On the train in this morning I finally got around to reading the November issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. “The Philanthropy 400” was the lead story. The story notes that the minimum in annual fundraising needed to make the list this year was $64.3 million. The National Center for Charitable Statistics indicates that there are more than 1.5 million charities. In other words, more than 99.99% of charitable organizations are raising less than $64.3 million annually.

This post is intended for those organizations outside the “400” – the 99% that are unlikely to spend $1 million on a fundraising system replacement.

Our goal is to present a streamlined, but thorough, approach to replacing a fundraising system: how a well-run project can be managed at scale.

A few general assumptions that went into the planning:

• One person would have up to 40% of their time averaged over a year to commit to this project (or, 720 total hours)
• Four additional staff would commit up to 15% of their time averaged over a year (or, 180 total hours)
• Time was not baked into the resource estimates to train all end-users, though a reasonable assumption is that all-end users will need a week of training (+/-).
• Less than $300,000 would be the total budget (not including staff time).

The goal here is to provide a thumbnail sketch of a plan for a small-to-medium-sized organization seeking to replace their fundraising system. There is a partial list of other variables to consider in early schedule development included later in the post, as well.

Plan Overview

The chart below generally represents the work activity spread over a 12-month period:

The first two months are spent creating a project charter and scope. Months 2, 5-6 are project planning. Months 2-4 are spent selecting the new tools or technology. And months 6-12 represent the implementation project. On the 12th month the project closes.

We will unpack each of these phases below.

It is important to note that this timeline represents only the project activity. It assumes the organization is reasonably prepared going into the project. And it does not account for a post-go-live stabilization period (likely 3 months post-go-live). There are quite a few other timeline variables that may jog this schedule a bit. But, our goal here is to demonstrate roughly a year of activity as a baseline that can be adjusted for what works best at your organization.

Initiating the Project

The first step is work designated for the Project Manager and Project Sponsor. For many organizations, a Development Manager or Coordinator will serve as the Project Manager. A Development Director or Executive Director is likely to serve as the Project Sponsor.

These first few months are important as they will provide the framework in which the project will operate. This framework can be captured in two documents – a Project Charter and a Scope Statement. The Project Charter will describe what the overall purpose of the project is, success criteria, high-level requirements, summary level timeline and budget, project oversight – or governance, and formally authorize the project to begin. The Scope Statement describes specific deliverables anticipated for the project, anticipated milestones, acceptance criteria, boundaries or exclusions (e.g. what is not in scope) and constraints.

These two documents should give clear direction – and ensure agreement as to why the project is being started and within what parameters it is generally expected to operate. It provides meaningful, actionable direction.

See also: Getting Started: Creating a Project Charter

Plan & Re-Plan

There are two planning segments built into the timeline below. The initial planning section (month 2) will create a detailed plan for the selection and a general plan for the implementation project. The re-plan section (month 5-6) will detail the implementation work once technology and vendor services have been acquired. Planning – and project management – is clearly ongoing, but these are two focused areas where significant emphasis would be placed on the work further out.

The initial planning section would also determine the type of selection effort taking place (ex. RFP, validation, etc.). It would also map the milestones provided in the project charter with an additional level of detail in the form of a project schedule. And, it would provide an overarching Project Management Plan that will guide the effort.

It is important to expect a re-plan session as the technology and vendor services you select will significantly impact how the project is executed. Re-planning also provides an opportunity to recheck early assumptions (ex. Schedule, budget, scope) that went into how the project was initiated.

See also: Creating a Plan for Small-to-Midsize Projects

And: A Well-Built RFP

Implementation

This timeline includes six months for the actual implementation. This is the level of effort to complete discovery and design sessions (e.g. to transfer knowledge to your services provider), configuration and testing (e.g.the build of the system and your opportunity to review and validate the work), documentation and training. Running in parallel is the conversion of your data.

The final step will be to formally close the project and debrief the work effort.

Resourcing the Project

A high-level plotting of hours per month by team member is included here:

You will see the hours project that:

• Project Manager and Project Sponsor collaborate on the early work.
• Project Manager remains constant on the project with peak activities around planning cycles and go-live.
• Project Sponsor reduces involvement once the solution has been selected and contracts negotiated, though remains involved via weekly status updates from the Project Manager and escalations as needed.
• Project Team member involvement begins once the charter and scope statement have been created.
• Project Team member involvement peaks during the height of the selection effort, and during the implementation at discovery and design and testing sessions.

Stress-Testing the Early Plan

Even at a glance, it should be apparent that there is a full 12 months of work on this project. Next we should stress-test this plan by considering how this work would need to happen in the context of your organization. A few starting questions to ask:

• Is there a significant fundraising season or campaign to account for?
  • An event season may require work stop for a period of days, weeks or months
  • A new system is not likely to go-live in the middle of a campaign – and especially unlikely at end-of-year
• How extensive is the selection effort?
  • Complex selection efforts that intend to solicit a wide range or responses can take a year or more
• How does fiscal year impact the timeline?
  • End-of-year (or month or quarter) processes may impact go-live date, as the neatest time to cut-over to a new system is at the end of a reporting period
  • Fiscal year may impact how funds are released or allocated toward the project

These are just a few of the variables to consider as part of your early planning work. Each represent constraints to document in the Project Scope Statement – and ultimately will inform major project milestones, including the eventual go-live date.

See also: Five Critical Project Timeline Variables

Summary and Conclusion

The goal of this post was to provide an early outline of work for a typical, small-to-mid-sized fundraising system replacement project. This exercise is very similar to the early conversations to be had between the project manager and sponsor during project charter and scope statement development. It is intended to represent the work needed to initiate the project, select tools, plan, execute and close the project. This outline can then be used to validate against the organization calendar and other constraints – and eventually, provide enough clarity of effort to provide early estimates around budget and timeline.