*(11) DonorPro Software Contract: RESOLVED, That the Board approves entering into a contract with TowerCare Technologies, Inc. for DonorPro software for donor information management for the capital campaign at their stated price of $6,550 plus monthly fees based on usage.
*(12) Wealth Screening Software: RESOLVED, That the Board approves an annual subscription to FindWealth software for donor qualification for the capital campaign at their discounted price of $8,999 for the first year.
The asterisk represents new agenda items. They were not considered or discussed by the Board at its Discussion Meeting on September 9, 2013.
40 comments:
Holy cow! What was Pursuing Ketchup doing with all their interviews if not pursuing possible wealthy donors? Now we need $9 to re-identify them?
Ugh.
$43,000 to PK for a feasibility study
$82,500 plus benies X 2 years to a Campaign coordinator
$15,500 in software
$800,000+ to PK for actually fundraising
This effort has been going on now for a year. Just how much money has this campaign brought in to date?
You need good record keeping systems for a Capital Campaign to work smoothly. This is a reasonable expenditure for this and future campaigns.
Records of what? Tracking zero contributions doesn't require software.
5:16 you don't know what the contributions are beyond the $50,000 announced for athletic training equipment. It is sometimes common practice to announce total contributions periodically or at unscheduled intervals of the campaign. Sometimes the results are not announced until the end. Don't expect a daily running total; you will be disappointed.
John, we're paying a Campaign Coordinator $82,500 a year, can't she use a spread sheet?
Plus, PK is getting a $800,000 cut, aren't they keeping records of donors and contributions. They don't have this software?
What, is PK getting paid just to contact people?
Sorry John, were at over a million bucks and I haven't heard of one dime coming in.
Grogan at least got $50,000 for the weight room in what a week?
So we have to wait 5 to 6 years to hear if the campaign was a success or not?
So now, fund raising is top secret, for "your eyes only" stuff.
Who gets to drive the Aston Martin DB5?
Relax guys, let it happen. You will be happy when we raise the $6 million.
"[THE CAMPAIGN CEO] They can serve as information resources and assist in the cultivation and solicitation of gifts. In most cases, the chief executive
officer is the best informed person and must therefore be the spokesperson for the
campaign. He or she also must be a motivator who can help generate enthusiasm for and confidence in the cause."
http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/files/course_resources/capital_campaigns_pierpont.pdf
Campaign confidence was never high in the first place in the community, John.
In my experience priming the pump is a good idea. Even Grogan recognized that ploy in his call to furnish the weight room by announcing a starter donation!
To date we've seen nothing from anyone on the camoapign that satisfies this advice from the above linked pdf.
"In contemporary fund raising, this maxim might be modified a bit. [my emphasis--PEOPLE GIVE TO PEOPLE WITH CAUSES, BUT THEY GIVE TO CAUSES THAT THEY KNOW, UNDERSTAND, AND BELIEVE IN STRONGLY].
GIFT RANGE CHARTS
As noted previously, the capital campaign is a demanding taskmaster. The most
demanding of its disciplines is the unremitting focus on large gifts and the requirement
that enough of these gifts must be secured at the very beginning of the campaign to
establish a pattern for others who follow.
What is meant by “large gifts”? Capital campaigns seek to secure 90 percent or more
of the required funds from 10 percent or fewer of the contributions that are received. To
ensure this quality production, at least one gift at 10 percent or more and two gifts each
worth 5 percent or more of the goal are sought at the beginning of the campaign."
-more to come-
continued--
SEQUENTIAL SOLICITATION
Out of the accumulated wisdom of legions of capital campaigns emerges an imperative:
to be effective, fund raising must be “top down and inside out.” The “top down” part of
the equation pertains to a strategy known as sequential solicitation. As noted earlier,
if the top gift is at the level required by the gift range, all other gifts should relate to it.
The top gift will set the standard for all of the remaining gifts. If it is too low, other gifts
will drop accordingly, and the outcome of the campaign will be in doubt. Sequential
solicitation is a necessity for goal attainment in capital campaigns. It forces a focus on
the larger gifts and discourages a preoccupation with the smaller gifts at the bottom of
the gift range chart.
[DID I MISS THIS PART BELOW OF THE CAMPAIGN?]
“Inside out” means that all fund raising should start with the “family” inside the
organization—the governing board, senior management, program staff, and employees.
This is a critical part of the quiet phase of the campaign. With the completion of this
phase, the program reaches out to the external constituency, reports what the board
and the family have been able to accomplish, and invites others to join in support.
If a governing board approves a program that will involve significant capital expenditures
and the money to cover these expenditures will have to be raised through a capital
campaign, board members must commit themselves to contribute generously. Others
will be less inclined to support a campaign that appears to lack generous support from
those who hold it in trust. It is ideal when the largest gift comes from inside.
CONCLUSION
A successful campaign depends on the strengths of the organization. The following are
fifteen essential elements that should be in place or in sight to give everyone involved
the confidence to proceed with any capital campaign, regardless of the goal size.
1. A case rooted in well-developed advance organizational planning with a sound
defensible business plan for the application of the funds needed to meet the goal
2. An involved and committed governing board
3. An informed constituency with a history of support and the apparent potential to
provide the funds needed to meet the goal
4. A chief executive officer prepared to support the campaign intellectually and
emotionally and to recognize that campaigning is not time for business as usual
5. Adequate budget for the incremental costs of campaigning in hand or within reach
6. Qualified staff with the requisite campaign experience or openness to retaining
outside expertise, as needed
7. Recognition of the absolute importance of soliciting in sequence, from the top down,
and establishing an early pattern of pacesetting and exemplary gifts to motivate
others
8. Prospect research and rating programs to identify and evaluate the potential
sources of support in sufficient numbers to yield three to five prospects for each gift
needed at various levels
9. Involved board and possibly other volunteers willing to serve first on a campaign
planning committee and subsequently on other committees, as needed
6:28, Thank you for that constructive explanation of capital campaigns.
Reading between the lines, it takes time, hard work, the up-front donors and the right volunteers to make it happen. I believe it will happen in Mt. Lebanon.
As it happens constructive changes and improvements will happen in our community that make a better place to raise a family, However, they may happen in a different order than some expect. That different order will depend upon the timing of lead gifts as you point out. The giving of the lead gift for goal H may happen before the giving of the lead gift for goal B so H is done before B. That’s fine.
The total end result is the goal. I am looking forward to the day our children and staff have an even better experience because of the success of capital campaigns.
Again, thank you for your comments.
Mr. Ewing, you second paragraph is right on except that you omit or overlook several key points.
#1. The first 3 points in the fifteen essential elements of which I show the first nine.
One this campaign started off without a sound plan. We were told the campaign would generate $15 million and it was revised downward a couple of times. The goal should been set prior to announcing it.
Two, the involved and committed board appears almpst clueless. The goals, the uses for the money, the timeline changes everytime the subject comes up. The necessary expenditures keep grpwing too. Plus there has been no upfront "Inside Out." in fact by giving out $1,000 bonuses to the top 5 administrators they made a case for the district not needing money.
Three, An informed constituency. This board has a history of hiding or conveniently forgetting or overlooking facts. A weight room without weights is a case in point.
Now I know PK is a very competent firm. I don't know if they're being shut out, doing a minimal effort because they're being compensated below their profit point or they've found the district incapable of understanding the whole process.
We're a year into this effort, spent or cimmitted a bundle of cash and seen nothing for it.
Now may be I'm not on the big donor list, but I am a constituent and my tax dollars are helping to fund this effort
"“Inside out” means that all fund raising should start with the “family” inside the
organization—the governing board, senior management, program staff, and employees.
This is a critical part of the quiet phase of the campaign. With the completion of this
phase, the program reaches out to the external constituency, reports what the board
and the family have been able to accomplish, and invites others to join in support."
What has our school family accomplished?
A million dollar gievance!
Raises far above the CPI in a depressed economy and period of high unemployment!
Addition of high priced staff!
Bonuses!
New and Increased Student Fees!
And a publicized coffee break for a Principal and Superintendent on the important 1st day of school!
Yeah sounds like a family that needs money.
8:02,
I agree we got of to a rocky start:
$30 million goal
$15 million goal
$6 million goal split between capital improvements and endowment when PK got involved and corrected the process.
I have a great deal of confidence in PK and I believe we will see a good return on the start-up money over time. If we don't, we know who to blame. It is not PK.
Have a good night.
John
.
John, I hope you're right but didn't the PK expert say $30 million was a realistic goal at his first televised board meeting?
Off to watch the game- GO STEELERS!
The first presentation PK made was for $6 million.
John, you wrote: "I have a great deal of confidence in PK and I believe we will see a good return on the start-up money over time. If we don't, we know who to blame. It is not PK."
Pk came back from the feasibilty study and supposedily set the $6 million figure. If we don't reach it, they're not immune to blame. We paid them good money for a feasibilty study and they're suppose to be the experts!
The directors certainly aren't fundraising experts.
11:18 you said:
"The directors certainly aren't fundraising experts"
There is your problem. We had an alternate slate for school board with a good deal of fundraising expertise but the community failed to elect them.
If the fundraiser fails the Board will put you further in deb, - Get the picture yet? That won't be because PK didn't do their part.
Mr. Ewing, the fundraiser won't fail, it'll just miss it stated goal.
Pretty much like-- we fully expect the high school renovation to come in well south of $100 million. Oops, we did our darndest to keep the project under $113.2 million like we said it would cost.
9:07, your comment is a riot!!!!!
I need to use it sometime... 8)
8:31 PM, last night, Timmy referred to this part of the campaign as the quiet phase, just as you did. But he never mentioned anything about " inside out." Imagine that.
Elaine
So, now that the school board is posturing as a fundraising board, using all the fundraising buzz words, one has to wonder how much they will each kick in to get the ball rolling? It's up to them to lead this by example during the quiet phase.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh- this is the quiet phase. You definitly don't want to get people excited in the quiet phase.
There will be plenty of time in 5 or 6 years to fill the stakeholders in.
Mrs. Delucca was talking about the quiet phase when she spoke about the wealth identification software and explained how it worked. After the lead gift donors are identified you will see a more general solicitation of fundraising. Don't expect many details until the research is done and the leadership gifts are pledged.
The quiet period may be longer than you expect but the foundation of future fundraising will be in place and that is good for our schools.
Mr. Ewing, when exactly did the quality of our schools become dependent on the largesse of wealthy benefactors?
Haven't the taxpayers of Mt.Lebanon always paid a little (sometimes a lot) more to sustain quality educational programs, for each and every child?
I have no problem with some individual or corporation setting up a scholarship program for furthering student education beyond 12th grade for instance or even donating an entire weight room of equipment if they are so inclined. I'd even join a fund to offer advanced training for teachers to get up to speed on say 3D printing technology, but to start funding bricks and mortar or staff salaries/benefits through fund raising doesn't sit well when there are districts in PA struggling to provide the basics of education.
It all appears eletist to me.
12:06, I'm afraid the quiet period will last until Ms. DeLuca starts collecting her pension.
John, the original purpose of the capital campaign was to raise $30 million in lieu of a second bond issue. As you know, the school district is charging you to get details of the second bond that was issued. During this quiet phase, they are hustling for a reason to raise $6 million that will appeal to donors. They can't very well admit that in order to complete the project, they need more money. That would require a referendum and they won't go down that road. So they are charging kids fees, building empty weight rooms, while handing out raises and bonuses. They aren't budgeting for "the grievance" of which the clarification should have been made in the spring.
In my opinion, by being the fundraising cheerleader, you are enabling to board to continue to spend carelessly.
What is the purpose of the fundraising? We know now that it isn't to avoid the second bond.
Elaine
The feasibility study was to identify donors. What a bunch of crap.
Elaine
Good questions, Elaine.
Keep this in mind, John-
"PEOPLE GIVE TO PEOPLE WITH CAUSES, BUT THEY GIVE TO CAUSES THAT THEY KNOW, UNDERSTAND, AND BELIEVE IN STRONGLY."
So while PK/District are in their quiet phase they may want to quietly rethink their message and method on why they need even more of our money.
An interesting read on unequal school funding from the ASCD (formerly Association for Superivision and Curriculum Development)
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may02/vol59/num08/Unequal-School-Funding-in-the-United-States.aspx
3:55, Mount Lebanon has never been about equal school funding. Quality education comes with a higher price. If you don't want to voluntarily donate to a fundraiser that is your choice and I will respect your decision and so will the Board.
John
Speaking of quality education coming with a higher price, I was reading between the lines of The Almanac article about Timmy's contract. It looks like he is going to get a significant increase in his new contract. Cappucci was quoted as saying "The new salary is a market rate for a district of our size and caliper."
"A June 2013 study of administrative salaries by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association of the 499 superintendent positions for which data was available, the top salary for the 2011-2012 school year was $263,058." Timmy's salary for 2013-14 is $163,776. Yep, now they're cutting muscle.
Elaine
Yo're right Mr. E., people do move here for quality schools besides other things.
This relatively affluent community has NEVER had to go tin cup in hand to provide them.
What changed?
What changed? Too many tin cups from too many special interest groups like the teachers union and the deadbeat athletic supporters along with a decline in the quality of folks elected to public office.
4:37, I believe you are correct.
For insstance, lets look at the testimony of the three superintendents at the Miller hearing.
They were essentially rattling their tin cups. Blaming anyone and everyone, but themselves for their money problems
What were their answers, protect our street corner!
No introspection as to why anyone would not want to graduate from their Taj Mahals.
No self examination that they need to be better, smarter, more efficent and fiscally responsible than the competition.
Their testimony reminded me of the American auto industry in the 70s.
First they ignored the imports, mocked them. Then they took notice and turned out inferior look-alikes that were short on quality, then they turned to protectionism.
So, today in 2013 what do you drive?
Elaine, so according to Ms. Cappucci that prime factor for determining salaries is the market rate?
How come the market rate wasn't used when the top district's super and finance director took pay freezes?
Plus, in business- sure you pay attention to market rates for staff, but at some point you have to pay attention to the bottom line. MTLSD has now turned to begging and charging fees to stay in the black.
Unfortunately, schools play this little dog chasing its own tail game.
Lebo raises salaries, so every district immediately appeals to their taxpayers: "if you want to be as good as Lebo you have to pay like Lebo." Then Lebo sees the rates aid in inferior districts and uses that to justify raising ours.
Does anyone find Dr. Steinhauer $50-60,000/year better than his predecessors like Dr. Smartschan?
Sure you have to keep pace with inflation, the CPI, but at some pointyou have to analyze what the market can bear, especially if you're loosing customers. (declining enrollments)
You don't have a fundraising campaign when you are passing out raises and signing early bird contracts which will include a sizable increase. You don't go to Democratic Policy Committee meetings to "rattle a tin cup" when less than 24 hours before, the board unanimously approves your new contract.
For some reason, I'm not buying it.
Elaine
Elaine, the quiet phase is the result of the taxpayer's reaction to the bonuses, raises, and the pending terms of the superintendent's contract extension.
today's Trib:
"Pennsylvania jobless rate rose in August to 7.7 percent"
I'd keep solicitationns for more money from constituants and Harrisburg under wraps as well!
Especially after taking bonuses and big raises.
I know, I know, don't tell me... I see them.
solicitations and constituents.
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