Modern and Professional Fundraising for a Century-Old College

A small liberal arts college was consistently under-achieving fundraising goals. By missing revenue targets by up to 20%, the College was facing increasing uncertainty about its financial viability. 

Gugenheim Consulting was hired to assess the internal team, assume direct Interim management, and set the College up for future fundraising success. 

She identified that the department was deficient in key industry benchmarks including cost-to-raise-a-dollar. In addition, the planning process and metric-tracking capability needed to sustain a $45M organization were missing.

Lynne established a future-facing organization chart for the Advancement Department that would enable a deeper management structure, more front-line fundraising and a closer alignment with the Finance department for tracking pledges and annual goals. In time, more streamlined communications with the President’s Office, the Provost and Faculty as well as other collaborating departments will increase annual and multi-year support.

A small Not-for-Profit supporting women entrepreneurs successfully covered annual expenses solely through earned revenue for more than two decades. After commissioning a strategic plan from a major consultancy, the 

Not-for-Profit identified that they could expand operations by 

pursuing annual contributions. 

Gugenheim Consulting was hired to establish the Not-for-Profit’s first fundraising effort. Lynne designed an initial staffing concept that utilized 

both Gugenheim Consulting and a soon-to-be-hired team to develop internalized knowledge. 

Lynne led the company through a careful analysis to establish realistic annual fundraising goals and integrate a CRM. She re-imagined an Annual Gala to focus on leadership development and ambitious fundraising goals and it proved wildly successful. In time, the contributed revenue will begin to make a measurable impact on the breadth and depth of program development.