Testimonials

Averill's President, Robert C. Happy, Jr., has served as a trusted advisor to Seton Hall Preparatory School through three capital campaigns. Most recently Bob and the Averill team have guided The Prep through the ‘Generations’ Campaign, which has raised more than $25,000,000. I would give Averill Fundraising Solutions my highest recommendation.

John B. Murray, Esq.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Seton Hall Preparatory School

West Orange, NJ

I have been very impressed by the Averill Team and would recommend them to any organization.  Their dedication to the project and quality of service is outstanding.  They provide more than just strategic direction - they are true partners in our effort and are leading us down a path to success.

Minnis Ridenour

Volunteer Executive Director

Endowment Fund for Theological Education in the Central Conferences (The United Methodist Church)

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Emeritus, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University

Blacksburg, VA

Averill provided the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) with the expertise and direction to establish a philanthropy program in celebration of our Centennial.  Due to Averill's strategic thinking, invaluable advice, and campaign management, SMPTE successfully launched its first fundraising campaign and secured significant support from top industry corporations. It was an absolute pleasure working with Averill Fundraising Solutions.

Barbara Lange
Executive Director
Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers
White Plains, NY

 

I have had the pleasure of working with Bob Happy for over 20 years both as a client and colleague on campaigns in Canada and the United States. Bob brings passion, strategic thinking and a great sense of humor to each project.

Tim Kluke, CFRE

President and CEO

The Ottawa Hospital Foundation

Ottawa, ON

Working with Bob Happy was an absolute delight! Bob Happy is a consummate professional. We began working with Bob for a feasibility study for a campaign for physician recruitment and retention. Bob has a track record of effectively engaging physicians and trustees so he was the perfect fit to guide our efforts and lead us to a successful development strategy. Bob’s extensive experience in hospital governance, strategic planning and fund development has been invaluable to us especially dealing with the challenges of the current economic environment.

Jill Kyle, MBA, CFRE

Vice President, Institutional Advancement

Abington Jefferson Health

Abington, PA

 

Three years ago, God’s Love We Deliver found itself at a crossroads. With a critical lack of space, an expansion of our facility was necessary if we were to keep our promise of never turning away a client who needed our help.

Many people advised against launching a capital campaign in the face of a serious economic downturn, but without options for growth, we forged ahead. We had the pleasure of working with Bob Happy as an advisor to our campaign.

Bob helped us develop our case statement, conducted our feasibility study and helped us launch our campaign. He played a very important role in helping our stakeholders see that our $25M campaign was possible and in moving the effort forward. Bob worked closely with staff, the campaign steering committee and the Board of Directors to start us on a path to success.

Today, we have raised $20.2M of the $25M, and we expect to start our building project in the coming months. We thank Bob for his sage advice and leadership throughout this important initiative.

Karen Pearl

President & CEO

God's Love We Deliver

New York, NY

 

I have known and worked closely with Bob Happy for nearly ten years. That experience has led me to conclude, as have the vast majority of the more than 1,000 clients he's served, that he is among the fundraising field's finest professionals. Bob has all the tools that define an elite fundraiser: sophisticated strategic thinking; considerable depth and breadth of technical knowledge; a charismatic yet genuine personality; and, of course, a vast reservoir of experience that few other advancement professionals – and I mean few – can bring to the table.

Having worked successfully with hundreds of the nation’s top philanthropists, volunteers and nonprofit executives, Bob brings to bear a keen understanding not only of what motivates donors, but what inspires them to push a project forward. His style of interpersonal relations is a combination of approachability, intensity and honesty. As a result, interactions with Bob – be they at a board meeting, a seven- or eight-figure solicitation or a one-on-one planning meeting -are productive – things happen when he's involved.

Most important, I've found Bob to be a person of deeply ingrained integrity who prefers to surround himself with colleagues and clients who share a value system that's focused on doing what's right. A penchant for transparency and "straight talk" characterizes the way he conducts business, and personal relationships as well. While there's little he enjoys more than celebrating with his clients when they've achieved an important milestone, he's unafraid to say what needs to be said, even if the message is sobering in its depiction of the challenges a given situation may present. That said, though he will never gloss over potential obstacles, he has a gift for helping an organization's key stakeholders achieve a realistic grasp of "the possible,"and in the course of so doing, raises the sights of donors, executives, senior staff and, indeed, entire boards of trustees.

Given that the success of ambitious endeavors requires the involvement of trusted, highly skilled and engaged partners, I recommend without qualification that any nonprofit organization seeking to accomplish something great through fundraising speak with Bob and the team at Averill Fundraising Solutions.

Jesse R. Shafer

Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations

Philadelphia University

Philadelphia, PA

 

After having Bob Happy as counsel to our development efforts for the past dozen years, I found him to have the remarkable ability to combine a vast knowledge of the philanthropic world with an insight and respect for the unique culture of an institution. In doing so, he helped our school establish challenging, but realistic goals, and then taught us the skills to reach those goals. As a result, our development program has grown from a $2 million-a-year program to a $5 million+-a-year program that has enabled us to transform our 150-year-old campus into a state-of-the-art college preparatory facility.

Daniel P. Costello

Vice President for Advancement

Gonzaga College High School

Washington, DC

 

As Director of Stewardship and Development for the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, I had the pleasure of working closely with Bob Happy and a team under his leadership in a feasibility study and diocesan-wide capital campaign conducted from 2000-2002. Bob was intimately involved in all aspects of the effort and provided a perfectly matched directing team to the Diocese. The campaign, “God’s Work Our Challenge” spanned 89 parishes and raised $59,200,000 on its $30,000,000 financial goal. This success was achieved in a down economy and at a time when the Church was receiving much negative publicity.

Bob Happy was well respected by our Bishop, pastoral leaders and the lay employees at the Diocese of Raleigh. He motivated his staff to achieve the greatest results. Bob is extremely knowledgeable about his field and has the presence and personality to motivate clients and staff to success. I would absolutely hire him again to run a campaign and highly recommend him and his firm.

Debbie Rossi

Director of Planned Giving

The Salvation Army

San Diego, CA

Former Director of Stewardship and Development

Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, NC

 

If you are looking for the right professional counsel who will own your fund raising goals with you and provide daily, on-site guidance, I unreservedly commend Bob Happy and his team to you. In so doing, you will benefit from the kind of practical direction, hands-on support, and campaign insight that only comes out of the crucible of many years raising literally billions of dollars for a spectrum of worthy causes.

Chaz Watson

Territorial Executive Director of Development

The Salvation Army USA Western Territory

Long Beach, CA