Your nonprofit’s fundraising plan is the backbone of your success as an organization.
Without a solid fundraising plan in place, there would be nothing to guide your fundraising efforts and no way to tell if your nonprofit is on track to meet your goals.
Before implementing any change in fundraising strategy, you need to have an official fundraising plan in place. To get you started, here are 6 simple tips to consider:
- Gain fundraising plan input from key stakeholders.
- Develop goals (and challenges)!
- Set a fundraising plan timeline.
- Determine your fundraising methods.
- Build corporate partnerships into your fundraising plan.
- Tailor your case for support.
Bonus! Once your fundraising plan is in place, you should periodically assess your strategy. Check out Double the Donation’s ultimate fundraising strategy assessment to stay ahead of the curve!
Ready to get started on your fundraising plan? Let us break these tips down into a bit more detail.
1. Gain fundraising plan input from key stakeholders.
Stakeholders are an important part of your nonprofit’s team. Not only do they help fund your organization’s philanthropy, but they typically have final say over big-picture fundraising decisions.
Since a fundraising plan outlines a nonprofit’s key activities, it is important to get support from these board members and other key stakeholders.
There are a couple of ways you can gain input from your stakeholders:
- Experiential input. You can ask stakeholders directly about what fundraising strategies have worked well for your nonprofit in the past. Inquire about past fundraising activities, strengths and weaknesses. Take their feedback into consideration and be sure to demonstrate to them how you address their input.
- Consultant interviews. You might find it helpful to bring in a fundraising consultant. They can conduct stakeholder interviews to determine what is most important to your board and how to get everyone on the same page when designing your fundraising plan.
Remember: Your nonprofit’s board members are just as passionate about your organization’s mission as you are. Do not think of their approval as a bureaucratic hurdle to overcome, but rather an important step towards improving your fundraising plan.
2. Develop goals (and challenges)!
When designing your fundraising plan, your final product should reflect your nonprofit’s primary goals above all else.
It is easy to fall into the trap of vaguely fundraising without an endpoint in sight, but to stay on track your nonprofit needs to actively work toward a defined set of central goals.
Before designing your fundraising plan, your nonprofit needs to sit down and agree upon what goals to prioritize across all levels of your organization. Your goals should be:
- Specific, actionable, and measurable. Do not just decide to increase fundraising revenue, or plan to retain more donors. Set numeric benchmarks and timelines, and decide how you will tackle these goals.
- Evaluated against metrics. You cannot accurately assess your progress towards achieving a goal without having metrics in place to track your success. Diligently monitor consistent metrics so you can see how well you are improving and when you need to make changes to your fundraising plan.
(Bonus tip! Be sure to collect valuable data when carrying out your fundraising plan to help evaluate these metrics and shape your future fundraising plans. Check out Fundly’s guide to nonprofit CRMs for an idea of how your nonprofit can maximize the power of your donor database to improve your fundraising strategy.)
Additionally, one way to help your nonprofit stay on track is to identify upfront what potential challenges or obstacles you will face in the process of achieving your goals.
Some obstacles you might encounter could be:
- Seasonal fundraising dry spells
- Low donor retention
- Failure to obtain major gifts
- Poor fundraising event attendance
- Inadequate online engagement
For example, an animal shelter that wants to increase donor retention by X% over the summer months might identify the challenge of supporters being less engaged during this season since they may be traveling or caring for children on summer vacation. To reach their goal, they’ll need to recognize this challenge and develop strategies to overcome it.
Remember: Use your nonprofit’s history to guide you in identifying roadblocks and deciding on goals. Every nonprofit has its unique strengths and weaknesses and when designing a fundraising plan, it is important to know going in what is reasonable to expect from your organization.
3. Set a fundraising plan timeline.
Staying on top of your goals also means staying on top of your fundraising plan’s timeline.
Fundraising plans typically plot out a 3-5 year timeline for your nonprofit, with the first year being very detailed and the following years becoming less defined.
Your fundraising plan’s timeline should be developed into an annual fundraising calendar that details the year’s worth of activities for your organization.
When developing your timeline, keep a few things in mind:
- Milestones. Structure your timeline around a set of core milestones. These will both guide your progress and help you regularly assess your fundraising strategy.
- Accountability. Your timeline (and subsequently, your fundraising calendar) should clearly identify what departments are responsible for individual fundraising activities. This will help keep the different arms of your nonprofit on track and help your departments prioritize tasks throughout the year.
- Accessibility. Your timeline and calendar should be easily accessible to all members of your team, regardless of their department or role. Every team member should be aware of what other departments are up to; this way, they will have a better sense of the big picture of your organization and how your core fundraising goals are being achieved.
Not sure where to start when designing your fundraising plan timeline? Consider enlisting the help of a fundraising consulting firm. If you need a recommendation, DonorSearch has got you covered with their list of the top 11 fundraising consulting firms in the field!
Remember: During the design process, your fundraising timeline should be as specific as possible and you should hold yourself to the timeline as much as you can. However, if you find you are not progressing as quickly as you had planned, identify the roadblock and always give yourself room to edit the timeline if necessary.
4. Determine your fundraising methods.
A common thread among these tips has been specificity and when plotting out your fundraising plan, it is doubly important to specifically determine your fundraising methods.
It is not sufficient to simply say you will raise $XXX by such-and-such date. You need to plan out how you will raise that money and from whom you will solicit donations.
Fundraising is not a one size fits all process, and you should curate your fundraising methods with your prospects in mind. For example, consider these fundraising methods and how they serve prospects:
- Online donation pages. If your donors cannot all come to you, meet them where they are. Online donation is simply convenient; for nonprofits interested in prospects in varying geographical locations, utilizing optimized online donation tools is a must.
- P2P fundraising. For nonprofits seeking to grow their network of donors, P2P fundraising is a great way to engage constituents online and leverage the power of their social network to help your organization reach a broader audience.
- Text-to-give. Mobile giving is a fundraising style that has been growing in popularity over the last several years. Like online donation pages, text-to-give fundraising makes it convenient for donors to give. Additionally, because donors are not tied to a desktop, they may consider donating more frequently.
- Fundraising events. A strategic fundraising event help you engage donors and bring in major donations, too! Just make sure you plan out your fundraiser well in advance so you have plenty of time to consider important elements, such as the type of event, when and where to host it, and what technology you’ll need to pull it off.
Remember: You should consult your nonprofit’s existing data when determining which prospects to pursue and which fundraising methods best serve your prospect pool. Consider past data and metrics when determining fundraising methods, as well as what has worked for other nonprofits of a similar donor makeup and mission as yours.
5. Build corporate partnerships into your fundraising plan.
Corporate partnerships can be important sources of revenue and support for nonprofits.
When designing your fundraising plan, develop a strategy that will help you achieve corporate partnership so that you do not bypass such a valuable asset.
If you already are partnered with a corporation, consider these ways to leverage that relationship during the fundraising plan design process:
- Event sponsorship. Your corporate partner could agree to sponsor a fundraising event for your nonprofit. With their name and notoriety attached, prospects may be more inclined to participate in your fundraiser.
- Challenge grants. Your corporate partner might be amenable to offering your nonprofit a challenge grant. With a challenge grant, your organization and your partner agree upon a specific fundraising goal. If the goal is met, they might match the amount of funding raised or commit to donating an agreed-upon sum.
- Matching gifts. One of the simplest ways to incorporate corporate philanthropy into your fundraising strategy is to seek out a matching gift tool. In a matching gifts program, a corporation agrees to match the donations of their employees either to a certain percentage of the donation or to a consistent maximum value. With a tool like this one offered by Double the Donation, donors can quickly determine whether their donation might be matched by their employer.
Take a look at DTD’s matching gift tool in action! The donor simply types the name of their company into the tool, and then DTD searches their database to see if they are matching gift-eligible.
Remember: Every nonprofit has unique needs and that extends to any relationship you have with corporate sponsors. You do not have to go after a partnership with a multi-million dollar company if that does not suit the scope of your organization. Partnering with small local businesses can get the job done, especially for regionally-focused nonprofits.
6. Tailor your case for support.
Your case for support underpins the success of your nonprofit, but it is often taken for granted when designing fundraising strategy.
Organizations and hospitals often create cases for support when they launch a capital campaign. These documents outline every detail of the campaign from how the funds will be used to the ways supporters can contribute.
Moreover, the case for support acts as an effective promotional tool to help educate potential donors on the importance of your cause. The content in your case for support can easily be posted on your website or published in a brochure.
While they’re common practice for capital campaigns, organizations should create a case for support as a part of any fundraising strategy.
Donors will not give to your organization unless you have a compelling case for support, so you need to take the time to thoughtfully develop your case.
Your case for support should answer these important questions:
- What is our mission?
- Why should donors give to this cause?
- Why should they give to our organization in particular?
- How much should donors give?
- What specifically will our nonprofit do to achieve our mission?
At all levels of engagement, your nonprofit should actively communicate with donors the ways that your fundraising strategy addresses your case for support. The more compelling your case, the more likely it is that donors will give to your organization.
Remember: Your case for support should govern your fundraising strategy. Just as you should choose fundraising methods that target your prospects, you should similarly design your fundraising plan with your case for support as a foundation.
Your fundraising plan is the single most important tool in your arsenal when enacting a new fundraising strategy. Get closer to achieving your nonprofit’s fundraising goals by designing a detailed fundraising plan today!
Additional Resources
- Conduct a Fundraising Feasibility Study: 6 Steps to Success. Capital campaigns can help your nonprofit reach larger goals as part of an effective fundraising plan. But first, you need to conduct a capital campaign feasibility study before your campaign can begin. With our step-by-step guide, your feasibility study is sure to give you the information you need to succeed!
- Top 5 GoFundMe Alternatives. After developing a fundraising plan, your nonprofit may decide to pursue crowdfunding as a way to meet your fundraising goals. You might initially consider GoFundMe as a crowdfunding host, but don’t make your choice so quickly. There are many other crowdfunding sites just like GoFundMe (but better)! Check out our guide for some awesome alternatives.
- 14 Charity Auction Tools. Similarly, your nonprofit might choose to hold a charity auction as a fundraising event. Not only are auctions great ways to raise funding, but they’re also useful events to strengthen your donor relations. Be sure to consult our guide to the 14 best charity auction tools that are perfect for nonprofits of any size!
Top 9 Group Management Software for Smart Organizations
/in Lists and Rankings /by Adam WeingerManaging your association, members, or camp population can seem scary. How is your team supposed to keep up with the information and needs of thousands of people? Luckily for you, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite group management software options by specialty, so that you can learn which software is best for your organization.
Our favorites are:
Let’s dive in!
1. Fonteva – Top Group Management Tool for Associations
Group Management Tool Overview
Fonteva is a flexible and easy-to-use group management tool for mid-size to large groups. It can easily manage groups of any size (like trade associations, professional societies, and more!) due to its diverse toolkit of features in a lean and intuitive platform.
All Fonteva products are powered by Salesforce and come with full customer support so that your association can thrive.
Top Group Management Features
Some of the features that make Fonteva our top choice for associations are:
With these features, your Fonteva software can grow as your organization does. With software updates included in your subscription, you don’t need to worry about having to pay more if the system changes.
Takeaway
For an association that needs an intuitive and simple yet intelligent group management software, Fonteva is the right choice.
2. Salsa – Top Group Management Tool for Nonprofits
Group Management Tool Overview
This group management software from Salsa Labs is built specifically for nonprofits. By centralizing donor data and empowering users to seamlessly track relevant information, Salsa’s group management tool is perfect for nonprofits looking to optimize their fundraising strategy.
The donor profiles are easily customizable and allow for information like relationships, interests, demographics, and social media accounts, so that a nonprofit has a 360-degree view of their donors.
Top Group Management Features
Salsa’s group management software comes with valuable features such as:
These options allow a nonprofit to strategically target their donors and discover actionable trends, in order to maximize their fundraising capabilities and increase engagement with their community.
Takeaway
If your nonprofit is looking for a powerful and easy to use group management tool to maximize your fundraising success while strengthening supporter relationships, invest in Salsa’s software.
3. CommunityPass – Top Group Management Tool for Community Centers
Group Management Tool Overview
CommunityPass is a group management tool that provides solutions for aquatic centers and pools, sports leagues and teams, adult education, and more for community centers through their cloud-based software.
This group management tool is great for getting everything done: it includes features for communicating with members through text and email, creating class schedules and online sign-up forms, and creating and issuing key cards, member ID cards, and guest passes.
A community center can plan their season of classes, customize its registration forms, plan and implement their pricing structure, and accept payment all online through CommunityPass.
Top Group Management Features
CommunityPass has a lot of great features for running a successful community center, but some of our favorite group management features are:
CommunityPass’s engagement features allow community centers to successfully manage their guests and members, as well as create and plan the classes and opportunities those members want.
Takeaway
For a community center ready to streamline their group management strategy and combine all their administrative needs into one program, CommunityPass is the perfect software.
4. OmegaFi – Top Group Management Tool for Greek Organizations
Group Management Tool Overview
With OmegaFi’s easy-to-use and mobile-optimized financial management, member database, and website/communications solutions, it’s the clear winner for Greek organizations.
OmegaFi’s three software solutions—Vault, Compass, and GINSystem—are all important aspects of OmegaFi’s group management tool, but the most important for members is Compass.
Compass manages members from the moment they’re offered a place in the sorority or fraternity to their later status as a continuing donor.
Officers can customize their dashboard based on the data that they need to see, and the OmegaFi team and the officers work together to build a reporting process that works for their specific organization.
Top Group Management Features
OmegaFi’s comprehensive fraternity/sorority support system has too many useful features to name, but here are our favorite group management features:
OmegaFi offers Greek organizations all the tools they need to successfully manage their members as well as maintain relationships with graduated brothers and sisters.
Takeaway
Greek organizations who are looking to make their group management tasks easier and simpler, while raising more money for their organization, should look into investing in OmegaFi’s system.
5. CircuiTree – Top Group Management Tool for Camps
Group Management Tool Overview
CircuiTree, created by people who know and love summer camps, is an all-in-one cloud-based group management software designed specifically to make running a summer camp easier.
This software manages everything from housing requests and food allergies to medical records and emergency contact information, all in one easy-to-understand database.
Parents will be thrilled to sign up multiple children, register allergies and medication conditions, and choose camp activities all from their own computers at home. With CircuiTree’s integrated point-of-sale technology, a camp can guarantee secure payment processing and accurate data management.
Top Group Management Features
CircuiTree’s software offers a multifaceted solution to collecting and storing all the information a camp team needs to have a profitable, safe, successful summer. Some of the best features for group management include:
With all these features and more, your camp staff will be able to spend less time filing forms and more time making sure your campers have an excellent time.
Takeaway
If your team wants to spend less time tracking data and filing forms and more time having fun with campers and teaching them valuable skills, consider investing in CircuiTree for all your camp-running needs.
6. Doubleknot – Top Group Management Tool for Museum Membership Programs
Group Management Tool Overview
Museum membership management can be complicated, but they don’t have to be with Doubleknot’s group management software. Built with museums and other similar nonprofits in mind, Doubleknot is built for maintaining member relationships.
Doubleknot’s software provides integrated solutions for everything from ticketing and registration to reservations, donations, sales, and more. Their product is constantly being updated with requests and feedback from clients, which makes it a valuable investment for the future of your nonprofit.
Because it integrates well with other software products, you don’t have to worry about having wasted your money on other software.
Top Group Management Features
Doubleknot’s priorities are recruitment, rewarding, and retaining members for your organization, so their features are focused on helping those things happen. Some of Doubleknot’s best software features are:
With these features, your museum can ensure that your members remain members and that you continue striving towards your goals.
Takeaway
Doubleknot’s group management tools, in addition with everything else that its software does to ensure that your museum or similar nonprofit runs smoothly, can help you reach more people and maintain strong relationships with your supporters.
7. Morweb – Top Group Management Tool for Online Communities
Group Management Tool Overview
Morweb is the child of two companies: Morad Media Inc., which is an award-winning digital design agency, and Morweb CMS Inc., which is a website platform for nonprofits and associations.
Morweb’s group management tool is lightweight, yet functional: their cloud-based software allows online communities to keep track of members, manage events, allow or restrict access to pages based on membership level, and fundraising, all through the community website.
Top Group Management Features
In addition to providing beautiful, functional, and mobile-responsive websites to online communities, Morweb offers the following group management features:
Your online community can handle its group membership needs, all from your own website.
Takeaway
Online communities looking for a lightweight group management system with real-world fundraising and event functionalities will be thrilled to use Morweb.
8. Church Community Builder – Top Group Management Tool for Faith-Based Organizations
Group Management Tool Overview
Church Community Builder is a fully functional group management and event planning tool for faith-based organizations. With their cloud-based, Software as a Service group management tool, your church can make sure that all of your members are engaged and included.
Their software, which is accessible from anywhere with internet access as well as through their app, allows church ministries to build profiles for anyone from first-time visitors to long-term members and volunteers.
Top Group Management Features
In addition to Church Community Builder’s ability to track church metrics, build intuitive web forms, provide online giving options, and streamline process queues, they also offer the following group management features:
With Church Community Builder’s group management tools, your church can make sure that everyone feels at home and welcome, even from their very first visit.
Takeaway
Help your church family work better together, increase engagement with everyone from dedicated volunteers to new visitors, and encourage church growth by investing in Church Community Builder for your ministry.
9. Alumni Channel – Top Group Management Tool for Alumni Groups
Group Management Tool Overview
Alumni Channel is a dual-use database and website creation software that allows your organization to keep track of your alumni while also providing a beautiful and functional place online to communicate, network, and learn.
This software allows your alumni and your team to access the website from anywhere with an Internet connection, even from smartphones and tablets. You can invite alumni to events, post news updates, send out email blasts, and ask for donations all from the same place.
Top Group Management Features
Alumni Channel makes it easy to manage your alumni community and improve your university fundraising strategy by providing you with the tools to keep them engaged visit after visit to your website. Some of those engaging features are:
With Alumni Channel’s appealing interface for alumni and useful administrator features, you’ll increase engagement after graduation as well as giving alumni the tools they need to build an online community where they can network and grow.
Takeaway
If you’re looking to provide a functional and attractive website for your alumni to interact with others on while also creating an alumni database that your organization can use, check out Alumni Channel to see what else their software can do.
Top 10 Donation Buttons to Raise More Funds Online
/in Learning Center /by Adam WeingerAs more and more nonprofits are focusing their fundraising efforts towards online campaigns, the versatility and functionality of donation buttons has grown.
The features required of these buttons have shifted as online fundraising has increased in popularity, but how can you know which product is right for your nonprofit’s needs?
We’ve chosen 10 of our favorite online donation buttons and explained the best features, so you can choose which donation button is right for you.
Use the navigation tool below to make finding what you need even easier.
If you’re ready to learn more, let’s get started!
Double the Donation – Best Matching Gifts Donation Button Add-On
Donation Button Overview:
Double the Donation offers a powerful corporate philanthropy database for your nonprofit, so that your donors can be made aware of their employer’s matching gifts policy.
Double the Donation offers two options: one is a widget included directly on your website or donation page, and the other is a webpage hosted by Double the Donation, branded to your website, that offers the same information.
Double the Donation’s easily accessible matching gifts database makes every donation button twice as effective.
Standout Features:
Because Double the Donation’s database can be included right where your donation button is, donors are encouraged to follow up with their employer about matching gifts and maximize the impact of their donation for your nonprofit.
The database is frequently and rigorously updated, so you never have to worry about having out-of-date or incorrect information.
Takeaway:
Double the Donation takes your matching gifts strategy to the next level by making the necessary information easily accessible for all.
Fundly – Best Crowdfunding Donation Button for groups
Donation Button Overview:
Fundly’s easy-to-use crowdfunding platform is a great way for both individuals and nonprofits to raise money for a good cause. This donation tool is shareable on many social media platforms, is mobile-optimized, and allows you to keep supporters updated easily.
Standout Features:
We love that with Fundly, you can add personalized messages, photos, and videos to your crowdfunding page. You can even update your friends with a blog-like style of posting, which you can do from anywhere with the free Fundly app!
Fundly’s support system is also stellar: they help you set up your campaign, and are available all the way through till the end.
Takeaway:
If you’re looking for a socially-driven donation button tool to help you reach your goals, Fundly is the platform for you.
DonorBox – Best Recurring Donor Donation Button
Donation Button Overview:
DonorBox is an online donation button provider that allows you to embed their donation widget directly onto your page or create a dedicated donation page with your nonprofit’s branding.
With their donation pages, you can pre-fill custom amounts with descriptions so donors know what their donation does, offer multiple language options, and include employer donation matching information.
Standout Features:
With DonorBox, your recurring donors maintain full control over their relationship with your nonprofit. DonorBox also offers donors the option to cover processing fees, and their donation buttons are optimized for all sizes of browsers.
Takeaway:
DonorBox is a great donation button provider for nonprofits who are looking to prioritize their recurring gift donor retention strategy, as well as those who need the option to have their donation buttons in multiple languages.
Snowball – Best Text-To-Give Donation Button
Donation Button Overview:
Snowball offers an innovative two-tap solution to nonprofits so that donors are less likely to abandon the donation process partway through. From their phones, mobile users can select the amount of money that they want to give and then confirm their donation through an email.
Their text-to-give and peer-to-peer solutions are also just as easy to use and secure for donors.
Standout Features:
In addition to their fabulously simple method of completing their donations, the donation buttons that Snowball offers are fully customizable to your nonprofit’s branding.
Snowball also keeps track of all of your donation data, so that you can manage your donor and donation information while assessing your progress towards your fundraising goals.
Takeaway:
Snowball’s inventive and simple donation button is a great feature for anyone who is ready for a more intensive mobile donation campaign.
Bonfire – Best Merchandise Fundraising Donation Button
Donation Button Overview:
Bonfire combines merchandise selling with fundraising through their unique online donation button. With Bonfire, you create your t-shirt design, choose your profit margin and customize your donation page, and then start your campaign!
Because Bonfire puts the donation button on the same page as the purchase button, supporters of your campaign can help your cause both through buying your t-shirt and donating directly to your cause.
Standout Features:
The best part about Bonfire is that there is no inventory necessary. Bonfire prints and ships your shirts after they’ve been ordered, so there’s no chance of your campaign running out of t-shirts.
Bonfire also offers empathetic and helpful support through their “Happiness Team”, who are happy to help make sure your fundraiser is successful.
Takeaway:
Bonfire’s combination of effective donation button and fun merchandise options are a great fundraising option for nonprofits looking to raise funds while rewarding their supporters.
Qgiv – Best All-In-One Online Donation Button
Donation Button Overview:
Qgiv provides nonprofits with the software they need to run all kinds of fundraising campaigns, from online donation buttons to peer-to-peer fundraising pages to handheld kiosks for fundraising events.
Their team provides support for your nonprofit as you build your donation forms and start your campaign, and the software easily integrates into your other programs so that you can make sure that you have a 360-degree understanding of your donors.
Standout Features:
Qgiv offers amazing features such as fundraising thermometers and other gamification techniques, as well as options for donation buttons such as GiftAssist.
GiftAssist gives donors the option to cover the processing costs on their donation, so that more money goes straight to their favorite nonprofit.
Takeaway:
Qgiv’s huge suite of features and easy-to-use interface for both nonprofit professionals and donors makes this a powerful donation button provider.
Donately – Best Custom Donation Form Builder
Donation Button Overview:
Donately provides beautiful online donation tools that are fully responsive with any mobile device, so that you can reach your followers wherever, whenever.
They provide donation buttons to both individuals and nonprofits, so whatever you need to raise money for, they’ve got you covered. You can easily share your donation page on social media or through email, too.
Standout Features:
In addition to their custom donation buttons, Donately offers beautiful fundraising pages and donor management solutions. By using their forms, you can track the important information from all of your donations, as well as the ability to input cash or offline donations into your data set.
Takeaway:
Donately’s pages are super customizable, so you can easily make your donation button match your individual needs.
iDonate – Best Donation Button for Large Nonprofits
Donation Button Overview:
iDonate makes donating super easy by embedding their online fundraising solution right onto your nonprofit’s website, blog, or Facebook page. Their donation buttons are easily customized to fit your brand, and everything is mobile-responsive.
Their multifaceted online giving platform offers everything from text-to-give to peer-to-peer fundraising, and all of their services can stream donor data into either the iDonate Backoffice CRM or into your nonprofit’s existing CRM.
Standout Features:
Our favorite part of iDonate is how easy it makes online and mobile giving for large nonprofits. They offer chapter management solutions so that each branch of your organization is able to fundraise to the best of their ability.
No matter where it needs to be or what it needs to do, a donation button from iDonate can help your large nonprofit optimize its online donation strategy.
Takeaway:
iDonate’s combination of hyperfunctional online giving tools and supportive staff are a boon to any nonprofit ready to try a new donation button.
Congrats! You’re now prepared to choose the right donation button for your nonprofit. If you’re interested in learning more about some other fundraising best practices, don’t hesitate to check out these additional resources:
Double the Donation Benefits for NSFA Members
/in Uncategorized /by Adam WeingerDouble the Donation is pleased to offer special benefits for Members of the National School Foundation Association.
Are you an NSFA Member? Take advantage of $250 off a 360MatchPro plan.
Contact us to get started with your exclusive benefits!
Wilson-Bennett Shifts Functionality from HEPdata to Double the Donation
/in Company Updates /by Adam WeingerDouble the Donation is excited to share news of a new partnership with Wilson-Bennett Technology, Inc. (WBT), a leading provider of educational and nonprofit fundraising programs.
This partnership situates Double the Donation as the exclusive provider of matching gift services to WBT, replacing the legacy solution managed by HEPdata.
All WBT clients now exclusively have access to 360MatchPro by Double the Donation, the industry-leading matching gift automation platform.
The integration places 360MatchPro’s tools directly within Donor Connect call scripts for easy access and use. With 360MatchPro’s autocomplete search tool and matching gift information present directly in Donor Connect scripts, schools can start collecting valuable employer and matching gift data from their supporters, while those supporters get to double or even triple their contributions.
With 360MatchPro, callers can help identify more donors as match-eligible. A smart auto-complete algorithm dynamically pulls from Double the Donation’s comprehensive database of parent companies, subsidiaries, brands, and spelling variations to maximize the percentage of match eligible donors callers are able to identify.
“Building and maintaining our database of companies that offer matching gift programs is really the core of our business at Double the Donation,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “A full-time, onsite team is dedicated to making daily updates to the database so that more than 98 percent of the 15-19 million match-eligible individuals in the US workforce will find their company’s program guidelines in our system.”
The matching gift program guidelines returned by 360MatchPro are written for a donor, not for a fundraising professional. Tailored for callers who need to convey complex information quickly and accurately, Double the Donation and Wilson-Bennett ensure that callers can easily provide the right information that encourages donors to take the next step and submit their matching gift request.
Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!
Getting set up with the Donor Connect and 360MatchPro integration is simple. All you need to do is get in contact with your representative at Wilson-Bennett Technology and they’ll take care of activating your account for you! No complicated IT work required on your end.
Once you’re up and running with your integrated solution, your callers will be able to inform donors of their eligibility in real-time, all while storing valuable employer data from your donors in your 360MatchPro account. All your callers need to do is ask the donor for their employer, enter their employer name in the autocomplete search tool, and relay back match program information and eligibility for the donor!
From there, 360MatchPro handles the automated follow-ups and stores donor data in the 360MatchPro dashboard for your later use. Link donors directly to their matching gift request form or employee portal via the automated email streams and start capturing those matching gifts!
Looking to learn more? Check out our in-depth integration guide to get started!
Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with 360MatchPro
360MatchPro and Wilson-Bennett Technology use their powerful integrated solution to fuel your fundraising efforts through phonathons.
Some other features you should know about:
Ready to learn more or get started? Schedule a personalized demo to see how 360MatchPro can fit your organization’s needs and drive donations through company gift matching.
About Wilson-Bennett Technology: Our Mission: Providing our clients with the most efficient and cost effective phonathon services in the industry today. Our knowledge and professional staff will help inspire, educate and implement best practices for your campaign. We offer on-campus managed phonathon programs, off-campus calling, membership calling, admissions calling, as well as software leasing; each tailored to the client’s needs.
About Double the Donation: There’s an unnecessary gap between fundraising organizations and corporate giving programs, to the tune of $4-7 billion in unclaimed matching gift revenue annually. Double the Donation helps nonprofits and educational institutions increase fundraising from corporate matching gift and employee volunteer grant programs. Double the Donation maintains a database of employee matching gift and volunteer grant programs. With more than 20,000 entries in the database, Double the Donation presents match-eligible donors with their company’s specific program requirements, including a direct link to their company’s online matching gift submission portal or PDF download.
iDonate Reevaluates, Switches from Amply to Double the Donation
/in Company Updates /by Adam WeingerDouble the Donation is proud to announce a new partnership with iDonate, a fast-growing digital fundraising solution for nonprofits. Together, iDonate and Double the Donation are providing integrated corporate matching gift marketing automation to nonprofits and higher education institutions.
iDonate has enhanced both functionality and customer experience by substituting the previous solution by Amply with Double the Donation matching gift automation by Double the Donation, the leading provider of matching gift and volunteer grant software to nonprofits and educational institutions. All of iDonate’s clients who were using the Amply tool have been transitioned over to the enhanced Double the Donation offering.
Through Double the Donation, organizations can identify more matching gift opportunities, automatically drive those matches to completion, and take further action based on advanced analytics and reporting.
“We couldn’t be happier to provide advanced corporate matching gift automation tools to iDonate users,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “With more than $4 billion in matching gift revenue left on the table every year, automating the matching gift follow-up process is the key step Double the Donation makes easy for busy nonprofits and educational institutions.”
At its core, Double the Donation addresses a key lack of donor awareness about their employer’s corporate philanthropy programs. Donors want to make their support go further, they just aren’t always aware of the tools at their disposal. Through the native integration with iDonate, Double the Donation is more readily available to and affordable for more nonprofits and educational institutions.
Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!
Your nonprofit can turn on Double the Donation functionality directly within the iDonate platform and get up and running with a quick message to the iDonate support team.
Once you’re set up with the Double the Donation tool on your donation page, donors will be able to search for their company and check their eligibility for a matching gift. The iDonate and Double the Donation integration provides donors with a direct line to their employer’s matching gift application form so they are more likely to complete a match.
Donors often aren’t aware that they could double or triple their contribution without reaching back into their own wallets, but the iDonate and Double the Donation integration bridges that knowledge gap by informing donors of their eligibility without ever having to leave your organization’s website.
Looking to learn more? Check out our in-depth integration guide to get started!
Drive Donations to Completion with Double the Donation!
Corporate philanthropy can have an incredible impact on your nonprofit if you know how to take advantage of the resources available to you. The integration between iDonate and Double the Donation makes corporate gift matching an easy process for the donor and the nonprofit and helps your organization increase its fundraising revenue so you can get back to helping communities in need.
The iDonate platform offers a simple, centralized, and secure way for your nonprofit to drive donations, and the Double the Donation plugin follows suit with the following features:
Don’t wait on the opportunity to double your fundraising revenue with corporate matching—request a demo today to get started.
About iDonate: iDonate is working to transform charitable giving by making giving simple and accessible for everyone, unlocking more ways to give, building tools that make it easier for nonprofits to make a bigger impact, and pushing the industry to innovate. Visit www.idonate.com for more information.
About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The Double the Donation platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the Donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more about Double the Donation, visit https://doublethedonation.com and request a demo at https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/
5 Tips to Making a Difference in Your Community This Summer
/in Learning Center /by Adam WeingerMemorial Day marked the unofficial start of summer. While most of us equate summer with pleasure and relaxation, many others look at summer with a sense of dread. If you are financially strapped, summer means no access to subsidized meals for your children and childcare headaches as they are home from school.
Summer is also a stressful time for nonprofits. Need is high and donations are typically low. The good news is that summer is actually a great time to get involved with your favorite local charity. With businesses in summer mode, kids home from school and retired people itching to get out and enjoy the season, summer offers plenty of opportunities to do fulfilling acts of charity and still have time to laze away in the hammock.
Here are some helpful tips to get you started in what may be your most fulfilling summer ever:
Sure, summertime relaxing is good for you but helping others is also proven to be good for the mind, body, and soul. So take the plunge this summer and make it memorable by adding philanthropy into your plan.
5 Must-Know Ways to Get More from Luminate Online Today
/in Learning Center /by Adam WeingerDid you know that 360MatchPro can be integrated into your Luminate Online pages? Check out our integration guide!
Luminate Online Marketing is a comprehensive online fundraising and marketing solution that can equip your nonprofit with the tools to better understand and engage supporters as well as enhance your online fundraising performance.
As you likely already know, Luminate can help organizations like yours do a lot.
But when you know how to maximize your Luminate experience, you’ll be able to get even more out of this expansive platform—and you’ll have the fundraising results to show for it.
In this post, we’ll walk through 5 steps to get the most out of your Luminate Online platform:
With our help, you’ll be a Luminate Online expert in no time!
1. Start with a clear plan for using Luminate Online.
Before you can get started with using Luminate, you need to know exactly what you want this software to do for your nonprofit.
Because Luminate is so multifaceted, your nonprofit must develop a plan for how the platform will support your goals specifically. This plan will not only give you a starting point for using Luminate, but it will also provide a clear direction for any customizations or integrations that you’ll require.
To devise your Luminate Online fundraising strategy, get together with your nonprofit team to answer the following questions:
If you have a general idea of your fundraising goals but aren’t sure where or how Luminate can fit in, consider seeking the help of a specialized nonprofit technology consultant.
A consulting firm with experience helping nonprofits utilize Blackbaud products (particularly Luminate) can provide the insight you need to map out a strategic plan for your new software.
Plus, your nonprofit tech consultant can help bring that plan to fruition by helping you customize, develop, and implement Luminate to meet your unique needs.
2. Clean up and migrate your data effectively.
Data is at the core of nonprofit organizations.
Think about it: without accurate, complete sets of data, it’s almost impossible to understand your supporters and design engagement and fundraising strategies that respond to their lifestyles, preferences, and goals as a part of your organization.
With that in mind, your organization should take the Luminate Online data migration process very seriously.
As you transfer constituent information from your existing fundraising software or CRM to Luminate Online, you’ll inevitably run the risk of losing or damaging data. To mitigate that risk, there are a few considerations to keep in mind prior to the data migration process:
When your data is neat and well organized, you’ll easily be able to use it to inform your fundraising strategies. And after all, what good is data that you can’t use?
3. Take advantage of Luminate add-ons.
Luminate Online is highly versatile on its own, but you still may find that you need more specialized online fundraising features than what the base product provides.
If that sounds like your nonprofit, you’re in luck! Luminate Online offers helpful add-ons to expand the core product and give organizations like yours exactly the tools they need for fundraising success.
If you’re a veteran Blackbaud user, you may already be familiar with these add-ons, but let’s recap what the tools can do:
Because these add-ons were built to work seamlessly with the Luminate Online system, you won’t have to worry about cumbersome integrations or headache-inducing data migrations. The platforms will naturally sync up to your existing Luminate platform and extend its functionality without any extra work on your end.
Bonus: Like the rest of your Luminate system, you can customize your add-ons to develop a personalized fundraising experience. Learn how to get started with TeamRaiser configurations by reading this resource from DNL OmniMedia!
4. Customize your Luminate Online platform.
Established nonprofits need unique solutions to meet their digital fundraising and marketing needs. Enter Luminate Online!
One of the greatest perks of the Luminate platform is that it can be customized to meet your organization’s needs in a truly unique way. Essentially, there are two paths through which your nonprofit can adjust your software:
You’ll likely need to implement both types of customizations to develop the most well-rounded solution.
But before you get started shopping for new software to pair with Luminate or making changes in the software, you should make sure your nonprofit can answer these important questions about how you’ll handle the customization process:
Once you’ve adapted your software accordingly, your nonprofit will be left with a totally one-of-a-kind software solution that was built to meet your needs and help you achieve greater success than ever before.
5. Thoroughly train your staff on Luminate Online.
Some lightweight online fundraising solutions are easy to find your way around with little-to-no guidance; generally speaking, Luminate is not that software.
While Luminate Online is certainly user-friendly, your organization will almost definitely need some assistance when you implement the platform and begin to use it for the first time.
Look at it this way—with software that can do so much, wouldn’t you feel more comfortable knowing every member of your staff is well-versed in how to make the most of it?
Luckily, training doesn’t have to be a guessing game. There are a variety of resources at your nonprofit’s disposal to learn everything you need to know about using Luminate:
Without some form of training and expert counsel, your nonprofit won’t know the extent to which Luminate can impact your fundraising strategy—and you won’t be able to reap all the benefits!
Luminate Online is a powerful tool for your nonprofit (if you know how to get the most out of it).
With these tips, your team should be well-prepared to implement Luminate and propel your organization to total success. Now it’s time to start fundraising like never before!
Author Bio
Shoe Drive Fundraising: A Mini Guide for Schools and Clubs
/in Fundraising Ideas, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerWhat is shoe drive fundraising?
Shoe drive fundraising is quickly becoming one of the most popular fundraising options for schools and clubs of all sizes! As an incredibly simple and effective fundraising method, shoe drives are a fantastic way to engage your community, set a great example, and raise some serious funds.
Check out our quick guide to starting and directing your own shoe drive fundraiser! Use this table of contents to navigate the page and find some quick answers:
Who conducts shoe drive fundraisers?
Shoe drive fundraising is a great choice for practically any group or organization that heavily interacts with its members, constituents, or other stakeholders at the ground level.
This means that shoe drive fundraisers are especially well-suited for community-based organizations, particularly schools, school-based clubs, and youth organizations.
Schools of all sizes can host extremely successful shoe drive fundraisers!
Kids outgrow shoes so quickly! Families tend to have plenty of gently used pairs of shoes lying around that no longer fit. A shoe drive fundraiser is not only an easy fundraising idea, it also lets parents cut out some clutter while helping support their local school.
Clubs can also hit their fundraising targets with shoe drive fundraisers!
A shoe drive fundraiser will generate interest all around your school, but, depending on your club’s focus, these fundraisers also offer wonderful opportunities to raise awareness about a number of social and environmental issues!
During a time when both public and private schools around the country face budgetary struggles like never before, it’s important that schools remain aware of all their fundraising options. Shoe drive fundraisers are among the easiest fundraisers for schools to conduct, as facilitator services will typically provide schools with the materials they need and then collect the donated shoes.
Plus, this stress-free fundraising model makes shoe drive fundraisers and ideal choice for any small organization:
How does shoe drive fundraising work?
With the right shoe drive fundraiser facilitator, the entire process is incredibly simple. They’ll help you set some realistic (but ambitious) fundraising plans. You’ll start reaching your shoe collection goals in no time!
1. Recruit some volunteers.
Find the individuals in your school or club willing to help lead your shoe drive fundraiser, and invite them to get involved! They’ll mostly be needed for collecting shoes, identifying partners, and promoting the campaign.
2. Promote your shoe drive fundraiser.
Explain the shoe drive fundraiser to your school or club members, then ask them to bring their spare pairs soon. Share your campaign on your social media page and in your newsletter emails. Shoe drive facilitators like Funds2Orgs will even provide you with free marketing and fundraising tools for the length of your fundraiser.
3. Collect shoes.
Provide your donors with easy opportunities to donate their pairs of shoes. Set up a dedicated donation bin in an open location, or provide each classroom or chapter meeting with its own donation bin. As you collect the shoes, fill the special bags or containers provided by the facilitator.
4. Reach your goal and contact your facilitator.
After you’ve reached your shoe collection goal, contact your shoe drive fundraiser facilitator to arrange a time for them to collect all your shoes. The process is simple and stress-free!
5. Receive your check!
The shoe drive fundraiser facilitator will calculate the value of your collected shoes and issue a check for the funds you raised. Shoe drives can raise some major funds! For example, some schools and organizations have raised thousands of dollars after just six weeks!
What are the benefits of a shoe drive fundraiser?
Shoe drive fundraisers are an ideal fundraising solution for schools, school-based clubs, and community organizations for a number of reasons, mainly these 4 key benefits:
Minimal Costs
It takes very little money to host and promote a shoe drive fundraiser. With Funds2Orgs, there are zero out of pocket costs!
Fast Funds
Receive a check for your raised funds in as little at 2 days after your shoe drive fundraiser facilitator collects them!
Global Philanthropy
Your donated shoes will be provided to entrepreneurs to re-purpose and resell in developing economies, stimulating organic growth.
Environmental Stewardship
Discarded shoes are notoriously hard on the environment. Recycling them in a shoe drive fundraiser is a productive way to be responsible!
Shoe drive fundraisers represent a low-cost, high-impact fundraising option for schools and organizations of all sizes! Plus, the most engaged shoe drive fundraiser facilitator services offer great learning opportunities on the environment and the global economics of philanthropy.
What are some ways to conduct a shoe drive fundraiser?
Shoe drive fundraising is an extremely versatile fundraising method!
They work great as standalone fundraising campaigns. It’s easy to organize a campaign and set some goals with your shoe drive fundraiser facilitator, who will then provide you with some marketing ideas and tools.
Promote your shoe collection drive to your classes, chapters, or anyone else. Then be sure to provide collection bins or bags to your volunteers or classrooms. You might be surprised how quickly you can reach your collection goal!
Shoe drive fundraisers also make an effective additional component to any of your other campaigns or events!
If students or parents will be gathering for an event to benefit your school or club anyway, it’s easy to incorporate shoe drive fundraising into your planning and promotions.
If you host any of the following types of school fundraising events, think about the ways that a shoe drive could be integrated into your fundraising:
Game Nights or Tournaments
Maybe two pairs of donated shoes could replace a registration fee for your casual competition events!
Raffles
Offer free raffle or auction tickets as an incentive to encourage shoe donations!
Online Fundraising Campaigns
Your crowdfunding or peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are perfect opportunities to add shoe drive fundraising as additional challenge elements.
Service or Product Sales
Think car washes and bake sales. Why not offer shoe donations as a payment option?
Fairs or Festivals
Larger festival events are perfect for promoting or incorporating your shoe drive fundraiser!
How can I promote my shoe drive fundraiser?
If you’re conducting a shoe drive fundraiser as either a standalone fundraising project or alongside a larger campaign, it’s crucial that you spread the word and encourage your students, members, and community stakeholders to make donations!
As a unique fundraising concept, shoe drive fundraisers are fairly easy to promote.
There are a number of key promotion strategies that work great for shoe drive fundraising:
1. Printed Materials
Creating printed materials to explain and promote your shoe drive fundraiser is essential, especially for schools! Flyers, letters, collection tracking charts, and door hangers are necessary tools for clearly labeling and explaining your fundraiser to students and their parents.
Some shoe drive fundraiser facilitators will even provide you with handy templates to quickly create your own printed promotional materials.
2. Social Media Promotions
Your school or club probably already relies on at least one social media platform to promote events or stay in touch with parents or members.
Be sure to promote your shoe drive fundraiser on your social media pages, especially Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Upload some pictures of your volunteers collecting shoes, or maybe even record a video to explain how the fundraiser works!
3. Promote with Your Other Events
If you choose to incorporate your shoe drive fundraiser into other events that you host, it’s important to clearly communicate this in all your promotions!
Invite attendees at your sporting events, sales, community service projects, and festivals to bring some pairs of shoes to donate. Be sure to offer some creative incentives, too!
4. Promote with Your Partners
Reach out to any community partners who might want to get involved! Local businesses and other community-based organizations make great partners for shoe drive fundraisers.
Similarly, if you’re a school considering a shoe drive fundraiser, be sure to get your PTA involved (and vice versa)! The more volunteers and donors, the easier it’ll be to promote your fundraiser and reach your goals.
Additional Fundraising Resources
When beginning a new fundraising project or setting new goals for your school or club, it’s important to do your research! Start with these resources to find the best options and strategies to help you succeed.
15+ Best Crowdfunding Websites
Crowdfunding has quickly become one of the best ways to raise funds online.
Be sure to find the platform best suited to your needs by using this handy guide from Double the Donation!
Free Fundraising Guides from Funds2Orgs
Check out these free fundraising guides from leading shoe drive fundraiser service, Funds2Orgs!
They offer free resources that can help any type of nonprofit or fundraising project, so be sure to explore.
21 Effective Fundraising Ideas for Kids
If you’re fundraising with kids, your strategies can’t just be engaging — they have to be fun!
Check out this helpful list of some effective fundraising ideas from Bonfire for some ways to get started.
Aptify Review | Our Assessment and Software Comparison
/in Learning Center /by Adam WeingerAn association management software purchase isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly. Your nonprofit, organization, or association needs to find a solution that can provide smooth operations and a positive member experience.
One of the first ways to ensure that you’re getting the best software is to look for solutions that other associations like yours have found success with. In your search, chances are you’ve come across Aptify.
As a firmly established solution on the market, Aptify is a popular choice for association management! But before you make your decision, make sure you have all the information you need to make an informed choice.
In this post, we’re going to discuss:
Ready to get your facts straight? Let’s jump into it!
Aptify Review
Founded in 1993, Aptify is one of the more established legacy AMS options on the market.
The solution’s main selling point is its flexibility. The way the software works is pretty simple, in theory: the entire system is built upon the Aptify Rad platform, which never changes. This platform allows your association to store and search member data, create reports, and sell merchandise online.
From there, associations can add on a total of 21 applications, including:
Another key feature of the Aptify AMS is its permissions. Data housed in the system is available to all administrative users, for them to create reports and use to make informed decisions from as they wish.
As you can see, Aptify provides an immensely powerful software solution! But it’s a double-edged sword.
As is often the case with such wide-ranging legacy programs, Aptify’s extensive library of complex features can lead to some significant drawbacks for users. Keep reading to see if your organization or association would run into common problems that Aptify users face!
Shortcomings of Aptify Reviewed
Overwhelmingly, Aptify users discover that while they want to take advantage of the software’s flexibility, they aren’t able to. That’s because it’s difficult to navigate the software platform without extensive IT knowledge, which many nonprofit and association administrative teams don’t have.
This difficulty extends beyond the modules that come with the Aptify AMS platform. If you encounter a need that these pre-built modules can’t meet, you’ll need to consider third-party applications.
Aptify has launched a beta version of the Aptify Marketplace, where the team has put some of their point solutions up for download. Since it’s a beta platform, not all the kinks have been worked out, including kinks in the installation process. As such, your team will still need extensive technical expertise with SQL to install these extensions on your own.
Not sure you have the capabilities to customize the Aptify platform yourself in-house or the resources to outsource this complex process? Why not consider a solution that promises no coding necessary for out-of-the-box features or third-party extensions?
Top Aptify Alternative: Fonteva
For ease of use and ease of customization, the top association management software solution on the market is Fonteva.
Fonteva is true-cloud association management software built entirely native in Salesforce, the word’s most popular, innovative, and secure cloud CRM. That means you can reach your member data anywhere, any time.
The software is highly user-friendly, with drag-and-drop reporting and configurations making it easy to customize the platform to your association’s needs through simple configuration — no knowledge of coding needed!
Even if you discover that you need to meet a specific need with a third-party application, you don’t have to worry about messy coding and troubleshooting just to make the integration happen. Fonteva is built native in Salesforce, so any of the thousands of apps on the Salesforce AppExchange will integrate as easily as any other.
Still worried you might not be able to customize the platform exactly to your needs? Don’t worry! When you implement Fonteva, you can rest assured you have world-class support in your corner, including:
These resources give your association the support and confidence to get exactly what you need out of your association management software solution.
Every association’s needs will be different, so it’s worth taking the time to find the perfect solution for your association, organization, or nonprofit. The most popular solution isn’t always the best for everyone!
Thinking about other association management software vendors before making a purchasing decision? Check out these additional resources before going too much further:
6 Simple Fundraising Plan Tips [With Free Templates!]
/in Fundraising Ideas, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerYour nonprofit’s fundraising plan is the backbone of your success as an organization.
Without a solid fundraising plan in place, there would be nothing to guide your fundraising efforts and no way to tell if your nonprofit is on track to meet your goals.
Before implementing any change in fundraising strategy, you need to have an official fundraising plan in place. To get you started, here are 6 simple tips to consider:
Bonus! Once your fundraising plan is in place, you should periodically assess your strategy. Check out Double the Donation’s ultimate fundraising strategy assessment to stay ahead of the curve!
Ready to get started on your fundraising plan? Let us break these tips down into a bit more detail.
1. Gain fundraising plan input from key stakeholders.
Stakeholders are an important part of your nonprofit’s team. Not only do they help fund your organization’s philanthropy, but they typically have final say over big-picture fundraising decisions.
Since a fundraising plan outlines a nonprofit’s key activities, it is important to get support from these board members and other key stakeholders.
There are a couple of ways you can gain input from your stakeholders:
Remember: Your nonprofit’s board members are just as passionate about your organization’s mission as you are. Do not think of their approval as a bureaucratic hurdle to overcome, but rather an important step towards improving your fundraising plan.
2. Develop goals (and challenges)!
When designing your fundraising plan, your final product should reflect your nonprofit’s primary goals above all else.
It is easy to fall into the trap of vaguely fundraising without an endpoint in sight, but to stay on track your nonprofit needs to actively work toward a defined set of central goals.
Before designing your fundraising plan, your nonprofit needs to sit down and agree upon what goals to prioritize across all levels of your organization. Your goals should be:
(Bonus tip! Be sure to collect valuable data when carrying out your fundraising plan to help evaluate these metrics and shape your future fundraising plans. Check out Fundly’s guide to nonprofit CRMs for an idea of how your nonprofit can maximize the power of your donor database to improve your fundraising strategy.)
Additionally, one way to help your nonprofit stay on track is to identify upfront what potential challenges or obstacles you will face in the process of achieving your goals.
Some obstacles you might encounter could be:
For example, an animal shelter that wants to increase donor retention by X% over the summer months might identify the challenge of supporters being less engaged during this season since they may be traveling or caring for children on summer vacation. To reach their goal, they’ll need to recognize this challenge and develop strategies to overcome it.
Remember: Use your nonprofit’s history to guide you in identifying roadblocks and deciding on goals. Every nonprofit has its unique strengths and weaknesses and when designing a fundraising plan, it is important to know going in what is reasonable to expect from your organization.
3. Set a fundraising plan timeline.
Staying on top of your goals also means staying on top of your fundraising plan’s timeline.
Fundraising plans typically plot out a 3-5 year timeline for your nonprofit, with the first year being very detailed and the following years becoming less defined.
Your fundraising plan’s timeline should be developed into an annual fundraising calendar that details the year’s worth of activities for your organization.
When developing your timeline, keep a few things in mind:
Not sure where to start when designing your fundraising plan timeline? Consider enlisting the help of a fundraising consulting firm. If you need a recommendation, DonorSearch has got you covered with their list of the top 11 fundraising consulting firms in the field!
Remember: During the design process, your fundraising timeline should be as specific as possible and you should hold yourself to the timeline as much as you can. However, if you find you are not progressing as quickly as you had planned, identify the roadblock and always give yourself room to edit the timeline if necessary.
4. Determine your fundraising methods.
A common thread among these tips has been specificity and when plotting out your fundraising plan, it is doubly important to specifically determine your fundraising methods.
It is not sufficient to simply say you will raise $XXX by such-and-such date. You need to plan out how you will raise that money and from whom you will solicit donations.
Fundraising is not a one size fits all process, and you should curate your fundraising methods with your prospects in mind. For example, consider these fundraising methods and how they serve prospects:
Remember: You should consult your nonprofit’s existing data when determining which prospects to pursue and which fundraising methods best serve your prospect pool. Consider past data and metrics when determining fundraising methods, as well as what has worked for other nonprofits of a similar donor makeup and mission as yours.
5. Build corporate partnerships into your fundraising plan.
Corporate partnerships can be important sources of revenue and support for nonprofits.
When designing your fundraising plan, develop a strategy that will help you achieve corporate partnership so that you do not bypass such a valuable asset.
If you already are partnered with a corporation, consider these ways to leverage that relationship during the fundraising plan design process:
Take a look at DTD’s matching gift tool in action! The donor simply types the name of their company into the tool, and then DTD searches their database to see if they are matching gift-eligible.
Remember: Every nonprofit has unique needs and that extends to any relationship you have with corporate sponsors. You do not have to go after a partnership with a multi-million dollar company if that does not suit the scope of your organization. Partnering with small local businesses can get the job done, especially for regionally-focused nonprofits.
6. Tailor your case for support.
Your case for support underpins the success of your nonprofit, but it is often taken for granted when designing fundraising strategy.
Organizations and hospitals often create cases for support when they launch a capital campaign. These documents outline every detail of the campaign from how the funds will be used to the ways supporters can contribute.
Moreover, the case for support acts as an effective promotional tool to help educate potential donors on the importance of your cause. The content in your case for support can easily be posted on your website or published in a brochure.
While they’re common practice for capital campaigns, organizations should create a case for support as a part of any fundraising strategy.
Donors will not give to your organization unless you have a compelling case for support, so you need to take the time to thoughtfully develop your case.
Your case for support should answer these important questions:
At all levels of engagement, your nonprofit should actively communicate with donors the ways that your fundraising strategy addresses your case for support. The more compelling your case, the more likely it is that donors will give to your organization.
Remember: Your case for support should govern your fundraising strategy. Just as you should choose fundraising methods that target your prospects, you should similarly design your fundraising plan with your case for support as a foundation.
Your fundraising plan is the single most important tool in your arsenal when enacting a new fundraising strategy. Get closer to achieving your nonprofit’s fundraising goals by designing a detailed fundraising plan today!
Additional Resources