As you likely know, the Angel Investor Foundation (AIF) is the charitable arm of the Angel Capital Association (ACA). All donations to the AIF are tax deductible (EIN 86-1212274). Along with the establishment of AIF in 2020, the capital campaign, Seed the Future (STF), was launched, resulting in $1,539,749 in donations.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, ACA identified the need for a long-term financial sustainability plan while adapting its business model to reflect changes in the early-stage investing community. The Board of Directors conducted a capital campaign feasibility study for ACA’s potential Growth Campaign, “Seed the Future”. This campaign was designed to financially support strategic staffing, technology, and program investments that would enable ACA to better serve and grow the angel investing community and its impact on economic development. In 2022, the Seed the Future Campaign launched publicly with a lead gift of $300,000 from Ann & Bill Payne and various other contributions from the ACA community, Board, and Campaign Cabinet.
With the Payne’s initial gift, ACA began to implement the first phases of the investment plan and one of the initial actions was to hire Dr. Margaret Bachelor to lead the education initiative. Funding also allowed ACA to reposition AU into two certificates – the Basics of Angel Investing and Advanced Angel Investing. Over 870+ individuals have taken at least one AU course since Dr. Bacheler’s hiring; 270+ individuals have earned the Basics of Angel Investing certificate and over 80 individuals have earned the Advanced Angel Investing certificate. This investment in the program allowed for impressive results and quick growth on a product line. In the Summer of 2022, progress on the STF Campaign allowed ACA to hire its first Marketing Director, Dannielle Stewart. As a result, ACA’s member readership and audiences have grown by over 20% among other major marketing accomplishments. In the Fall of 2022, ACA hired Katelynne Staehnke as Director of Development to elevate strategic fundraising efforts for the Foundation. Ann and Bill Payne gave yet another $300,000 to the campaign, with a matching contingency that AIF donors exceeded.
We have already begun to see enhancements in our customer servicing capabilities based upon the early implementations of investments in the Association Management System (powered by GrowthZone) and the cleanup and migration of web content to a new user interface to the world. Combined, these technology upgrades will give us new capabilities with never-before-understood insights on member engagement along with better positioning and distribution of member-valued content. While we are still in the early days of configuring and learning to operate on the new platforms, the benefits and efficiencies are clear. The technology upgrades are complemented by the professional staff support that was also added because of STF. In addition, more emphasis has been placed on our emerging Syndication Initiative and enhancements to the annual Angel Funders Report. Collectively we are doing more for our members with a more consistent and professional look and feel.
The core ACA constituents who answered the “call to action” when the STF Campaign was introduced are truly responsible for providing our organization with a path forward and deserve all the recognition we can give them, especially Ann and Bill Payne, Tony Shipley, and John Harbison. We extend our sincerest gratitude to all who participated. Click here to view all of the angel groups and individual donors who participated in this critical campaign.
