Fundraising Audits

Whether in a start-up situation or well down the fundraising road, assessing the performance of your development office is famously difficult. Money doesn't begin to flow in simply because one has employed a development director, and neither does a lack of immediate financial rewards spell success or disaster. Is your development office working to agreed strategic goals? Are there staffing problems? Is your database functioning to order? How can the institution improve its support services for the Director? What are the reasonable expectations of an office like yours? Will friend-raising need to continue for some time to come before fund-raising can reasonably begin? Are your volunteers/Governors/Trustees properly trained and do they know what is expected of them? Are your costs under control? A short highly intensive fundraising audit can usually answer all these questions. In addition, they can reassure both hierarchy and development staff and can improve relationships within the institution.