The Power of Strategic Thinking and Targeted Prospect Research: A Small Shop Success Story
Excerpted from AFP-NYC’s biweekly newsletter, New York City Fundraising Matters, dated August 28, 2020
By Eleanor Cicerchi, CFRE
Eleanor Cicerchi is a former Chair of Fundraising Day in New York, the Association of Fundraising Professionals New York City Chapter Conference, and is a past recipient of the Professional Fund Raiser of the Year award from the Finger Lakes Chapter of the Association for Fund Raising Professionals.
In the summer of 2015, the future of the esteemed Blanton-Peale Institute & Counseling Center in Manhattan seemed uncertain. Net assets were only $7,000, the agency was having trouble meeting payroll, and there were no reserves. Ironically, the number of clients seeking its affordable, holistic counseling services had increased 91 percent in the previous five years. Now the Institute was turning away clients, not because the clients couldn’t pay (in 2015 the Institute had decided to turn no one away because of an inability to pay) or because Blanton-Peale could not hire more counselors, but because of the sheer lack of treatment space.
Unexpectedly, and certainly serendipitously, the floor above Blanton-Peale’s current offices became available for rent. If the Institute & Counseling Center could somehow lease that entire floor, treatment and training space would double, and increased earned income could be a turning point for Blanton-Peale, which relied on earned income for 70 percent of its $2.9 million budget. But the estimate for building out the space was $600,000, 2 ½ times what Blanton-Peale had raised in 2014. Where would the money come from?
This is the story of how an agency without much experience raising major gifts turned many of the principles and techniques of capital campaigns on their heads and succeeded not only in raising the $600,000 goal but exceeding it. Partnering with Blanton-Peale was Prasad Consulting & Research, led by Poonam Prasad, a firm with a widely recognized talent for turning prospect research into cultivation and solicitation strategies that bear fruit.
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The Blanton-Peale Institute & Counseling Center had been founded in 1937, in the depths of the Great Depression, by two trailblazers. The Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who would soon author The Power of Positive Thinking, realized that religion and faith on their own were not enough to address the devastating emotional, relational and spiritual upheaval of those who sought him out. So he joined forces with the eminent psychiatrist Dr. Smiley Blanton, who had trained in psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud. Their partnership birthed a first-of-its-kind clinic that integrated psychology alongside faith to address mental health challenges.
Today, Blanton-Peale provides affordable, holistic mental health care to people representing the full diversity of New York City. It amplifies this impact by training mental health professionals, faith leaders and others with the tools of psychology, mental health and spirituality.
The Rev. Dr. Shari Brink had come onboard as the new CEO in the middle of 2015 just as Blanton-Peale was at its lowest point. She had had development training and experience but had never run a capital or major gifts campaign. Nevertheless, she imbued a key tenet of Blanton-Peale, “Have tremendous expectations and believe in them, ” a quote from Dr. Peale.
Looking back on that uncertain time, Brink recalls, “We could imagine that a new second floor would make us viable…Our comptroller was the first one to make the case to me. What we didn’t know is HOW IN THE WORLD would we raise $600,000!”
The first break came when a goddaughter of Dr. Blanton, Lauren McGill, gave Blanton-Peale $100,000 from a family trust. The donor had already decided to make the gift, but Brink persuaded her to earmark the funds for what, at the time, was merely a dream of leasing and building out a whole new floor. McGill wrote a letter in support of Blanton-Peale’s proposal to the just-announced New York State Nonprofit Infrastructure Capital Improvement Program. The proposal was the Institute & Counseling Center’s first-ever attempt to secure government funds. Word of the proposal’s success came in December 2016: a grant of $250,000. At that point, $350,000 of the needed $600,000 had been secured.
With an operating budget of $2.9 million, Blanton-Peale was not exactly a small agency, but only 8 percent of its income ($233,000) had come from philanthropic giving in FY 2014. The highest board gift at the time – besides a $75,000 grant each year from The Peale Foundation – was $11,000; all other board members were giving less than $10,000, many considerably less. Fees for counseling and training services brought in $2.6 million, by far the lion’s share of the budget. “We were never known for our fundraising,” adds Brink, and there was no development, communications or marketing department. The only staff members devoted to fundraising, and part-time at that, were Brink, an administrative assistant, and the free-lance proposal writer who had developed the proposal to the State.
“Flying Blindly”
Prasad Consulting and Research came aboard in December 2016. Poonam Prasad, the firm’s president, had already assessed Blanton-Peale’s campaign readiness. There were several key elements of a campaign that were noticeably lacking at that point:
a campaign planning study, which would have identified prospective leaders and donors and given Blanton-Peale feedback from key constituents about what they thought about the Institute, its leadership and the plan for expansion
a polished case statement with donor recognition opportunities
a gift range table for a campaign of $600,000 and prospects for each level of gifts needed to reach the goal
“I knew pretty well that we’d be flying fairly blindly into a campaign where the usual plans, materials and phases had not yet been clearly mapped out,” Prasad states. Yet two lead gifts had been secured, and the board had authorized the Space Expansion Project if Blanton-Peale were successful with the State grant. Additionally, Prasad recognized that Brink, a charismatic ordained minister, was a great relationship builder and was comfortable asking for money. She would be a tremendous asset to the campaign.
In the absence of a planning study, and with no time or funds to undertake one (the build-out of the second floor had already started by the beginning of 2017, a requirement of the State grant), Prasad advised conducting in-depth prospect research on current, former and prospective board members, donors to the annual Gala, honorees and donors of record. The next step would be to develop and implement detailed cultivation and solicitation strategies for top prospects based on the research. The strategies would include asking amounts and suggested solicitors. The early commitments, Prasad knew, would build the cumulative giving total and create momentum, encouraging others to be part of the Project.
The Peale Foundation – established by founder Norman Vincent Peale and his wife Ruth Stafford Peale – made a major commitment to the project with a grant of $75,000.
With three exciting lead gifts in place, it was tempting to announce the campaign at the April 2017 annual Gala. However, board members had been focused on fundraising and gifts to the Gala and had not yet been solicited for the campaign. Prasad cautioned against announcing the campaign until after all board members had been solicited. That was the only way they would be campaign insiders and effective advocates. To start the board solicitation phase and kick the campaign into high gear, Brink made her own 5-figure gift and then challenged the board to give $200,000. A board member Brink had recruited early in her tenure stepped up with $30,000, the largest individual gift Blanton-Peale had received in recent years. Other board members, encouraged by the progress of the major gifts campaign, began to step forward with 4- and 5-figure gifts.
Board chair Elizabeth Peale Allen gave a personal leadership gift. She was also enlisted to invite and solicit some board members at her private club, gauging her asks on feedback from Brink’s prior discussions. At the end of the summer of 2017, every board member had made a gift to the campaign. Total board giving was $191,890, close to the $200,000 Brink had challenged them to give. There was just a little more than $50,000 to go.
The Public Phase
Most campaigns proceed in a start-and-stop or at least an alternating fast-and-slow rhythm, and Blanton-Peale’s was no exception. Whenever the campaign slowed or was ready to move to another phase, Prasad and Brink came up with new ideas: private tours of the new space, a matching gift mini-campaign, a donor recognition device or another incentive to regain momentum.
In fall 2017, with the board solicitation phase complete, it was time to cultivate and solicit prospects who had not been as close to the organization. Now Blanton-Peale was ready to go public with its Space Expansion Project. To reach a number of prospects, a cultivation event was held in November at the home of Lauren McGill, Dr. Smiley Blanton’s goddaughter. This was the first cultivation event the Institute & Counseling Center had ever had. Needing a compelling, printed document, Blanton-Peale developed an 8-page brochure that served as a case statement; a list of donors to the Project, ordered by gift level, was inserted. Tours of the new space and more face-to-face solicitations followed the event. Additionally, a calendar year-end appeal to prospects who had been cultivated made specific asks at major gift levels, $1,000 and up instead of the usual $100 to $1,000.
Another strategy to keep the gifts coming was a decision to acknowledge all donors of $500 or more on a donor plaque and to count giving for two consecutive years. A board member in finance was approached to make a challenge gift. Letters and emails to prospects carried his name and that of his company, a step that encouraged higher gifts from prospects in finance and business.
In fall 2018, a second cultivation event was held in the same home. A mock-up of the donor recognition plaque was displayed prominently, and prospects learned that they could make an initial or second gift to be listed on the plaque. The campaign officially ended on December 31, 2018, with a total of $635,000 raised – six percent over the $600,000 goal. The amount over goal was used to refurbish Blanton-Peale’s initial floor and reconfigure it to accommodate a library, which had been packed up and put away four years earlier because of space constraints.
Lessons Learned
Campaigns usually work best when you have key elements in place: a planning study, gift range table, donor ratings, etc. But what if you don’t? Can you fly the airplane while you are building it? The story of the Blanton-Peale Space Expansion Project shows that it is possible, but with some caveats:
Thorough prospect research is important. Research informs you about:
the giving capacity of current and past donors and new prospects
people, corporations and foundations that existing constituents have connections to
interests that form the basis of strong relationships
And research gives you a measure of confidence that the asking level is appropriate.
Capital campaigns can be, and should be, capacity-building. Face-to-face fundraising and building relationships with your donors make your fundraising sustainable over a long period.
“Excitement begets excitement,” says Brink. Both the annual fund and the annual Gala have brought in record income since the campaign. “And the premise of the campaign: that a larger Blanton-Peale would be more sustainable…has played out.”
Blanton-Peale’s donor base has increased from 86 to 209.
Donors giving $5,000 and more have increased from 14 to 25. Six board members now give $10,000 or more, compared to only one before the campaign.
The agency’s operating budget has grown from $2.9 million to $4.1 million in FY 2019.
Net assets were $1.9 million in FY 2019, compared to $7,000 before the campaign.
There is even a growing reserve fund.
Today, Blanton-Peale continues to grow, evolve and change – and is much better equipped to help the people of New York who are likely to suffer from mental health issues both during and after this unprecedented pandemic. This spring, with its annual gala postponed, Blanton-Peale launched a COVID Challenge Fund to meet the needs of unemployed and underemployed New Yorkers during these unprecedented times of job losses and uncertainty. Due to the excellent record-keeping, stewardship, recognition and strong relationships built, the donors identified and cultivated during the campaign have been the first to step forward once again to provide the seed funding for this new Fund.
Note: This article is based on a 2020 Virtual FRDNY session entitled “Surviving to Thriving: How a Bold Growth Strategy Project Strengthened Blanton-Peale,” presented by Dr. Shari Brink, President and CEO of Blanton Peale Institute & Counseling Center, and Poonam Prasad, President of Prasad Consulting & Research. For more information about Fundraising Day sessions visit https://frdny.nycafp.org/
At 12:30pm on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, the New York City Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals will present the session in an interactive watch party with a live Q&A discussion with the speakers to follow. For more information visit https://www.prasadconsulting.com/ or https://nycafp.org/News-Events/Upcoming-Events/from-surviving-to-thriving