![]() This time of year, many nonprofits are counting up the last of June’s gifts and trying to get to a total that meets their fundraising goals. When the reports come out, most fundraisers will start the new year again – at $0.00 – without thinking about how last year went, why it went that way, and how it can be better. It can always be better. Here are some ideas for looking backward, even if only briefly, to fine tune your new fundraising year.
A good set of reports or a good dashboard should answer most of these questions. And if you don’t have the information you need on a particular topic, then you now have the opportunity to build a workplan. For instance, if your major gifts team does not have a work plan, then it will be difficult to find out if your gift officers have met their goals. However, showing the percentage of major gifts prospects who were cultivated in a given year helps start the workplan discussion. A keynote speaker at a DRIVE conference some time ago shared that he had discovered a fire hydrant in New York City that made more than minimum wage in parking fines because the space in front of it was not marked as “No Parking.” He told us that people kept asking him how he figured that out, and he replied, “I counted.” But he did more than that.
If you would like to share your year-end assessment ideas with us, comment below. Or write to me at marianne@staupell.com.
1 Comment
Kate Goldberg
7/16/2019 10:53:34 am
I like the idea of celebrating goals! Good suggestion!
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