Earning Criteria

• Module 1 - Fundraising 101: The Mechanics, Ethics and Strategies of Raising Money – Learners discuss giving trends in the nonprofit sector, as well as learn basic fundraising tools and resources that will set an important foundation for the following workshops. Learners review basic fundraising terminology, discuss common donor motivations for giving, and review IRS polices that nonprofits must follow.
• Module 2 - Unrestricted\Annual Giving: Building Sustainability at Nonprofit Organizations – Learners explore the importance of building a robust annual giving plan integrating with their marketing and communications efforts. Learners discover necessary components of an annual integrated calendar including direct mail, donor acquisition, digital communication, review/discuss trackable metrics beyond dollars raised to grow annual giving programs, and discuss growth strategies.
• Module 3 - Special Events - Special events play an important role at every organization as they can be both important fundraising and friend raising tools. Although special events can be very labor intensive for the organization there are ways to make these events both effective and efficient. Learners review and discuss the components of a special events plan, discuss appropriate post-event follow-up, and discover creative ways to raise funds beyond the typical gala format.
• Module 4 - Stewardship & Donor Relations - Showing appreciation to donors in the number one way to ensure donors keep giving to your organization. While thank you letters are important, effective stewardship is much more than a simple letter. Learners discover new, unique ways to steward donors to ensure donor retention, discuss effective language for stewardship messages, and review best practices and real-life examples of effective messaging.
• Module 5 - Digital Fundraising - Organizations must have a digital presence across multiple platforms and strategize to maximize their exposure to grow their fundraising efforts. Learners discuss integrating a digital strategy within their fundraising strategies, discuss Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other potential platforms for digital presence and fundraising, and review best practice cases.
• Module 6 - Building Your Fundraising Strategy: Planning, Assessment, and Evaluation – Learners understand how to build an annual fundraising plan and the small, smart, and successive steps you can take to improve overall results by evaluating fundraising program's true effectiveness, developing short and long-term goals based on current performance, planning for the next fiscal year, and operating a more effective organization which results in more philanthropic dollars.