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Strategic Planning

Campaign Planning
Today, very few campaigns are done by the book. Your campaign will succeed with a customized plan based upon your organization's history, the nature of the project or fund raising effort, the prospect pool, financial and non-financial goals, staff and volunteer experience, and countless other factors. Kelsch Consulting will assist your organization in:

• Assessing factors that must be addressed to ensure the campaign's success
• Assessing volunteer leadership and donor potential
• Developing a campaign plan, including budget, organizational structure, fund raising strategies, and other key issues that will serve as a blueprint for a successful fund-raising effort
• Developing the case statement
• Training volunteers and staff
  

• The entire advancement program
• An advancement unit--development, alumni relations, communications, community relations, or government relations.
• A functional development area--planned giving, major gifts, corporate relations, foundation relations, annual giving, stewardship, prospect research and management, or development communications.
• Employee satisfaction
  

At Kelsch Consulting, we encourage clients to play an active role in evaluating their organizations through self-assessments, study groups, and strong internal communications. We will also conduct interviews, focus groups and/or surveys depending upon the nature and scope of the assessment.

Analysis of Annual Fundraising Results
Too often institutions move from one year to the next without conducting a thorough analysis of their fundraising results. Kelsch Consulting will work with you to evaluate giving trends, to benchmark your fundraising effort against peers and aspirant peers, to determine what strategies are working and which ones are not and to identify new strategies and ideas that can help increase your private support.

Leadership Coaching and Assessments
Frequently, individuals who are hired to serve as Vice Chancellors/Vice Presidents and Directors of Development or Alumni Relations have not had experience in all of the areas that they are now being asked to manage. Kelsch Consulting will work with senior advancement leaders to help them through this transition and to reduce the learning curve.

Periodically, every manager should seek feedback on his/her performance by those above him/her, peers and subordinates. Kelsch Consulting will serve as a third party to conduct these confidential reviews through surveys and through face-to-face interviews as appropriate. Then, a customized executive coaching program can be designed to evoke excellent performance that is self-generating and self-correcting. Our goal is to leave you and your staff with the principles, tools, techniques and behaviors to ensure ongoing success.

Position Assessments
Before beginning a search, the vacant position should be thoroughly evaluated in light of the current needs of the organization. Kelsch Consulting will assess the vacant position to determine whether it still fits organizational priorities, to recommend opportunities to reorganize the unit as appropriate, and to update the job description based upon changing responsibilities and functions. We maintain close relationships with many specialized search firms and can help guide your organization to selecting one that is the best fit for your organization

Orientation Programs
Retention begins on the employee's first day of work. How you welcome staff and to orient them to the institution provides the foundation for their ongoing success. Very few institutions have model orientation programs. Kelsch Consulting will work with your organization to develop a comprehensive orientation program designed to familiarize new employees with the organization, its mission, values, people, programs and culture; with the profession of advancement; and with the organization's and unit's policies and procedures. We can provide your staff with a comprehensive training outline or recommendation, based on your new employees past experience. In addition, we offer a mentorship program to ensure that your new or recently promoted staff have experienced resources to support them during the first few months in their new position. The ability to "hit the ground running" will save you valuable time and enhance your bottom line results.

Team Building
Your key to success is built on high performing individuals who are also committed to each others' successes. Kelsch Consulting will work with you to custom design and facilitate staff retreats to build effective teams within your organization. Retreats can be designed to build a stronger working relationship between and among advancement units or within a unit.

Training Programs
Designed for administrative leaders, deans, and professional staff.
Our training programs are renowned for providing the practical information that professional staff and institutional leaders need to be effective in their positions. The workshops we deliver on-site are custom-tailored to meet your specific needs. Our regional workshops are offered throughout the year and enable you to send new staff to us where they will get a solid foundation in fundraising and hit the ground running.

Each participant receives valuable training materials based on our combined 50 years of advancement experience.

Participants will practice new skills, learn the fundamentals of good practices, hone their strategic thinking, and engage in dialogue with their peers. Participants will receive a comprehensive workbook and, when appropriate, a CD-ROM with tools that they can use at their desktop.

Professional Effectiveness Training Programs

• Introduction to Advancement
• Introduction to Development
• Developing an Integrated Advancement Program
• Building a Mission Oriented Alumni Relations Program
• Creating a Partnership between Development and Alumni Relations
• Creating a Partnership between Development and Communications
• Creating a Partnership between Development and Community Relations
• Community Relations
• Campaign Planning and Implementation
• The Art and Science of Major Gifts Fund Raising
• Performance Standards and their Role in Fund Raising
• Major Gifts Solicitation Techniques
• Preparing Volunteers for Solicitation
• Stewardship
• Fund Raising for Deans
• Working with Deans and Faculty
• Making the Central/Decentralized Model Work
• Strategic Planning for Advancement
• Writing your Fund Raising Plan, Assessment and Goals
• Maximizing Development Related Events
• The Role of Prospect Management and Tracking in Major Gifts Fund Raising and Campaigns
• Building an Effective Institutionally Related Foundation

Board Development and Volunteer Training
Kelsch Consulting will work with the staff and volunteer leadership of your organization to:

• Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the board and staff
• Create a development plan, including establishing strategic goals
• Provide training on campaigns, major gifts, and other areas of development
• Evaluate the effectiveness of your board
• Recommend strategies needed to strengthen your board
• Design and facilitate productive board retreats.

Training New Staff without Development Experience
One of the greatest challenges today is hiring high-performing staff with the experience and expertise needed to achieve ambitious goals. The competition for talented, experienced development officers has intensified over the last decade as the number of nonprofits has grown to 1.5 million and colleges and universities development staffs are expanding.

Many organizations have been reluctant to hire inexperienced development officers, limiting their pools of candidates and making it increasingly difficult to fill positions successfully and in a timely manner. Failed and costly searches have become common place.

Kelsch Consulting provides a unique service in helping you successfully recruit candidates who have successful track records in fields with transferable skills, but who may lack significant hands-on fundraising experience. When you hire or promote new staff who lacks a successful track record in major gifts, you can send them to our three-month intensive for Newcomers in Fundraising. This unique training program provides staff with the solid foundation they will need to get results quickly. We also offer one-on-one coaching and mentoring to help talented, but inexperienced new staff members quickly develop the skills and knowledge to be successful. These unique programs effectively reduce the sometimes lengthy and costly "start-up time" for new employees.

Custom-designed Seminars

Kelsch Consulting also develops custom seminars to meet your specific needs. Please refer to our special training program for newcomers to the profession listed in our off-site training programs section.