4 questions to answer before the new year

Now that December has rolled around, you may feel ready to wrap things up and move on to the next year of fundraising. But before you do, it’s a good idea to reflect on the lessons learned from this year. When you take time to consider four key questions and incorporate the insights from your answers into your plans for the year ahead, you can position yourself for an even stronger fundraising program in the new year.

To get started, pull out the fundraising plan that’s guided your work this year. If you don’t have a fundraising plan, you can instead make a list of your main fundraising activities over the past year and work from that.

Ask yourself these 4 questions

What were your fundraising goals for this year?

These will include financial goals, like raising a certain amount through grants or in your year-end appeal. But also consider goals with long-term financial impact. These might be related to your fundraising operations, like migrating to a new donor management system or being more efficient in sending acknowledgments. They could also include milestones with certain supporters, like being invited to submit an application to a foundation, or increasing the number of local businesses that support you with in-kind gifts.

Did you meet these goals?

For each of the goals, note whether you met them, or, in the case of a year-end appeal, whether you’re on track to do so.

What challenged these goals or prevented your organization from achieving them?

Be as honest and specific as possible here. If you’re falling short of your fundraising goal for your year-end appeal, why? What are the obstacles to reaching your goal? Maybe donors didn’t receive communications from your organization between your last year-end appeal and this one, so they’re not as inclined to support you. Or, it’s possible that the goal that was initially set wasn’t realistic.

Perhaps you met your financial goal for grants, but the application process was disorganized and rushed. What were the reasons? Did the deadlines collide with preparations for your organization’s annual gala? Did it take longer than you expected to collect required materials from colleagues or your accountant?

Might you encounter those same obstacles next year? If so, what can you do to mitigate them?

Think ahead to your plans for next year and consider whether those obstacles will hinder you again. If they will, how can you mitigate them? If grant applications will once again be due during your busy event season, set internal deadlines to get the bulk of the applications done before event season. Communicate those internal deadlines, and the reasons behind them, to your colleagues.

If you can’t think of a way to mitigate the obstacles to a goal, don’t simply add the same goal back to your fundraising plan. Be realistic, take your experiences into consideration, and adjust the goal accordingly.

Conclusion

By asking yourself these four questions and applying your experiences to your work in the year ahead, you can move forward with a strengthened fundraising plan.