[Strategies for Success - Smart fundraising ideas from Kinetic]

Courage

imageIt takes courageous leadership to advance your mission. Successful fundraising is about the mission, not simply about money. Your organization may have a worthy vision, but if you do not have the resources available to step out for those you serve, you will never advance your mission.

Courage alone won’t raise money, but without a courageous outlook about fundraising, you will remain stuck with the status quo. Here are some tips for giving your staff and board leadership a boost of courage:

Unify Your Leadership Around the Vision
If your nonprofit’s leadership isn’t unified under one vision for the organization, it will be difficult to have the courage to raise money. Knowing what will be accomplished with more money will help give board members and others confidence to talk about the mission (not just the money) and to share why the organization is worthy of support.

Undergo a Comprehensive Fundraising Plan
Once a strong vision is established and agreed upon, developing a Comprehensive Fundraising Plan is the next step in advancing the mission with courage. As you develop your plan, ensure you have taken the time to analyze past fundraising activities, define objectives and goals for each fundraising effort, create a method to track and evaluate progress, outline a timeline, and ensure you have a strong case for support that outlines your organization’s vision.

Enlist Fundraising Professionals
Leadership will be more apt to assist in the fundraising process when they have trusted professional fundraising counsel and a well-trained development team guiding the effort. Hiring the right fundraising professionals provides a great return on investment to advance your mission.

Take the time today to evaluate your leadership. Do your board members have the courage they need to advance your organization’s fundraising? If they don’t, take the time to help them build their courage and confidence in the fundraising process.

Janell Johnson, Senior Vice President (Wilmington, N.C.) jjohnson@kineticfundraising.com

logoJoin Us on the Growing Philanthropy Tour

Next stops on the road to achieving Kinetic’s mission of growing philanthropy by 25 percent in the next 20 years:

Dallas
May 23-25, 2018
Boy Scouts of America Annual Meeting

Roanoke, Va.
June 6-7, 2018
LeadingAge Virginia Annual Conference
Exhibitor: Hartsook

Bergen, Norway
June 18-19, 2018
NHH – Norwegian School of Economics
John List

Taipei, Taiwan
June 21-22, 2018
National Taiwan University
John List

Canberra, Australia
June 25-26, 2018
BX2018, Australian Government
Keynote: John List

Richmond, Va.
July 18-19, 2018
2018 Virginia Fund Raising Institute Conference
Successful Campaigns: Raising Million-Dollar Gifts
Karin Cox
John Warren
Lead Sponsor: Hartsook

London
July 2018
Iof Convention 2018
Adrian Sargeant
Jen Shang

Clayton, Australia
August 13-24, 2018
Monash University
John List

Washington, D.C.
August 29-31, 2018
Boy Scouts of America Top Hands

Chicago
September 19-20, 2018
Science of Philanthropy Institute Conference 2018
John List

Boston, Mass.
October 5-6, 2018
Boston University
Advances with Field Experiments
John List

Basel, Switzerland
October 16-18, 2018
University of Basel
8th Bernoulli Lecture for the Behavioral Sciences
John List

Past Stops on the Tour


Resources for Smart Fundraising Available on Kindle

Keep up to date on the latest fundraising trends with the Kindle ASR Media collection:

  • Fundraising Leadership – The definitive source for empowering board members to become pro-active fundraising leaders by Karin L. Cox
  • Performance-Driven Fundraising – Handy, yet entertaining reference tool for new and seasoned fundraisers by Matthew J. Beem

Book Deal of the Month

imageKinetic President and CEO Matthew J. Beem’s book Performance-Driven Fundraising: Taking Control of Your Success shares decades of fundraising insights and features campaign success stories. Performance-Driven Fundraising will help accelerate anyone’s learning curve and serve as a valuable reference tool for new and seasoned fundraisers. Go here for a special price of $10 (plus shipping and handling).

On the Web

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Visit the Kinetic website for:
– Educational opportunities
– Books/reference articles
– Conference/workshop speakers

Strategies for Success explores smart ideas, connecting with thousands of fundraising professionals. We welcome your best practices contributions or comments. Send to Strategies for Success editor Karin Cox, kcox@kineticfundraising.com. If you’d like a free subscription to Strategies for Success or its monthly companion, Philanthropy Success, contact info@kineticfundraising.com.