The Benevon Curriculum for Sustainable Funding^™ trains nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes in a mission-based system for building sustainable funding from individual donors. The Benevon Model bridges the gap from the more traditional methods of fundraising into the world of major gifts, allowing each organization to take its financial future into its own hands.

For organizations to achieve long-term sustainable funding with this system, it is essential that the Benevon Model be sustained over time within the organization. This is why our workshops are designed for teams of seven people—usually board, staff, and volunteers. In preparation for each workshop, our staff will work with you to craft the ideal team for your specific organization. Each workshop includes a year of follow-up telephone coaching from one of our experienced coaches. Our upper-level workshops also include training for new team members, in order to keep the model fresh and vital over time.

Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program^™:
Benevon's Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program is a special training and coaching package for organizations serious about being trained and coached to build long-term financial sustainability.

The curriculum includes:

Benevon 101: Building Sustainable Funding for Your Mission
This fast-paced, hands-on two-day workshop trains organizations to implement the Benevon Model. By the end of the two days, your team will have developed a customized plan for systematically building lifelong donors by incorporating Point of Entry^® Events, Cultivation, Asking, and Free Feel-Good Cultivation Events^™. Included in the workshop tuition are four hours of follow-up telephone coaching to ensure your team's success.

Organizations that attend this workshop, implement the model, and participate in the follow-up coaching raise an average of approximately $184,000 within the first year after the workshop (including pledges). Staying with the model over time, organizations are able to cumulatively increase their funding year after year, building a strong major gifts program, capital, and endowment.

Benevon 201: Fully Integrating the Model
After their initial success, most organizations are eager to move on to a more complete implementation of each component of the model. This two-day intermediate workshop refines each aspect of the plan designed in Benevon 101, with a focus on cultivating donor relationships and more deeply integrating each component of the model into the long-term, daily life of the organization. This workshop is followed by four hours of private phone coaching for each organization.

Prerequisite: Benevon 101

Benevon 301: Major Gifts—Moving Towards Sustainability
Now into their third or fourth year of using the model, most groups are ready to systematically cultivate their major donors, often for a formal capital or major gifts campaign. They can see the power of the model to develop an endowment fund over the next five years. This full-year program includes a two-day workshop, along with follow-up coaching throughout the year, and an optional but highly recommended two-day hands-on lab session, to develop a system for cultivating donors and asking for major gifts.

Prerequisite: Benevon 201 and registration in Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program

Benevon Major Gifts Laboratory
The Benevon Major Gifts Lab is a two-day, hands-on lab focused on designing and practicing specific cultivation and asking strategies for all the major donors you are planning to ask for substantial gifts over the next year. This is an optional component of the advanced workshops (301, 401, and 501), but rigorous practice of these skills is at the heart of sustainable funding.

Prerequisite: Benevon 301 and registration in Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program

Benevon 401: Sustainability—Strategy, Practice, Results
Having experienced impressive results from major gifts, groups at the 401 level see that sustainable funding is within their reach. Yet how can they best shape and "package" the next phase of their implementation—which is often an endowment? Each group leaves 401 with a customized measurable strategy for attaining sustainable funding, having planned and practiced all the next steps.

Prerequisite: Benevon 301 and registration in Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program

Benevon 501: Generating Sustainability
Now focused on their sustainable funding objectives which are clearly in sight, 501 groups work on enhancing every aspect of their strategy to bring in major gifts, making "course corrections" on existing strategy, and further customizing and integrating every aspect of the model so it lives on in their organization.

Prerequisite: Benevon 401 and registration in Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program

More Information:
Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information about Benevon Workshops.

To find out about upcoming Benevon Workshops, see our Calendar of Available Workshops.

To learn more about this model, please visit our Introductory Sessions page for information about our free in-person, conference call, and online sessions.

Visit our Testimonials page to read stories from organizations that attended our workshops and implemented the Benevon Model.