strategic planning and fundraising counsel

our mission: to inspire leadership in volunteering and giving

Dollhopf Associates offers strategic planning and fundraising counsel to colleges, universities, independent schools, nonprofit organizations, and church institutions.

Mark Dollhopf, President, has counseled more than 200 institutions and organizations spanning a 40-year career in the nonprofit sector, most recently serving nine years as Executive Director of the Yale Alumni Association.

Under his leadership the Yale Alumni Association developed and implemented two major strategic plans, Ambassadors for Yale (2007) and Yale Ambassadors in Action (2012), which inspired staff and volunteers to create award winning programs that more than tripled alumni engagement and participation.

Mr. Dollhopf has worked with a wide range of educational institutions and nonprofit organizations in the US and abroad.

He designed and implemented the groundbreaking strategic plan for the First General Synod of the Diocese of Orlando, which over two years engaged more than 1,000 volunteers and 275 staff members inspiring a renewal in volunteerism and the Diocese’s first capital campaign.

In the nonprofit sector he facilitated the strategic plan that inspired the Academy for Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Central Florida, the nation’s first Junior Achievement magnet school.

breakthrough thinking

Today the needs and aspirations of volunteers and donors are rapidly expanding and evolving – often at a pace that exceeds the ability or capacity of organizations and institutions to effectively embrace them.

If volunteers and donors are not inspired, if their aspirations are not met, they tune out, or go elsewhere – to other institutions, other causes, or they start their own. To compete successfully nonprofit leaders have to breakthrough the competitive clutter and overcome inertia; they have to be inspiring, focused, results-oriented and, most importantly, personally responsive to the needs of donors and volunteers.

We provide staff and volunteer leaders with the strategic planning and resource development tools they need to:
✱ inspire breakthrough thinking
✱ think outside the box
✱ surmount the obstacles within
✱ realize a culture of innovation and abundance
✱ overcome indifference and scarcity

Volunteers and donors are eager to embrace new ideas, new services, new methods, new relationships. Let’s inspire them

culture change

Culture change is best managed through an intentional process – strategic planning – where stakeholders are vested ownership with the mission of the organization. Great nonprofit leaders understand that great nonprofits are built on a diverse and shared power structure. Volunteers cannot be told what to do; they have to be inspired.

Volunteers and donors want action — they want to “roll up their sleeves” and apply their professional skill and talent in meaningful and productive ways. As their needs have changed, so must the culture of the institution.

But change is risky and leaders do their best to eliminate risk. Great leaders manage risk. They balance the needs of the organization with the needs of the donor and the volunteer. Great organizations are built on negotiation and compromise, not tacit agreement or acquiescence.

We give nonprofit leaders the tools to inspire and to manage culture change.