The Forgotten Foundations of Fundraising

Chapter 3The Wending Planner—or, It's the Organization, Man

Do you know where you're going to? Yes, it's bad grammar, but Diana Ross, sans the Supremes, made a hit song of this question back in the 1970s.

For our purposes, though, it is the right question. Where do you, organizationally speaking, want to go? What do you want to achieve? You need a roadmap. It needn't be overly detailed; it can be scrawled on the back of a napkin—though we wouldn't advise that—or it can be more sophisticated, with goals and subgoals, weekly and monthly tasks, and targets to measure your performance.

Planning is basic to human endeavor. Do you want to boost your nonprofit's annual revenue from $1 million to $2 million? Unless you're out unicorn‐hunting and stumble across the mythical benevolent billionaire dispensing million‐dollar grants like a pool‐boy handing out towels, you'll probably have to double your donor base. That means you'll likely need a direct‐mail plan, a meetings schedule, and a calendar of foundation application deadlines. You'll need to draw up—and yes, this sounds like Business School 101 flimflammery, but it's not—a strategic development plan.

Fundraising consists of two primary tasks: Find new donors, and cultivate the ones you have. All else grows from these roots. Solve these problems and you'll never go hungry. But there are many ways of going, as a singer (not Diana Ross) once said. How do you find new donors? What is the most cost‐effective method? What makes sense ...