Are you in a tizzy over your plan for year-end fundraising? Let’s get you calmed down and focused on what you know. The basics. You got this – don’t go crazy and over complicate things. For every fundraising activity, you need to lay out the basics before you jump in. Be open to a mindset shift and read on.

Here are the 8 Simple Steps that Lead to Goal Crushing:

1. Clarify why you’re raising money. You remember this from fundraising 101. Start by looking back at your annual development plan and confirm that your case for support is integrated into your overall goals. Then make your case statement for this campaign stand out! The time you spend on your case will reap many rewards every time. So answer that “why” very clearly and with a good story.

2. State your goals – both the financial ones and strategic ones. Will you be expecting to acquire a certain number of new donors? Are you aiming for a better return rate than last year? Do you want to increase the number of ambassadors telling your story? Do you want to put more energy into follow up recognition and communication? Put these goals in writing to demonstrate the path to success.

3. Identify your audience. It’s not everyone. Really, I promise. The whole world doesn’t care, even though they should. Do you have a donor profile created? Will you be inviting past donors to invest? Members? Folks on your newsletter list? The social networks of your board, employees, vendors, and program volunteers? Will you be buying lists? Who is most likely to be willing and able to give? I think the most important part of this conversation is understanding how you engage with them to strengthen the relationship. Once you answer this, the rest gets easier.

4. Set your timeline for when to start and when to end. What’s the launch date? This campaign doesn’t go on forever. And set up your prep calendar too – what needs to be done by when in order to be ready? Be strategic about your timing and study past campaigns for guidance.

5. Develop a budget that supports your effort (most commonly forgotten step, believe it or not). It takes resources to make any campaign a success and when you outline it up front, you’ll be able to make better decisions. Don’t forget to include a few bucks to celebrate!

6. Decide what the most effective channels to communicate are. What do you know about what’s worked in the past? We know multi-channel approaches work well so how will you combine social media with snail mail with email with personal visits, etc? Your choices will affect timeline and budget so be sure to align all 8 of these steps.

7. Outline the various strategies that will leverage more dollars for your campaign. For instance, will you emphasize monthly giving? Perhaps you’ll make decisions about how to participate in Giving Tuesday, or about whether to search out a challenge grant opportunity. Do you have some partners who will promote your campaign? Who can help you enroll more ambassadors?  Bring some thought partners to the table and be strategic.

8. Track, assess, report. List the metrics that will measure the most relevant information based on your above goals. If you want more donors, measure how many new donors you get. You can measure average gift size, how many current donors converted to monthly donors, what communication method resulted in the most donations, etc. Once you track these metrics, analyze what they mean and make adjustments for next time – or better yet, can you adjust during the campaign? And always, always report back to the staff, the Philanthropy committee and your board.

Think these methods out in advance and you won’t be scrambling on December 20th! Keep in mind, this is a team effort, and everyone in your organization can play a role. Be sure to share this 8-step plan with them as a starting point and you can expand it as you go along.

I hope you have fun changing lives with all the money you raise! As we know, Success starts with mindset.

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