I spent the morning yesterday facilitating a Board Retreat for an incredibly impactful organization.
I wanted to share with you 3 big takeaways, as well as the ‘SIMPLE’ PROGRESSION of how they can raise significantly more money (INCOME) to affect their IMPACT.
- Takeaway #1: Moving from a WHO model to a WHY model. A very smart community leader pointed out that they had historically been “fundraising with a WHO mentality”. (Legendary, old-time community leaders that helped found the program were able to basically pick up the phone and call in funding support. They’re all gone now.)
He made this point as we were refining the MESSAGE and reinforcing the PURPOSE and the REASON for their existence. In other words, the WHY model.
- Takeaway #2: DO THE MATH. It was amazing to watch as the morning progressed and we were able to specifically define the investment required to rebuild/impact one life ($340!). Then, we took a $124M ‘investment requirement’ and, by DOING THE MATH, figured out that the public sector would actually do $107M and the ‘number’ from the PRIVATE SECTOR was $17M!
We then did a simple, powerful Pyramid/Funding Plan to determine that the $17M would come from 29 investors.
- Takeaway #3: TIME TO THINK. The leadership was convinced that they needed to move beyond a normal ‘Board Meeting’ and have a session where they could actually take the TIME TO THINK. I believe both the Board and the staff were re-energized around the Impact, Mission and Purpose; and, we RE-DESIGNED the model and methodology to FUND THE VISION.
If you’d like to see it, I’ve included the SIMPLE PROGRESSION (pictured above, download here) that we used as a framework to generate more money. It corresponds with our also very simple ROADMAP.
