I. FUNDRAISING FOLLIES: Forgetting What Lies Behind–
II. RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT: Boards That Love Fundraising
I. FUNDRAISING FOLLIES: Forgetting What Lies Behind–
Have you ever heard the tale about the guy that was passed over for promotion? He complained to his boss, “How could you give the job to Frank? I have 10 years of experience. Why didn’t you choose me?”Â
His boss responded, “You don’t have 10 years of experience at your job. You have 1 year repeated 10 times.”
Does that sound like your fundraising program? June is the end of many of our fiscal years. And most of us have little option but to hit the ground running in July raising money for the next fiscal year.
But if we don’t learn from this year, how will we improve next year?
So ask yourselves questions like:
- What three things did we do exceptionally well this year?
- What three things should we stop doing?
- What mailing, event, or appeal surprised us by its results? Would it be worth repeating next year?
Take a day with your staff (or with yourself if you’re an office of one!) to reflect and to celebrate. Don’t put this off. This kind of activity makes the following 364 days far more effective.
If you want help setting goals for the next 12 months, check out my free MagnetGoals goal setting e-course. It’s simple but definitely not easy. And, because it involves your whole life, not just your work, it is incredibly effective.
To subscribe to the MagnetGoals e-course, got to Fundraisingcoach.com.
Happy New (fiscal) Year!
II. RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT: Boards That Love Fundraising
One of the cooler things I get to do is participate in Charity Channel’s WeReview as a volunteer book reviewer. The book I’m currently reading for review is Boards that Love Fundraising by Robert M. Zimmerman and Ann W. Lehman. This book is simply great.
If you’re a paid development person, it’s everything you wish your board members understood about fundraising.
If you’re a board member, it’s everything you wish you’d been trained to do when you were recruited for the board.
This book is incredibly readable and packed with a terrific overview of fundraising, as well as dozens of exercises to do as a board. Whether you’re a seasoned professional fundraiser or brand-new to this role, Boards that Love Fundraising will help you improve your ability to raise money!
To your extreme fundraising success!
Marc
