commission fundraiser?

I would like to offer my advice, but from my perspective, some clarification is needed. I apologize in advance for possible differences in how I understand your query.

(1) Was the “feasibility study” one which was solely programmatic or administrative in scope---more of a “market” study? That is, were you only seeking to determine how feasible (and workable) it would be to integrate the new post of community development worker into your management organization according to the requirements and initiatives of your mission and vision?

If so, in my opinion, you should conduct yet another feasibility study, this one, more philanthropy-driven to determine whether you should go ahead with a fund-raising campaign to raise the money to engage that new staff professional. In this instance, while you have the justification---indeed the need---to have the services of the new community development worker, do you know where the money is to come from to pay her or his salary? You should not commit to such an expense before you know whether or not you can pay for it.

(2) Or was the feasibility study made regarding the new position, but made as well to determine your chances of raising the money to pay the salary? Did the Study test the fund-raising “waters?”

If so, and if the feasibility study was conducted in the proper fashion, you should have the following information at your fingertips:

(a) Strength of the case for support of the new position and the identified need it fills;

(b) Validity and justification of the position and attending costs, i.e., will the £150K cover all expenses for the three years?;

(c) Available volunteer fund-raising leadership to raise the money to pay for the new fixed expense;

(d) Availability of adequate funding sources, preferably made up of major givers;

(e) Organizational image and public relations climate favorable as the constituents and the community understands and sees them.

Regardless which of the two scenarios, when addressing your point about hiring a “fund-raiser,” Item (c) just above is critical to your success, in my estimation. You must look into your volunteer organization for the people committed to raise the funds you need. You should not put such an important project into the hands of an outsider. Why not?

Because you could have but one good chance for success with that one most promising prospect, and the ask must be made under the best of circumstances. You cannot do that with a stranger.

--- We can all agree that when a volunteer solicitor asks a peer prospective donor for money, the opportunity to achieve a significant contribution is maximized when solicitor and prospect share the following qualities: Career Status, Economic Status, Interest In The Organization, Mutual Respect and Social Position. When you engage a professional fund-raiser to come into your organization to solicit a prospective donor, that individual will most likely share none of the above five qualities with the prospect, as would the chances be high that a peer solicitor would possess all five.

--- Money spent on the hired solicitor will not be available to build a professional development department as you should be looking into the future. For example, what are you going to do after you spend the money for the three-year hire of the community development worker?

--- One of the most frequently asked for pieces of data by prospective donors is how much of their gift will actually be used to produce the work of the organization or will benefit the clients-users of that organization. When so asked, chances are that you will need to say that a high percent of his or her money was eaten up to pay the professional solicitor.

--- A hired fund-raiser may be asking the very same donors for gifts to another organization next month, or may have asked your donors for someone else the month before. No matter how you cut it, donor relationships and solicitation credibility suffer when the work of asking for donations is given to a temporary outsider. You must build fund-raising from within with the board of trustees leading.

--- I have yet to find the organization that believes it will only need to ask for money once. The business of fund-raising for a non-profit organization is the business of building relationships, and relationships are built on a personal level and based on trust. The hired solicitor is here today and gone tomorrow. He or she brokers no relationship between donor and organization through the strength of his or her ongoing personal contact---as only your board leadership and other volunteers can do.

Should you choose, I have more on this issue:

--- Asking For The Money Is The Job Of The Leadership And Friends Of A Non-Profit Organization: Never Hire Someone To Do What Is Their Responsibility
[url]http://www.raise-funds.com/c98forum.html[/url]

Best of all good luck.