Capital Campaigns | Midwest Studies Group |Iowa

TO PREPARE

OUR CLIENTS

FOR FOWARD PROGRESS

OUR PROVEN PROCESS INCREASES RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CAPACITY BY PROVIDING ANNUAL CAMPAIGN, CAPITAL CAMPAIGN, AND PLANNED GIVING STUDY REPORTS TO NONPROFITS, SCHOOLS, AND GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS.

WE PROMISE OUR WORK TO BE:

IMPACTFUL - OBJECTIVE - PERSONABLE - AFFORDABLE

OUR

SERVICES

FEASIBILITY
STUDIES

Curious how successful your Capital Campaign or project may be? Before you start fundraising, let us help. Our ability to connect your mission with the community can be a huge difference maker before you take that major step.

COMMUNITY
IMPACT
STUDY AND CONSULTATION PACKAGE

How does the community feel about your organization, it's purpose, success, and future? Perfect for annual campaign growth and grant applications. Our proven process has helped organizations connect with NEW potential donors.

Our team will first help you identify potential donors. Then we will provide consultation on how to connect with them.

PLANNED GIVING STUDY AND CONSULTATION PACKAGE

Has your organization been wanting to start a Planned Giving program but don't know how to engage the community for support? We can help propel you forward.

Our team will first help you identify potential planned giving donors. Then we will provide consultation on how to implement a planned giving program.

STRATEGY PLANNING

Using an affordable third party to lead your board and staff strategy sessions can create objective, mind opening, difference making ideas. Our variety of sessions include board development, programming planning, future planning, and strategic planning are just a few ways we can be of service to your organization.

GRANT WRITING

With grant writing becoming more complex, organizations have been forced to either add more to their already full plates or add a staff member to their budget.

MSG can help bring relief by offering grant writing services. Not only does our team have decades of experience but the cost of outsourcing to us is often more cost efficient than adding a staff member to your budget.

ABOUT US/
OUR TEAM

Our Certified Fundraising Executives (CFRE) are former Nonprofit CEOs and Government Leaders who have one mission: To prepare our clients for forward progress. We advise, direct and confirm areas whereby organizations can feel confident in the direction they decide to go. We offer unbiased transparency in these processes for maximum information for organizations to decide your next steps.

For years organizations have relied upon outside counsel to determine if they are ready for next steps of growth in capacity. With over 100 years of combined leadership in government, nonprofit industry, and small business ownership, they have provided guidance for government projects, meetings and savings plans; feasibility studies, capital campaigns, leadership workshops and trainings for hundreds of individuals.

When you select MSG for your next project you are not just getting experienced consultants who were nonprofit leaders themselves. You are also getting a team of personable and humble people who are able to connect with just about anyone. The ability to establish positive relationships with YOUR team and community is equally is a priority for us.

Chuck Rowe

(Partner) With over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world, Chuck has spent time in administrating, fundraising, and programming with two of the largest and most respected nonprofit organizations in the country (Boys and Girls Club & The Salvation Army). His hands-on experience in the day-to-day operations and activities inform his decisions, and make Chuck a credible source for any nonprofit looking for guidance. His decades of experience and ability to connect with others, will be an asset when talking with your donors.

Jim Brown

(Partner) Jim Brown has small and large business experience in the ways of business development, goal setting, and organizational communication. As the former mayor and CEO of Cedar Falls, Jim and his team understand the challenges organizations face acquiring valuable information for important decisions. His strong ties to city organizations and insight into how they can best be productive, will help him aid any organization to navigate the political winds-of-change for long term success.

Kelley Tetzlaff

(Planned Giving Consultant of Counsel) Kelley has a deep background in financial planning, with over 20 years of nonprofit planned giving experience and sixteen years experience in the financial services field in banking, investments and insurance. In that time, he has served as the gift planner, gift officer and executive director of a regional religious foundation as well as the regional gift planning officer for the Arthritis Foundation, American Red Cross and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

He served in the charitable world on the front line as a fundraiser, and as a trainer, coach and consultant training a broad spectrum of RD staff as well as board members and volunteers around philanthropy. Kelley worked and consulted on the benefits of major gifts and charitable gift planning as well as helping organizations establish their own major gift, planned gift and endowment programs.

Kelley has been a member of the Planned Giving Round Table of Arizona since 2002 and served on the Board of Directors and is a past president. He is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, a member of the Kingdom Financial Advisor’s as well as the Advisors in Philanthropy and a speaker for charitable giving conferences.

Kelley’s most important accomplishments are that he is a husband, a father of four and a grandparent to eleven grandchildren!

Steve Wurm

(Senior Consultant) Steve Wurm has over 30 years of nonprofit executive leadership experience (Boys & Girls Club). He energizes and motivates board members and professional staff to higher levels of performance. Steve has extensive experience and expertise in executive leadership, fundraising, strategic planning, grant writing, feasibility studies, capital campaigns and board development.
Steve has participated in numerous community initiatives creating partnerships with key government and community organizations. One of his most memorable moments is when he led the fundraising and construction of a 7,000 square foot Club located in a new Elementary School, the first of such partnership in the State of Texas.

Stephen Taylor

(Consultant) Stephen has over 40 years of nonprofit experience, He has background knowledge in executive leadership, fundraising, and grant writing. Stephen has boasted the accreditation of “Certified Fund-Raising Executive” from CFRE International continuously since 1999. One of his greatest strengths is being part of numerous feasibility studies and capital campaign projects.

He has been CFRE continuously certified and recertified since 1999, and was President of the AFP Chapter for Greenville-Spartanburg plus President of Fox West Philanthropic Network for Kane County, Illinois.

Stacey Christensen

Director of Brand Strategy, POS Professional Office Services

Professional Office Services is an official partner of MSG. Stacey has more than 25 years of experience in communications including public relations, media relations, community relations and marketing in both the public and private sectors. She helps customers create strategic messaging and marketing plans to solve their toughest communication challenges. Her expertise includes strategy and creating marketing and communications plans.

POS acquired Palmer Non-Profit Communications in 2019. Their brand “Before they open their hearts, they have to open the envelope,” is Stacey’s latest passion and work.

She and her team provide strategy, creative, data expertise, print and direct mail for successful donor appeal mailings. To learn more about donor appeal mailings and non-profit work contact us today!!!

OUR CORE
VALUES

Impactful - MSG takes the bigness out of front-line solutions for small to midsized cities, schools, and organizations, to help those become more effective and efficient. We navigate the political pressures of difficult decisions by assisting these entities with methodical approaches for the best long-term solutions. Our proven process will give you support that will make a difference at your organization.

Objective - Ever find it questionable that the group offering capital campaign consultant help, happens to be the same group who provides the feasibility study? That's why our contracts don't obligate clients to do both with us. We think that's like asking a fence company to come to your house, and then asking them if they think you need a fence.

Whether we are assisting with a feasibility study, finding you new annual donors, or seeing who might be interested in making you a planned gift . . . we believe it's only fair to you, your councils, boards, and committees, and your supporters that you are provided an objective and transparent report.

Personable - Being former Nonprofit CEO's and Government Leaders, we just don't give advice, we have also walked in your shoes. At MSG we are always a phone call or email away. Clients will never be lost in a sea of bureaucracy or passed to other associates or Jr Associates midway through a project. Those we interview during our studies, enjoy their conversations with us, making for a great experience for all. In fact 100% of those we interview say they had a positive experience with us.

Affordable - We believe that any sort of study or analysis should be affordable to organizations and schools for two main reasons: 1) It provides an opportunity for all organizations to learn about themselves, without the need to “break the bank” or needing to be a multi-million dollar organization. 2) Less money spent on studies means more money that can be used for your mission.

PAST

PROJECTS

Members of our team have worked on a variety of projects and capital campaigns.

Here are just a few:

Boy Scouts of America - Multiple times for varied projects, camps, offices, and campaigns

DeKalb Public Library in Dekalb, IL

St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Elgin, IL

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley in Waterloo, IA

Shalam Ministries in St Charles, IL

Sanborn Western Camps in Colorado

St. Procopius Abbey in Naperville, IL,

Northwest Suburban Council BSA in Mount Prospect, IL

City of Cedar Falls, IA
Main Street Waterloo, IA

Guiding Star

Cedar Valley Sports Commission

Friends of the Family of Northeast Iowa

Americans for Independent Living

Bremer County, IA

Waterloo Christian School

And currently working on many others . . .

Also, over the past 30+ years, raising over $50,000,000 for organizations represented over just the last five years.

TESTIMONIALS

FUN

FACTS

80+

YEARS

OF COMBINED

NONPROFIT/GOV'T

EXPERIENCE

60+

ORGANIZATIONS

SUPPORTED BY

OUR CONSULTANTS

THE NUMBER OF THUMBS UP

WE GET FROM CLIENTS AFTER

HELPING WITH

STUDIES

100%

THE NUMBER OF INTERVIEWEES WHO ENJOY THE PROCESS OF CONVERSING WITH US

GET IN

TOUCH

PHONE - 319.830.4774

604 Clay St

Cedar Falls, IA 50613

*Although we are open to providing feasibility studies for capital campaigns, anywhere, our focus is on Iowa (Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Ames, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, etc), Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Indiana, and other Midwest States.