7 Essentials for Fundraising Success
With all of the people, problems, and politics that clamor for our time and mental energy, each day can be hectic. In the midst of the hubbub of daily life in the fundraising world, it’s important to take an occasional step back. Remember to look at how you can be strategic in shaping your organization and in helping it to better serve your community. Here are seven strategic touch points to review to keep your thoughts, plans, and actions focused on improving your long-term fundraising outcomes.
7 Essentials for Fundraising Success
1. Keep a Viable Mission in the Forefront
Focus on your organization’s mission—one that is definable, understandable, supportable, and necessary. Celebrate what you do to change people’s lives as you fulfill your responsibility to meet community needs. Keeping this in mind will ensure your fundraising success.
2. Have an Adaptable Board of Directors
Your board members must know (and understand) your mission and the community you serve. They serve as the checks and balances with staff and donors. They need to be able to act quickly and effectively.
The board also should be formed with the future in mind. For example, if you are going to enter campaign mode, perhaps your board should be populated with more members who have financial capacity. If you need to deal with organizational issues, perhaps the board should have more planning, organizational, and management skills. The most successful boards are a balance of all the above characteristics.
3. Be Financially Diverse
Cultivate many sources of funding, including individuals, foundations, corporations, government, etc. Also, consider creating a related business to provide income—for example, look at Habitat for Humanity or Goodwill‘s stores.
4. Respond Quickly to Changing Conditions
How much of your service are you providing in the same way (same place, same time, same method) as you did five years ago? Does your organization have the ability to change with our rapidly changing world? Are you thinking strategically about the future? Think like a change agent and help the people in your organization to overcome their natural resistance to change. An organization that changes with the times is going to be more successful than one that remains stagnant.
5. Seek Collaborations and Partnerships
One issue your organization may face is competition. There are too few good board members out there, and too few dollars, so you end up competing with one another. Have you considered joining with another organization that serves the same population that you do? Think about talking with other organizations about merging in order to grow your effectiveness and efficiency. There are also opportunities to work collaboratively and develop ways to identify and solve a community need.
6. Maintain a Bias for Marketing
The ideas of marketing and communications underlie all you do in attracting resourceful people and in serving your missions. The basis of marketing is understanding others’ desires and needs. Think about how your organization can join with the mission and the focus of a donor to achieve the donor’s goals. Do you ask your donor prospects what they want to accomplish? Do you ask foundations, “how can we help you meet your goals?” If not, you should!
7. Be a Friend-Raiser and Relationship-Builder
Fundraising is an outcome. Donors give because of trust. Trust is created in a process of getting to know you and your organization. At the same time, you get to know the desires and needs of the prospect. A gift is not the result of an ambush; it is the result of a relationship.
Summary
While each of these seven points is valuable for guiding your organization toward fundraising success, we believe that the most important is the last one: friend-raising and relationship-building. Creating and maintaining new relationships should be ongoing—not just for fundraising, but for achieving each of your strategic concerns. There is no one better to refresh your relationships with than those you know can help you be more successful.
You can start right now to improve your organization—call at least five donors today and every day! Just say, “Thank you, you’re important to us. And, if there’s ever anything I can do to help you, please let me know.” You’ll be excited by the response you get and the progress you make.
CDS has been a leader in nonprofit fundraising for the past three decades. Contact us if you need more intensive help with your major gift fundraising, strategic planning, or in preparing for a capital campaign.