Capital Campaign & Major Gift Specialists
The mission of Mary Ann Winters & Associates, LLC, is to provide professional, cost effective fundraising services for medium to small non-profit organizations looking to plan, organize and launch capital campaigns and major gift initiatives.
ABOUT
Mary Ann Winters, MPS, is the President and Founder of the firm. She brings her more than 35 year experience of successful fundraising management in the non-profit sector to each client. During her career, she has directed capital and annual fundraising programs in support of building, equipment and services expansion, endowment, special projects and increased annual operating funds.
Her experience spans the areas of: hospitals, healthcare systems and health and wellness organizations; independent secondary and higher education; religious congregations and organizations; environmental agencies; social service and professional development organizations. She has worked with individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies and specializes in capital campaign planning, organization and execution; and major gift initiatives.
Mary Ann Winters has served in various volunteer executive positions, including that of President of the Association of Development Officers, a professional development organization whose membership includes approximately 200 representatives of Westchester County, NY - based non-profits. She has had the honor of serving as a founding member and chair of the Development Advisory Committee of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas (Dallas, PA community) and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of The Mercy Foundation located in Wilkes-Barre, PA . She holds a BA from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, Riverdale, NY, and an MPS in Fundraising Management from the Graduate School of Management and Urban Professions of the New School for Social Research, New York, NY.
She has the distinction of being listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America as well as several of Marquis’ companion publications. She has been a presenter on fundraising issues for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), New England Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (NEAHP), National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), Association of Development Officers (ADO) and a variety of other organizations throughout the country. Mary Ann Winters resides in Westchester County, New York.
SERVICES
As president and founder of the firm, Mary Ann Winters provides each client with her many years of capital campaign-focused experience across a wide array of industry sectors and with client campaign goals ranging from nine to seven figures.
We realize that each client is unique with their own set of challenges and opportunities. To that end, every engagement - be it campaign planning, organization, on-site direction or ‘of counsel’ services – is carefully analyzed on the front end so that the appropriate strategies and structures are put in place to maximize the fundraising potential available to each client. Specific services offered include:
· Capital Campaign Planning and Feasibility Studies
· On-site Campaign Direction
· Campaign and Other Development Operations Consultation
· Major Gift Approach/Cultivation Strategies
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
Mary Ann Winters, MPS recently transitioned to her own company from the position of Senior Vice President at Ghiorsi & Sorrenti, Inc. During her 25-year tenure with Ghiorsi & Sorrenti, Inc., she and her colleagues partnered with hundreds of non-profits across the country, collectively raising more than $7.2 billion in support of their missions and services. A sampling of non-profits with which she has worked includes:
Albany Academy for Girls, Albany, NY
Arnot Health, Elmira, NY
Boys Town, Boys Town, NE
Gloversville Public Library, Gloversville, NY
Hospice of the Valley, Basalt, CO
Jawonio, New City, NY
Lincoln County Healthcare Services, Damariscotta/Boothbay Harbor, ME
Marymount School of New York, New York, NY
Meals on Wheels, Nanuet, NY
Monadnock Community Hospital, Monadnock, NH
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
New Jersey Multicare Center of Workmen’s Circle, Elizabeth, NJ
Northwestern Medical Center, St. Albans, VT
Oak Hill, Hartford, CT
Putnam Hospital Center Foundation, Carmel, NY
Raritan Valley Community College, Branchburg, NJ
Saint Clare’s Hospital Foundation, Denville, NJ
School of the Holy Child, Rye, NY
Sheppard Pratt Health System, Baltimore, MD
Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul of New York, Bronx, NY
St. Mary’s Healthcare, Amsterdam, NY
United Hospice of Rockland, New City, NY
Women & Infants Hospital, Providence, RI
HOW TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Successful campaigns are strategic campaigns, firmly grounded in diligent and comprehensive planning. Ensuring the success of your campaign will require the leadership of your organization – both volunteer and administrative – to understand your project plans; the benefits that will come to the community you serve if those plans are funded; and the role that they will need to play in bringing those plans to fruition.
Following are ten questions for consideration by your senior management team, development team and Board to help you assess the ‘campaign readiness’ of your organization.
1. Does your organization have a strategic plan in place that identifies its capital, programmatic, and endowment needs for the next three to five years?
2. Flowing from the above, does your development operation have a strong case for support that is compelling in terms of philanthropic support?
3. Can you identify and evaluate the philanthropic potential of your top 10 prospects (and/or suspects)?
4. Can you project the overall philanthropic potential available to your organization?
5. Can you identify and evaluate the willingness of your top leadership candidates to play a role in the campaign?
6. Can you identify a strategy to raise the required campaign funding – one that you have the resources to employ in a cost effective manner?
7. Can you identify the opportunities and challenges you will face in mounting a capital campaign?
8. Are your senior management team, development team and Board knowledgeable and supportive of the case for support?
9. Are your senior management team, development team and Board ready to demonstrate passion, commitment, and personal support of a campaign?
10. Are you ready to ASK?
A key factor to securing the answers to the above is to partner with an experienced capital campaign consultant in conducting a comprehensive campaign planning study which will drill down in four important areas: image and perception of your organization in the eyes of potential donors; the strength of your case for support and understanding of the benefits that will come about if funded through a campaign; identification of campaign prospects with emphasis on lead gift potential; and identification of potential campaign leadership including Honorary/General Chairs, Steering Committee members, and ‘door openers’ to select constituencies within your service area.
CONTACT US
Hopefully, the discussion points outlined in the “How to Ensure a Successful Capital Campaign” section of this website were helpful in determining your next steps. Mary Ann Winters & Associates, LLC, would welcome the opportunity to further explore your organization’s plans and your strategies to secure the associated philanthropic funding.
Mary Ann Winters & Associates, LLC
914.582.1595 | Fax: 914.276.3271
maryann@mawphilanthropy.com