Fundraising Resolutions For The New Year

As we recover from the end-of-year fundraising blitz, it's a good time to take a breath and pat yourself on the back for another year (and revisit this earlier post!). You'll also want to sit down and gauge your overall fundraising for the year and compare it to previous years' efforts (that Year over year performance overview in Analyze should come in handy!). Regardless of your annual performance, now's a good time to also plan for the coming year and help ensure your future success. Think of these as your fundraising resolutions for the new year!

 
Plan fundraising events. Want to get to know your donors and prospects better (and, more importantly, let them know more about your mission)? Host an event! Fundraising events — such as walkathons, galas, concert festivals, tournaments, classes, and so on — require a lot of planning and coordination, but they are great opportunities to engage new and prospective donors, spread the word about your organization, and explain the impact donations have. With Events Management, you can set up events and manage registrations in the database view. In the web interface, you can also track a constituent's attendance under Events on their record. For recommendations to ensure a successful event, review the Event Best Practices Help.

Research your prospects and donors. Another way to learn about your donors and prospects is to just take the time to research both their capacity and likelihood to give. To help determine your constituents' wealth, Target Analytics, a division of Blackbaud, Inc., automatically screens individuals and prospects located in the United States — except those marked as deceased or inactive — and rates them based on their public assets. On a constituent's record, you can view this wealth information under Ratings. For details, including which assets are considered in wealth ratings, see the Blackbaud NXT Ratings Help. 


Of course, wealth doesn't always indicate philanthropy. With Prospect Research Management, you can also track a constituent's giving preferences, assets, contributions to other organizations and causes, and other financial information under Prospect management on their record. With this information, you can help determine whether a constituent with the capacity to give also has the likelihood to do so. For more details, check out the Prospect Management Help.


For suggestions of other items to research about your donors and prospects, such as their giving history and details from ResearchPoint, review the Wealth Ratings Best Practices Help.

Explore matching gift programs. In addition to the wealth and giving of your donors and prospects, research their employment and determine which work for companies that offer programs to match employees' charitable giving. With matching gifts and a little legwork, you can maximize your constituents' generosity with supplemental — and essentially free — corporate giving. In preparation for the new year, find ways to promote matching gifts to donors through appeals, online donation forms, and other communications to help double up on giving! For more information, see the Matching Gifts Help.

Tap into peer-to-peer fundraising. Through peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising, your donors become your best advocates, voluntarily promoting your organization and soliciting gifts on your behalf through events like walks, bike tours, or online challenges. To enable your donors to successfully crowdfund for your organization, maximize your online presence with fundraising solutions like everydayhero, which enable others to independently fundraise on your behalf through set goals and personal donation web pages. For best practices, see the Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Help.

Retain this year's donors. Look for ways to keep those who gave this year engaged in the upcoming one. Make sure you thank them for their gifts and plan to touch base over the coming year through volunteer opportunities, fundraising events, or personal interactions. Make your appeals appealing, and clearly market your mission in communications such as email newsletters, direct marketing, and social media. For more recommendations, review the Donor Acquisition and Retention Help.


While some resolutions are made to be broken, plan to keep these to help improve your fundraising in the new year. Best wishes for 2017, and here's to another great year in the Raiser's Edge NXT Community!