As our year ends, we are grateful to the 19 organizations who made a strategic investment to strengthen their fundraising plan and program design in 2019. Six of our Partners have already reported record-breaking revenue years as of early December. Seed is honored to have walked beside them in the process of building the rhythms and habits that result in growth.
Seed is a professional tribe of problem solvers, institution-builders, and activators, more interested in the rigorous pursuit of generosity-fueled impact than the comforts of easy work. These 19 organizations helped advance the social sector in 2019.
Our Partners invested in themselves in six different ways this year. Today we honor them for that hard work and dedication.
If you see a category you’d like to be listed under, let us know. We can help you make the list in 2020.
If you see someone you’d like to learn more about, don’t hesitate to reach out to us and we’ll introduce you!
Perhaps most important, these organizations are worthy of your generosity. They have humbled themselves and asked for counsel, which for many, has led to transformational impact. These are the kind of organizations who will maximize the impact of your gift.
Strategic Focus
An investment in strategic focus means setting aside the fundraising activities that “seem like the next right thing to do” and identifying a more calculated plan. Strategic focus helps answer the question “how will we get from point A to point B?” What activity will we say yes to? To what will we say no? We recognize the following organizations for their investment in strategic focus:
Building a Scalable Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the foundation through which fundraising is executed. No matter what strategy is decided upon, an operational infrastructure is critical. Organizations must invest in scalable infrastructure aligned with the strategic decisions of the organization. Complex does not mean better. We recognize the following organizations for their investment in building a scalable infrastructure:
Commitment to the Daily Work
If fundraising is a craft, than there are daily activities that are part habitual and part mind-numbing. But we do them because someone at sometime in history determined that collectively, these activities are guaranteed to move the needle on outcomes.
Artisan soy sauce is produced the same way: through incremental practices passed down through generations of craftsmen. The long-game requires daily practice. Otherwise, the tyranny of the urgent becomes the priority and the craft dies. We recognize the following organizations for their commitment to the daily work:
Cultures of Learning and Growth
An organization can only build a culture of learning and growth if their leaders demonstrate the required humility. Leaders must invite opportunities to publicly reflect and collectively re-iterate. They must share how that learning has transformed their thinking and maybe even their lives. When leaders adopt a posture of learning and growth, the organization follows suit. We recognize the following organizations for their investment in building a culture of learning and growth:
Rigor and Innovation
Rigorous and innovative organizations are full of design thinkers. They are pioneers. They find new ways to incorporate donors into their programs. They branch off from the franchise because they see a clearer path to achieving impact. They find new solutions to the world’s oldest problems. Rigorous and innovative organizations remind us what we are capable of. We recognize the following organizations for their investment in rigor and innovation:
Bold Visions of Impact
A bold vision of impact is a brave answer to the question, “What kind of world do you desire to create?” It demands a belief that the work will continue long after we’re gone. A bold vision cannot be achieved by one organization alone. Bold visions set the pace for what our sector will achieve. Incidentally, bold visions are also compelling invitations to generosity. We recognize the following organizations for their investment in a bold vision of impact: