Draft a development plan and stick to it. Engage your volunteers in creating the plan.
This is our ninth tip to remain a priority with philanthropists during the economic recovery.
If you’ve engaged your board members and development committee in creating the plan, everyone should be in agreement on your fundraising goals, strategies, and tactics. Then if you’ve committed to stick to the plan even when times are challenging, you’ll be protected from all sorts of “creative” (read: ineffective) ideas some people come up with as new ways to raise money because they’re panicking about the economy.
Be sure your development plan incorporates fundraising basics: annual fund mailings; newsletters and other ways of keeping donors informed; ongoing, in-person cultivation of top donors; and proper donor stewardship.
As we often say, successful fundraising is 80 percent preparation and 20 percent solicitation. That’s even more true during the economic recovery.
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