How to Reach a Fundraising Deadline

What do you do when your annual fund deadline is 4 months away and you still have 50%of the goal to go?

What do you do when your special project funding deadline ends 12/3/08 and you still have $400,000 left to raise?

Get focused. Be patient and follow people-centered fundraising techniques, but start measuring yourself, your staff, and your volunteers for weekly productivity.

Start asking yourself the question, how much money did I raise this week? This month? What did I do today that will help me get closer to our goal?

Think through when you are most productive and use that time as “prime time” for fundraising.

Instead of the “one a day” calling plan on prospective donors, go to two a days (just like athletic teams do to get ready for their season).

A case history — one of my clients is raising special project funds. There was a two-year timeline to raise $1.5 million. The building opens this summer with a special party in September. We’d love to have the project pledged out before either of these events. What to do? First we set up a chart to show how much has been raised and how much is needed. We’re going to have weekly staff meetings to ask how much each person has raised toward the $400,000 left. We’re stressing that written pledges signed as soon as possible and payable by year end count. We want pledges completed by July 1 with pledge payments done by December 31 of this year. The volunteer chair, who is extremely busy, agreed to 10-minute phone calls each week so we can keep him motivated and focused on the goal. We are using naming opportunities for the new building new to raise the sights of major gift donors. If we can close 5 to 10 significant gifts we can conquer this challenge.

To summarize our strategies: 1) Be clear on the goal — make it visual, measure progress toward it weekly, 2) Make reaching the objective everyone’s job — instead of one person being responsible everyone in the office needs to rally to meet the objective, 3) Gear up your volunteer force — be nice, but be clear that volunteers need to help now, and 4) Be flexible — take pledges now with cash payable by year end.

We’ll keep you posted.




Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

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