Get Organized Every Month For
Fundraising
By
Sandy
Rees
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Getting and staying organized is
very important to successful fundraising. If you promise donors
that they'll receive a regular newsletter or update from your
organization, you've got to put systems in place to make sure
that happens. If not, your donors may start to lose faith in
you.
At the beginning of each month, it's a good idea to review your fundraising program to see what needs to be done. I recommend you make yourself a monthly checklist to help you remember all the things you need to do. Here are some things you SHOULD be doing at the beginning of every month: • Change up your Thank You letter. Don't send the same old stale letter. Change it monthly to let your donors know you're on the ball. • Check your grant schedule. What proposal deadlines are approaching? Are there follow-up reports that need to go out this month? • Review your website for updates. What changes need to be made on your website? If you don't keep information fresh and current, people will stop visiting. And if the information on it is really out of date, visitors won't take you seriously. • Catch up your filing. Make sure that everything is put away where it belongs. This will help minimize or eliminate the clutter in your office and also make it easy to locate things later. If you have a monthly giving program, you should check to see if all of your monthly givers are current. You might need to send a gently reminder to those who have fallen behind. By using a checklist, you'll get all the reminders out of your head and onto paper. Then all you have to remember is to print out a checklist and go through it at the beginning of each month. I invite you to learn more successful fundraising ideas by visiting http://www.getfullyfunded.com and signing up for "Bright Ideas for Fundraising," an e-newsletter distributed twice-monthly to staff and volunteers of small nonprofits.
(c) Sandy Rees, CFRE |
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