Designing a strong fundraising strategy
Success in fundraising, as in any field, depends upon having a strong roadmap to guide your actions. Without a plan in place, it is easy to become distracted and jump at every new opportunity that seems to emerge —potentially losing sight of your ultimate goals in the process.
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Developing a thoughtful fundraising strategy requires a range of preparatory actions, which may include but are certainly not limited to:
- Asking what it is that you hope to achieve — for example, do you have a set funding target to launch a new program? Are you seeking to diversify your donor audiences? Are you entering a new market?
- Analyzing the competitive landscape to see your particular value-add and understand trends — which can help you define the opportunity that exists in the market, as well as what makes you distinct from others.
- Reviewing your current position, assets and potential hurdles towards achieving a goal — allowing you to prepare and adjust for expected stumbling blocks or map out the best course of action based upon your particular strengths.
- Determining what you are already doing to move towards a goal, and what additional actions would bring the most value — ensuring you center your energies where they will lead to the greatest payoff.
- Assessing your capacity to absorb more activities or expand your team — which may open up or close certain avenues based upon human resources needs.
As reflected in some of the points of consideration above, preparing a detailed strategy roadmap is as much about feasibility in the external market as it is about clarifying your goals and capacity internally. This is a task that can be executed by staff as well as volunteer leaders who can bring the external perspective.
That’s where a partnership with Faircom can add value. Combining our experience in Market Analysis and Program Audits , which we always pair with key learnings and takeaways for our nonprofit partners, we can provide you with essential information to inform internal discussions. We are also comfortable leading or facilitating Strategy Development processes encompassing integrated fundraising and communications planning — handing off a roadmap that you can then implement with your team or in partnership with a dedicated Faircom account team built to suit your needs.
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We can help you create powerful campaign & fundraising strategies
We can customize a scope of work to respond to your greatest needs — building either a standalone project to fill essential gaps in the short term or looking at a longer-term relationship for ongoing strategy consulting.
If you aren’t sure where to begin, we are eager to open up a conversation to explore more! We are used to working with larger, more experienced development teams, as well as organizations who may be just starting to build their philanthropy potential through major gifts and grants.