Case Study with Amy Fass: How to Manage Your Nonprofit's Extreme Growth

With a small staff, the pressure and exhaustion were mounting on Amy Fass to keep up with her nonprofit’s multi-million growth.

As the Executive Director of Shoes That Fit, she needed a thought partner to dig down issues with and craft a program that allows her to scale, support more kids, and invite unrestricted revenue.

Working with Sherry was a life-changing decision.

Tune in to The Business Behind Fundraising — Case Study with Amy Fass: How to Manage Your Nonprofit's Extreme Growth (And Keep Growing Year After Year). 

What You Will Discover: 

✔️ Changing her operations was key to meeting expectations. The pandemic urged Amy to switch things up, but there was still not enough gas in the engine to keep the nonprofit running sustainably.

✔️ Restricted gifts can exhaust your staff. Amy sought help from Sherry, taking time to step back and give people a bigger picture of her nonprofit’s goals, moving into relational fundraising.

✔️ Treat your donors as both friends and business partners. Showing the numbers and making them part of the nonprofit’s story got Amy’s most loyal donors’ gifts from $100 to $10,000. It’s key to tell them stories that align with their interests.

✔️ This shift frees up time for larger growth opportunities. “I feel like I can breathe for the first time in years,” Amy says. Not rushing relationships has also strengthened her board’s confidence in spreading the word.

✔️ Learning comes with surprises. Diving into the data and utilizing the donor deck got her into more targeted asks and prepared for the next step in leading donors to their best gifts.

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Amy Fass was named the Executive Director of Shoes That Fit in February 2014. She joined the organization’s staff in 2013 as the interim Development Director, having consulted with the organization on strategic planning and development since 2008.

She has worked in nonprofit management and development for over 20 years. Her development career began at Pomona College, where she served as Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations; she then worked for the University of California, Berkeley, securing major gifts. After the birth of her daughter in 1999, she began consulting non-profits on development and strategic planning; her clients included the Claremont School of Theology, the American Academy of Religion (Atlanta), Shoes that Fit, House of Ruth, Inc., and AMOCA (American Museum of Ceramic Art). She currently chairs the Board of Mt. San Antonio Gardens (retirement community) and the City of Claremont’s Architectural Commission and formerly chaired the boards of House of Ruth and Claremont Heritage.

Amy earned her B.A. at Stanford University and holds a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Get in touch with Amy Fass.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-fass-95005419/

Nonprofit Website: https://www.shoesthatfit.org/

Get her book The Business of Non Profit-Ing: My Why, the Journey and Perspective on Non Profiting on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Business-Non-Profit-Ing-Perspective-Profiting/dp/1734897414

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