4 Steps to Creating an Annual Campaign

So many people charged with raising funds spend most of their time hoping that a large donor will fall into their lap.  Needless to say, the odds of that are very small.  They’ll argue, why should I do all this hard work to get a gift of less than $2,500 when with a little more effort, I can get one that will be $25,000 or even $250,000. 

And yet, most of those gifts actually come from people who first became annual donors.

The annual fund is nothing very sexy.  It is a lot of work for small immediate gratification.  And yet…this is where you will find your major donors not to mention the aggregate value of their giving over years. Maybe more importantly, these little gifts are almost uniformly unrestricted, meaning the annual fund is the engine that runs the organization.

For many organizations, Annual Fund is heavily weighted toward an end of the year appeal. Large special events are often considered part—or sometime all--of the annual fundraising effort.  But think about an annual fund development campaign, one that runs from January-December 31 (or, perhaps, for your fiscal year, though I think calendar campaigns are less confusing to your donors).

1.         What do you consider an annual gift?  Logic would say it is what a donor gives as an unrestricted gift every year.

2.         What about your goal?  How much do you need to raise in unrestricted funds?

• Consider your annual expenses and subtract regularly expected revenues

• Add new hires, programs, equipment, opportunities.

• Think about how much you want to put aside for your reserves

• Add to that any current revenue you feel is at risk

• The total of that will be the amount for which you need to fundraise

3.         The next step is how you are going to reach that amount.  Personally, I love to gift range charts for this. 

•  Consider the goal and what you believe is the highest amount you can raise

  • How many gifts at that level do you think you can raise?

  • Understand that  you probably need 3-4 prospects for each gift

  •  Halve the amount for the start of the next level down.  For example, if $5,000 is the largest amount you think you can raise in unrestricted gifts, make your next level start at $2,500-4,999.

  • Double the amount of gifts from the level above

  •  Consider your prospects

  • Rinse and repeat the process, always ensuring you have a cumulative amount that equals or exceeds your goal.

4.   How do you engage those prospects?

•  Think about which level(s) would be best served by up close and personal meetings

  • Coffee, lunch…or even a zoom meeting!

  • Gifts at the higher end could be used for matching gifts (so ask them FIRST)

  • A house party where you ask for a certain amount to join your giving club

•    For under that amount, you will be mainly doing broad based activities.  To make those as personal as possible:

  • Segment your donors

    • First time givers (last year)

    • Loyal donors (have given in at least the past 3 years)

    • Lapsed donors (gave the year before—or any year before—but not last year)

    •   Donors who increased their giving

• Focus on creating a community of givers

•    Tell a story

•  Show them how they can make a difference

• Have multiple touchpoints

Perhaps most importantly follow that old chestnut:  Plan your work and then work your plan.  If you do that, you will have a successful and sustainable annual fund campaign.