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Fellowship PaperEstablishing a Development Program
By Melissa A. Dick, CFRE Atlantis Charter School
Massachusetts Charter School Association 2002
ESTABLISHING A DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM At a time when government funding is limited and budget cutbacks are common, establishing a development program has become a necessity for many charter schools. A clearly defined, well-thought out development program can greatly enhance a school’s ability to build a strong group of supporters, recruit volunteers, build relationships, raise funds, and create a culture of philanthropy. Such a program can provide a charter school with 1) the basic annual income to support programs and services above and beyond the school’s core programs, 2) capital funds needed for purchase and renovation of a facility, and 3) funds for long-term physical plant maintenance. To carry out the mission of a charter school, in particular the mission of Atlantis Charter School (Mission 2002)--"To provide all children with an education that is second to none, so they can become adaptable and productive life-long learners"--a development program is essential. Time and resources are needed, however, to develop a sound development program. A number of key elements must be in place. Organizations must build a culture of philanthropy; establish an infrastructure that supports philanthropy and goodwill; develop a database; produce a fund development plan; honor the rights of donors; and provide good stewardship for funds obtained. In addition, building a philanthropic culture is a process that takes a lot of educating--educating the governing board, administration, faculty and staff, and constituents. In order for the program to be successful, the governing board and administrators must embrace the development concept and be committed to the process. In this paper I refer to the key elements in the establishment of a development program as goals. I address this paper to you the reader, the individual responsible for establishing a development program at a charter school. But the establishment of a development program addresses needs for all schools, not only charter schools, and I hope the information provided will be useful to all in nonprofit educational institutions. Goal #1: Give. Give to the best of your ability. As the director of development at your school, make a donation to that school. Objective for Goal #1: Give first. Before anyone makes a donation, show your constituents that you are the number one "cheerleader" for your school. Before you can speak passionately about building a culture of philanthropy within your school, you must give. Before you begin to educate the governing board on how to fund raise and "friend raise," you must show them you mean what you say. You cannot ask others for gifts if you do not give one yourself. Give a meaningful gift, one that comes from the heart and is thoughtful and sincere. Take a close look at your financial situation, and determine what type of gift is best for you at this moment. Practice what you preach. Goal #2: Develop a culture of philanthropy. Philanthropy is a Greek word meaning "love of mankind." To develop a culture of philanthropy, the school must instill in its constituents (governing board, faculty and staff, parents, grandparents, alums, vendors, and the community) a love of the school and the children and families it serves. According to Simone Joyaux, author of Strategic Fund Development, Building Profitable Relationships That Last, each person in an organization has a role in establishing a philanthropic culture. Joyaux states that as employees, each individual is responsible for doing their own job, understanding how all jobs in an organization create one cohesive system, representing the organization to the constituents and general public, and treating the organization’s "customers" with care and respect. According to Joyaux (2001, 53), "Philanthropy can be viewed as an organizational attitude, an understanding, and a behavior." If we apply Joyaux’s analysis to schools, developing a culture of philanthropy comes from within the school, beginning with the governing board and reaching every employee--from the custodian, to the teacher, to the secretary--through their work at the school. Objectives for Goal #2: Expand, develop, strengthen and educate the Board of Trustees. Give philanthropy a front row seat on the board agenda. Recruit new governing board members, and provide them with an orientation on the school’s mission, placing emphasis on fundraising and "friend raising" as a central focus and a priority. Keep in mind that it does, however, take time to educate a "young" or inexperienced governing board, but persistence pays off in the end. Continuously educate the board members on fundraising ideas, new techniques, and old issues; your efforts will bring about confidence and understanding, just what is needed for successful fundraising.
Create a board level development committee, chaired by a member of the governing board, and clearly define the role of the committee members and the chair, within the fundraising process. This is critical to the success of the development program (see Appendices A and B). One role of the development committee chairperson is to provide reports about the development process to the governing board. This is done at board meetings. Another responsibility of the chairperson is to assist with solicitation efforts. The development committee chairperson should join the development staff on solicitation visits to prospects and donors, thereby making the request for funds more credible. Understand that the committee members are volunteers. But build an enthusiastic, well-trained group of fundraising volunteers who can assist in asking for gifts. Educate your constituents about the importance of fundraising and giving back to the school. Your constituents are faculty and staff, parents, grandparents, alums, vendors, and members of the community. It is important that the individuals closest to the school show other individuals, corporations, and foundations that they support and believe in the mission of the school. Hold separate monthly coffee hours for parents and faculty and staff; provide an opportunity for these folks to become educated about the need for and importance of fundraising in the school. Mail or e-mail newsletters to constituents; provide an opportunity for dissemination of fundraising plans, goals, strategies, and outcomes. By including all constituents in the fundraising efforts, you begin to build a culture of philanthropy throughout the school, a culture that can be continually strengthened over the years. Goal #3: Establish the infrastructure to support philanthropy. In order to support the philanthropic efforts of the school, organizational and development office systems must be put into place. Without "all the ducks in a row," the development program could experience a slow start or be delayed at some point in the process. A sound development program should consist of key elements that set forth guidelines for the development initiative. Objectives for Goal #3: Obtain non-profit 501(c) 3 status to protect all assets. This is done through the Internal Revenue Service and allows for safeguards for both the donor and the nonprofit charitable organization. Establish gift procedures, gift acceptance policies, and stock transaction procedures. Outline such things as where checks will go, how gifts are to be entered into the database, who will acknowledge the gift (see Appendix C for more details). It is better to have all the policies and procedures in place beforehand. Provide written documentation for specific development policies and procedures to the development committee and the governing board for their review and final approval. Produce cultivation/marketing packets to use in educating and enlightening the donor about your school. The marketing materials should include a school brochure, the annual report, press articles, and a list of the governing board members, including their places of employment. Design the donation envelope and pledge form. These can be included in the cultivation/marketing packets. Make it easy for your donors to give to your school. Keep the donation envelope and pledge form simple, easy to read, and easy to understand. Develop a case for support, which will serve as your communication document. The case for support can also be included in your cultivation/marketing packet. The case for support outlines the school’s historical progress and the school’s needs. It describes how the donor will benefit by supporting your school. "The case for support" contends Joyaux (2001, 339-40), "must reflect the organization’s planning (e.g. mission, goals, and strategies to achieve goals) and reflect an understanding of your donor’s needs and motivations." Further, according to Barbara Kushner Ciconte and Jeanne G. Jacob, authors of Fund Raising Basics, A Complete Guide: The case for support should include your organization’s history, mission, fundraising needs, monetary goals, leadership, how to give to the organization, why one should make a gift, and how the school will use the money. The case for support will serve as your primary campaign cultivation piece to clearly explain to your constituents who your organization serves, what your organization does, where it is located, why it is raising money, when it will begin to raise the funds, and how it will spend them. (Ciconte and Jacob 1997, 242-43). Once all the necessary support documents have been produced, and the infrastructure is in place, the development initiative can move forward. Goal #4: Develop a database. A database consists of indexed information held in computer storage. It profiles all information available about an individual donor, including the donor’s contribution history. The database can be used for primarily two purposes: historical purposes and planning purposes. Historical records indicate the level of the individual’s support, as well as the kind of campaigns supported. Planning records indicate how to make contact with the individual, by mail, by telephone, by e-mail, or in person. Objectives for Goal #4: Build strong constituent and community relationships. Every contact at a business lunch, every individual with whom you communicate about the school, should have his or her name and contact information recorded in the database. The database is where you maintain records and lists of relationships with prospects and donors. Start with those closest to the school. Begin by entering into the database those individuals and businesses closest to the school, such as the governing board, administrators, faculty and staff, parents, grandparents, alumni, and vendors. Most often the first donors are members of the governing board and faculty and staff, followed by parents, grandparents, alumni, vendors, and then the general public. Identify individuals in the database as donors and donor prospects. Continue to build and expand the database. Cultivate people in the community as well as people who grew up or worked in the community and now live and work elsewhere. These people could be your strongest supporters, and you don’t even know them yet! Keep all donor information accurate and up-to-date for accounting, maintenance of donor "relationships," and planning purposes. Market the school to constituents, the media, and the general public. Invite your constituents to special events, such as student plays and concerts. Send your constituents newsletters and your school’s Annual Report. Invite them to visit and tour the school. Submit press releases to the media, and notify the general public of special events through various media outlets, including weekly newspapers, cable television, your local chamber of commerce, and radio stations. As a result of your work at building strong constituent and community relationships, the database will grow. In time it will consist of donors and prospects who will become the school’s representatives and ambassadors, individuals who will understand and believe in the school and its development program. Goal #5: Produce a Fund Development Plan. The Fund Development Plan is focused on building capacity for future growth of the school. An effective fund development plan builds ownership and accountability among the governing board members, staff, and volunteers. Ciconte and Jacob state that it also provides structure and a framework for day-to-day operations. The development plan, they hold (1997, 62), "focuses attention in a certain direction, thereby enhancing chances for success." Objectives for Goal #5: Include in the development plan realistic financial goals and specific strategies for cultivating, soliciting, and acknowledging gifts. Allow your plan to evolve over time, and utilize a variety of methods of fundraising, depending on internal goals (such as budget and development needs), funding needs (for special programs, for example), and pertinent external factors (such as ongoing campaigns, the local political climate, the stock market, and world events). Include the school’s mission, vision, and values, a brief overview of the development climate at the school (and any assumptions that go along with that), dollar goals for the year, strategies used to reach the goals, a timetable for accomplishing the strategies, and volunteer job assignments. Once the key components are covered, focus on particular strategies for raising funds from individuals, corporations, and foundations, including annual appeals, grants, and special campaigns. Outline solicitation methodologies--personal (face-to-face) asks in addition to telephone contacts, direct mail at varying levels of gift targeting and personalization, grant proposals, and special events. Detail the types of gifts possible: cash, checks, stocks, bonds, and planned gifts such as charitable remainder trusts, bequests, annuities, and charitable remainder unitrusts, as well as real estate, and gifts in-kind. Include a timetable for accomplishing the strategies set forth. Clearly defined dates for accomplishing the various tasks are important and help hold development volunteers (members of the governing board, members of the development committee, or any other constituent trained for development volunteer work) accountable to the plan. Appendix D provides an edited version of the Atlantis charter School Fund Development Plan for fiscal year 2002-2003. Goal #6: Honor the rights of the donor. Donors have rights, and nonprofit educational institutions are accountable to donors. Objectives for Goal #6: Review and adhere to The Donor Bill of Rights produced by Association of Fundraising Professionals (see Appendix E and www.afpnet.org). You and your school are responsible to uphold the rights of each donor. If a donor prefers to designate his or her gift to a particular program or campaign, for example, respect that wish, and follow through with the request. If you are unable to honor the conditions of a gift, consider returning the gift with regrets. It is in your best interest and the best interests of the school to maintain positive relationships with your donors. By honoring donor gift requirements you continue to build positive relationships with your donors. Review and adhere to the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice, as set forth by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). These principles and standards were adopted in 1964, amended in 1999, and outline a series of practices and responsibilities of those working in the field of fundraising. They are listed on the AFP Web site (www.afpnet.org) where, among other things, they encourage fundraising professionals to: "Practice their profession with integrity, honesty, truthfulness and adherence to the absolute obligation to safeguard the public trust."
Goal #7: Acknowledge the donor; provide good stewardship. Acknowledging your donors is an important aspect of a development program, if not the most important aspect of your development program. Thank your donor, and show your donor that you are a good steward, and your school is worthy of future gifts. Objectives for Goal #7: Have a concise plan for acknowledging donors, which should outline an established process through which you thank each and every donor. People like to be thanked for their contributions, even though they may tell you otherwise. Acknowledging donors can take many forms, from personalized thank you notes, to tokens of appreciation, to special events, to telephone calls, to personal visits, to publicizing the gift (such as through a school publication). Thank the donor in a timely fashion. Sending a thank you note to a donor within 24 - 48 hours is appropriate. The thank you note should state the date the gift was made, the amount of the gift, and the donor’s intentions for the gift. In accordance with the Internal Revenue Service code, the thank you note should also state if goods or services were exchanged for the gift. If goods or services were exchanged, the school must acknowledge the receipt of the gift and also state how much they would have spent on the goods or services (corresponding to how much the donor can deduct as a charitable contribution). The donor, however, is responsible for documenting the fair market value of the donation. Ciconte and Jacob consider thank you efforts to be cultivation efforts. They state that when you thank the donor you are establishing a relationship with that individual; you are not asking for anything, but you are preparing your donor for a future request (1997, 92). CONCLUSION Development is an ongoing process of securing donations to support an organization, such as a charter school. The development process involves planning, marketing, managing, budgeting, cultivating, soliciting, acknowledging, and providing stewardship. Making "the ask" is only a small portion of the overall process. Building relationships and securing donors is key to the success of the program. In the end, the charter school with a development program gains valuable, lifetime supporters while sustaining projects over and above the core academic programs. Development professionals play a key role in supporting nonprofit educational institutions such as charter schools. And Ciconte and Jacob feel they do more than that. "Development professionals offer people opportunities to do great things," they write (1997, 5). "They "challenge and inspire them and involve them in activities that make life better now and for future generations." How appropriate that development professionals and charter school advocates work toward the same end!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Melissa A. Dick, CFRE serves as the director of development for Atlantis Charter School in Fall River, MA. Ms. Dick has worked in the development field for over twelve years for such organizations as a historical society, the United Way, a hospice, a private elementary school, and charter schools in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Prior to starting at Atlantis Charter School in May of 2001, Ms. Dick helped start the International Sailing Institute’s Paul Cuffee Charter School in Providence, RI. Ms. Dick received her B.S. in marine biology from the College of Charleston, SC and her M.S. in management and fundraising from Lesley College Graduate School in Cambridge, MA.
Contact Information: Melissa Dick
Appendix A: Role of the Development Committee Chairperson The Development Committee is charged with the responsibility of providing support and direction in the development and implementation of fundraising activities to meet immediate and long-range capital and operating needs. The Development Committee shall work with the Principal and the Director of Development to assure that the School’s giving from individuals, corporations, and foundations is robust and healthy. In addition, the Committee shall work to enhance and improve the School’s image among its constituencies. Purpose of Position: To provide volunteer leadership to the Atlantis Charter School development activities, which include, but are not limited to Individuals, Corporations, Foundations, Capital, and Planned Giving. Position Reports To: President of the Board of Trustees Staffing Provided By: Director of Development Specific Responsibilities:
Time Commitment: Dependent upon organizational needs, approximately 3-5 hours per month for planning and meetings.
Appendix B: Role of the Development Committee Member The Development Committee The Development Committee is charged with the responsibility of providing support and direction in the development and implementation of fundraising activities to meet immediate and long-range capital and operating needs. The Development Committee shall work with the Principal and the Director of Development to assure that the School’s giving from individuals, corporations, and foundations is robust and healthy. In addition, the Committee shall work to enhance and improve the School’s image among its constituencies. Purpose of Position: To provide volunteer expertise, insight, knowledge, and resources to the Atlantis Charter School development activities, which include, but are not limited to Individuals, Corporations, and Foundations. Position Reports To: Development Chairperson Staffing Provided By: Director of Development Specific Responsibilities:
Time Commitment: Expected commitment is approximately 3-5 hours per month.
Appendix C: Gift Procedures The following procedures will be in effect for all fund cash, checks, and credit card gifts that are received by Atlantis Charter School.
Stock Transactions
Pledges
Appendix D: Atlantis Development Plan, FY 2002-2003
Atlantis Charter School FY 2002-2003
Appendix E: The Donor Bill of Rights
(Reprinted here with permission, provided 23 September 02 to Melissa Dick by Michael Nilson, Public Affairs Department, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Alexandria, VA) The Donor Bill of Rights Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good. It is a tradition of giving and sharing that is primary to the quality of life. To ensure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, and that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in the nonprofit organizations and causes they are asked to support, we declare that all donors have these rights:
REFERENCES Association of Fundraising Professionals, 1101 King Street, Suite 700, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. Ciconte, Barbara Kushner and Jeanne G. Jacob. 1997. Fund Raising Basics, A Complete Guide. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Aspen Publishers, Inc. "Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice." Retrieved 20 September 02 from the Association of Fundraising Professionals Web site: www.afpnet.org "Donor Bill of Rights." 1999. Retrieved 20 September 02 from the Association of Fundraising Professionals Web site: www.afpnet.org Joyaux, Simone P. 2001. Strategic Fund Development, Building Profitable Relationships That Last. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Aspen Publishers, Inc. Mission Statement. Retrieved 27 September 2002 from the Atlantis Charter School Web site: www.atlantiscs.org
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