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 Focused Services
In keeping with our central philosophy, Browning Associates generally works with each long-term client in many of the areas enumerated under "Total Development." However, most clients begin a relationship by selecting from among the "focused services" in the list that follows.
Click on a subject below for more information.
Admission Office Audits
A Browning Associates admission audit examines the full scope of a school's admission program within the context of established goals, successes, and perceived weaknesses, while also evaluating marketing and outreach strategies. Through in-depth, confidential conversations with all admission office staff, those faculty involved in the admission process and decisions, the head of school, and other external affairs staff as appropriate, along with an examination of admission materials, schedules, and procedures, we evaluate the effectiveness of the admission function and make recommendations for improvement in the productivity of both systems and personnel.
The audit typically encompasses initial response to inquiries and later follow-up, including materials used (e. g. viewbook, course guide, letters, Web site, magazine); campus visits (tours, interviews, and families' general impressions of the school environment); office structure and functioning, including physical space; marketing (advertising, staff travel, alumni and parent volunteers); and tracking and analysis of admission data. Following the visit, we provide a detailed written evaluation of personnel, procedures, materials, environment, planning, and scheduling, including specific recommendations in areas that need improvement. Annual Fund
The foundation of all other fundraising, annual giving supplies a consistent percentage of an organization's operating budget. Its importance, therefore, cannot be overstated. The well-planned fund uses attractive materials, individualized approaches, and specific gift requests to educate the entire constituency about program, progress, and current needs. Carefully chosen and committed volunteers make the annual fund more personal and thus more effective.
Browning Associates provides counsel in all areas of the annual fund, including establishing a timetable, planning and creating appeal materials, selecting volunteers and preparing job descriptions, acknowledging gifts, keeping the program on track and on schedule, and critiquing the fund at year-end. Attitudinal and Feasibility Studies
Browning Associates begins each development relationship with an attitudinal and feasibility study.
We conduct confidential, personal, face-to-face interviews with members of the client's constituency – trustees and, in the case of schools, parents, alumni, and former parents – who fit three criteria: They know the institution very well, they feel positively about the institution, and they have significant financial resources. Our interviews are designed to determine the perceptions underlying constituents' attitudes and to assess constituents' knowledge of, areas of interest in, and hopes for the institution. In addition, we test donors' areas of interest against the institution's needs. We glean information on constituents' perceptions of both the amount the institution could raise and the costs associated with the target initiatives as outlined in a preliminary statement of needs, while also probing the constituents' potential roles in helping the institution reach its strategic goals. Knowledge gained from the study provides a clear understanding of the institution's strengths and weaknesses, the issues it faces, and the prospects for fundraising. Further, the interviews also help identify potential key volunteers, including trustees. Board and Administrative Retreats
Browning Associates conducts retreats for not-for-profit institutions focusing on strategic planning, effective governance, programmatic problem-solving, resolving specific issues, and prioritizing fundraising endeavors for the trustees. These events, often in settings away from the institution, typically are weekend-long and create an atmosphere in which trustees and administrators together can have undistracted and relaxed time to consider major issues facing the organization.
Format typically includes small-group discussions, lectures, and goal-setting sessions. Browning Associates' role as facilitator includes carefully planning the meeting, acting as a catalyst for discussion, and keeping the proceedings on track. In short, the retreat is intended to provide a setting in which thoughtful and open discussion can lead to strategic action. Capital Giving
Capital fundraising inevitably involves a series of basic steps: identification of major prospects, research on those prospects, cultivation of prospects' ever-deepening interest in the institution and then their meaningful involvement with it, carefully planned solicitations, and personalized acknowledgment and ongoing stewardship of the resulting gifts. Browning Associates supports a client through all of these steps. To do so, the firm works closely with the development office, board leadership, and the institution's chief executive.
Capital fundraising is enhanced by attractive publications that educate readers about the institution, by events that celebrate the institution's programs, and by thoughtful personal correspondence from the institution's leader. As is appropriate given our belief in "Total Development," Browning Associates provides support in all of these areas. Through attendance at development committee meetings, regular visits to campus, and unlimited e-mail and telephone support, we work with the client to see that capital fundraising stays on track and that prospects' giving potentials are realized. In planned giving as well as outright capital giving, we help with program planning, case statement preparation, and volunteer identification and offer advice on research, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of donors. Development Office Audits and Organization
A Browning Associates audit studies in depth the internal operations of a development office, evaluating its effectiveness and making recommendation for improvement in the productivity of both systems and personnel.
The study typically encompasses all functions related to fundraising. These include research, cultivation, and solicitation of annual, capital, and planned gifts; recording and acknowledging donations; long- and short-range planning for the office and the institution; promotional events; communications vehicles and public relations; reporting to trustees and constituents; and interaction with other entities both within and outside the organization. An office audit proceeds in three stages. First, before visiting the office, we review material: job descriptions, organizational charts, publications, press releases, fundraising pieces, calendars, reports, inventory of hardware and software. Then, during our on-site visit, we interview all members of the development staff and appraise manual and automated systems. Following the visit, we provide a detailed written analysis of our findings that evaluates personnel, procedures, equipment, planning, and scheduling. This report contains specific recommendations arranged in order of priority. Governance
A strong board of trustees is critical to the success of any institution. Browning Associates believes that a board should not only handle its traditional roles of hiring, nurturing, and evaluating the leader of the institution; of fiduciary oversight; and of knowing the institution thoroughly to represent it well in private and public but also should select new trustees in a thorough and deliberate process, evaluate itself, develop a true sense of ownership, plan thoughtfully for the future, and raise capital funds on an ongoing basis, as well as invest the institution’s endowment astutely and balance the yearly budget.
The make-up of a board—size, membership, and responsibilities—is particularly complex in the 21st century. The question we now hear most often is "How can we help this board to be even more effective?" Browning Associates assists clients in all aspects of board organization and structure. Since each institution is different, we help develop a governance style appropriate to its unique vision and mission. Planned Giving
Annual giving, capital giving (including endowment), and planned giving form the tripod of charitable vehicles that support an institution's operations. Browning Associates recognizes the difficulty in establishing a well-run, ongoing planned giving program, particularly where budgets are tight. As a result, often too little direct attention is given to preparation for planned giving – identification, cultivation, and solicitation of prospects, and stewardship of donors.
Browning Associates long has felt that a properly organized and executed planned giving program will begin to produce results in three to five years and, over a longer time, will assist immeasurably in the steady growth of endowment. The firm can help establish a program, set goals, recruit and train volunteers, and prepare materials. Strategic Planning
A primary responsibility of any board of trustees is to plan strategically for the long-term needs of the institution. Browning Associates has assisted numerous institutions in developing, articulating, and implementing strategic plans. In most cases this has been a vital step towards the development of case statements outlining specific fundraising challenges and priorities.
In planning, Browning Associates works with board leadership and a core group of trustees to lead a process that can involve carefully selected participants in reaffirming the institutional mission and charting directions for the future, most often a five-year window. The process, which can be as short as a weekend or as extended as a year, often begins with a day-long retreat where administrators, trustees, and other leaders examine the institution's mission (which is the foundation for all planning) and brainstorm a vision of the future. Such a retreat, facilitated by Browning Associates, will identify issues that will become the skeleton of the plan. These issues will cluster under such headings as personnel, program, plant, finance, governance, marketing, and development – headings that will give organizational design to the plan, as task forces are formed around them to articulate the goals and strategies that ultimately become the strategic plan. Browning Associates works closely with the core planning group to monitor the process, keep the task forces focused, and arbitrate conflicting issues so the plan is unified and comprehensive. |
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