Festival of Trees—A Strategic Planning Case Study

Fund Raising—A Strategic Planning Case Study

By Paul Winters

I have been a strategic planning consultant for over 10 years and have consulted with several hundred clients during that time span. Rarely do I have the opportunity to apply the concepts to a start-up, and, even more rarely, to apply it to a non-profit organization.

When we relocated to this community, I joined a local service club. Like most service organizations, they hold annual fund raising events. As a newcomer, I spent the first year helping out where I could and just watching how the club functioned.

Seeing the amount of effort that went into that year’s fundraiser, I suggested that the club create a new one. As frequently happens when suggestions are made, I was quickly appointed to lead the effort in identifying a new event.

In many situations like this, the normal process seems to be to throw a committee together, generate a number of great ideas, pick one and launch the event in a flurry of activity and adrenaline. In my past I had grudgingly worked on a number of fundraisers and developed a few fundamental conclusions: a) You can work hard to make a little money, or work hard and make a lot of money; b) Significant monies come from sponsorships, not from participants.

Planning Process

In order to make this a successful event and avoid many of the normal pitfalls, I retired to my office and, using the strategic planning tools I apply to client businesses, created a process for this event. Most readers will be familiar with the process, and in broad general terms the process was:

· Understand the mission

· Clearly state the objectives and goals

· Analyze the market segment and determine products (event) that will fit the objectives

· Create an organization structure and recruit talented people to be responsible and accountable for specific functions

· Create tactical plans

· Execute plans and then measure results

Mission, Objectives and Goals

Clearly, the mission was to identify a better fundraiser than the club was currently doing. I then created the initial planning objectives that would help guide the selection of an event and provide long-range direction. They were:

1. Project has potential to be a long-term income generator.

2. Project does not focus on the pocket books of club members, but involves them in the operation of the activity.

3. Project provides value to the participants.

4. Project has the potential to raise significant dollars (over time).

5. Project enhances the image and visibility of the club in the Community, not only for hosting the event, but also for the use of proceeds for the betterment of the community.

At the same time that the objectives were created, I created the goals to support them. They ended up being:

1. Potential for the event to have at least a 25 year life.

2. 50% of the amount raised should be from outside of the club.

3. Participants are willing to pay to attend the event.

4. First year should raise approximately what the club’s current fundraiser makes ($20,000) and within five years raise $100,000.

5. Event has high profile providing opportunity for publicity.

Executing the Plan

As is the case in business planning, it was imperative at this point to present the objectives and goals to the club’s board and, after their approval, present them to the entire club. The board and the club were enthusiastic in their approval, but, admittedly, a little skeptical about the brashness of the goals. After all, it far exceeded anything the club had ever done in the past.

Now we finally got to the point where we could form a committee. In the space of just a few short meetings, we were able to generate 45 ideas for possible events and in a few more meetings, determine which one fit the objectives.

The board approved the selection and, as they say, the rest is history.

Measurements

What was the event? It is the Vancouver Rotary Club’s Festival of Trees!

What were the measurements against the goals? The first event was held during Thanksgiving week of 1996. It raised $18,000 and attracted 1,800 visitors. Statistics in next years of event were: 1997--$35,000 and 3,000 visitors; 1998--$60,000 and 5,000 visitors; 1999--$84,000 and 6,500 visitors. The year 2000 event is forecast to hit the original goal of $100,000.

The point of this short article is that having clearly defined mission, objectives and goals will dramatically increase the probability of your success. It still requires dedicated, hard-working, competent people, but now you can keep their efforts focused.

Your job as leader of an organization is to assure that the organization has a focus and an organization structure within which people can operate. You must then create a measurement system to assure that the goals are being reached.