Setting Yourself Up for Fundraising Success with Your Annual Development Plan
Aug 20, 2023
An annual development plan is a strategic document that outlines the fundraising and development goals for a nonprofit organization in the upcoming year. The purpose of an annual development plan is to provide a roadmap for the organization's fundraising efforts, and to ensure that the organization has the resources it needs to achieve its mission and goals.
HERE ARE SOME SPECIFIC REASONS WHY NONPROFITS CREATE ANNUAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS:
1.To set clear fundraising goals: An annual development plan helps the nonprofit set specific, measurable goals for fundraising and development efforts. By doing so, the organization can track progress towards these goals and adjust its strategies as needed.
2.To plan fundraising activities: An annual development plan outlines the specific fundraising activities that the nonprofit will undertake in the upcoming year. This may include events, grant applications, direct mail campaigns, and other fundraising efforts.
3.To prioritize fundraising efforts: By creating an annual development plan, the nonprofit can prioritize its fundraising efforts and allocate resources to the most important activities. This can help ensure that the organization is making the most of its limited resources.
4.To communicate with stakeholders: An annual development plan can be shared with stakeholders, including board members, staff, volunteers, and donors. By doing so, the organization can demonstrate its commitment to responsible stewardship of donor funds and provide transparency about its fundraising activities.
5.To ensure long-term sustainability: By planning ahead and setting clear fundraising goals, nonprofits can ensure that they have the resources they need to achieve their mission over the long term. This can help ensure the sustainability of the organization and its programs.
Key Structure of Your Plan
All plans for fundraising communications and marketing are heavily dependent on the inclusion of the following key aspects:
Governance Activities
Communications Activities
Development Activities
Grant Activities
Let's break these down so we understand exactly what the responsibilities are within each area in order to build out the framework for every one of the fundraising objectives for the year.
Governance Activities
- Budget creation and approval by board of directors
- Regular board meetings and election of members
- Approval of development committee
- Support all development efforts
Communication Activities
- Prepare and send out annual report from prior year
- Prepare quarterly newsletter
- Send out quarterly newsletter and track activity
- Prepare bank of branded acknowledgment materials
o Email for under $250
o Snail mail for over $250
o Piece for recurring donors
o Phone call script for major donors
o Bank to include copy for four different annual acknowledgment letters
- Prepare bank of branded appeal materials based on LYBUNT, SYBUNT, prospect, donor, major donor
o Email
o Snail mail
- Revise case for support as needed
- Plan schedule of event activities and communications
- Plan schedule of fundraising communications
Development Activities
- Develop fundraising goals with development committee according to budget needs
- Segment appeal recipient list by LYBUNTS, SYBUNTS, major donors, prospect, other categories as appropriate.
- Using segmented list and appeal materials prepared by communications team, begin solicitation process existing donors as well as new prospects and assign a solicitor to each donor
- Develop schedule of personal outreach communications with all donors and assign responsible party
- Develop campaigns for the year and add information to donor database within the annual fund category
- Develop appeals for the year and add information to donor database within the annual fund category
- Develop schedule for corporate sponsor solicitation
- Develop schedule with development committee that for individual solicitations
- Develop schedule with board for all board solicitations
- Assist board with all solicitation efforts
- Prepare theme for giving Tuesday and establish fundraising goal
- Plan all event related activities
Grant Activities
- Develop prospecting and research calendar
- Assign grant research project to assigned team member
- Prepare final list of foundation targets
- Schedule LOI and application preparation based on grant deadlines
- Create tracking spreadsheet for all grants related activity including reporting
- Circulate target foundation trustee lists with organization board members
- Schedule and conduct outreach activities with foundations
Creating this structure for your Annual Development Plan and all related efforts will yield tremendous results if you follow it diligently and ensure accountability for all assigned tasks.
We hope you are having fantastic development success already this year! If you are and feel like sharing for others to benefit from your experience, we’d love to hear about it at our next Kannico Monthly Webinar this Wednesday March 8. Join us!
And as always, if you have questions or need resources for your work, don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected] – we are happy to help!
