The organization that I work with has reached critical mass. We have money in the bank but not enough for our goals. We have an opportunity to hire a savvy consultant to help with pr and fundraising, but I know nothing about what would be an acceptable compensation amount. We don't have enough volunteers to take fundraising in house (at this level) and I think we could do a whole lot more in our community if we outsourced. Can anyone recommend some guidelines for bringing in an outside consultant and normal compensation parameters? I am getting a lot of criticism from members about spending money on a consultant but nobody else has time to do what the consultant would be doing. I really think it would be money well spent. Thoughts appreciated.

Working in a similar situation over here, Andy.

I'd encourage you to first define the goals you want achieved in the most concrete terms possible. Then, gather together all your organizations financial records, mission statements, documentary evidence of success so far....anything your consultant / fund raiser can use in preparing applications. If you lack these you will compensate your consultant for having to first prepare the paperwork that should have been prepared and constantly updated since day one before any actual fund raising can occur. Look over the list on foundation web sites to get the idea of what they want to see.

You want to consider the qualifications, previous projects, areas of expertise, professional qualifications, and of course recommendations from happy clients.

NO legitimate qualified professional works for a percentage of the funds raised. They are paid for their work at an agreed upon rate regardless of the result. Any candidate wanting to work for a percentage is immediately suspect if not unethical by their own professions published standards and practices.

Best advice: get a concrete statement of goals and starting point, send it to qualified candidates, and solicit feedback leading to multiple competitive bids if possible. And, the lowest bidder might not be the best choice.

Good hunting.

dave

One thing to keep in mind is there may be some hidden costs -- e.g. depending on what state you are in, you may have to file a return with that state and possibly have to pay for an external audit by a CPA firm and you may also have to report how much you pay the fund raising consultant on your 990.

Bob H

Andy,

Is your group a member of a larger history, humanities or non-profit alliance? Often the alliance has resources to help inform your decision process for a consultant. In Maryland we have the Maryland Association of Non-profit Organizations, and locally our museum is a member of the Arts and Humanities Council. Both organizations have been helpful resources. Perhaps there is something similar in your area of Texas.

Wesley

Go with a consultant with a PROVEN track record. It may not be cheap (but should not drain every dollar you have either) but you cannot be sure to get good results otherwise.

I have worked with the consultant before and I know the track record. I suppose I've got to sell the concept of "spend a little money to raise more money" to the other members. I'm also not sure that we have the contract structured right but I think the regional nonprofit management center might be the best place to go for additional information on that. Just thought there might be some specific advice from railroad museum types on here. Maybe a few phone calls are in order to discuss details.

Fund raising involves selling the purpose of the project and organization along with the organization's ability to complete projects and manage its money.

Get references.

If you are thinking of hiring a particular consultant, be sure the issues of sole sourcing, hiring competitions/ tendering, etc are adequately covered and the membership is informed- many organizations have needlessly ended up embroiled in favoritism controversy in cases such as this.It's even more important if any government or large donor money is spent.

You are right to seek help in your fundraising.

We managed to get funding to hire our curator three years ago and she devotes much of her time to funding. Yes, we went a different route and hired Anne rather than a consultant, but the idea is the same. Now we are up to three staff, plus summer students, and much effort continues on fundraising. Collections care, publicity, member services, and display development are receiving far more effort than was ever possible in the past. The museum is run far more professionally and the board now has time to devote to important issues that previously were put on the back burner due to time constraints.

Best of luck!

Steve Hunter

if a non-profit there are simple basic things that can be done, making fliers, making websites, putting public messages on radio/TV (they are free)

if anything check on marketing firms, public relations some printing media services that may do you some service without going for consultants, they can have creative thinking to help get the word out and help move/publish the info.

it could take some relief on your minimal taxed crew.

but then maybe you need more voluteers (and one who can do this kind of stuff)

Andy,

Get ready for the culture shift! Adding paid staff or paid consultants is the beginning of a transition that many of us have already been on. Some of your success will depend on whether or not the new hire "gets" the tradition of operating a railway museum. We started out with a part-time, paid educator about 15 years ago using a grant for seed money. Anne was great and paved the way for her successors. Fortunately she was hired for a task that everyone knew we needed, but for which no one had the gift or interests.

Wesley

Andy,

First of all, congrats that your organization is reaching this point. This is a real point of maturity for your organization, or any organization that reaches that point.

Second, this is all really good advice.

David

This advice applies to museum whose primary revenue model is drawing a paying visitor past a farebox or admission booth.

"It's easier to teach a violinist to play the bongo drums than the other way 'round."

Fundraising is complicated and perilous, as discussed above (and then some). On the other hand, publicity is a fairly straightforward craft.

The best way on earth to raise funds is to get more people to pay a fare. It is the perfect fundraising because it is the most effective at engaging your public constituency, it counts directly as public support on your Form 990, and it is compelled by mutual self-interest rather than a sense of charity. Also, there is no special tax law about publicity consultants, and it does away with the accounting burden that is generally expected with large and government gifts. So crank that publicity machine and get more butts in seats.

But Robert, you need to be able to build the available seats and get the butts to want to fill them before you can earn an additional cent by doing so - here's the problem: you don't have the resources to invest in creating more opportunity to earn through increased programming. When your operation reaches this point of critical mass, as Andy mentions, then it's time to pursue capacity building grants to allow you to do just that - build capacity to allow your group to grow and prosper, and in turn provide more to the communities you serve as a result.

dave

Andy, from what I've seen, done, and worked with, there's really three different worlds out there, make sure you're identifying your target properly before you pull the trigger on engaging anybody.

Target 1; when you say 'fundraising', sometimes that includes government grants and sometimes that doesn't, and when it does, it requires political savvy and connections that require a different skillset from other activities. Look for state-level experience and expertise, even if it's federal money, because every state does the program just a little bit different. There's so many sources, issues, and methods it can be both encouraging and discouraging at the same time.

Target 2: The regional/local private foundations, private contributors, etc. (particularly in your area) that seem to fund everything else but you're not on their radar. THAT is often the very best application for a paid fundraising consultant, because they are local enough to know the territory, can show results, and are also known to the target sources of funds. I've seen that work really, really well for some organizations.

Target 3: Public at large; that's an entirely different animal, think of doing online web page solicitation, national level; think like the program to raise money for 765 rehab. Usually not the same skillset as 2. Useful when whatever you're doing has a national, not necessarily regional, focus, smaller amounts, much wider net.

I've never met anybody that does all three of those well. We've done pretty well under role 1, but it sure is state-sensitive. I've seen museums and nonprofits do incredibly well under #2, but you'll have to take some time and get them educated about what you're trying to do as most have no clue what you are. I just stand back and applaud loudly when somebody does the online national fundraising campaigns well.

Our firm normally works hourly with a maximum until a firm scope is reached, which may take a while as we develop the plan, then do a fixed price. I really don't like to go to a full fixed-price contract until we know we're actually going to get something or at least have better than a 50/50 chance of getting the target. We've never worked for either a percentage or a contingency. "Usually" the hard work is in doing the actual application and grantwriting programs, and the research behind that so that the approach and plan fit the goals.