i team

Client Service Offerings

Annual Giving Services

One of the i team’s specialties is annual giving. It is the foundation of all fund raising programs, and yet, annual giving (annual campaigns, appeals, funds, sustaining campaigns, annual drives, etc.) has evolved to perhaps one of the most complex, under-rated fund raising techniques in today’s not-for-profit world. So much so, that traditional annual appeals are hitting the wall, falling short of expectations, and getting tired and worn out.

The traditional annual fund was characterized by the one-gift/one-donor/single year dictum. It was truly an “annual” event with the lowest common expectation. Some of it was mail-driven. Some of it was not well planned or executed. Much of it was focused on phonathons. And special events in their various forms, such as class reunions, balls and galas, and move-along-athons (a cute name for runs, walks, and other competitive events) took up the annual giving slack, almost by default. The conventional structure was a classic pyramid—with a top-down, volunteer-intensive approach.

One thing is for certain: many of the older campaigns had one goal. Move the masses with a singular message.

Relatively recently, as annual giving campaigns expanded, development professionals realized that “the masses” did not act in homogeneous fashion—that we were often our own worst enemies when it came to treating individual donors as individuals, and not as some herd of displaced, unconnected donors. But our organizations were not and are not prepared.

Our role at i team new england consulting is to utilize state-of-the-art and state-of-the-science tactics, technologies, and techniques that incorporate the unique value proposition of each client in an effort to achieve a number of different goals. We build organizational capacity through mentoring, guiding, and hands-on assistance with implementation. More>>

Leadership and Knowledge Management: helping you align your relationships, your structure, your resources, and your knowledge. That’s what it’s all about!

Facilitate thinking and planning processes among groups of unique individuals, so you can participate freely and not get involved in the politics and positioning inherent in these processes.
Manage projects of most scopes and size and create capacity so you can do it yourself in the future.
Assist board and staff leaders with designing appropriate governance models for their particular situation; one size does not fit all and we come to the table with many different choices.
KM: design and implement comprehensive knowledge management systems for organizations, since our biggest challenge as an industry is how we manage what we know or don’t know!
Provide insight, experience, and counsel on how to create a successful collaborative partnership, because you shouldn’t be doing it all alone. Leverage your community partnerships so you can better and more efficiently serve your stakeholders.

The Discovery Process … a never-ending process that should be the foundation for all you do!

Evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your organization and its development activities so you better understand where your opportunities are and how to best approach your challenges.
Implement feasibility-style studies, while simultaneously generating genuine buy-in and commitment.
Design and carry out community-based assessments, needs analysis, and other benchmarking activities among your organization’s stakeholders to find out where you stand in the eyes of your constituents.
Design and coordinate your prospect research and information management systems that will help you reduce mistakes and leverage your knowledge with your relationships.
Financial Development: Focus on building long term capacity and long-term relationships.
Help you manage your capital and endowment campaigns so you can spend more quality time building long-term relationships with your stakeholders while having access to the best techniques available.
Design and implement a basic or comprehensive planned giving and bequest program, taking advantage of the i team’s vast experience in creating these valuable programs.
Design, create, and implement the best annual giving program your organization has ever seen! Our team of consultants loves annual giving and does a great job in helping our clients create awesome programs.
Coach and counsel you on major gifts solicitation, SALES, and high touch relationship training and development.
Writing: foundation grant proposals, collateral, corporate gift solicitations, etc. We are great writers!

Organizational Marketing ... continually enhancing your brand equity and building relationships.

Help you plan and create a Big M Marketing plan so your team can spend the time implementing it successfully.
Stakeholder Relations: building a comprehensive internal marketing and member sales program.
We do the Big M stuff, not the creative design of print, multi-media, or media relations collateral. That’s not our expertise. We know our limitations.