Grameen America

Situation

Grameen America (Grameen) is dedicated to eliminating poverty in the United States by providing financial opportunities to low-income women who aspire to make a better life for themselves by creating a small business. Grameen offers these women the resources and tools necessary to be successful: financial training, microloans, and a network and community to support the women as they build and grow their businesses.

Having invested over $1.2 billion in low-income female entrepreneurs and created over 105,000 jobs since its inception, Grameen came to Orr Group in anticipation of launching a campaign to raise $300 million, which would double the size and impact of the organization over the next 10 years.

Solution

Orr Group undertook a 3-and-a-half-month study to develop and begin to execute on an action-oriented campaign plan that:

• Defined a staffing structure and a plan of action for regional fundraising
• Defined the roles, responsibilities and prospects for the volunteer board and campaign leadership needed to achieve Grameen’s goals
• Included a case for support that articulated the goals and expected outcomes of the campaign for prospective donors
• Established a timeline of activities and benchmarks for the campaign.

We continued to partner with Grameen, managing and serving as Chief Strategists for the campaign through its first year. We developed specific solicitation strategies for lead gifts, provided prospect identification and relationship mapping for untapped markets, supported cultivation events, developed corporate sponsorship recognition strategies, and provided moves management support for all campaign prospects. In year one, Grameen doubled their fundraising from their prior best fundraising year and they have over-achieved their full philanthropic goal for the campaign two-years ahead of schedule.