After twenty-seven years at the helm of the Little Rock, Arkansas, Big Brothers Big Sisters agency, Linda Teer is ready to retire, knowing she will be leaving her organization on solid financial footing. "Last October, when I let people know that I was leaving, I really stressed that the relationship is with the organization, not with me," says Teer, moments after her last board meeting. "It's emotional."

In the year since Teer announced she would step down, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arkansas has handled the transition head-on—informing donors, updating staff, and incorporating this milestone into their fundraising.

"It's very nerve-wracking for a CEO to feel as though the future of your organization lies in someone else's hands," says Teer. "It has always been someone at the United Way or the government making funding decisions for us. Implementing the [Benevon] Model has given me the freedom to know that the BBBS of Central Arkansas team can control its own destiny."

According to Teer, when she and her board chair attended a Benevon introductory session at the BBBS regional conference in Dallas, Texas, a light turned on for both of them. "We realized this is the route we needed to go, because if the program was going to continue to grow and be sustained in the future, we knew we couldn't depend on corporate America or federal grants anymore," she says. "We had too many eggs in too few baskets."

The team found themselves starting from ground zero because they had never approached the idea of individual giving before. They felt at a loss for where to start, including who to invite to Point of Entry Events. They soon found resources they had been ignoring in their own community—many volunteers weren't in a financial position to donate at the time of being a big brother or sister, but are now successful leaders in the community.

"We felt we only had one way to go in developing an individual donor program," explains Teer. "And that was up." Up is exactly where they went, raising more than $210,000 in gifts and pledges at their first two Ask Events.

Excited about their success, the BBBS of Central Arkansas team members set about creating a fundraising system that connected donors to the mission of the organization, and not just to one person on the board or staff. They hired a development director whose sole function was to coordinate their team's implementation of the model and to ensure that the new fundraising plan wouldn't fall to the wayside if someone—mainly Teer—were to retire.

"We wanted a team that was more than one person deep in all areas because people leave," says Teer. "They retire or move on, and we wanted to make sure that we weren't dependent on any one person. If we'd allowed ourselves to be completely dependent on me, we'd be in trouble right now."

The team has successfully integrated the model throughout the organization by creating a constant buzz of fundraising among their staff and board. They hold weekly team meetings where they make assignments and brainstorm new ideas. They include the board by making Benevon announcements at each board meeting, as well as using the videos to open the fundraising conversation at board retreats. "We want to make sure that this is something that is on the calendar every year," says Teer. "We can't let this be something that just happened last year or the year before that."

Implementing the model at BBBS of Central Arkansas has been about more than financial gain, says Teer—it's also about connecting more people to their mission. As a result, their volunteer numbers are up. "Volunteers are our lifeblood," she explains. "So if someone comes to our Point of Entry and doesn't feel as though they are able to give but wants to become a volunteer, that's huge, because that's impacting a child. That is one more child off the waiting list."

Keeping those volunteers and donors up to speed on changes within the organization is now integrated into the team's fundraising—most recently with the start of a capital campaign to pay for a new building. Donors and volunteers were asked to give in increments of twenty-seven to honor Teer's twenty-seven years with BBBS of Central Arkansas.

With just a few weeks left until she attends her last BBBS Benevon committee meeting, Teer is feeling proud of the work she and her team have done, and she hopes that she has left a legacy that others can carry on.

"The model has given the team a vision of what the possibilities are in the future, with or without me," she says. "I laugh when I think about where we were when I started twenty-seven years ago. There was just no money for anything. We seem like we're in the lap of luxury compared to that, but there is always more to do and so many more children to serve."