ExecutiveChronicles.com | 6 Crucial Tips for Setting Achievable Fundraising Goals | If you’re starting a fundraiser, you need to have reasonable expectations.
Setting fundraising goals can feel like a shot in the dark if you aren’t sure of the public response for your fundraiser. It’s important to be optimistic, but also realistic when setting these goals.
In this post, we’re going to give you 6 crucial tips for setting fundraising goals. Follow these and you’ll be able to achieve what you set out to do.
1. Learn About Donors
Do some background research on your potential donors to gather information on their willingness and capability to contribute to your campaign. Here are a couple of things to look at in doing this research:
- Look at people that have donated to you before or organizations like yours.
- Wealth markers help indicate a person’s capacity to donate – stock holdings, real estate ownership, business affiliations, etc.
- Do a feasibility study at https://cdsfunds.com/services/campaign-feasibility-planning-study to determine the feasibility of your goals.
2. The SMART Way
The SMART test can help you quickly get started with a fundraising goal. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Ambitious/Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based.
It’s important to set specific goals so that your donors know what they’re contributing to and those within your organization know what they’re fighting for. Having specific goals in mind allows you to measure your results.
Your goals should be ambitious, but attainable. The reason for your goals should be clear to everyone inside and outside the organization, and they should be time-based to create incentive for the donor.
3. Make It Easy to Donate
You should have multiple channels for accepting donations. Make it easy for people to give money online, in person, over the phone, or however else they might donate.
This is especially important for your higher powered donors. Cater to their needs and you’ll be able to secure those large chunk donations.
4. Keep Records of Past Fundraising Campaigns
Fundraising isn’t always just about a single fundraiser. It’s important to keep records of past fundraisers, your best donors, successes, and failures in order to improve upon things each time.
Improving might mean doing a better job of connecting with supporters, setting more realistic goals, or keeping donations open for a longer period of time. Sit down with your team at the end of each campaign to go over what went right and what went wrong.
5. Keep Supporters In the Loop
Start a mailing list with your supporters to keep them in the loop on what you’ve got going on in the future. This takes a huge amount of work out of subsequent fundraising campaigns. If you can retain even a portion of the donations from previous campaigns, then you’re already ahead on the next one.
6. Spreading the Word
Being able to promote your fundraiser effectively is going to go a long way. Using your organization’s social media accounts to raise awareness for the campaign will help you reach people that you may not otherwise. Ask your team members to share with their friends as well.
If you’ve made a positive impact on donors, you can also use them to spread the word further. Things can grow exponentially when donors start sharing your donation page.
Set Your Fundraising Goals Today
Now that you know how to set proper fundraising goals and achieve them, you can get started on your next fundraising campaign today. Fundraising isn’t rocket science, but it helps to understand how to appeal to people in the right way in order to set goals that you can easily achieve and surpass.
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