4 working maneuvers - how to manage fundraising today?
Fundraising management is a separate function that requires a certain set of competencies. We may be experts in working with private donors, we may be great at packaging projects into grant proposals, we may be great at attracting business partners to events, but if we don't measure every action we take and analyze its effectiveness, it is hard to say that we have mastered management. The good news is that if you already have basic competencies in a number of fundraising tools, adding metrics will pump up your management potential each time you add them.

If you've been analyzing, counting, watching, automating, and managing fundraising departments and teams for a while now, these four tips are definitely for you.

  • 1
    Analyze this, analyze that!
    Yes, there's that analysis again. After all, this is the main skill of a specialist who is engaged in fundraising management. Constantly analyzing dozens of metrics, adding new ones, making forecasts, making adjustments, testing hypotheses. Today your task is to analyze the fundraising activities of your team over the past two months - what worked well and how it can be strengthened, and what did not go well and how it can be transformed.
  • 2
    Make scripts
    November is budgeting time for the organization's 2023 budget. Yes, planning isn't easy, but when has it ever been easy? Yes, circumstances change, and when have they not? Without a plan for 2023, going into it will be very challenging. Even if you have never done it, start. We always use the scenario design method in making plans, calculating a realistic budget (how much money you need for current activities), a pessimistic budget (how much money you need to stay open) and an optimistic budget (how much you can absorb based on the needs of the beneficiaries and the internal resources of the organization and the team).
  • 3
    Keep setting goals
    Weekly tasks for your employees (fundraisers) or yourself (if you are the only person in the organization who raises resources). In previous articles we have talked about the fact that the right option today is to set goals not in financial terms, but in actions - meetings, calls, messages, any other type of communication. This will reduce the tension of employees who are worried that they cannot show results, but will still lead to results. Your experience shows that the number of completed fundraising actions is directly proportional to the amount of funds in your account.
  • 4
    Stay focused
    Many of you combine fundraising functions as a leader of an organization. Remember that you should devote at least 40 percent of your time to fundraising processes. Revise your calendar and your tasks and move in this direction in a disciplined manner. And if you are an executive, emphasize working with small businesses rather than with private mass donors. Go to events, join clubs and communities, get involved in the hangout. Don't get caught up in the minutiae.