The Convergent Difference: Our Philosophy
Our Philosophy
Hundreds of campaigns have proven that our process of raising money for you nonprofit results in shorter campaign lengths, less burden on your board and staff, and most importantly, more money raised. These are some of the tools in our toolbox that allow us to raise more money than you may have thought possible:
A Focus on Outcomes
Not only do we work with your organization to translate your good work into language that is easily understood and relatable, we work with you to highlight your outcomes. Nonprofit investors (we prefer this term to “donors”) want to know what impact you will have on the lives of those you serve, so we work to turn your efforts into what we call Investable Outcomes™, and Investors respond with larger and more sustainable dollars.
Positioning As a Community Asset
Because we position your organization as worthy of funding because of the good work you do, we can therefore position your nonprofit as a community asset, which can be a game changer for many organizations. This is the foundation of our Investment-Driven Model™, which clearly connects your outcomes with the money we are raising, allowing us to monetize your good work. The best part… when you deliver you have the right in the future for even more investment, providing a sustainable funding conduit.
Asking for Big Dollars
Since we focus on Investable Outcomes™ and transform them into dollars through our Investment-Driven Model™, you will have earned Asking Rights™, which is the ability to deliver outcomes that are valuable to Investors. We discover what is valuable to them in the Feasibility process, and when you deliver what they value, you earn the right to ask for larger dollar amounts.
More Than Emotional Appeals
While many fundraisers labor with emotional appeals that will hopefully resonate with donors, we employ the often-overlooked rational component of decision-making. Our experience has shown that when both sides of the brain are engaged, larger dollars follow. Since you are hiring fundraisers, not marketers, we deliver a Case for Investment that often contains return on investment and value propositions. Our Directors are trained to use whatever path is most productive, and we have found a rational appeal often results in more money raised.
The Convergent Difference
Our success in raising money is what sets Convergent apart, but how do we achieve such positive results?
Our Process
- We lead the solicitation process with professional asks. This is totally different than almost all of the other fundraising firms out there, and it has even been said by competitors that this does not work. Our results, though, speak for themselves. Link to list of successes, maps, etc.
- We minimize the burden on staff, board, and volunteers. Because we are active on a daily basis in making the asks, you can get back to your mission and delivering outcomes.
- We don’t ask you to do our job. We are not just coaching you, we are in the trenches raising money. While most firms explain and choreograph what you are supposed to do, we do it.
- Works with ANY type of nonprofit, whether large or small, rural or urban, just starting out or been around for years.
Our ROI
Not only do we use ROI in our campaigns, we provide your organization with a great ROI on our services. We subscribe to the Association of Fundraising Professionals benchmark stating the cost of raising funds should never be more than ten percent of the amount we raise. We not only talk the talk, we walk the walk.
Our Timeframe
Our campaigns are measured in months, not years. A majority of our engagements are completed in less than a year, which is measurably shorter than our competitors.
