Do You Need a Development Audit?

Measuring Success: The
Development Audit
Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE
President, Linda Lysakowski, LLC
Linda Lysakowski.com: Dedicated to inspiring philanthropy and creativity

Why is it Important to Evaluate your
Development Program?
 Funding sources expect more bang for
their buck!
 Boards have greater expectations!
 Organizations often feel development
is “dispensable.”

How Do You Evaluate Success?
 Development Audit
 Self Evaluation

What Needs to Be Evaluated?
 Infrastructure:
 Software
 Policies and procedures
 Case for support

 Donor Relations
 Do you communicate with donors when you’re not
asking for money?
 Do you let donors know how their money was used?
 Do you thank donors promptly and accurately?
 Do you recognize donors in meaningful ways?

 Awareness
 Does your community know your
organization?
 Is the media aware of your
organization?
 What tools do you use to create
awareness?

 Development Program
 Do you incorporate all types of fundraising?
 Do you measure how successful each type of
fundraising is?
 Do you incorporate this analysis into your
development plan?

 Human Resources—do you have the right people in
the right seats on the bus?
 Board
 Staff
 Volunteers

Infrastructure
 Donor software:
 Is your software doing what you need
to have it do?
 Web based or not?
 Coding
 Reporting
 Staff training
 Budget

Infrastructure
 Policies and Procedures
 Gift acceptance policies
 Investment policies
 Office procedures for receiving, recording,
reporting and acknowledging gifts
 Development budget
 Case for Support

Awareness
 Website
 Social media
 PR/development relationship
 Media relations
 Annual report
 990 Form (U.S.)

Fundraising Program
 The integrated
development
program—don’t put all
your eggs in one basket

Fundraising Program
 Grants
 Special events
 Direct response
 Social media
 Major gifts
 Capital campaign
 Planned giving

Do Your Program Outcomes Fall
Within Acceptable Standards?
 Acquisition Mailings $1.25-$1.50 per $1 raised
 Direct Mail Renewal $.20-.25 per $1 raised
 Special Events $.50 per $1 raised
 Foundation Proposals $.20 per $1 raised
 Personal Solicitations $.10-.20 per $1 raised

Constituencies
 Are you reaching them all?
 Individuals
 Foundations
 Corporations
 Organizations

Constituencies
 How to reach individuals:
 Direct response
 Mail
 Phone
 Website
 Social media
 Events
 In person: one-on-one

Constituencies
 How to reach foundations
 Grant proposals
 Personal contact
 Trustee connections

Constituencies
 How to reach corporations
 Proposals
 Fact sheets
 In person

Constituencies
 How to reach organizations
 Speeches
 Meetings

Long Range Development Plans
 Capital Needs
 Endowment Needs

Human Resources
 Board
 Staff
 Volunteers

Human Resources
 Board:
 Large enough?
 Effectives?
 Diverse?

Human Resources
 Staff
 Do you have enough people in
development?
 Do you provide training and support?
 Do you invest in staff?

Human Resources
 Volunteers
 How do you involve volunteers
in fundraising?
 Do you provide training and
support?

Assessing Current Development
Programs
 SWOT Analysis
 Budget
 Development Audit
 Philanthropic Profile Assessment

SWOT Analysis of Your
Development Office
 Strengths
 Weaknesses
 Opportunities
 Threats

Programs
 Budget:
 Who develops the fundraising budget?
 Is it realistic?
 Are you spending too much? Too little?

Programs
 Philanthropic Profile Assessment: how do you rank?

Implementing and
Evaluating the Fundraising Plan
 Taking Ownership
 What Happens When It Falls Apart
 Measuring Success
 Reporting Success

Governance
 Board size/make-up
 Board contributions
 Attendance/involvement
 Board recruitment
 Board education
 Committee structure
 Board self-assessment

Staffing
 Size of development
staff
 Staff duties
 Organizational chart
 Professional
development
 The 95/5 Rule

Volunteers
 Involving volunteers in
 Planning
 Cultivating
 Soliciting
 The development committee

We Need a Development Audit,
but……..
 We can’t afford it (or can we afford
not to?)
 We don’t have the time.
 We want to do it ourselves.

Hiring a Consultant to Do the Audit
 How much will it cost?
 How long will it take?
 What are the pros and cons?
 What is the role of staff if we hire a consultant?

What can we evaluate ourselves?
 Know your development history
 Review your strategic plan and your
development plan
 Do a SWOT analysis

Development History
 Use your donor software to track all
development events and activities:
 Direct mail/telephone/Internet responses
 Special events
 Grant proposals
 Major Gifts
 Planned gifts
 Capital Campaigns
 Volunteer Results

Review Your Strategic Plan
 Have you included
development strategies in
the plan?
 Are the goals realistic?
 Is the development plan
part of the strategic plan?

Review Your Development Plan
 Were the planning goals based on past
performance?
 Were there too many goals/too few?
 Did the entire development staff
participate in the planning process?
 Was the budget realistic?
 Was the timeline realistic?
 Were there sufficient human resources to
implement the plan?

Tools to Help
 Evaluation tool available at 4Good.org

Remember
 If you can’t measure it, you can’t
manage it!

Special Offer
 15 % discount on my books, use the code:
linda2014books at CharityChannel.com,
ForTheGENIUS.com, or LindaLysakowski.com

Thank You
 Linda@LindaLysakowski.com
 www.LindaLysakowski.com
 www.cvfundraising.com
 Check out The Fundraiser’s Private Vault ™ and the
Fundraiser’s Personal Muse™

Do You Need a Development Audit?

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