3 Early Steps You Should Be Taking for a Successful Fundraising Season

The season of giving will be here before you know it. It’s time to start thinking about your strategic plan for year-end fundraising. Check out these early steps you can take now so that your year-end fundraising is a guaranteed success.

Evaluate Last Year’s Fundraising

It’s crucial to review what provided success for your organization in past campaigns and build your foundation from there. The earlier you start to review past campaigns, the sooner you can start building a better campaign for the future. Here are a few questions to help you evaluate your past fundraising campaigns:

• Did you meet your goals? Why or why not?
• What strategies and tactics worked best for your donors?
• What channel did most of your supporters come from? (Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Word of Mouth, In-Person Events?)
• Did your campaign have a theme? If so, how well was it received?
• What types of donation tools did you use? (Donation page, Text2Give, Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, etc.)
• Who were your biggest supporters?
• Who was willing to help promote your organization and fundraiser?
• Which outlet gave you the most donations? (DonorView Fundraising, Events, Social Media, Checks, Venmo, Peer2Peer, Text2Give, etc.)

Set Goals for Your New Campaign

Decide what your year-end fundraising goal is and make sure it’s SMART. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. This will help your nonprofit stay on track, measure your goals and ensure success. What is a SMART goal?

Specific- Make your reasoning precise. What is the end goal?

Measurable- Make your goal easy to track so you can see how it’s working within the goal of your numbers.

Attainable — Don’t create a goal that is too far out of your reach.

Relevant — The goal should be relevant and specific to reaching the overall goals of your organization.

Time-Bound — Give yourself a deadline to reach your goal.

For example, here is a fundraising goal that follows the SMART method:

To increase online donations for the DonorView Foundation by 10% by December 31, 2022.

Secure Your Resources

It’s important to outline the resources to help you achieve your organization’s goals. Here are some questions to consider when it comes to securing your resources.

• How much is your budget?
• What communication outlets will help you promote your fundraiser?
• Who will help you launch your campaign? (Volunteers? Board Members? Friends/Family?)
• How will you collect donations? (Donation Page? Social Media? Text2Give? Peer-to-Peer? Event?) — Click these links for some ideas on how to promote donations on each!

Are you in need of a nonprofit software that will set you up for success year-round? Check out DonorView today and schedule a demo.