Course Description
A study of the concepts and principles of fundraising for nonprofits. The students will explore fundraising strategies, including basic planning and management principles, underlying organizational issues involved with planning and solicitation, including in-depth analysis of one organization’s planning process and audit, knowledge of how organizational ethics, norms, strategic planning and direction influence both the funding and their ability to meet the donor’s needs.
Please Note: In order to complete the assignments for this course, the student needs permission to study an organization in depth.
Prerequisites
Available to undergraduates with 60+ credits and a 3.0+ GPA.
Course Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Articulate a philosophy/theology of fundraising.
- Write a case for support for a nonprofit organization.
- Segment donors and design strategies for developing core donors, impulse donors, new donors, major gifts, planned giving and capital campaigns.
- Develop a fundraising activity plan including personal and phone solicitation, direct response, digital fundraising and special events.
- Create a comprehensive Fundraising Development Plan Portfolio for a nonprofit organization.
Self-Paced Version of Course
There is a self-paced version of this course that is available every term that is only available to students in our self-paced Fundraising Certificate program. Students may not be in the self-paced Fundraising Certificate program simultaneously with any other program due to US Department of Education regulations.
Syllabus
Course Materials & Tuition
| Achieving Excellance in Fundraising, 5th ed., Temmpel, Eugene, Seiler, Timothy & Burlingame, D. (2016). ISBN: 9781118853825 | $51.00 |
| Development 101: Building a Comprehensive Development Program on Biblical Values. Frank, John. 2015. ISBN: 0983472777. | $3.49 |
| Tuition | $800.00 |
| Total Cost of Course | $854.49 |
On-Site Requirements
This course requires that the student work with a nonprofit to conduct interviews with the following people:
Interview: Director of Development or Chief Executive Officer, Nonprofit Organization:
• What are the organization’s mission, goals, and objectives?
• What programs or services does the nonprofit organization provide?
• What is the budget of the nonprofit?
• What is the fundraising goal for this year? What is the nonprofit’s budget for fundraising?
• How is the nonprofit organization structured and governed?
• What is the composition of the board? How many board members? How many are active in fundraising?
• How many staff and volunteers work for the organization?
• What is the capacity of the facilities to deliver services?
• What are the history and future plans for the organization?
Documents/Interview:
• How does he/she view the role of the CEO and the board in the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts?
• How does he/she approach the fundraising responsibilities?
• What has been done, in the last year, to cultivate donors?
• How many staff members and volunteers are involved with the aspect of fund raising?
• What is the Board of Trustee’s role in fundraising?
• In his/her opinion, what is more important, cultivating existing donors or trying to find new ones?
• Fundraising: What techniques and documents does the nonprofit organization use in fundraising? What specific meetings/activities/policies are used to educate and thank donors in order to increase their support of the nonprofit?
• Gift Types: How are the nonprofit’s programs structured in current giving, capital giving, and planned giving?
• Direct mail: What percentage of the nonprofit’s income is from direct mail donations?
• Mailing list: How many names are on the list and approximately when were they added?
• Active donors: What is the number of donors that have given a gift in the past year?
• Development history: What fundraising techniques has the nonprofit organization used in the past three to five years (direct mail, newsletters, etc.) and which were the most effective?
• Staff/Volunteers: How many people assist in development including volunteers?
• Target markets: From what type of community is the nonprofit organization raising funds (metropolitan, rural, combination, West Coast, Midwest, etc.)?
• Ask for information about programs and statistics showing services rendered and testimonials of people who were helped by the nonprofit.
- Contact us for more information.