This document outlines the steps for creating a comprehensive development plan, including assessing past fundraising efforts, determining organizational needs and goals, and creating strategies, tactics, and initiatives to meet fundraising targets. It emphasizes gathering stakeholder input, setting clear financial goals and budgets, and producing a written operational plan to guide fundraising activities and track progress. The overall process results in a development blueprint that aligns fundraising with organizational strategy and budgets.

1. Learning How to Build a Comprehensive
Development Plan
Lisa C. Intagliata, CFRE
Director of Development
Sarasota Memorial Healthcare
Foundation, Inc.
April 17, 2012

2. Introductions
 Introduce yourself, title, organization
 Where you are in your development planning
– Beginning
– In the middle (maybe stalling)
– At the end
 What you hope to gain today-Your goals

3. Which plan comes first?
 Long-Range Plan- Defines what your organization
will look like at the end of a given time
 Strategic Plan- Defines how you will get there
 Marketing Plan- Defines your potential markets and
how to reach them
 Development Plan- Defines fundraising strategies &
goals

4. What is a Development Plan?
 Blueprint for raising funds
 Required to achieve goals stated in your
strategic plan
 Board’s responsibility to direct staff to
prepare a fundraising plan-or work w/
consultant to do so
 Must determine strategies & set goals w/
your fundraising committee-interfaces w/
organization’s budgeting process (Exercise #2)

5. Why is it important?
 Gives a clear sense of who we are and how our
mission relates to the community we serve
 Gives a clear sense of our organization’s direction,
familiarity w/ its activities and how they relate to the
community
 Directs us on how we plan to achieve the mission
 Gives us the knowledge of how much it will cost
Bottom Line
As an organization, we can NOT raise funds without it

6. Assessing Your Fundraising to Date
(Step #1 in Your Plan)
• Review all relevant written material
- direct mail, case statements, annual reports, brochures, newsletters etc…
(Exercise #1)
• Review your fundraising programs success rate- Ways you asked & how
much you received
(Exercise # 3- Cost Effectiveness Formulas)
• Review the gift potential of each market/constituency (upgrading &
acquisition opportunities) (Exercise # 4)
• Review the available investment resources (volunteers, staff, space,
equipment, materials, budget etc…)
(Exercise #6B)

7. Assessing Your Fundraising to Date
(Continued)
 Build understanding & ownership in your plan
with volunteers & staff by involving them
 Interview 12-15 people close to your
organization
(Board members, volunteers, staff, alumni, parents etc…)
 What questions should you ask?
 Review Readiness Assessment
Handout/Quiz

8. Possible Interview Questions
 Why did you get involved with this organization?
 What is you current opinion of the services offered to
our clients?
 How effective has the board been in raising funds?
 How effective has the staff been in communicating
its need for fundraising assistance to the Board?
 How good a job does the org. do with regard to
media and PR?
 What are your specific responsibilities as a staff
(board) member or volunteer?

9. Creating an Organizational
Development Plan
 Gather information from interviews
 SWOT EXERCISE
 Outline Fundraising Goals for the Year
- Annual Fund (Moves Management) (Exercise # 5)
- Prospect Research
- Corporations/Foundations
- Special Events
- Planned Giving
- Communications/PR
- Capital Initiatives?
- Volunteer or Membership Recruitment/Retention

10. Outline Strategies/Tactics/Initiatives
 Based on the goals you set for each facet of
your Development operation, map out the
following:
– Strategies to reach each goal
– Tactics to achieve the strategy
– Initiatives to actually achieve the tactics
– Set each initiative to a timeline you can follow
(Exercise # 6)

11. Clarifying Your Financial Needs
(Step # 2 in Your Plan)
 Draft an Institutional Budget
 Test fundraising potential against the draft
budget by identifying prospects, analyzing
readiness & capacity, and identifying the
resources required for solicitation strategies.

12. How do you begin?
#1 Work w/CEO to determine what your fundraising
needs will be next year (new staff, equipment, growth, # of
people to serve)
#2 Work with CFO to estimate the costs of the
changes in step #1 and add to costs from last year’s
budget
#3 Determine what you are most likely to accomplish-
amount of $ you will probably raise based upon past
results (NET FUNDRAISING GOAL)
(SEE HANDOUT)

13. Net Fundraising Goal
+ Costs of Fundraising
= Total Development Goal For Year

14. Creating an Operational Development
Plan
 Finally adopt both the budget & Op. Dev.
Plan
 Finalize the budget & confirm fundraising
goals -FINALIZE OPERATIONAL DEV.
PLAN

15. OUTCOME
 The outcome of the planning process is a
written, operational development plan for the
year which clearly articulates:
* Goals (financial & operational)
* Strategies
* Tactics
* Initiatives
* Timeline

16. Other resources
 AFP International-- www.afpnet.org
 AFP Southwest FL Chapter
 Nonprofit Resource Center/Giving Partner
 Selby Library/Sarasota County Public Library
System

17. THANK YOU!
Questions?
Lisa C. Intagliata, CFRE
Director of Development
Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation, Inc.
1515 South Osprey Avenue
Suite B-4
Sarasota, FL 34239
(941) 917-1286
(941) 917-2270 Fax
Lisa-intagliata@smh.com