4 Questions To Help You Prioritize Fundraising Tasks When You’re Pressed For Time
If you are doing your job well as an Executive Director or Director of Development, you are getting pulled in a million different directions at the same time, all the time. That’s because you are, rightly, involving many different stakeholders in your work and giving them unique ways to stay invested.
However, priorities can become skewed when everyone believes their project is most important.
Here are four questions (and many sub-questions) to help you determine what projects need and deserve your attention, and what can/should be delegated to someone else:
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How much money will this project raise? Priority needs to go to projects that raise the most money or build the foundation for raising the most money. This could mean cultivation events with high-net worth donors in attendance, or a grant opportunity that is a great fit with the potential to bring in significant funds for your work.
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What happens if you don’t focus on this now? You want to prioritize fundraising projects that will do the most for your organization – bring in the most funds, cultivate the most promising major donors, and help you move toward your outlined strategic goals. Ask yourself, if you do not make this project a priority, will you lose valuable momentum with critical major donors? Will you have to wait another six months to a year for funds you critically need now? Or will this project take more manpower than it is worth for the goodwill or funds it will bring in? Who can you delegate to this task? (Consider other staff, volunteers, or board members.)
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Who is behind this project? Sometimes you need to consider who wants the project done. If it is your board chair, or another board member, and s/he is working hard to bring in new donors and open doors, you need to make him/her feel supported. You likely need to give his or her project the proper attention and consideration. However, if the volunteer or donor has a pattern of pursuing projects that bring in little money or few new donors with high potential, you may need to problem-solve, and try to better focus that volunteer so that you can spend energy and time on more important tasks with high results (don’t worry, you are not alone; it happens frequently).
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Does the project align with your strategic plan? You can get caught up pursuing any and every opportunity that comes a-knocking. With all the newsletters you get, all the articles you and your team are reading, ideas and prospects are constantly appearing on your computer screen or on your desk. Choose your opportunities with care and thoughtful consideration. Do they align with your strategic plan and goals? Are they worth your time and your staff’s precious time? Will they take away from other goals, tasks, milestones already identified and being pursued? You don’t want to waste too much time chasing projects that do not align with your strategic direction and/or which offer little return.
At nonprofits, we are almost always in a time crunch. We have too much to do and too little time – and staff – to do it. Prioritizing is the very best way to be productive with what you got. Actively prioritizing builds trust within your staff and it helps the team work together to stay on task. It also helps you focus on the prospects and opportunities that will do the most for your mission, your community, and your bottom line. That’s a win win win for everyone.
