| by Cynthia M. Adams, CEO, GrantStation
The Best Laid Plans
Part Five
As I said, life likes to present us with challenges, and
our Advisory Board was presented with a large one!
One of our most prestigious Advisory Board members passed
away. This wasn't a lingering illness. He was just there
one day, and gone the next. It was as if he had gone off
on a vacation and we couldn't get hold of him. (In fact,
that's how I like to think about him now.) It was a blow,
and unbearably sad for all of us. He was much loved. And,
he was one of the primary founders of this organization in
the late 1960s.
His unexpected loss certainly made the case for why it is
so imperative for this organization to provide a vehicle
for planned gifts now by creating an endowment fund.
The survey we had distributed asking for potential names
of the endowment fund began to come back in with this founder's
name suggested. It seemed appropriate that we have a designated
fund within the endowment in the founder's name - but not
that the entire endowment fund should be named after him.
With that in mind, the Advisory Board settled on a name,
and agreed to establish a designated fund within the endowment
in the founder's name.
It was apparent we needed to move the endowment launch forward
quickly in order to capture everyone's interest in making
a gift in our dear friend's memory. So, Plan B evolved.
I suggested that instead of running a major endowment campaign
right away (which would involve writing a case statement,
conducting a feasibility study, creating a timeline, and
basically designing the campaign from top to bottom) we run
a "quiet campaign" to get the fund established and take advantage
of people's desire to make gifts immediately.
Our plan then was to run a limited campaign targeting a
small group of people who would help us establish the fund
at $100,000 by the end of six months.
This quiet campaign would allow the Advisory Board to 1)
get our feet wet by learning to ask for support, and 2) use
the first $100K as lead gifts when we launch the campaign
later in the year.
Next week, we'll explore how best to proceed with our quiet
campaign. |
