A Personal Fundraising Coach, or PFC, is a nonprofit industry expert with a depth of knowledge in the nonprofit sector.

Personal Fundraising Coaches can help you build a strong fundraising strategy, create the most effective campaigns, and help raise more funds for your mission. They can help new fundraisers understand how the fundraising process works, or help veteran fundraisers amplify their efforts.

Coaches can also help identify gaps in your fundraising efforts and get the most our of your software, while helping to build and strategize both short-term and long-term fundraising plans.

Within approximately 2 business days after signing your agreement with Bonterra (or after adding a coaching package to your existing subscription), you should see a "task" appear in the top-right corner of your Donor Management Dashboard.

If you click on that "Tasks" button, you should be brought to your Tasks page, where you'll see a new task titled "Choose Your Personal Fundraising Coach."

If you click on the blue right-facing arrow within this task, you'll be brought to our "Coach Selection site," where you'll be able to see all of our available coaches. You also have the ability to filter the coaches based on your mission or their specific skillset from this page, to help narrow down your options.

Once you've selected your coach, you can move onto the next step - scheduling your first session with your coach. You should be prompted to select a time to meet for your first session, and you'll receive an email confirmation after selecting the best option for you to connect.

You also have the ability to change this time if something happens to come up and your selected time no longer works.

To schedule additional sessions with your coach, you'll want to navigate to the "My Tools" button in the top-right corner of your Donor Management Dashboard. From the drop-down options, you'll want to select the option for "Personal Fundraising Coach."

You should then see your coach's contact information, as well as the scheduling tool.

You'll want to select how long your next session will be - you can opt for either a 30-minute session, or a 60-minute session.

You'll then be prompted to select the time for that meeting. The calendar should show you all of the upcoming times that your coach has made available; you can also click on the "More Times" link on the right side of the calendar to look at dates that are slightly further out.

Time zone not reflecting correctly? You can use the drop-down menu under "Your Time Zone" to adjust the calendar.

To select a time, just click on that time under the correct date. You can then select "Continue" to proceed with a one-time session - or you have the option to select "Recurring," if you'd like to schedule a recurring meeting that repeats at that time.

If you select "Recurring," a pop-up will appear and prompt you for the details of that recurring meeting.

After you've selected the date and time(s), you'll be asked to fill out your contact information. Donor Management should automatically populate the name and email attached to your admin account - but you can add your phone number, organization name, and any notes that you'd like to discuss with your coach during that meeting.

Please keep in mind that your coach is there for guidance, but if you need assistance with your content (like an event invitation, a page description, or a newsletter), you will need to come with that content already prepared. In other words - they can help improve on that drafted content, but they will not be able to generate new content on your behalf.

Next, you can click on the "Complete Appointment" button at the bottom of the form. You should then see a confirmation on your screen, as well as receive a similar confirmation via email.

We recommend keeping that email handy, so you can easily access your upcoming session when the time comes!

To begin your scheduled session with your coach, you will want to click on that link included in your confirmation email. If you opted to add the session to your iCal, Outlook, or Google calendar, you can also click the link from that meeting to launch the session.

How do I modify or cancel an existing session?

You should have the option to change an existing session from any of the confirmation screens, including the confirmation email you received. You should be able to select the option to "Change Appointment," and you'll then be brought to a screen similar to the confirmation you initially received.

You can then click on the link for "Reschedule" or "Cancel," depending on your needs.

If you're rescheduling, you'll return back to the first step to select a new time and date, and follow the same process outlined above.

If you're cancelling, you'll receive a pop-up confirming that you'd like to cancel.

If you want to add additional details or notes for your personal fundraising coach after the meeting has been scheduled, you can click on that "Edit Forms" link on the confirmation page.

You'll then be prompted to update your notes, and can then select "Update Forms" once you've made those changes.

Do I need to do anything prior to my session to prepare?

Not necessarily! As we mentioned above, you can bring existing content drafts to go over with your coach, but that's not a requirement.

We also strongly recommend logging into Zoom and connecting to the session a few moments early to make sure that your account is connecting properly and your audio is set up. We don't want you to miss a moment with your coach!

Following your first session, your coach will likely discuss with you any other prep that you may need to do prior to your next upcoming sessions.

You can find your coach's email by clicking on "My Tools" in the top-right corner of Donor Management, then selecting the option for "Personal Fundraising Coach."

You should be brought to your "Coach Information" page, where your coach's email should be listed!