{"id":1542,"date":"2023-04-18T15:03:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T22:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nonprofitkinect.org\/?p=1542"},"modified":"2023-04-18T15:04:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T22:04:12","slug":"planning-for-your-nonprofits-year-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nonprofitkinect.org\/planning-for-your-nonprofits-year-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning For Your Nonprofit’s Fundraising Year Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][dipl_text_highlighter _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/dipl_text_highlighter][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]
By AUSTIN DETWILER<\/a><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n 2023 promises to be a difficult year for fundraisers. Raising money is always a hard job\u2014and in a tough economy, that job gets even harder.<\/p>\n The most important way to be successful in fundraising is to have a strategic plan. When times are good and when times are bad, development plans help organizations grow and hit their goals.<\/p>\n And the first rule about development plans is that they should be based in reality. That\u2019s why a fully-fledged, multi-year development plan begins with a comprehensive assessment of your current fundraising practices. It\u2019s hard to get from A to B if you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re starting from!<\/p>\n You also need to take account of the world around you. Basing your plan in reality requires a serious assessment of your context\u2014which is why the uncertain economy is an important factor. How will inflation affect your expenses, and therefore your fundraising needs? How will it affect your fundraising opportunity and goals?<\/p>\n As Chris Kuetemeyer\u00a0<\/span>pointed out<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in our \u201cFundraising When Times Are Bad\u201d series, donors don\u2019t stop giving when the economy is bad\u2014but they may stop giving to their fourth or fifth favorite nonprofit. So your task this year\u2014as ever, but perhaps with increased pressure in 2023\u2014is to make sure you\u2019re in your donors\u2019 top three favorite organizations.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at high priorities for putting together your 2023 development plan to make sure you can stay close to your donors and hit your goals.<\/p>\n As the last few gifts trickle in and you close the books on 2022, it\u2019s time to take stock of where you are. Ideally, you are operating with a multi-year development plan to help you track growth over time. If not, it\u2019s still important to see how things went last year to set your goals for this year.<\/p>\n The first question, of course, is topline revenue: how much money did you raise last year? How much growth does that represent over 2021? Did you meet or exceed your goal?<\/p>\n Next, look at what went into making up that revenue by looking at your donor base:<\/p>\n You can\u2014and should\u2014dig into your donor base in a little more detail with a gifts table. Break out your entire 2022 donor base by giving level to see how many donors you had at each level. (The specific levels will vary based on the size of the size of the organization.) This will help you determine whether or not this year\u2019s goal is realistic: create a gifts table for 2023 and determine if the change is reasonable or not. If it\u2019s reasonable, what kinds of things do you need to do to realize it?<\/p>\n After looking at the composition of your donor base, you can understand it more by looking at various revenue streams. How much money are you raising in these broad buckets?<\/p>\n Now, review your messaging. How strong is your pitch, and how well does everyone know the pitch? Should you revisit your elevator pitch or your value proposition? Do you know what sets you apart and why a donor should support you right now? Do you have collateral to accompany that pitch and assist fundraisers in meetings? What are your priority fundraising areas this year, and why? Can your fundraisers pitch those priority areas?<\/p>\n Money follows mission in the development world, which means that articulating your mission clearly and compellingly us of utmost importance. How can you stay in your donors\u2019 top three organizations? By making a strong case why you should be there.<\/p>\n Finally, review your fundraising activities. How many foundation LOIs and proposals did you send in 2022? How many mailings or newsletters or reports did you send (and were they on time)? Did you send any postcards or other mailings? What donor acquisition efforts did you undertake? How many major donor meetings did you have? Was your donor thank-you process well executed? How many events did you host?<\/p>\n When you put together your comprehensive strategic development plan, you\u2019ll want to spend more time on what \u201cthere\u201d is. But for your 2023 plan, hopefully you know what you need to raise this year.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve reviewed your donor base, your messaging, and your fundraising activities, you can start putting together the pieces for this year.<\/p>\n First of all, determine whether you need to improve your messaging, and take steps to do that. And make sure your fundraisers are equipped with the collateral and tools they need to communicate the organizations mission and priorities well.<\/p>\n Next, build out the 2023 gifts table. What does your donor base need to look like in 2023 to hit your goals? Is that realistic?<\/p>\n The single most important thing for success in 2023 is going to be individual donor plans. Every major donor at your organization should be assigned to a caseload and should have a written plan. That plan may not be extremely detailed for every donor, but basic goals and dates should be in place\u2014but the top donors on every caseload should have a detailed, multi-step,\u00a0<\/span>written<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>plan in place.<\/p>\n Do you know how much you are asking each donor on your caseload for, and when you plan to make the ask, and what you\u2019ll do to communicate with them ahead of time? Those are important steps to hitting revenue goals! And will your caseload predictions fund the major gifts goal you have for 2023? If not, you need to make adjustments somewhere. (And if you don\u2019t know, you should find out!)<\/p>\n In addition to preparing plans for major donors, every donor at your organization should have a detailed, written plan\u2014but for the majority of those donors, that plan is your direct mail calendar.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the year, you need to prepare a direct response calendar for the entire year. Your review of 2022 should tell you how direct response performed last year: how much money did you raise? How many new donors did you bring in? What mailings performed better and worse?<\/p>\nDo you have a fundraising plan for 2023? It\u2019s not too late\u2014and it\u2019s critically important. Here\u2019s a crash course.<\/h4>\n
WHERE ARE YOU NOW<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
HOW WILL YOU GET THERE<\/strong><\/h3>\n