Bio
Robin G. Bellinger has over 35 years of fundraising and development management experience with non-profit, higher education and healthcare institutions. Before offering philanthropy consultant services, Bellinger served as the Chief Development Officer, Senior Vice President for Development for Riley Children’s Foundation; moving the RCF ranking among 170 Children’s Miracle Network Institutions from #1 in the United States to #1 in North America and increasing annual support from $21 million to $27 million in a three-year period. She served on the RCF leadership team and managed all aspects of fundraising, donor relations, development services and information technology.
During her eight-year tenure at Purdue, Bellinger served as Interim Vice President for Development and Associate Vice President for Advancement. She was a member of The Campaign for Purdue management team that successfully raised $1.7 billion toward a $1.3 billion campaign goal. Bellinger managed constituent based programs across campus and designed and implemented specialized university-wide campaign programs and initiatives. Reporting to the President, she served on the President’s Cabinet and managed international, national and state-wide awareness, cultivation and solicitation activities.
Bellinger co-chaired the campus design team for Purdue’s strategic plan, New Synergies. She was also a member of Purdue’s Master Plan Committee, the Business Service Advisory Council and the Information Technology Oversight Committee. In December 2010, Bellinger received regional recognition from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education for best practices in fundraising and development.
Bellinger’s experience includes development and campaign management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and serving as the executive director of the March of Dimes in Southwestern Indiana and Illinois and Southeastern Wisconsin. She also established a camp for terminally ill children in Wisconsin.
An active member of the Lafayette community, Bellinger currently serves as a board member of the Greater Lafayette YWCA Foundation and chair of the development committee, in addition to serving as a board member of the Western Indiana Franciscan Alliance Foundation and the First United Methodist Church Foundation. She is a member of the 100 Women Who Care, The Community Foundation Greater Lafayette. Bellinger serves as a volunteer development consultant to non-profit organizations and during her tenure at Purdue led and organized support for more than 25 community development audits.
Bellinger earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Mount Mary College in Wisconsin and an executive master’s in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Services
Benchmarking
With limited resources and pressure for immediate funding, many non-profit institutions do not have the staff or time needed to benchmark fundraising results for best practices and under-performing programs. Benchmarking information is available through many resources; compiling, analyzing and transforming performance metrics into useful information can be time consuming but is necessary to determine opportunities for growth or change. We can work with your institution to create and review standard fundraising reports; we will compile a results comparison with peer institutions and recommend strategies for continued success.
Strategic Planning
Gearing-up for a campaign often comes at the expense of an institution’s annual fund, minimizing general support. An assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is the base for strategic planning and building a strong campaign plan that enhances annual support while identifying, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding support toward bold and fundable ideas. As a result of campaign and strategic planning, special programs or initiatives might be identified and initiated or broadened, such as principle gifts, women in philanthropy, and grateful patients or families, friends, parents or alumni. We can assist with documented plans, reviewing campaign materials, volunteer group guidelines, and metrics for success and accountability reports.
Development Audits
With declining government funding and increasing needs, most institution boards, presidents, executive directors and chief development officers are looking for growth in fundraising. Before investing additional resources an internal review process is needed to assess volunteer support, staffing, giving trends, policies and procedures, database ease and use, technical resources, and communication techniques. We can complete an audit, summary of findings and recommended opportunities for enhanced fundraising. Additional consulting may include: creating policies and procedures, realistic performance guidelines and expectations, and position descriptions; conducting targeted benchmarking; and assisting with strategic short and long-term development plans.
Recruiting, Hiring, and Training
Your fundraising team is crucial to the growth of your non-profit organization. With a shortage of skilled and experienced fundraising professionals, recruiting and retaining high-performing gift officers, identifying young professionals with the skills and talents needed to become gift officers, creating and establishing strong orientation, mentoring and retention programs is essential. We can consult with your institution to identify and recruit talent, prepare orientation and retention plans, and design and implement reasonable guidelines and expectations - including position descriptions, performance plans, and evaluations.
Contact
Phone
(765) 412.0759
robin@robinbellinger.com