Do you feel like you are being pulled in too many directions? Not sure how to prioritize your fundraising efforts or evaluate for potential success? Already worried about next year’s end of year campaign? Now is the time for you to invest in creating a fundraising plan for your nonprofit organization. Research has shown that having a written fundraising plan is the number one indicator of fundraising success. Despite this, the majority of fundraisers still don’t operate with a written fundraising plan. Developing a comprehensive fundraising plan takes time, but the result will be a more effective, focused and strategic effort that will bring in more support for your mission. So yes, now is the time to plan.
Think of a fundraising plan as a roadmap to success. It should detail how you allocate your resources of time and money. It provides the who, what, when and how much of each strategy and goal you are working toward. It includes both overall and specific fundraising goals, along with the targeted donors and strategies to solicit and steward them. A written fundraising plan gives you a place to detail strategic goals as well – non-monetary goals that impact the success of the plan – things like board development or infrastructure needs. Success with strategic goals will lead to improved overall fundraising.
A good development plan starts with an assessment of your current fundraising efforts. This can come in the form of a formal fundraising audit conducted by an outside consultant or an internal survey. Either way the results will be a better understanding of your program’s strengths, areas of weakness and opportunities for future growth. This kind of assessment puts everyone – your board, executive team, volunteers and fundraising staff – on the same page regarding the current fundraising situation at your organization.
Don’t let the planning process become an opportunity to create more work for you and your team; instead, it should be an opportunity to work smarter. Evaluate what you are currently doing or have done in the past in terms of impact. Some things you might consider:
- How does the activity align with the mission?
- How does it raise awareness and build constituency?
- What is the profitability of the activity?
Fundraising trends show continued growth in major donors and an increase in bequests and other forms of planned giving as the Great Wealth Transfer gets underway. As you develop your fundraising plan, if you don’t already have resources allocated to planned giving and major gifts, now is the time to start to build your efforts in these areas. Develop strategies to be proactive in your solicitation initiatives rather than simply being reactive, simply accepting gifts that come your way. These types of large gifts are the lowest-cost, highest-return gifts nonprofits can generate, and they should be key part of your fundraising plan.
Another area of focus in your planning should be donor retention. Nonprofit Quarterly recently reported that reducing donor attrition by 10% can yield up to a 200% increase in the lifetime value of your donor base. What strategies will you incorporate into your plan to improve your donor retention numbers at all giving levels? Identify specific strategies for communication and cultivation designed to steward your donors. Utilize your CRM to create different strategies for the various segments of your donor population, customizing to improve donor experiences.
Don’t forget to assign responsibility in each section of your fundraising plan – solicitation strategies, cultivation strategies, stewardship and evaluation. Engaging everyone in the planning process helps create a sense of ownership. Establish opportunities for reviewing results and evaluating for return on investment.
Use the planning process as an opportunity for education – for your executive leadership, program staff and board. By actively engaging them in the process, they will gain a better understanding of the many layers of fundraising and the impact they can personally have on fundraising success. Engagement creates a sense of ownership in the plan and its outcomes. With a plan in place, your organization will be stronger, your culture more collaborative, and as the research shows, your fundraising more successful.