Fundraising may refer to a development. Yes, don’t get surprised. This is a process when you gather voluntary contributions of money (other resources as well) for research organizations, public broadcasters, political campaigns even environmental issues or else. You request donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, governmental agencies etc. for the mentioned purposes. So, how to set a fundraising goal and achieve it?
How to set a fundraising goal?
Fundraising is a long-term process. Start from evaluating your past performance and think “What can We accomplish?” Draw your plan and start realizing each point. Determine a clear set of actions to ensure achievable results. To be more specific, let’s state some important steps on the way to creating the goals:
Collect data
Start planning your next event as earlier as possible. Decide on the post-event reports you want to see. Get the information of new people you are going to invite to the event. Set codes to your items to make it easy to measure their performance later, i.e it will help to know what items were sold near or even over its real value, how many new and previous guest there are etc.
What worked or didn’t
Gather a post-event meeting to discuss the following questions:
- How many volunteers worked for you? Was their work effective?
- How many calls did you get or make? How many meetings did you get?
- Were your workers worth hiring? Would you hire them again?
Define the priorities
Be creative, do different things every year, otherwise, you will just burn out. Focus on the things your organization needs to move forward. For instance, if you are a small or new organization, focus on outreach and media. Or, if you have an established supporter pool and need to increase the engagement, add online bidding or auctions.
Achievable goals
After recalling all you did, it is time to decide the things to do further. To set a fundraising goal first you need a clear scope and the second actionable steps. The first one is when you set achievable and reasonable goals the ones you can meet. Reach small victories to stay motivated and get more. The essence of the second point is to set ways to reach the goal. Specific steps will help you understand how to reach that so much desired “pick” as your goal.
Time to say thanks
When you feel close to your goal or have already achieved it, say thanks to the whole staff which worked for you day and night. And, of course, don’t forget to reward yourself for a great job done.
Fundraising goal essence
After taking hereinabove mentioned steps, you come to the point when you need to set a fundraising goal. The goal may be in the shape of a certain amount of money, i.e financial goal, or extension of the awareness for example to increase the number of Facebook likes etc.
What is a smart goal
Smartphone, smart TV, even smart goal… the world smart here refers to specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely goals.
- Specific goals should be clear and unambiguous. Specific goal=specific expectations, consequently, everybody concentrate on getting on the same page.
- Measurable goals can be calculated. This helps to understand whether you need to adjust the efforts to make them more effective.
- Attainable goals are realistic and reachable. To set such goals means to set a meaningful course for the campaign.
- Relevant goals go along with your mission. Remember, irrelevant objectives confuse your supporters.
- State clearly start and end date of your goal to get. The urgency in the campaign keeps the process with ease and active.
Fundraising methods
To set a fundraising goal is only the beginning. Realization of your main goal may be through a number of methods like:
- Public collections
- Door-to-door or street fundraising
- Gaming: lotteries or raffles
- Events like fairs
- Online, TV or phone fundraising etc.
The law
The law in the United States of America states: “ Organizations for charitable purposes are allowed to raise funds from many sources. They are given a specific designation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), commonly noted as 501(c)(3) organizations. Other nonprofits such as fraternal associations have different IRS designations, and may or may not be eligible to raise funds. Financial information on many nonprofits, including all nonprofits that file annual IRS 990 forms is available from GuideStar.”
No matter how you decide to set a fundraising goal, in any case, you should follow the rules and regulations envisaged by the state and federal laws to avoid problems.
If you have any legal question regarding fundraising and beyond, contact our attorneys for a consultation.
