* Designed for individuals with more than 2 years of professional fundraising experience. These six self-paced courses provide an advanced level of fundraising knowledge to animal welfare leaders, especially Executive Directors and development team leaders.

Modules in the Fundraising Executive Program:

1. Program Evaluation
2. Effective Boards
3. Prospect Research
4. Major Donors and Capital Campaigns
5. Grant and Proposal Writing
6. Planned Giving

Each module contains:

• A training video which runs 40-65 minutes
• 2-3 relevant articles to read in advance of watching each module’s video.  These articles will be referenced and discussed during each video. 
• * Course workbook:
  • Answer questions and complete activities in each module; Track module activities; Plot your goals for the course; Jot down ideas and insights you gain from the course; Identify your next steps

* Optional but highly recommended!

Upon completion of the course, participants will be provided with two hours of virtual coaching with the course developer, Mike Buckley, to review an in-depth evaluation of their program, discuss the major takeaways, and answer any additional questions the participants may have.

Plan to spend at least 6 hours on this program. You may earn 6 hours of CAWA CE upon successful completion of the Fundraising Professional Certificate Program. This program has also been approved by CFRE for 6 CEs.

Rate for Professional & Student Members: $199  (Learn about Membership); $325 for Learning Non-Members

BULK REGISTRATION: Enroll 5 or more of your staff/volunteers for the program at once and save $50 per person. Not valid with other discounts. Contact learning@theaawa.org for instructions.

Less than two years of fundraising experience? See The Association Fundraising Professional Certificate Program

Modules in the Fundraising Executive Program:

I. Program Evaluation

There are multiple ways to evaluate the health of your fundraising program beyond your total dollars raised.  Often times, organizations are so focused on achieving a dollar goal that they are not paying close enough attention to other important metrics within their program. During this course, participants will review the top performance indicators every organization should be tracking, discuss strategies to have a positive impact on these metrics, and learn how this data can integrate into program evaluation. Participants will also run their data through the Fundraising Fitness Test to gain a practical assessment of the health of their fundraising program.

II. Effective Boards

An effective board of directors for any nonprofit organization must be willing to share their time, talent, and treasure.  Boards of directors have a fiduciary responsibly to the organization and play a critical role in advancing its mission.  During this course, participants will review strategies for board member recruitment and retention, learn about board committees, review and discuss common expectations for board members (including fundraising expectations), and discuss effective board governance.

III. Prospect Research

As organizations become more sophisticated, it is important to work as effectively as possible with donors and prospects.  Prospect research is an important tool that empowers staff not only to discover new prospects, but to learn more about their current donors and communicate with them more effectively.  During this course, participants will discover cost-effective tools for prospect research, develop individual donor profiles for prospects, and develop individual donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans. Participants will also have the option of screening 100 of their prospects through iWave in order to see firsthand how wealth screening tools work.

IV. Major Donors and Capital Campaigns

Major gift and capital campaigns are monumental opportunities for nonprofit organizations.  These efforts are significant undertakings and should be entered into only after careful planning and evaluation.  A successful campaign effort will raise funds, exposure, and capacity for the organization.  Major donors are often involved in such campaigns, but are an important part of your fundraising strategy and planning at all times. 

During this session, participants will discover basic components of a campaign, including feasibility studies, fundamental steps to take leading up to campaign efforts, the advantages of hiring outside counsel, attracting and retaining staff, and board member involvement. A thorough discussion of major donors rounds out this course by delving into the unique strategies and planning required in the process of cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding these important champions of your organization.

V. Grant and Proposal Writing

Grant writing is both an art and a science and requires planning, data collection, and data-based projected outcomes.  Grants are also important opportunities to support current programs within your organization.  Grant applications aren’t the only times you’ll need to prepare a proposal for support, however!  During this course, participants will learn how to research grant opportunities, organize their data gathering and application writing process, select projects most likely to win support, use data to strengthen their application, and more.  Other important non-grant proposals such as those for corporations and major donors are also discussed so participants can understand how these types of proposals are similar and different from grant proposals.

VI. Planned Giving

The vast majority of the planned gifts that organizations receive are simple will bequests. These gifts are often received after a donor has passed away with little awareness by the organization until after the donor has passed.  Occasionally, nonprofits are involved in more complex gift vehicles (also considered planned gifts) that require outside counsel. Regardless of the vehicle, planned gifts are an untapped opportunity for most animal welfare nonprofits.  During this course, participants will review simple will bequest language, discuss gift acceptance policies, creation of planned giving programs (and effective marketing strategies for these programs), and learn about donor advised funds and additional complex planned giving vehicles.