Fundraising and Fridays

Some weeks, I think every day is Friday. Some weeks I just wish every day was Friday.  Which is odd—I am a consultant.  My days, mostly, are mine to schedule.  Friday.  Monday.  Thursday.  In essence it makes no difference.  And yet there seems to be magic in the idea of a weekend.  An idea, alas, that doesn’t always translate into reality.

I often think about fund development plans as Fridays.  Big ambitions; unattainable goals!  Too often a distance from reality.  For example, a recent client decided they were going to “increase the number of gifts over $10,000 to 50”. In a year.  But, for starters, this organization does not even have 50 donors at any level.  And for the very few donors they do have, the average gift is less than $75.  The obvious question is:  How are you going to get there?

That, I was told, was “in the plan.”  But as Taylor Swift has famously noted, “Just because you make a good plan, doesn’t mean that’s what’s gonna happen.” Your plan has to be realistic, accomplishable.  That plan, I feared, was not.  And indeed, according to the plan, the road to paradise was to “develop moves management for certain donors.”

Hope, as a good friend tells me, is not a strategy.  Neither is it a plan.  A plan would provide direction.

A good way to ensure that is to begin with an assessment of your fundraising capacity.  Consider first your resources.  How many people who truly engage in fundraising do you have?  How many donors and prospects?  What is your fundraising budget?

Also consider the ways you have raised funds in the past.  What has been successful and what has not?  What other things might you do to either improve fundraising successes with known techniques and with those you have yet to try?

As you consider these ways to raise funds, think about how much you believe you can raise from each way, and what each will cost. Then ask yourself:  Does this make sense for us?

Once you decide on the ways and how much money you will make (and note that make means the difference between what it costs you and what your brought in), consider the specifics.  These include a timeline of when the fundraising will happen and, yes, sometimes that will be “ongoing”.  Then ascertain the steps to get you from thinking “This is the way we will raise funds” to “This is how we raised them.”  And indicate who will be involved.

Even the best plan of course, will only get you to Wednesday.  To get to Friday you actually have to implement and follow the plan.  And then make needed changes and additions as you move forward.

Do all that, and soon it will not just be Friday but it will be Friday evening-one with soft air, lots of moonlight, and plenty of reason to celebrate.