As a new fundraising year accelerates, urgency takes over. A proposal is due! The website needs updating! An event is coming up! The to-do list expands.
Activity increases. Results don’t always follow.
If you feel busier than ever but are not achieving meaningful outcomes, do something counterintuitive: Stop.
· Stop reacting to every demand as if it carries equal weight.
· Stop investing time in tasks that feel productive but generate little return.
As The 4-Hour Workweek author Tim Ferriss observed, doing something unimportant well does not make it important.
Fundraising success does not come from undirected motion. It comes from disciplined focus.
What is a Fundraising Planning Session?
An effective planning session requires dedicated time — at least a half day — with key leadership and development staff present. Preparation is essential. Each team member should assess prior performance and outline realistic projections for the coming year.
What the Session Should Cover:
· Do an honest review of the prior year. Start with reality. What produced revenue? What consumed time without meaningful return?
· Assess the external environment. Is demand for your mission growing or declining? How are peer organizations positioning themselves?
· Evaluate your fundraising opportunities. Be clear-eyed about capacity. A small organization may not be positioned to run a low-dollar acquisition program. For some, major gifts and foundations will yield far greater return on effort.
· Examine your messaging. In the current political, social, and economic climate, why is your work urgent now? If you cannot answer that clearly, neither can your donors.
· Set defined goals for major donors. Every significant donor should have a cultivation and solicitation strategy attached to their name.
· Establish an ambitious but reasonable revenue target. Goals should stretch the organization but be grounded in reality.
· Review internal capacity. Personnel, technology, reporting systems — where are the operational weaknesses?
· Assign ownership. Each ‘to-do’ from the planning session must have a responsible party and a deadline.
Who Should Participate:
The development team must lead the effort, but executive leadership should be involved in strategic decisions. Additionally, input from program, marketing, and — where appropriate — board leadership can strengthen alignment.
What planning should NOT produce:
· A glossy document that gathers dust
· Revenue projections untethered to donor knowledge
· Lists of wealthy individuals with no relationship pathway
· Activity lists without accountability.
What really matters:
Planning fails when it is not revisited. Assign measurable goals to each team member and review quarterly at team meetings. Adjust based on performance and changing conditions.
Fundraising is leadership work. Leadership requires clarity. And clarity requires the discipline to stop long enough to think.
If results matter this year, begin there.
