How to overcome a fundraising plateau
Nonprofit leaders: If your fundraising efforts are plateauing, how will you reinvigorate them?
Whether you're fizzling out at $1M or $10M raised each year, you just know in your bones that there's more your organization can do to reach higher targets. But, like many leaders, you may not see exactly how to get there.
We're working with a nonprofit in this exact situation. They've stalled out at $3.5 million raised annually. To help them get unstuck, we're conducting a fundraising assessment to uncover problem spots and recommend specific ways to address those issues. So far, we've:
1. Evaluated the current fundraising infrastructure: By exploring the Development team's current staffing and systems, we've uncovered that most donor interactions/histories live in the gift officer's head--not the database--and that there aren't enough frontline staff members to grow the donor base meaningfully. Imagine what the team could accomplish with a logical tracking system and an additional staff member in place.
2. Assessed donor relationships: We met with several top donors to understand what they love about the organization, how they feel about their interactions with the organization, and what their interest would be in giving transformational-level gifts if asked. It turns out that very few top donors have been asked for a specific, high level of support. Most of what they've given has been self-directed. Imagine what could happen if the org worked with these donors proactively on a major gift that suits their unique passions.
3. Examined the culture of philanthropy: We explored staff, board, and volunteers' perceptions of philanthropy at this organization and found that most people outside of Development feel they're held at arm's length when it comes to fundraising. Imagine how these groups could help attract donors if they were educated and empowered to do so.
The most exciting thing about a fundraising assessment is not the findings--it's the recommendations. It's the part where we offer very concrete, reasonable, and specific ways to boost a Development operation. Once we offer a clear path forward, it's amazing to see how nonprofit leaders and board members become newly excited about all of the possibilities that fundraising holds for their mission!
