Leadership plays a Crucial Role in Campaign
CASE STUDY: EMPOWER ME ACADEMY
Since February of 2019, Cogeo has provided the Empower ME Academy (EMA) with the guidance and resources to transition from an LLC to a 501c3, build a Board of Directors, and raise over $40MM to date.
EMA’s mission is to prepare each student-athlete for a lifetime of achievement and meaningful contribution. The founder, Jerome Gumbs, was not interested in selling the company -- rather, he was motivated by the impact the organization could make within the community. After hearing and learning EMA’s goals as an organization, Cogeo determined that there were significant advantages to EMA becoming a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
Cogeo showed EMA that becoming a 501c3 would provide the opportunity to put a Board of Directors together whose members would add incremental resources and expertise to the organization. As well, EMA would open an additional funding stream of donations, on top of the program revenue, to contribute to the overall financial success and sustainability of the organization.
Starting from scratch with the development of the Board of Directors, Cogeo performed an ambitious recruitment process to formalize the founding Board of Directors. This was a 4 week process that consisted of: Cogeo reviewing member suggestions offered by Gumbs, engaging those prospects, and vetting accepted members. Cogeo organized and managed all board meetings for the first year to ensure the progression of best business practices in the administration of the Board of Directors. Since, the Board has continued independently with Cogeo’s structure.
“Cogeo's Board of Directors' development service should be bottled up and applied to every organization. Their attentiveness in identifying the best leadership team for EMA was stellar. They found candidates with excellent leadership characteristics, including integrity, high affinity, and exceptional management skills. Furthermore, the quality most essential for Cogeo to see was synergy — vitality to work well with others. Once identified and rallied, our Board of Leaders felt confident and aligned about their roles and responsibilities because of the clear communication provided by Cogeo. This attention in selecting each Board member has been a solid backbone for our organization's growth and success.”
Jerome Gumbs, Founder of EMA
Along with this board development, Cogeo was simultaneously working on EMA’s organizational management structure to prepare them for their first fundraising and development campaign. Cogeo helped EMA design a creative and effective case statement and establish a Salesforce CRM to track both fundraising and student-athlete program progression over time. Cogeo also performed a wealth screening and created a robust list of major gifts opportunities within the EMA community.
click to view case statement
Cogeo spent the necessary time coaching Gumbs on how to ask for donations from high-net-worth individuals. Originally, he was less confident to do this, but with proper coaching from Cogeo, Gumbs was able to embrace the right approach. Gumbs continues to improve on this front and is seeing much success from these efforts.
EMA and Cogeo continue to work together today. This partnership proved particularly necessary through the COVID crisis, while Cogeo coached them through community engagement, digital appeals, foundation opportunities, and the Paycheck Protection Program application.
In recent updates, Cogeo has supported EMA in its recent relocation to Fort Mason and has implemented a membership model to ensure more predictable, sustainable monthly revenue. Cogeo is honored to be a part of EMA’s growth and is eager to continue to partner to achieve their long term replication and financial goals.
For more information on Empower ME Academy, visit them at: empowermeacademy.net