The strength and quality of the fundraising program’s infrastructure have a critical impact on the effectiveness as well as the efficiency of a program. In general, “operations” refers to those services, systems, processes and staff that provide vital support to managers and frontline fundraisers and may broadly include:

• Program organization; e.g., staff positions and responsibilities, reporting lines
• Prospect management
• Prospect/Donor research
• Data collection, storage and retrieval
• Gift processing – from receiving through receipting and acknowledging
• Policies and procedures
• Budget and expense management

Deliverables

• Analysis of current operations or any component.
• Recommendations to strengthen.
• Organization charts, job descriptions.
• Prospect management system recommendation and/or elements and policies.
• Gift processing procedures.
• Basic policies and procedures.
• Budget development for program or component; expense tracking system.
• Assistance in implementing change if desired.