Planning new facilities, expanding existing ones, or renovating requires specialized guidance and resources.
Planning new facilities, expanding existing ones, or renovating requires specialized guidance and resources.
Foraker is committed to offering resources and answering questions you may have about preparing for your capital project. Many of the materials developed for Pre-D are offered here, in a toolkit format, to help you navigate this process.
If your organization is considering a capital project, we strongly encourage you to complete the Pre-Development Self-Assessment Form to establish a baseline of your preparedness. After you’ve done your initial analysis and determined whether a project is right for your organization, a valuable resource that will help you with the financing phase is a handbook we developed – Preparing to Fund Your Capital Project in Alaska and Beyond – which is available at no charge.
For a consultation, or to learn about Foraker’s resources or services like those below, call us at 907-743-1200 or send us a note at info@forakergroup.org.
Please be aware that these services are offered in Alaska. If you are outside the state and interested in learning about them, please contact us.
Capital projects can be very stressful for the board and staff from the conception of the idea through the ribbon-cutting and beyond. Taking time to connect and get grounded as a team in areas of good governance can help navigate the day-to-day pressures that can arise. Our consulting team is experienced in all aspects of board matters and can be a valuable resource for you and your organization.
Thoughtful planning by the board and leadership staff is the foundation for success in all organizations and collaborations and a key place to start as you envision a capital project. Strategic planning is an opportunity for the whole team to move forward together by creating a common understanding of what is core to mission success.
Business planning is essential when you are contemplating a new program, exploring a capital expansion, or just getting off the ground. Ensuring that any capital project has long-term viability means this is a “must-have” plan in the sustainability journey. A business plan will not only spell out the business model that will drive the economic engine of the mission and the facility but will take a step further to explore the viability of generating unrestricted cash from either earned or charitable sources. We encourage you to use a business plan that incorporates the Foraker Nonprofit Sustainability Model to ensure you are looking at a variety of mission and money resiliency.
The language of finance is foreign to many people. Unless you have been trained in the field, you probably haven’t been exposed to all the components that are required to have a robust financial system let alone manage the complexities of funding streams in a capital project. We can walk you through best practices for maintaining your overall finances or help you with a specific financial issue. We can help you decide whether or not you have the internal capacity to do your own finances, or if you should seek outside help.
As you “graduate” from the Pre-D phase of your planning and prepare to raise the needed revenue for your project, we have a variety of services to support your efforts. After all, a successful capital campaign is never about the building – it is about the ability to deliver a mission inside the building. We have created a resource, Preparing to Fund Your Capital Project in Alaska and Beyond, that will help you understand how you might finance your project. For those who will use philanthropy as part of your financing, we can work with you to understand how charitable giving will fit into your overall budget and plan, and then help you set realistic expectations.