HOW WE HELP OUR CLIENTS

1. Resetting organizational priorities in a post-pandemic environment.

A health and human services organization asked for help in creating a strategic plan for the first time in their 40-year history. Given the nonprofit’s footprint in four counties, it was imperative that they garner community input on their direction, particularly as they considered diversifying their funding streams away from their historic dependance on government funding. For this particular engagement, Evergreen hosted two community focus groups, engaged 49 stakeholders through group discussion and individual interviews, conducted independent research on the external landscape, and drafted a strategic plan for the Board’s consideration – all within three months. As a result of this work, the organization was able to identify new sources of support that would have otherwise been overlooked and hedge their long-term revenue risk.

2. Delivering a difficult message to focus on an organization’s long-term sustainability.

Evergreen was engaged to conduct a feasibility study for an organization focused on raising funds for a major capital improvement. There was a significant risk to the organization’s physical structure and the organization urgently needed the funds to remediate the problem. We determined that not only did the client lack the donor pipeline to raise the funds required for this renovation – we discovered that launching a fundraising campaign at that time would likely fracture the organization’s membership and its long-term prospects for success. We shared this analysis and our recommendations for a proposed path forward with the organization’s leadership and they were able to take action to protect their longer-term interests.

3. Building a major giving program for a cultural organization in transition.

A cultural organization asked Evergreen to conduct a fundraising feasibility study to understand donor motivations, explore potential donor interest in funding specific initiatives, evaluate internal and external challenges to fundraising success, and determine if a special campaign or new fundraising program was warranted.

This organization embarked upon the feasibility study in conjunction with the refresh of its strategic plan to develop an approach that would support future strategic initiatives while continuing down the path of fiscal stability. Additionally, with the executive director’s upcoming retirement and the board chair’s planned transition, the organization’s leadership thought it prudent to focus on fiscal preparedness to set future leadership up for success. The organization’s leadership believed that understanding what donors think about the organization and inviting them to consider increased or additional financial contributions during these next two years would increase the organization’s long-term sustainability.

While the organization was anticipating gearing itself up for a special fundraising initiative around the retirement of the organization’s top professional and volunteer leaders, our analysis suggested that the best way it could ensure fiscal preparedness was to build a major donor program where the organization could develop long-term relationships with philanthropists – rather than launching a solicitation for one-time gifts. We were able to use our stakeholder engagement to make a data-based argument to the organization’s leadership.

 Below is a sampling of orginazations the Evergreen team volunteers with. 

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