A great fundraising plan will serve as your roadmap for the year. Developing it requires reflection on past fundraising activities, and the creation of vision for the coming year. Here's how to make it happen:
Step 1: Reflect on the past, and brainstorm for the future
To start the process, you are going to want to answer some basic questions. Consider inviting staff, board members, or volunteers to the table – whoever understands your finances, and the needs, of your organization. Here are some of the fundamental questions you should tackle:
What were your most successful fundraising activities of the past year?
Were there fundraising initiatives that were unsuccessful and why?
Do you have a good balance of donor engagement and solicitation?
How much do you need to raise this year in philanthropic funds?
Is there an income stream that needs more attention, like grants or individuals?
Will you have any capital needs in addition to unrestricted support this year?
As a team you will look back on the general, and specific, fundraising successes and challenges of the previous year. Were there events that required a lot of staff time with little financial benefit? Or the opposite? Did you make time to connect with your top donors? Do you have the staff to reach your fundraising goals?
Then you will look ahead to determine your projected income (from programs, individuals, grants, government, endowment, membership, etc.) and expenses (for operations, capital projects, overhead, etc.) for the coming year and the role that fundraising needed to fill any gap. Clear knowledge of your organization’s fiscal status will be empowering when you are ready to execute your plan.
Lastly, consider new ideas – are there fundraising trends that you are not taking advantage of, like using social media, or texting, to reach your audience? Do you have goals of increasing the number of donors, not just how much you raise? This is time for the ideas to flow.
Step 2: Put together your roadmap!
Understanding how (and where) funds have been raised in the past helps you map out a solid plan to build your fundraising goals and strategies for the future. Here are the steps to developing a solid plan.
Start with objectives
What are your overarching needs for the year? Increasing giving by a certain percentage? Growing your number of individual donors or your contact list? Connecting more personally with your supporters? Which of these objectives can be reached by your fundraising activities?
List the activities and events that will help you reach your objectives
Create a list of the items you know will be happening in the coming year. These could include:
· An end-of-year appeal
· A Giving Tuesday campaign
· A spring appeal for a special project
· A gala or other special event
· A donor thank you event
· Creation and distribution of an annual report
· Special outreach to top donors
· General donor stewardship
Identify three qualitative focus areas to add to your activity list
Growing your future giving means investing in new activities that may not generate revenue now but will make a difference in the future. That’s why it’s important to ask yourself: what three things do I want to make sure happen this year to make us more sustainable in the future? Here are some examples:
· Start a monthly giving program
· Launch a legacy/planned giving program
· Create a development committee
· Conduct grant research
Develop goals and tasks for each activity
This is the nitty gritty and will help you stay on track. Create a document or worksheet that lists each activity and its goals (for example, the goal of an end-of-year appeal might be a dollar amount, percentage increase, and/or the number of donors), and the steps required to achieve that goal. Be sure to determine who will be responsible for each task. The level of detail you include will depend on what works best for you! This will be your action plan for the year, so include any details that will help you enact the work.
Create a fundraising calendar
Now it’s time to drop these activities into a calendar. You can create a calendar in Google sheets or create a document on your own. Just be sure you can see the whole year in one place. This will allow you to notice what times of the year that are jam packed with fundraising activities, and other that are more open. Don’t forget to include things like donor acknowledgements and stewardship!
Step 3: Launch your plan and track your progress
Now it’s time to use your plan! Schedule monthly check-ins to make sure you are executing your fundraising activities. And set aside time each quarter to reconcile and assess your budget. With a solid fundraising plan it should be easy to assess whether you are achieving your goals and reaching your objectives. Share your results with your board and staff, and adjust your plan if necessary throughout the year. Including your board makes sense - it is their responsibility to assess what budgetary shortfalls or surpluses mean for your organization.