What Is a Development Assessment, and Why Do I Need One?
Development assessments are a term used to describe a comprehensive review of an organization’s fundraising programs. These rigorous assessments offer distinct benefits for organizations of all sizes and at varying points in the fundraising cycle. Whether your organization is undergoing a leadership transition or preparing for a period of significant growth, a development assessment will uncover new opportunities based on where your organization is today and tangible steps aligned to your goals for the future.
While CFA’s highly tailored approach varies based on each client’s unique circumstances, priorities, and growth trajectory, our development assessment findings share a common denominator in the form of specific and actionable short- and long-term recommendations to sustainably enhance an organization’s fundraising success.
ADVANTAGES OF ENGAGING EXTERNAL SUPPORT
A simple online search yields a plethora of DIY assessment tools designed to help organizations internally evaluate their fundraising programs. For example, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) offers free reports, resources, and tools to help organizations measure their individual donor fundraising efforts against more than 100 performance indicators. Similarly, MarketSmart offers a Fundraising Report Card that provides performance dashboards with key metrics on donor acquisition and retention, donation growth and frequency, and much more.
While these tools can provide helpful data visuals and comparative benchmarks, their resulting insights are directly correlated to an organization’s internal capacity for self-assessment. These tools also rely solely on quantitative measures, limiting their results to scientific measures of success without addressing the qualitative art of fundraising. This is where engaging external support can help.
CFA’s consulting team brings valuable external perspective and a systematic approach to the development assessment process. With projects and partnerships spanning all facets of fundraising, our team is well-versed in established fundraising best-practices and current philanthropic trends. And with vast experience conducting development assessments, our team is positioned to engage the right stakeholders and pinpoint the datasets that will yield the greatest insights.
WHEN TO CONDUCT A DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT
Development assessments provide vital insight for organizations seeking to evaluate the efficacy of their development program and can maximize a team’s fundraising potential during points of inflection. Development assessments are uniquely valuable and most often implemented during stages of significant organizational growth and change, such as:
While development assessments can be conducted at any point in time, CFA Head of Consulting and Principal-Midwest Jake Muszynski encourages organizations to consider their readiness to fully engage in the process. “We work hand-in-hand with our clients and need them to approach the work with open minds and open hearts. While CFA does most of the heavy lifting, they must be open to embracing what the process reveals.”
DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT PROCESS
CFA balances the art and science of fundraising through data-driven strategies coupled with unique, case-by-case solutions. While CFA offers a customized approach to every development assessment, our process includes the following core components designed to uncover the most significant fundraising challenges and opportunities for growth for each organization we serve:
Kickoff Meeting
The project team meets with the organization to discuss a proposed project timeline, share upcoming deliverables, and identify scheduling considerations.
Materials Request
CFA conducts an audit of the organization’s development programs, donor communications, systems, and strategies to assess fundraising capacity and potential.
1:1 Interviews
CFA interviews the organization’s Executive Director, development or advancement staff, key leadership staff, and board members with insights into the fundraising programs and/or deep institutional knowledge.
Data Meetings
CFA’s Data and Research Team partners with the organization’s database administrator(s) or related staff to identify their data needs while assessing their database infrastructure and data strategy. Following an extensive donor wealth and engagement screening resulting in custom inclination scores, our team also provides segmentation recommendations for assigned portfolios, targeted appeals, and other tailored fundraising strategies.
Specialized Services
Because we know that each client’s needs are unique, we activate specialized services to ensure our work remains highly tailored. These services can range from surveys to understand stakeholder motivations, a deep analysis of donor trends, case for support development, campaign readiness, and much more depending on the client’s need.
Check-In Meetings
CFA meets regularly with key organizational stakeholders to provide ongoing counsel and share insights through the process.
Final Report
CFA provides a comprehensive report with specific recommendations and goals based on the organization’s unique priorities and opportunities, outlining clear and actionable strategies to enhance fundraising results.
ACTIVATING YOUR STRATEGY
CFA’s work is far from complete after sharing the findings from a development assessment. As Jake shares, “The organizations we partner with often have the answers, but the challenge comes in deciding what to do next. That is where CFA comes in, bringing the art to the science of development assessments and partnering with our clients to create action plans to carry the work forward.”
CFA has supported dozens of organizations to implement customized action plans based on the findings and recommendations culminating from their development assessments. Learn more about CFA’s recent development assessments.
PARTNER WITH US
Development assessments are a powerful way to energize your organization’s fundraising efforts. Engaging an external consultant offers the added expertise, bandwidth, and perspective to yield actionable yet transformational insights. At a time when most fundraising teams are stretched thin yet challenged to accelerate organizational growth, development assessments provide a direct path to actionable strategies that will result in more successful, consistent, and sustainable results.
When you partner with CFA, you are accessing the collective expertise of our entire team. As an organization seeking to continuously improve, our consultants meet regularly to identify trends, share learnings, assess the efficacy of our strategies, and scale promising practices. We bring the best of these insights through a highly-customized approach to each development assessment we complete and every client we serve
If you are interested in exploring what a development assessment might look like for your organization, contact CFA today to see how we can help.
Jake Muszynski, Head of Consulting & Principal, Midwest
Jake is a highly experienced fundraising and consulting professional with over 15 years of combined experience in the industry. He began his successful career in major gifts at higher education institutions and has since provided counsel to over 40 clients at CFA.
In this role, Jake leads major projects across the United States, including campaign readiness and feasibility studies, campaign planning and counsel, and development assessments. He takes a holistic approach to fundraising, considering organizational health from all perspectives and applying a mix of soft skills and data-driven decision-making to each unique situation.
A native of Perham, Minnesota, Jake holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Concordia College. He and his wife have two children and share a love of folk and jazz music.
Kendall Carlson, Content Writer
A frequent contributor to CFA’s digital content, Kendall Carlson has spent her career advancing nonprofit organizations across the Twin Cities. With 16 years of experience, Kendall brings a balance of strategic and operational leadership spanning fundraising, program development, evaluation, and strategic planning.
Most recently, Kendall served as Development and Communications Director at Hired, where she diversified revenue for the organization’s $11M budget and increased individual giving by 60%, led a rebrand, and launched an organization-wide data for impact initiative. Prior to Hired, Kendall served at Greater Twin Cities United Way, where she led an advancement strategy team to increase investment and engagement from the organization’s top corporate and major donors. Kendall is known as a strategic, solution-oriented leader with a high capacity for detail and commitment to quality. She launched her consulting practice, Luminate Consulting, in 2022 to bring her skills in fundraising and program strategy to nonprofits seeking sustainable growth.