Here's just a sampling of the questions and projects our clients and prospective clients ask us to help with. 

We want to update our annual giving strategy and develop a stronger major gifts program. Can you help? 

This is certainly in our "wheel house." Our staff have directed highly-successful annual giving strategies for major universities, smaller colleges, faith-based organizations, health care institutions, and other nonprofits. In addition, we have a particular expertise in identifying annual donors who are your best candidates for major and planned gift cultivation and solicitation.

We like to begin with a solid analytical assessment of your donor database to inform key decisions (looking at a dozen or more key metrics), as well as to look at opportunities to better renew and upgrade acquired donors and lapsed donors. Only then will we make recommendations based upon solid assessment, innovative practices, and available resources. Many of our clients choose to ask us to provide creative copywriting, ongoing assessment and planning, coaching, analytical analysis (such as the creation of performance dashboards for all donor segments), smart stewardship, and staff coaching. All to drive a coherent fundraising effort and increasing annual revenue. 

We have a major gift staff yet we honestly need to enhance staff training and job satisfaction, all while raising funds more productively. 

That is very much a common concern. Developing major gift processes, from prospect identification, to discovery, to cultivation, to solicitation, and stewardship is key. In our work with clients, we help them to rationalize the process, set realistic (yet stretch) expectations, provide ongoing coaching, and help to engender a climate of compassionate accountability for both individuals and the whole team. This not only assists in closing more gifts but also helps to create a true culture of philanthropy, helping to grow and retain frontline fundraising staff. Some of our clients use our work together to best prepare for a planned capital campaign down the road. 

Our board is coming along, yet we have a challenge in helping them all to understand their responsibilities in fundraising. 

When there is role confusion between board members, the CEO or Executive Director, and professional staff concerning fundraising responsibilities or suitability there is more than likely disenchantment and an underperforming fundraising effort. We frequently consult with boards, the executive team, and staff to help clarify roles, responsibility, and suitability, all towards the goals of greater team fundraising success. More often than not an outside consultant with many years of experience can best translate some of the negative or wasted energy here into positive change through compassionate accountability up-and-down the organization. And the good news is then all can see the positive benefits of effective teamwork, both to the bottom line and in the job satisfaction of all concerned. 

We have a concern about how better to communicate our organization's value proposition while developing a planning process to incorporate all aspects of our mission. IF you could help us with that you would be a unique nonprofit consulting firm.

We can because we bring several unique areas of proven experience within the sector: Value Proposition Design, Business/Mission Model Generation, and LEAN practices. While strategic planning is of some value, we know that an overly detailed and lengthy planning process can actually hamper mission success and revenue generation. That sounds counter-intuitive but it is true. So, we help nonprofit leadership to better plan for execution. To become true visionaries, game changers, and challengers to the status quo. Importantly in our experience, when donors can understand your business/mission plan and philanthropic needs on a single page, the conversation becomes animated. 

What do you mean by a business model for a nonprofit? 

A business model describes the rational of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. So a business or mission model is like a blueprint for a strategy to be implemented through organizational structure, processes, and systems. Importantly, a well-considered model creates a shared language that can inspire teamwork from concept to day-to-day work. We help our nonprofit clients to create a one-page business or mission model that combines donor and service segments, their value proposition, marketing channels, donor relations, philanthropic and revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships and cost structures. 

In our experience, when the entire nonprofit team understands the big picture and their individual roles in accomplishing the challenges ahead, it can dramatically liberate the human energy of the organization. And when donors and fundraising prospects can see the thoughtfulness and integrity inherent in the nonprofit's mission, it often dramatically shortens the cultivation and solicitation process, resulting in larger gifts and enhanced philanthropic cash flow. 

In your work with nonprofit CEo's, Executive and Development directors, what are the common concerns you hear about their fundraising responsibilities? 

The role of the board in fundraising, raising money in an uncertain economy, realistic yet challenging expectations, finding qualified professionals and staff retention, effective staff training and development, and overall execution teamwork are amongst the top concerns expressed in private coaching and conversations. All of these concerns are part and parcel with developing internal and external capacity, human and financial, for the organization. 

Why partner with Ascent Analytics? 

We help you to build fundraising capacity while continuing to grow your organizational strengths. We bring an effective return on investment with reasonable fees. Importantly, we never act to create dependency on us. We work hard for our clients to allow them to move from success-to-success, leveraging our decades of nonprofit experience to help nonprofit leaders at all levels to create clear vision and innovative execution. In a phrase, we go beyond mere conventional thinking to help you, help others.