Fundraising in the one-person development shop: making the most of a shoestring budget | San Francisco, CA

Fundraising in the one-person development shop: making the most of a shoestring budget

At the best of times, fundraising can be challenging. However, fundraising in the one person development shop can be daunting, especially when one is working with a shoestring budget. The key in situations like these is to know what areas to prioritize, and how to get the biggest bang for your buck because you can't do it all. This seminar will focus on the issues unique to one person fundraising departments, and will drill down in the following areas:

Keeping your organization on track financially: create and maintain a year-round fundraising plan
Research: research your prospects on a shoestring budget
Direct mail: work with an established third party service provider to maximize your returns
Major gifts program: develop and maintain a manageable high dollar giving club
Planned giving: start simple with a wills and bequests program
Donor solicitation: make it easy for your donors to give and for you to receive donations
Special events: conduct a unique annual event that makes efficient use of volunteers
Leadership involvement: find creative ways to get your executive director and/or board involved in the fundraising process

Attendees will walk away with fresh ideas to take their one person development shop to the next level.

Speakers for this session:

Melanie Doerner

Development Director

Children`s Musical Theater San Jose

Melanie Doerner joined Children’s Musical Theater San Jose (CMT) in 2005 and has overhauled the organization’s development office, forming close ties with CMT’s board of directors and nurturing relationships in the community. Since joining CMT, Melanie has helped CMT surpass its contributed income budgets with increased support from individuals, foundations and government—all of this while she was primarily a one-person development shop. Recently, Melanie is most proud of growing the development office to include a full-time Development Manager, a part-time Database Manager, a contracted Grant-writer and a contracted Special Events Planner. An active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Melanie enjoys speaking on non-profit and fundraising issues, and has been a guest speaker for the Center for Non Profit Success and Arts Council Silicon Valley. Melanie is a certified corporate attorney in her native Canada, prior to coming to the US in 2001.

Helen M.Z. Harwood

Director of Development & Director of Alumnae

Sisters of the Presentation

As Director of Development & Alumnae working in a one-person development office for Sisters of the Presentation, she shares her expertise on "Bucking the Fundraising Rules To Succeed in Difficult Economic Times". Formerly with YBCA, (currently on the Artists Ball Board), SFMOMA and Whitney Museum, owner/director of World Gallery, Inc., Miami Beach having received awards from the City of Miami Beach for her efforts towards the re-gentrification of South Beach while concurrently running her other gallery in NYC, she was covered by the New York Times among other national and international publications and currently is a two term-City Commissioner for Culture & the Arts in Vallejo. Helen also lectures on fundraising for other nonprofits. Born and raised in New York City, with fine arts degrees from New School University and Parsons School of Design, her motto is also "make it work". Member of AFP and NPGC.

Stephen Horton

Associate Executive Director Development and Markeing

Stanford Home for Children

Steve Horton has been with Stanford Home for Children for the last three years working to establish this long time social services agency to garner a broad base of community support. Prior to that Steve worked with the Canadian Cancer Society for 14 years in northern British Columbia. Revenue tripled in his time with the cancer society. In both of these situations he has had to wear many hats to build a fundraising program with limited staff resources. He has managed all aspects of the fundraising program from business operations to direct mail and has learned to incorporate the support of vendors and volunteers to make the most of what staff time is available. Steve is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, a Rotarian, a graduate of the National Program in Fundraising Education and has a Bachelor’s degree.

B.Michael McFarland

Director of Development

Trinity School

A member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Mr. McFarland has more than 15 years of fundraising experience from inaugurating a one-person shop to a fully-staffed university, from a statewide organization to a very small community organization. He has created special events, including golf outings, awards dinners, and silent and live auctions; annual giving and major donor campaigns; corporate sponsorship opportunities; foundation-funded programs; and capital campaigns to renovate existing space, purchase new space, and construct new facilities. He is currently the director of development for a private elementary school in Menlo Park, CA.

San Francisco Fundraising Summit

A relationship approach to fundraising
Nonprofit fundraising has become highly specialized, and each segment of your donor market requires a different set of relationship management skills. Whether you are reaching out to private foundations, wealthy individuals or your own members, you need to understand who they give to, and why. The San Francisco Summit focuses on the relationship aspects of fundraising, and offers you several ways to enhance your relationship management skills:

Day One:
In the morning, listen to a panel of private, corporate and community grantmakers who will openly discuss their philosophy on grantmaking, how they operate, and most important, how you can build a more successful relationship with the grantmaking community. In the afternoon, participate in seminars led by experienced grant seekers who have successfully secured many foundation grants, and have built successful relationships with the grantmaking community.

Day Two:
Attend a series of fundraising seminars covering the hottest areas of fundraising (capital campaigns, major gifts, annual giving campaigns, and many more). Panels of experts will discuss the latest developments in these fields, and then enter into a dialogue with the participants that addresses their most pressing questions.

WHY ATTEND THE FUNDRAISING SUMMIT?
Fundraising is primarily a relationship business, and with increasing pressures facing all nonprofit professionals to build key relationships, it is becoming more important, though much more difficult to meet people face-to-face. Our innovative Summit format provides the most efficient and cost effective use of time away from the office by enabling attendees to interact with experts in the field, as well as other nonprofit leaders.

CAN ONE ATTEND SPECIFIC SESSIONS ONLY?
We understand the demands that are placed on you and on your time. That’s why you can attend only the seminars that are of interest to you. Come for the day or stop by for a couple of hours. You pay for only the seminars you wish to attend and only for the information relevant to you. It’s a novel approach to learning that allows you to get exactly what you’re looking for in a short amount of time.

WHAT IS THE FORMAT OF THE SEMINARS?
Each seminar features a panel of 3-4 experts who will give a short overview of the key developments in that field. After that , we will move into a moderated discussion to explore what these developments mean for nonprofit organizations. During the seminar, panelists will engage with the audience in an interactive manner to ensure the real-world implications of these developments emerge, and the session will end with a summary of practical next steps.

HOW IS THE SUMMIT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER EDUCATIONAL EVENTS?
The Summit offers a unique format to help you accomplish the following:

Build relationships: to ensure maximum exposure to the experts and other nonprofit leaders, each seminar offers structured networking before the session starts
Hear different perspectives: the experts are drawn from different sectors of the nonprofit community to ensure cross-pollination of ideas and practices
Provide a global view: speakers give an overview of key issues so that you can eliminate any gaps in your understanding of the subject
Drill down to the specifics: speakers will also focus on providing specific answers to real-world questions that are common to most attendees
Obtain information you can use: the emphasis in all sessions is on avoiding theoretical discussions in favor of practical tools and techniques that nonprofit leaders can actually use

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SUMMIT?
The Summit is organized by the Center for Nonprofit Success, a nonprofit organization that specializes in bringing highly relevant information that nonprofit leaders need to run their organizations successfully. We developed the Fundraising Summit series as a follow-on to the Nonprofit Success Forum, a highly successful educational series on grantmaking that has been taking place around the country for the past two years. The Fundraising Summit drills down into specific areas of fundraising to give nonproft leaders cutting edge tools and techniques.

HOW DO I REGISTER FOR THE SUMMIT?
Simply click on the seminars listed below to learn more about the topics that will be covered in each seminar. Then select only those seminars that you wish to attend.

Location/Directions

The Summit will take place at the Event Center at St. Mary’s Cathedral. The plenary sessions will be held in the St. Francis Hall, which is located in the Events Center below St. Mary’s Cathedral. St. Mary’s Cathedral is easy to reach by public or private transportation. The full address is:

The Event Center
Saint Mary’s Cathedral
1111 Gough Street
San Francisco, CA 94109

Public Transportation
St. Mary’s Cathedral is accessible by both Muni Bus and BART.

Muni Bus: The Van Ness Station is the closest Muni stop. Take #38L route (not Limited), which runs along Geary or take #47 route or #49 route, which run along Hwy 101 to the Van Ness station. To walk from the Van Ness Station to St. Mary’s Cathedral, walk to the West (left) on Geary for two blocks. You will cross Franklin. St. Mary’s Cathedral is on the corner of Gough and Geary.

BART: The Civic Center Station is the closest BART stop and is 1.59 miles from St. Mary’s Cathedral. To walk from The Civic Center Station to St. Mary’s Cathedral, start out going southwest on Market Street toward Hyde Street. Turn right onto Hayes Street. Turn right onto Van Ness Ave/US-101. Turn left onto Geary Blvd. Turn right onto Franklin Street. Turn left onto Sutter Street. Turn left onto Gough Street.

Directions by Car

From East Bay (Bay Bridge)
If traveling from East Bay (Bay Bridge) take the 9th Street Exit. Go one block, and then turn right onto 9th Street. Stay in the two right lanes – 9th Street turns into Larkin. Stay on Larkin until Ellis and turn left. Just past Gough and the high school, make a right into the parking lot of the Cathedral.

From The Golden Gate Bridge
If traveling from The Golden Gate Bridge take the Lombard Street turnoff, continue on Lombard to Gough and turn right on Gough. Follow Gough across Geary. The parking lot has two driveways on the Gough street side of the Cathedral.

From the South Bay
If traveling from the South Bay you can take either 280 to Highway 101 North or take 101 North directly. From 101 North stay in the extreme left hand lane. Take the 9th Street Exit. Stay in the two right lanes – 9th Street turns into Larkin. Stay on Larkin until Ellis and turn left. Just past Gough and the high school, make a right into the parking lot of the Cathedral.

Parking at the St. Mary’s Cathedral
There is limited visitor parking in the lot at St. Mary’s Cathedral. It is free to park at the church. If the church lot is full, the closest parking is the Japan Center Main Garage located at 1610 Geary Blvd San Francisco, CA 94115 about 3 minutes/0.8 miles away.

Directions to Japan Center Main Garage: Go South on Gough Street. Turn left onto Eddy Street. Turn left onto Franklin Street. Turn left onto Geary Blvd.

Hourly Parking Rates at Japan Center Main Garage:
0-1 Hour     $ 1.75
1-2 Hours     $ 3.50
2-3 Hours     $ 5.00
3-4 Hours     $ 6.50
4-5 Hours     $ 8.00
5-6 Hours     $ 9.50
6-7 Hours     $ 11.50
7-8 Hours     $ 13.50
All Day In and Out Rate     $ 15.00
Early bird special $ 9.50 per day (Must enter by 10:00 a.m. and exit before 10:00 p.m.)
Motorcycle (2 wheels)     $ 4.00 per day

Hotel Accommodations
Most hotels near the Summit venue are within the $139-$269 per night range. The following hotels are within a one-mile radius of the hotel.
1.    Cathedral Hill Hotel                    BOOK NOW              .19 miles from venue
2.    Hotel Kabuki                                 BOOK NOW               .23 miles from venue
3.    Holiday Inn Golden Gateway     BOOK NOW               .37 miles from venue

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