Isn’t it a bummer when a word you love becomes overused and trite in the zeitgeist, so when you are searching for the perfect description of a phenomenon, your best match feels meaningless? I experienced this with synergy. I LOVE synergy!

Thanks to everyone who joined our August Lunch and Learn to prepare now for end of year board engagement! For those who missed it, we talked a lot about the clean before the clean.

Excitement for automation reached a fever pitch at our Lunch and Learn this week. We shared the fears we have overcome about automation, the conditions that support effective automation, and the ultimate goal of automation. We don’t automate to automate; we automate to achieve our goals more efficiently. 

Understanding the components of a lean nonprofit fund development plan is essential to creating an effective and successful program. A well-designed plan will provide clarity in direction, ensure deadlines are met, manage priorities, and track progress toward goals.

When it comes to running a successful nonprofit organization, having a lean fund development plan is essential.

A well-defined plan helps nonprofits align their fundraising goals with their mission and establish practical strategies for achieving them. In this article, we'll discuss five reasons why every non-profit needs a Lean Development Plan in order to succeed. We will also look at how having such a plan can help provide accountability and track progress against objectives.

So read on to learn more about the importance of developing an effective fund development strategy.

Hey fundraiser...I see you. I'm also over here hiding in my coffee cup, in denial that Giving Tuesday 2022 is in 40 days.

And I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by all of the end-of-year preparations I need to do. I bet you're feeling about as clueless as I am right now.

We're being bombarded with messaging that Giving Tuesday is the most important time of year for fundraisers. And while it's true that this is a critical time for nonprofits to engage with their donors, it doesn't have to be as overwhelming as it seems right now.

Can we talk about Giving Tuesday?

Because I have a confession: as a donor, I dread Giving Tuesday.

Fundraisers know the holidays are a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's a time of year when people are more likely to be in a giving mood. On the other hand, it can be tough to stand out from the noisy crowd and get your message heard. This is especially true on Giving Tuesday, when donors are bombarded with requests from organizations they may or may not have a relationship with. Is there a way to rethink Giving Tuesday so that it's more effective for both donors and nonprofits?

You're the Executive Director of a small nonprofit, and your Development Director just quit. Again. You've heard the average tenure of a Development Director is only 16 months...but it's devastatingly disruptive to lose another member of your senior leadership after less than two years. Sound familiar?

We all throw around the stats around development staff attrition, but it's rare that we talk about why.

There are tons of surveys and research about the high attrition rate for nonprofit development directors and it ultimately comes down to unrealistic expectations, a lack of investment in fundraising tools, systems, and people, and poor leadership.  

It’s far too common for nonprofit leaders to lose their development staff because they don’t know how to retain them.  But keeping them maybe be more accessible than it seems…as a nonprofit leader, you can retain your staff and help them thrive. But to do so, you have to be willing to understand - and address - the root causes of attrition. 

So how can we retain our development staff?

Ah, your donor database. We love to hate it. 

Most of us don’t have a dedicated database manager (can you imagine? Living. The. Dream). So our databases are often neglected, rarely used, and…as a result not that useful.

But there are some things you can do to actually use your database. And the more you use it, the more it can guide and shape your fundraising. Remember, we’re all about making our tools work for us! 

Fundraising is emotional work. We tell stories and build relationships. But we also do a surprising amount of routine, administrative work. So, can we use automation and software for our routine fundraising tasks, while still keeping the personal touch?

Yes. In fact, automating our administrative fundraising work means we have more time (and more energy) for relationship-based fundraising. Let's look at five ways that we actually use automation to build stronger relationships and free ourselves up for real creative thinking - and better fundraising.

Segmentation. It's a word fundraisers love to throw around...although very few of us do it well. So, let's put our money where our mouths are, and start segmenting our data.

So what is segmentation? When we segment our data, we're able to group our supporters based on shared characteristics (e.g. age, donation history, geographical area, etc.) Doing this gives us a deeper understanding of donors and what drives them to give. As a result, we can send more tailored messages that appeal to each group, which creates more value for our nonprofit.

It's time to stop wasting your money on tools you're not using.

And it's time to really use your tools to save you time...and headaches.

Look, I know the nonprofit sector is not known for its tech-savviness. We're bargain shoppers, coupon clippers, free-software users, and sometimes tech Luddites. But we can - and should - start using the many tools available!

Technology and tools are an important part of any fundraising or nonprofit operation, from our websites to our CRMs. However, it's not enough to just have them – you need to use them effectively in order to see results. That's why we love conducting a regular tool and tech audit - to see the full landscape of our tech tools and figure out which ones we can use better and which ones we might not even need. It also helps us make sure that we are using the tools to the fullest extent possible and that we're not paying for tools that could be simplified or replaced. Conducting a tool and tech audit can help you work smarter, not harder, and keep your costs down!