Fundraising Accelerator Program
A 10-week live cohort for organizations that want to build their team’s fundraising skills.
Your in-house team is capable, and ready to do more.
The challenge is that the person who knows how to fundraise, usually the executive director, is buried in everything else. There's no time to train the team or build a comprehensive program, so your staff never becomes the fundraising force it could be, and funds that are within reach stay on the table.
Our 10-week program builds a culture of philanthropy within your team, where fundraising is understood to be everyone’s work.
We coach your whole team, not just the fundraising staff, so every role understands how it can contribute to the success of your development goals.
Each week, we walk through topics like:
Annual planning
Donor journeys
Data management
Prospect research
Campaign best practices
Grant writing tips and tricks
And more
Through a mix of teaching, hands-on work, and group discussion, your team builds the skills to create your own annual development plan and see it through.
Your team will:
Understand and share a common fundraising language
See how their specific role can build donor relationships
Feel genuinely confident & enthusiastic about fundraising
This is for you if:
You have a coachable team that believes in the mission, but fundraising efforts feel disjointed
Your systems are pieced together with Google Docs and duct tape, and you need something sturdier as you grow
Your entire team is focused on growth, and needs the systems to support fundraising efforts
This is not for you if:
You’ve done several team trainings and your team can’t get on board
You need a team to build the development systems for you. We offer a fractional service for that!
Your org works in silos, and cross-team collaboration isn't a priority right now.
A customizable 10-week curriculum
Your team will receive one 60-minute training workshop per week, plus email access to the Bloom Arts Strategy team for questions and ideas throughout the program. Sessions are tailored to your team's needs, skills, and interests.
Sample curriculum:
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Conduct team fundraising skills assessment
Perform a mini SWOT analysis
Set team goals for the accelerator
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Overview of the different contributed income streams
Discuss transactional and authentic relationships
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Map donor journey (prospecting → cultivation → stewardship)
Understanding acknowledgements
Intro to systems for managing donor cycle
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Review data hygiene best practices
CRM Overview
Discuss Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
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Financial Reporting / Working with the Finance Team
Impact & Storytelling / Working with the Programs Team
Amplification & Promotion / Working with the Marketing Team
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Prospect research basics
Moves management for major donors
Soliciting a major gift
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Annual Fund / Standard Campaign Best Practices
Peer-to-Peer Campaign Best Practices
Common campaign pitfalls to avoid
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Best practices in foundation research and cultivation
Proposal development tips
Building relationships with funders
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How to determine if a fundraising event is the answer
Designing high-ROI fundraising events
Designing cultivation and stewardship events
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Review of organizational budget and fundraising history
Review of current contributed income streams
Define and track fundraising KPIs
Gap analysis against growth goals
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Development Annual Planning
Board Management and Support
Planned Giving & Bequests
Donor Membership/Benefit Programs
Bloom Arts Strategy is the fundraising team for arts organizations.
Led by founder Stacy Handler, a senior strategist for several successful arts organizations, we build the strategy, systems, and pipeline your team needs to raise money with confidence.
And as a fractional team, we bring senior experience for a fraction of a full-time salary.
The investment.
Every interaction your team has with the community is a giving opportunity.
We coach all of your staff on how fundraising works and where they fit into it, so everyone comes to see themselves as part of the effort. A skilled and aligned staff, raising more together year after year, is the return the Accelerator is built to deliver.
The Fundraising Accelerator Program is $10,000.
Payment plans available.
Frequently asked questions:
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No. It's live, not pre-recorded, so every session happens in real time with our team. And while we follow a proven 10-week arc, we tailor the content to your organization's needs, skills, and goals.
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What we teach comes from decades of building successful fundraising programs across the arts world. From there, it’s your team’s job to take the systems we teach and put them to work. And if you need more support, we’re happy to help!
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Fundraising touches every part of the organization. We train and coach the full team so everyone is aligned.
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We also offer retainer and project-based support to help put these systems and strategies in place. The first step is to reach out for an intro call.