aving previously worked with other companies specializing in managing fundraising campaigns, I could not recommend another company any higher than First Community Development, Inc. Success is hard to beat. This is the second fundraising campaign FCD has managed for us, and both have exceeded their established goals. I can assure that if we decide to initiate future fundraising campaigns for the Metropolitan Development Board, First Community Development will be the first call made.

he Partners for Tomorrow campaign surpassed our goal of $1.85 million and far exceeded any previous fundraising event in Conyers and Rockdale County. Through your direction, hundreds of volunteers, including CEOs and leading citizens, became involved and increased awareness of a need to further economic growth in our community. From the beginning, your guidance with the feasibility study, setting the goal, and recruiting leadership, was invaluable to us. We will certainly not hesitate to recommend First Community Development to potential clients.

he City of Aiken served as one of three sponsors of the Aiken 20/20 campaign, and although the decision to initiate the fundraising effort was a difficult one, we were very pleased with the results, and with the process that you outlined for this effort. Although the volunteers played an integral part in the campaign, quite honestly we would not have been able to take on a fundraiser of this magnitude without the assistance of your firm. Thank you for your leadership, and we do look forward to the next fundraising campaign.

s a process-driven corporation, AT&T has helped me to understand the immense value of developing a template for success and then executing it flawlessly time and again. First Community Development is clearly leveraging off that same model as each element of the Strategic Plan, the Feasibility Analysis, and the actual Fundraising Campaign was crafted and implemented. Your team was able to take a group of business and community leaders with a diverse set of skills and mold them into a highly effective team. As a relative newcomer to the Conyers-Rockdale area, I can also endorse your efforts as a model of how to bridge the differing goals of many interested parties and find a common set of expectations which led to our success. This is a tribute to the skill and leadership of First Community Development.

have heard that there are other firms similar to yours who attempt to make all the solicitation calls by themselves. As a result of the success of the Partners for Tomorrow initiative, I am convinced their way would never work in our community. To make a significant financial commitment like the ones in this campaign, a corporate leader must himself believe in the five-year strategic plan and in those who have volunteered to lead it. By participating in this campaign as its Campaign General Chairman, I take personal pride in its success and a deep sense of ownership in seeing that our vision for this community is realized.

t has been a pleasure working with you, and I have been impressed with the professional manner in which this campaign has been managed. OPPORTUNITY XXI will be the benchmark against which future fundraising campaigns in Birmingham are judged, and I would not hesitate to recommend First Community Development to any community or organization needing the services of a professional campaign manager.

s you know, this was our first effort for this type project, and even though I didn't voice my concern before the campaign, I will admit now that I thought our goal of $3.5 million was very ambitious. I had reservations about our meeting that goal. Now, after exceeding the goal, I am smiling as proudly as all those on the committee and saying I never doubted we could do it. I know, however, it took more than a good plan and people who believed in the future of Aiken to make this a reality. It was due to a large degree to the professional staff and the guidance of First Community Development, Inc.