classify giving potential of potential donors
• write campaign literature
• work with graphic designers and printers to produce campaign materials
• track the campaign's progress and provide counsel based on that assessment

Proposal Consultation and Preparation Services

ALlyd utilizes a winning combination of experience and skill in preparing grant proposals and communication tools for nonprofit organizations, academia, and municipal and state governments. On behalf of a wide variety of clients, ALlyd has developed proposals to entities that have included:

• local, state, and federal government agencies;
• local and national private, community, and family foundations;
• corporate foundations and giving programs;
• nomination and award submission packets.

 In addition to proficient grant writing, ALlyd offers grant research services, helping nonprofits and small businesses identify potential funding matches for programs, services, research initiatives, and innovation.

Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning examines your organization's current mission, goals and objectives for the next two to five years. The purpose of this process is to clarify where the organization hopes to be in five years and strategic steps it should take to get there. Internally, the strategic planning process will thoroughly examine organizational mission and principles, operational and development mechanisms, lines of communication, chain of command hierarchy, and staff roles and responsibilities. 

In addition, the process will analyze external perceptions of the organization among your primary donor and leader constituents and bring greater definition to your leadership's expectations for the organization's future.

Organizational Development (OD)

Organizational development (OD) is concerned with the performance, development, and effectiveness of human organizations. Organizations must adapt and grow if they are to thrive.  Self sustaining, ongoing organizational development is key. Companies, boards or non-profit organizations often turn to ALlyd for organizational development needs when they require an objective perspective and assessment of what's working well and whats not.

ALlyd will choose appropriate tools and discussion topics to assess and identify opportunities to improve your organization's design, structure, business and communications processes.  ALlyd can provide ongoing OD coaching to senior managers, executive directors and board chairs that will help you to recognize and exploit opportunities to increase the effectiveness of your staff and programs.