Are You Philanthropically Fit? - Four Steps to Get There

We know that fundraising is a performance-based field. Dollars raised, number of contacts, and donor relationships are all part of what we do with some of our activities being more quantifiable than others. Overall physical fitness involves cardiovascular health, flexibility, strength, and endurance. Fundraising fitness also encompasses multiple elements. While dollars raised will be the ultimate performance metric, in our work with clients we see success coming from concentrating a fundraising fitness program in four areas.

1) Focus time on major gifts - Every week we should build into our overall efforts least one to two days dedicated to spending time on major donors. This is consistently been where we get the greatest return on investment of our time as fundraisers. We continue to see the shift to more dollars from fewer donors and need to keep this part of our work in sharp focus.

2) Reporting and communication- We often hear that you can only manage what you measure, and we find that is true in both physical fitness and fundraising fitness. Consistent monthly reports on dollars raised, number of contacts, donor retention, and number of new donors will help to keep our attention on doing the important things first. It will also enhance our professional credibility within the organization. 

3) Recognition- Fundraising is often about the identity, visibility, and the endorsement of our organization and its mission. A strong commitment to recognition accomplishes all of those elements. The combination of gatherings of donors, listing in the facility and on the website, sending regular information and updates to donors, and personal touch points will all drive success for your program.

4) Leveraging the relationships of others - Our fundraising fitness program should never be all about us as individual fundraisers. To ultimately achieve high level success, the involvement of those who have the best connection and influence with a donor reaps tremendous results. If we accept the premise that fundraising is about relationships, then we need to consider who has the best relationship with a prospective donor. That will not always (in fact, not usually) be fundraising staff. Those leaders from your organization and your broader constituency can supercharge the quality and quantity of your donor conversations. Working to involve those leaders at the best time in the cycle of prospective donor engagement will result in larger and more frequent gifts. 

Just as there are many types of physical fitness activities, there are so many activities that drive fundraising fitness. Consistency of effort in the four areas mentioned will enhance your performance and ultimate results. Improving physical fitness is often all about taking that first step. We don’t have to do something amazing every day. We just need to do some of the right things every day. Take the first step in improving your fundraising fitness today.

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Jim Lyons
Senior Partner
PRIDE Philanthropy