Frequently Asked Questions

Strategic Planning

Q: What is the secret to philanthropic revenue generating success for small to medium sized non-profit organizations?

A: First, you must have a roadmap for where your organization is heading. At Hinnen Philanthropy Advisors, we sit down with your leadership and have a very thoughtful and transparent discussion on what areas you might wish to have some philanthropic assistance. Some organizations use blueprint outline models. This works for some 501(c)(3) organizations, however, what we see often is that one size DOES NOT fit all. It is neither unusual nor productive to see development team efforts quickly reaching fundraising obstacles. Unfortunately, this exacerbates the problems often causing more stress on your Board of Directors and Staff, and, at best, resulting in a plateau.

 

 

Secondly, especially these past few years, many non-profits continue to struggle with effective road-mapping results. We can help with all of this early on with you to make sure that you have a customized and comfortable strategic plan that is not only easy on your budget, but also reliable and accessible assistance with your decision makers and designated fundraising and development team members. We strongly support and believe in making absolutely certain that any designated organization team members are provided genuine and professional assistance throughout.

Prospect Research

Q: Why do Development Teams struggle with performing wealth screens and overall prospecting?

A: You would be hard pressed to name one non-profit organization who does this perfectly.  For the ones that do, they usually have large budgets with multiple staff members and outside resources.  Then you have smaller and medium sized 501(c)(3) organizations who simply just don’t have deep coffers to afford identifying and vetting current, past, and prospective donors.

Q: How does Hinnen Philanthropy Advisors help resolve these money-sucking sponge type job responsibilities?

A: We are realistic about this arduous task that so many development teams either designate one or sometimes even more staff members to do background research. This is extremely time consuming not to mention costly to the organization’s personnel budget. Another way that many nonprofit entities practice is to farm out the work, usually seen with large philanthropic conglomerate companies that sometimes charge as much as $300.00 per wealth screen!!! Having worked in the non-profit industry for as long as we have, we were forced to drain our budget on these expenses. This is where we said enough is enough! Given we have such low overhead and administrative costs, we are able offer your development team PROSPECT RESEARCH as one of our premier services for a fraction of the cost of what most firms charge.

Development Staff Team Coaching

Q:  How does your 501(c)(3) charity benefit from having Hinnen Philanthropy Advisors assist with Development Team Growth?

A: Generally, the majority of individuals who venture into the world of philanthropy do not receive a formal education on how to fundraise. There is a plethora of literature, online tutorials, sales pitches to large companies more concerned about their surplus profits rather than truly helping charitable Development Team members understand and learn that true fundraising is about relationship building with your constituents, not cold and often one time financial transactions.

 

 

At Hinnen Philanthropy Advisors, we pride ourselves in taking the time to not only share our stories of success, but ultimately get to know your team members helping and identifying the strengths as well as areas they need to improve and feel more comfortable making those ‘asks’ at the various levels. Collaborating with us will empower your Development staff team members to practice newly learned skills and help to refine the ones you had before meeting us. After the first couple of meetings, we are extremely confident that your team members will feel more prepared and comfortable with helping to raise more funds for your cause.

Special Interest Cause Related Fundraising

Q: What makes Hinnen Philanthropy Advisors stand out from other company firms and freelance individuals?

A:  We pride ourselves knowing that our individual professional and personal backgrounds align well with the non-judgmental and culturally competent work practices that many special interest 501(c)(3) organizations desire but rarely receive.  As a matter of fact, we recently decided to not work with organizations who expressed outward discrimination, racism, oppression, and overall social injustice.  Diversity and sensitivity often go hand in hand.  We instill this in our staff and help each of our clients appreciate the fact that making this high priority continues to generate better relationship building opportunities that then with our help transforms into fundraising dollars.

 

 

As a matter of fact, we recently made an executive decision to not work with organizations or companies who expressed outward discrimination, racism, oppression, and overall social injustice. Diversity and sensitivity often go hand in hand. We instill this in our staff and help each of our clients appreciate the fact that making this high priority. This MUST and WILL continue in order to generate better relationship building opportunities that ultimately transforms into fundraising dollars for your organization.

 

 

We call this our ‘Focused Comfort Approach Fundraising’ solution. This spreads a wide net inviting many nonprofit organizations to partner with us. We offer assistance to many different branches of laser focused visions such as LGBTQ Mindfulness, Celebrity Driven Causes, Sports Philanthropy, Health and Disease Related Causes, Mental Health, Social Injustice Related Initiatives, Family and Youth among many other fundraising dollars get generated. We are proud to share our open-minded and non-judgmental work ethic with you.