When an organization is in a "start up" fundraising mode, it is quite common for boards to have very high expectations in the first year. That tends to come from experience with well established fund raising operations, like a College, University, Hospital Foundation, or even a membership organization that has historically done its own fund raising.

But there is so much history to indicate that for a good, competent professional, over the course of a three year period, it is reasonable to expect the person to produce:

> 12x Director's salary in the 3rd year;

5-10x Director's salary in the second year, depending on the prospect pool he has to solicit; and

Unknowable in the first year...there is too much building of infrastructure that has to be accomplished.

If you set goals around these parameters with a new person in place, that person, and the organization, will have a very good probability of succeeding. If you cannot achieve at this level, it's likely the mission isn't truly sustainable.

Expectations should not be based on what development professionals accomplish in non-start up modes. This is a very different world.

Give your mission a chance - it needs 2-3 years of start up capital to make a go of it. If you do, the long term dividends will be substantial.