PPRIFM

PPRIFM ‑ People, Processes, Results and Improvement in Fundraising Management

Fundraising is a key function in the voluntary sector. Without income, organisations die. "An organisation with a revenue problem, has a serious problem - all other problems are luxuries of success". While the client quote perhaps slightly oversells the importance of fundraising, generating income is crucial. For all the importance, many organisations treat fundraising either too gingerly or too heavy-handedly. Fundraising can appear a mysterious process to outsiders. In truth, because only people sell to people, many aspects of fundraising are only partially analysable. On the other hand, expenditure on fundraising and marketing can be treated as any other investment. PPRIFM is our proven method of improving fundraising effectiveness through looking at the total system.

PPRIFM's starting point is to look at revenue and marketing as a system. Analysing the system shows that the key systems cycle - input, process, output, measurement - applies in fundraising as in other business systems. PPRIFM consists of:

  • A quality approach to fundraising (business excellence and ISO9000 compliant).
  • Six key revenue stages, with key information reporting based on probabilities:
    1. Suspect, "green": market analysis and identification.
    2. Prospect, "yellow": early contact, expression of interest.
    3. Lead, "white": stated requirement.
    4. Commitment, "purple" : organisational deployment.
    5. Bid, "blue" : proposal or tender.
    6. Agreement, "red" : negotiation and award.
  • A management information system (in Access) for tracking and reporting.
  • Infrastructure - filing, reporting, contact management.
  • Training and support - draft documentation and worked examples.
  • Links to contact and knowledge management systems (e.g. Maximiser and intranets).
  • Links to project management systems for larger stages (e.g. big tenders).

Traditional product sales methodologies work best where clients are similar and many, pricelists hold firm, content knowledge is minimal and the client need is directly satisfied by the product. PPRIFM's flexible approach works best in voluntary sector environments which need to move a donor to action, not push a product. PPRIFM works for both corporate and individual donors, although it is better for larger amounts where its stochastic background helps to make sense of variable outcomes.

One client for the private sector version, PPRISM, was a large outsourcing supplier who needed to provide much better reporting of the true state of revenue and organise sales forces working centrally and locally. As revenue was a mix of very large and very small assignments, PPRISM's probabilistic based reporting provided them with a step change improvement and led to the board understanding much better the dynamics of fundraising. Another PPRISM user was a large distribution company which had had several false starts in new markets and wanted the rigour PPRISM provides to allow them to treat fundraising opportunities as client problem solving projects without getting out of control.

Z/Yen, as the developer of PPRIFM, is ideally placed to help the voluntary sector with specification, design, customisation and installation. Z/Yen delivers strategic, systems, people and organisational improvement - PPRIFM improves the processes, results and personal effectiveness of the fundraising and marketing organisation. Where needed, Z/Yen works to provide ongoing support for PPRIFM information systems.

Sample PPRIFM Reports

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PPRIFM Pipeline Values by Month for All Stages (Except Agreement)
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PPRIFM Pipeline Trend Chart
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PPRIFM Pipeline Probability Chart
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PPRIFM Weighted Expected Revenue by Month
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PPRIFM Product by Weighted Expected Value