Hope Is Not A Strategy
The 10 Problems Hope Won’t Cure is a good checklist to see how the Fundraising Performance Imperatives can be valuable to you.
☐ 1. Reliance on special events and annual giving as principal fundraising strategies, which results in a high cost-per-dollar raised as well as a smaller overall amount.
☐ 2. Foundation boards not aligned to major gift fundraising, which orients the program toward only smaller gifts and relies on staff member pipeline work and solicitations.
☐ 3. Executive and board leadership not oriented to fundraising as a leadership responsibility, which leaves the fundraising staff without the influence that leaders have in the community or within your constituency.
☐ 4. Cases for support that are inwardly focused on meeting operational and capital needs seen by management and do not inspire the excitement necessary to attract high-dollar board members and donors.
☐ 5. Inadequate stewardship programs, which lead to poor donor retention and a higher fundraising cost to acquire new donors.
☐ 6. Staff organizational structures that promote neither effective teamwork nor performance-oriented specialization, causing inefficient and ineffective uses of time.
☐ 7. Absence of multiyear strategic development plans and performance metrics, which leads to static or declining levels of investment and little or no year-to-year improvement.
☐ 8. Disconnects between fundraising operations and the institutions they support, which leads to inappropriate goals and cases as well as organizational behaviors that do not support a climate for fundraising success.
☐ 9. Lack of process, rigor and accountability resulting in wasted time, poor follow-up with potential donors and lackluster results.
☐ 10. Relatively small staffs and inadequate resources compared to the potential that could be raised, which leads to leaving large amounts of money on the table.