3. Create a Process
Developing an effective fundraising plan cannot be done in a silo by the fundraiser alone. Involve your executive director, senior staff, and board members. Assemble your team and outline the process you’ll go through to create the plan, so everyone knows what to expect. Here are the steps McManus suggests:
1. Assess your environment, both internally and externally. Internally, look at things like organizational priorities, programs, and resources, including staff, technology, and capabilities. Capabilities should include expertise in fundraising, marketing, and other key areas. Externally, discuss things like fundraising trends, best practices, industry benchmarks, and how peer organizations (those doing similar work with similar budgets) are succeeding at fundraising.
2. Assess your donors, both current and aspirational. What kind of support can you conservatively expect from your current donors and prospects? What does your current donor base look like, and what do you want it to look like? Gaining a realistic sense of how much money you can raise from your base, combined with other potential strategies, will enable you to determine the feasibility of the financial goals you’ll tackle later in the discussion.
3. Outline your goals. In order to achieve the impact your organization envisions, what kind of fundraising infrastructure and results are needed? A couple examples are included below to help kick-start your discussion, but don’t just think about financial targets from different channels, although those are certainly crucial. Consider also the kinds of capacity that you as an organization need to build to thrive, for example, increasing board participation in fundraising and contributions; launching your first successful crowdfunding campaign, etc.
4. Identify your objectives. What are the three or four (or more) things you need to accomplish in order to achieve the big-picture goals and strategies you’ve outlined? Break down the goal into the elements required to ensure it happens. Again, some examples to get you thinking are below.
5. Identify your tactics. This is where you get into the nitty-gritty details, breaking down each objective one more step. In other words, the who, what, when, where, and how. Who will you be raising money from, and how? What are the concrete actions that need to occur to achieve your objectives? Be very specific and include measurable goals, such as: We will apply for six grants from private foundations by the end of the second quarter.
6. Identify your budget and resources. How much will it cost to raise this money, and who will do it? Do you have the necessary tools in place, including a CRM platform, staff, subscriptions to foundation or donor prospecting databases, marketing and communications support, an online fundraising platform, etc.?
Once you’ve outlined your process, assign responsibilities and create deadlines. Keep people accountable by assigning them duties and clarifying who is personally charged with ensuring the fulfillment of each tactic, as well as deadlines for each.
4. Document the Plan
Once you’ve gone through the steps in this process and answered all the relevant questions, it’s time to document your plan. Without a written plan, you have no plan at all. This document should be specific, but also as short as possible and easy to read. Organize the plan by two to five goals and associate each goal with three to six objectives, and then associate each objective with tactics. Assign a lead person and deadline for each tactic.
Here is an example:
ABC 2016–2018 Fundraising Plan
Goal 1: To build a strong and adequately resourced fundraising infrastructure that includes staff and volunteer resources, technology, policies and procedures, and professional development that provides a foundation for fundraising sustainability and growth as required.
Objective 1: Build fundraising personnel resources.
Tactic 1: Hire a Development Associate. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 8/10/16.
Tactic 2: Secure at least one skilled volunteer to help with administrative fundraising tasks. Lead: Development Associate. Deadline: 1/12/17.
Objective 2: Build a strong board with reach and influence, as well as fundraising and giving capacity.
Tactic 1: Create and implement a board member agreement detailing board responsibilities, including financial and fundraising commitments. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 11/10/16.
Tactic 2: Recruit at least three new board members able to contribute major gifts and facilitate introductions to major donors. Lead: Development Committee. Deadline: 6/15/17.
Objective 3: Build a strong annual fund program that will contribute sustainable revenue toward operating expenses.
Tactic 1: Select and implement a CRM platform to serve as our donor database. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 3/15/17.
Tactic 2: Build prospect list with 15,000 mailing and 25,000 email addresses. Lead: Marketing Director. Deadline: 5/1/17.
Tactic 3: Select and implement an online fundraising platform. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 6/15/17.
Tactic 4: Create an editorial calendar mapping out all 2018 mail and email solicitations, plus major marketing communications. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 9/15/17.
Goal 2: To increase fundraising revenues by 25 % and raise $1,000,000 in FY 2017/18.
Objective 1: Increase revenues from foundations by 30 %.
Tactic 1: Research, qualify, and prioritize 10 new foundation sources each year. Lead: Development Associate. Deadline: 6/30/16-18.
Tactic 2: Prepare Letters of Intent and/or grant proposals according to foundation deadlines. Lead: Development Associate. Deadline: FY according to required deadlines.
Tactic 3: Maintain schedule for research, qualification, prioritization, grant preparation, and follow-up. Lead: Development Associate. Deadline: Ongoing.
Objective 2: Build a strong and compelling Case for Support for fundraising purposes.
Tactic 1: Consult with staff, volunteers, donors, and clients regarding why they give and key messages. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 3/30/16.
Tactic 2: Draft key messages and circulate in small but representative group for feedback. Prepare final Case for Board Approval. Lead: Development Director. Deadline 6/30/16.
Tactic 3: Develop mini Cases of Support for each program. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 9/30/16.
Tactic 4: Communicate Case messages through various formats, including print, proposals, social media, website, marketing, etc. Lead: Development Director. Deadline: 9/30/16.
5. Gather Your Prospects
Donor prospecting is absolutely crucial to fundraising. So much so that we’ve dedicated all of Chapter 5 to it. Your prospect list will be critical to the development and implementation of your fundraising plan. You will need it to assess your current donors and determine
