CASE STUDY
Insight into fundraising staffing to improve team effectiveness
Christina Harley transformed her fundraising team through realignment of roles and resources based on a fundraising audit and plan built with Growth & Co.
Christina Harley, VP Development, YMCA of Southwestern Ontario
Challenges with constant road blocks, lack of team motivation, and inability to move critical projects forward
Christina Harley, the Regional Manager of Development at YMCA of Southwestern Ontario, oversees a team of five in the multi-million dollar charity's fundraising efforts. Despite her expertise in executing diverse fundraising strategies, Christina faced significant hurdles. Her team struggled with project stagnation, inconsistent messages to donors with no Case for Support, and low morale, resulting in frequent staff turnover. Christina needed a comprehensive solution to optimize her team's performance, align resources, and a plan to drive forward critical projects.
Gain insights into team strengths and skill gaps
Christina discovered Growth & Co. through industry connections and recognized their potential to transform her fundraising operations. Collaborating with founder Larissa Stoddart, they initiated an audit of the fundraising department, assessing management practices, human resources, information management, and various fundraising strategies. This audit led to a tailored fundraising plan that redefined staff roles and responsibilities, ensuring clarity and focus.
Enhanced team dynamics
By eliminating ineffective positions and realigning roles, Christina has now retained 100% of her team and witnessed a significant boost in morale and productivity. The implementation of the new fundraising plan enabled the team to close major deals swiftly, doubling their revenue and building a robust pipeline of new projects.
As Christina put it, “We used Growth and Co to conduct an internal audit and to build out our fundraising plan. They helped to evaluate our team strengths and realign roles to utilize what resources we had. The audit also helped to identify skills gaps allowing us to see where we needed to hire next. The Fundraising plan provided a frame work for each team member to build out their individualized work plans. It’s hard to find the time to truly evaluate and analyze what strength and weaknesses or gaps you have in your team, but using an outside evaluator to do this made the process quick and efficient. It also provided a great opportunity for our team and donors to provide anonymous and valuable feedback. The audit opened our eyes to what we were missing and where we could improve. Larissa has also proven to be a great resource for ongoing advice and support to our team helping to re align our plan as we move forward.”
Christina Harley
VP Development
YMCA of Southwestern Ontario