Six Fundamentals Of A Smashing Fundraising Campaign

1. Figure out your target audiences: who is likely to give you what amount, who has given in the past, who you might ask for more this year, whom you need to re-engage? It’s time consuming to do this, but it is completely, utterly worth it.
2. One size doesn’t fit all: Figure out which combination of tools you should use to make your asks for each type of audience. In some cases, it might take just one phone call from your board chair. In others, it might be several prompts via email, Facebook and more.
3. Craft your messages and tailor them keeping your audience in mind. Your annual appeal is one of the best times to get really personal and remind people of the emotional reasons that your mission matters to them – the operative term being “to them”. Emotional relevance is why people give.
4. Determine who is making your case. I don’t mean whom the actual ask is coming from (though that matters a lot too). But whose story are you telling? Even organizations focusing on policy or procedural reform can and must show the human impact of the work. Tell the story of how your organization’s work makes a difference to a real, live person (or creature). This is who is making your case.
5. Create an over-arching “identity” for your campaign, combining a memorable tagline (or ask) plus a set of set of colors or designs that visually make the link between all the pieces of your campaign. This “look and feel” must be maintained for the entire campaign to create a sense of coherence and to differentiate your fundraising effort from your regular programming.
6. Map out your campaign on a timeline. Work backwards from the date of your last reminder (likely to be an email on December 30 or 31) and list the different tools you’ll be using at different times in your campaign. Check with other staff so you are not asking your constituents for too many things at the same time. (Come to our event, sign this petition and oh yes, give too!) You can, however, weave in your ask as part of your program efforts – where appropriate. But you won’t know to do this unless you map out your campaign.

And now, the work of implementation begins!