Course Curriculum

About the instructor

CEO, The FOCUS Group

Brad Layland

The FOCUS Group is a consultancy that helps nonprofits more effectively raise the funds that are critical to their missions. Its CEO, Brad Layland, had a distinguished career at Young Life from 1992-2009, serving in various roles within the organization including Field Development Director, Gift Planning Associate, and ultimately the Director of Development. His expertise includes providing fundraising counsel to nonprofit organizations, including workshops, marketing and major donor strategies, planned gift marketing and capital campaign counsel. Brad is highly experienced in The FOCUS Groups’s training program, Taking Donors Seriously®.A 1994 graduate of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Brad earned a B.A. degree in Communications Studies, and completed his M.A. in Theology from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA in 2004.

Text & media

Taking Donors Seriously® training helps development professionals make a bigger impact in the world by equipping them to be more effective at raising the financial support that is critical to their organizations’ success.


Our training and program offers development professionals and advancement teams:

  • A relational and sustainable approach

  • Time-tested principles, not tactics

  • Convenience: start any time, no travel

  • A series of lessons over multiple weeks

  • Hands-on practical learning

  • Live, one-on-one coaching by experienced development experts


Key Outcomes:

  • How to effectively use a Case Statement

  • Identify and engage a volunteer leadership team

  • How to prioritize and manage a prospect list

  • A strategy for getting in front of the right individuals to reach a funding goal

  • A comprehensive year-long fundraising plan

  • Practice and prepare for face-to-face solicitation meetings