Annual Nonprofit Fundraising Plan: How to Turn Big Goals Into a Clear Annual Roadmap

‍Podcast episode transcript ↓

Josh:

Ambitious fundraising goals are common. Clear annual roadmaps are not.

A lot of organizations have calendars packed with events, campaigns, appeals, and major gift work.

The real challenge is figuring out which levers deserve real focus, which should play a supporting role, and which probably don’t justify the effort anymore.

So what does it take to distill all of that into a plan that actually drives decisions?

How can leaders focus on the few revenue drivers that matter, map them across the year, and set ambitious but realistic targets, all without ending up with a 40‑page document that no one reads?

I’m Josh with Anedot, and welcome to Nonprofit Pulse, where we explore trends, insights, and resources that help nonprofits accomplish their mission.

On this episode, we’re joined by Krissie Kelleher on the topic of building a clear annual fundraising roadmap.

Krissie is the CEO of Team IMPACT and brings more than 25 years of strategic fundraising experience.

Before joining Team IMPACT, she served as Associate Head of School for Development and External Relations at The Rivers School, where she helped raise more than $76 million to transform campus facilities, grow endowment support, and expand access through financial aid.

As a former Division I student‑athlete and the mother of a pediatric cancer survivor, Krissie leads with a deep, personal understanding of both the power of team and the families her organization serves.

Hey, Krissie, thanks for joining us on Nonprofit Pulse.

Krissie:

Hey, Josh, thanks for having me.

The core elements of a strong annual nonprofit fundraising plan

Josh:

Yeah, excited for our topic today, which is the one page fundraising plan how to turn big goals into a clear annual roadmap.

So, Krissie, starting off, when you think about a strong annual fundraising plan, what are the core elements that absolutely have to be on the page?

Krissie:

The core elements are fairly simple in my opinion.

You want to have your total revenue goal broken down by source. So identifying sort of where's the money coming from.

And I think without being able to see where the money is coming from, it's hard to set a goal. I always like to narrow it down to what are the 3 to 5 core revenue drivers for an organization?

So these are the things that you sort of know are kind of fixed in terms of the calendar, sort of big moments for an organization.

And then I like to think about the 12 month calendar.

So what are those big moments throughout the year that an organization is planning for from a campaign standpoint, from an event standpoint, from major appeals or mailings?

I like to look at those sort of by different color on a page, so that they kind of stand out in their own way, and then on top of just the revenue targets, understanding too kind of what the fundraising team is being called to do from a goal standpoint.

So how many meetings are we going to have as a team? How many calls are we going to make? How many asks are we going to make? Sort of what's out there philanthropically for us?

And then, having an owner for each of those functions, I think is key.

I've seen too many times where there's sort of shared ownership and I think that always gets messy.

So kind of knowing who in the organization is tasked with each of those revenue line items and how you're going to divide up that work, I think is super important.

And I love the one page fundraising plan because it forces you to figure out what are you going to do and how are you going to be nimble and what's not going to make it on the page, right?

I think that's almost as important as understanding what goes on the page.

I think those are key management decisions in terms of really narrowing down that one page focus for the year and then letting it be your sort of north star for how you make decisions.

Because inevitably, as fundraisers and as a fundraising team, every organization, new things come up over the course of the year.

I think that discipline of having the articulation of what are the most important revenue functions and how are we going to define our year and how are we going to define success.

Being able to go back to that as sort of as that north star is so critical. So it's just as important to understand what you're going to do and what you're not going to do.

And, I like to put those in front of the board and the development committee and make sure that everybody understands this is our plan for the year, and we're going to stick to it.

Sometimes things are going to come up and we're going to have to say no because it's not in that plan.

And maybe we'll look at it for next year, but it really becomes your roadmap.

Choose the right revenue drivers without leaving money on the table

Josh:

Yeah, and I love that. And I want to lean into that more. As you know, most nonprofit leaders feel the pressure to do it all.

So from your experience, how can nonprofit leaders narrow down to just a few core revenue drivers for the year without feeling like they're leaving money on the table and having that FOMO, that fear of missing out?

Krissie:

Yeah. I mean, I think that leaving money on the table is like, it's a fear that every fundraiser has.

And almost if you don't have it, you got to ask yourself why.

In my experience, fear is not a strategy. Just like hope is not a strategy.

I think you want to be able to know the things that you're going to be able to execute on and execute on those well.

And that's sort of the most important thing is like narrowing down those revenue drivers.

For me, I like to pull the numbers like I love to get into the numbers and look at sort of the performance over the last 3 to 5 years.

That gets tricky, right? Because now everybody's looking back at that Covid year and we're like, let's just throw that out, right?

Or those two years or you're like, that's just not comparable at all. But understanding sort of historical performance to me is just as important as what are you going to do this year?

Because it really gives you that sort of foundation on which to build from, but also to understand sort of where you overperformed in years past, where you underperformed and then try not to flinch when you look at those numbers.

Be confident in understanding that most organizations know where the money is coming from, that 70 to 80% of it is going to be predictable, right?

And oftentimes repeatable year over year. And those are your drivers. The rest is either noise or you can't predict and you can shrink that or you can test it. You can do away with it all together.

The other thing that I think sometimes people miss out on, I always have to remind myself of this is like, what is it costing you in each of those revenue drivers to actually bring that money in?

And so understanding from a management level, if you're bringing in $3.7 million in an annual gala like we just did at Team IMPACT, I want to know how much did that cost?

But I know that if we spent $750,000 in event costs, that that's only one cost, right?

What about the people cost of that and understanding that as well, because you want to make sure that you're making those decisions, those revenue decisions with all of the facts.

Oftentimes we forget to calculate the people, the human cost of being able to execute on some of these revenue drivers.

So I think that's an important part of not leaving money on a table is knowing how much you're spending and how much you're bringing in.

We really took a hard look at that from a Team IMPACT standpoint and asked ourselves, when we looked at the calendar, what are the things that we're doing that aren't revenue drivers, and are those a good use of our time?

What is the goal for various events? And if they aren't bringing in the dollars and they were meant to, let's think about whether we should be doing those or whether we should be changing how we're doing them, and also understanding what the cost allocation from my human capital standpoint is on those low producing events.

And then really ask yourself, like, what are they for? What is the goal there? And don't be afraid to say goodbye to some of those.

Build a 12‑month fundraising calendar your team can actually follow

Josh:

So Krissie, thinking practically, what's the best way for a small or midsized team to map their campaigns, events, appeals across a, let's say, 12 month calendar?

Krissie:

Yeah, it's a great question. And I always like big picture. I always say to my team and I think about your calendar is your strategy.

It is not just a calendar where you throw dates on, you throw events on a calendar and you look at them. It is your strategy.

I can speak specifically about Team IMPACT. Over the course of the year, our revenue cycle fluctuates. It goes up and down.

And I'm saying to the team when we have those dips over the course of the 12 months, like, why aren't we thinking about moving an event up and using that as an opportunity to sort of level out that revenue stream?

So really thinking about your calendar as your strategic roadmap, that 12 months, you've got 12 months to raise money.

You got to start like from a practical standpoint, you got to start with what you know is fixed, right? You know, you've got a fiscal year end, you know you're going to have a gala.

You may have some small dinners, you're going to have your year end fundraising, and you're going to block those first, right? Those are going to be your major landmarks in terms of revenue.

And then you want to layer in things like giving days, stewardship season, which is typically right at the end of a fiscal year, whether that's December calendar year, or June 30, and really match that calendar with what you know about how your donors behave.

And because I've been in multiple shops, they behave differently and in different environments.

So understand your donors, know when they move, and be thoughtful about plotting your calendar in that way.

And then always sort of back into your goal. If you know you need X amount of major gifts, make sure that you are blocking the time.

If you know that you have your top 25 prospects and you know that they're in different states, make sure you've got those touchpoints planned out so that that travel is intentional and it's not accidental, and you're getting in front of the right people at the right time.

And that really takes, I think, a lot of intention.

I think I can speak for every frontline fundraiser out there. You can do the best planning on a trip and your top prospect can say, oh, I have to go out of town tomorrow unexpectedly.

But if you don't plan ahead and you don't give them enough time, oftentimes you're not getting that visit.

And so really mapping out the travel piece is so important. And I know I shared this before, but getting things in different colors always helps me.

So just kind of knowing, green is annual giving on the calendar. Red is major gifts. That sort of thing I think is so important.

And then from a management standpoint, from a leadership standpoint, just blocking the downtime is so important too.

Now I'm getting more granular into like a weekly or monthly basis, but leaving time for those really important touchpoints, the emails, the handwritten notes, basically recovery weeks, right?

And that's how you kind of keep your team running too and humming along.

So, yeah, I mean, I like to see things on a wall. I still like to print things and hold them in my hands. It makes me old school.

I think some of the younger folks I work with look at me like, so you still have a binder with three punches in it? And I'm like, yeah, sometimes I do. I like to touch it.

And so I think everybody's a little bit different.

But that's how, I think that practical sequence of looking at the year and just getting those landmark moments on the calendar and then building around it for everything else.

But really being intentional with the seasonal travel and the events and also just not being afraid to say no and then making sure you have the time to do the follow up work because, you can do all the best work in the world.

But if you don't have the debrief meetings after and you don't leave time for the quiet work and the important strategy and planning and execution and debriefing, then you're really doing yourself a disservice.

Set fundraising targets that are realistic, ambitious, and simple to manage

Josh:

So thinking about fundraising goals, how do you recommend organizations set realistic fundraising targets and activity goals without overcomplicating the process, which I think everyone is prone to do, wanting to get super granular, introduce complexity.

But how do you recommend organizations do that?

Krissie:

Yeah, I think well, keeping it simple would be nice. I think we all want to keep it simple. But we also know that while fundraising is an art, it's also a science.

So, I think where the tension really lies is wanting to be aspirational but also wanting to nail a goal. And I think that's a space that sort of I've lived in for a long time.

And so it's managing expectations but also ensuring success to the extent that you can. In my experience, it's better to underestimate and over perform than it is to overestimate and underperform.

I mean, that is like if there's any advice out there and I'm not saying underdog it but be precise and then leave some room for over performance.

So I mean I'd say your pipeline is your math and it shouldn't be aspirational. I like to use yield calculations that have always kind of helped me at a 30, 50, 75% yield.

So what I like to do is every year we target our prospects from a major gifts standpoint, those that we'll ask in person for gifts and put a number next to it and then, spit it out into Excel and then do that 30, 50, 75% yield.

You get a sense for where if you perform at the lower end, where you'd end up, and if you perform at the 75% standpoint, you'll have a good sense from a range of where you think you can end up.

And then always kind of do the same in terms of that annual giving that number or new prospecting that you'll have from historical performance and kind of add that in and that should give you a pretty good sense.

I like the 75 to 50% yields, because then you can, in many cases I've seen when the relationships are strong, the 75 is a pretty good estimate in terms of sort of board in your closest circle of friends.

And then as you get further out, it's obviously going to go down. But that's all I've always done.

Well by that 30, 50, 75% rule. And then, from a revenue standpoint, those targets are important. But it's also important to set those activity goals that I talked about before.

Revenue is obviously sometimes it's a lagging indicator. And by that I mean the calls, the visits and the asks are really what you can control on a week to week basis.

And so I like to look at the activity reports for our frontline fundraisers to see what they're doing on a regular basis in terms of how many calls are they having, how many meetings are we having as a team, and how many asks are being made. And that really can affect that.

I think more than being able to affect whether someone makes a gift or not, that staff presence is really important.

And then, I think keeping it simple is really important.

Don't stretch a goal that's going to make you nervous. Too high of a goal, you'll feel sick to your stomach every day. Just know the difference between being aspirational but also being realistic.

And I think managing expectations up front with board members, development committee members is good.

Show them the math. Show them where the numbers came from, walk them through that, educate them and get them on board.

I've been in a lot of boardrooms where we were saying, okay, I think we can raise $30 million after doing a feasibility study and doing an analysis of the prospect pool.

And then the board chair will say, 30, I want to do 60, and you got to just show them it's not there and take them through the math and educate them because we can get carried away in the boardroom and every fundraiser, if you've done the math and you've done your homework, you can get your volunteers there with you.

There is a science to it. And you can never predict what's going to happen, of course. But I think explaining that to volunteers is really important.

And remember that as a fundraiser you're the expert. And many times we work with board members who think they know fundraising, but they don't all the time.

So that's just the managing of expectations. Just don't let them get too carried away and be aspirational.

But know you're going to crush it in the background. That's worked for me.

Common annual fundraising planning mistakes to avoid

Josh:

I love that. And that's a great segue into my next question. Krissie, you've worked inside and outside nonprofits for many years.

What are some common mistakes that you see nonprofits make when creating or skipping even an annual fundraising plan?

Krissie:

Failure to plan is planning to fail. That's something that I write all over my notebooks and I share with my team.

I don't like to go on vacation and not know what I'm going to do. I am a consummate planner. That's just how I'm wired and I need to see it. I need to see it written down.

I think if fundraisers can get overly confident or set in a pattern year to year where they don't kind of get out of the box of thinking.

So I do think it's important every year to sort of start with a blank page, right. You're going to know what worked the year before, but know what didn't work.

Like do your homework and really analyze what worked and what didn't. I think a lot of times there can be plans that are written that they're dressed up, but they're not really strategic.

And I think it's really important to get into the numbers and understand the data.

Lots of people can put together fancy slides and a plan can look good on paper, but if it's not informed by the data to back it up, it's really a hollow plan.

And I think sometimes plans are built in silos. And I think it's really important for marketing and development folks to be talking to each other.

I think if we think about those departments in different offices, and I've been around the block long enough to know that sometimes there's not great communication there.

When marketing gets blindsided by something developments doing or the other way around, it can be really tricky.

I would say to any fundraiser, don't build your plan in a silo. Make sure you're communicating up and down and side to side and that your marketing team knows exactly what's happening.

And then that pipeline analysis is so important. I think people skip over that sometimes. I think having that yield piece is critical.

I think we can confuse activity for progress sometimes. I talked about analyzing activity reports for our frontline fundraising team.

And I have to caution myself because I could have someone who made 200 contacts last week, but if they weren't quality contacts, that's not moving the needle.

So really understanding and training folks on what is a good quality contact look like.

Did you send them content from the organization? Did you share a story with them?

Was it just a hey, following up on this email, knowing the difference between sort of a high quality touch point and just a quantity touch point, and then back to that piece that we talked about earlier, to making sure that there's an owner for the things that are happening.

I think a lot of times we can be great strategists, but we can't forget the execution. And there's a real like that's mission critical.

It's like we can have the greatest idea and we can write the greatest appeal or the greatest thank you letter for donations.

But if nobody's stamping the envelopes and printing the addresses on it, like I've seen that happen so many times where we come up with a great idea, it's all written on paper.

It looks great on paper, but what we haven't thought through is the execution. What's it going to look like when we're actually pushing it out?

And then how are we going to analyze the success or the lack of success for, if you just take an annual appeal, for example, like if it's 5,000 pieces of mail, who's managing that?

So really thinking through, I think that's a mistake sometimes, I've made it. So I think that I would say is a blind spot.

And then finally, there's I think so many nonprofits we can do it like an over like almost like an it's like an over event schedule, like too many events.

Like I love a great fundraising event, don't get me wrong, because it's an opportunity to bring people into the program and into the mission and shine a light on it and have them understand you a little bit better because they hear the human stories, but you can't rely on events entirely for revenue generation.

The best gifts come from relationships between people. And I think oftentimes I've seen it too many times where a fundraiser will say, well, let's have a small dinner.

Well, let's have a small dinner is I'd rather see you go sit down with eight couples in over the course of a couple days and talk to them about their philanthropy, what makes them tick.

It's not a one size fits all thing. And I think oftentimes we think an event is going to fix it, an event is going to raise the money.

I like to challenge that and say, sit down across the table from a donor and tell them your story. Ask them what resonates with them. Ask them what fuels their philanthropy.

Get to know them. And then that's where real philanthropy happens.

Events are a great way to capture people first time. But how are you interacting with them afterwards, and how are you tailoring your message to them as an individual and getting to know them?

I think we skip over that sometimes, and to me, that's where the best fundraising happens. I would take a sit down visit with a major gift prospect, ten times more than I'd like to invite them to an event.

When and why to revise your fundraising plan

Josh:

I love that and thinking about fundraising plan revisions. I know there's a lot of folks who are already thinking, oh gosh, I need to revise this.

Maybe because of a challenge or something negative.

But maybe for something that's an opportunity, something that's very exciting.

So what would you tell our listeners around how often a fundraising plan should be revisited or adjusted, and then what usually triggers those changes?

Krissie:

I mean, there's any number of variables that can trigger a change. I mean, what comes to mind is like a big win or a big loss.

We were just talking about events. Maybe you had an event and you didn't raise what you had thought you were going to raise.

That's a pivot point. A leadership transition or a major staffing transition.

Those are big pivot points, any sort of economic or a shift in the sector, depending on kind of what nonprofit space you're working in, that can create an opportunity for a shift, either in a good way or maybe in a not so great way.

And then anytime you're seeing a revenue gap, I mean, as fundraising professionals, watching your revenue on a regular basis and knowing kind of how you're tracking against your annual goal and any time that you're underperforming, I think you need to go back and look at what is your plan for the next couple of quarters?

I think as we have stepped into Q2 right now, I mean, we've made some strategy shifts.

I made some strategy shifts from a development standpoint in Q1 and Q2 is now the time where we're going to run some data and see if those changes are actually working.

It's a little early to be able to tell if they're working and if they're not, we are going to adjust the plan.

I think it's really important to do a quarterly review.

I think one thing that I learned and I learned the hard way over the years is to be in constant assessment mode, have your pulse on what's working and what's not working, and don't be afraid to adjust on the fly and use your teammates to adjust that plan.

Don't do it alone. Don't do it in a silo.

Any plan is meant to be fungible. It should be a living, breathing document. It shouldn't be fixed. It should be looked at, if not on a quarterly basis, on a very regular basis, with progress updates on how it's going. And keep coming back to let the data tell you the story and adjust from there.

The critical role non‑development staff play in fundraising

Josh:

Thinking about staff outside of development, fundraising, in your experience, what role should staff outside of those areas as fundraising departments play in shaping and executing the fundraising plan?

Krissie:

I have like very strong feelings about this. I think the program team, if you're in a school, it's the teachers. It's the administrators.

In the nonprofit that I'm in now, it's our case managers. It's the people that are working with our teams.

They are the storytellers. They are as much fundraisers. They are fundraisers. They just don't know it.

And I think I've spent a lot of time in my leadership positions explaining that to people who kind of hear that fundraising word and they grimace, they're like, oh, that's a yucky thing.

But for me, fundraising is all about relationships, and relationships are built many times by the people who work in organizations whose job, they're building relationships on the ground, and teachers are building those relationships with the students that they teach.

They're building it with the parents and as fundraisers, we are the beneficiary of those relationships. And so that's what our donors are actually buying into right?

Without our program at the table. Our fundraising materials, they feel hollow. I mean, they are the storytellers. They're a part of the story right?

So I think it's so important to be inclusive of every member of an organization is actually doing some level of fundraising, whether they understand that or not.

And it's just critical. And the same is true of the marketing team. They are as much of the storytellers as we are.

From bulk emails to the experience that a donor has when they come to our website, what a donor's journey looks like when they make their first gift, what does that feel like for them?

And that's the sequencing of what our marketing teams do. And it's so important for those two teams to be in lockstep with each other on sharing the incredible stories of the work that our nonprofits do.

Then I think, that while our top donors generally want to hear from the CEO and leadership, they also want to hear from the people who are executing the program.

I mean, they want the inside scoop. They want to know what's working and what's not working. And they want us to be honest about that.

They don't just want to hear all the good things that are happening, because we know we could talk about that for ages, but they also want to know what are the challenges and what could make the program execute more efficiently.

And they want to buy into that. They want to help. They want to help the program and whatever it is, whatever we're delivering in the universe from a nonprofit standpoint or a school or college, like they want to know, how's it going?

What can I do to help you make it better? Where are there gaps? And so it's so important to be honest about that.

And it's so important to have the program people at the table.

Many times I've seen people as fundraisers, they want to hold the only relationship. To me that's dangerous. Share the relationship with the people who are doing the work. Let the donors get to know them. That's invaluable in terms of not just stewardship, cultivation and growing the understanding of the organization.

And the same is true for just understanding the finances and really having a great relationship with the CFO and your finance team, I'd say.

The CFO that I worked with at the last school that I was at is like a brother to me.

We used to fight like siblings, like he would, CFOs are notorious for saying no when you ask for something. And then in fundraising we're always asking to spend a little bit more than maybe we had budgeted.

But at the same time, we were the stewards of the donor’s investment. And he took it just as seriously as I did.

And in that way, we were such good partners, and really understanding the finances, understanding the revenue, the cash flow timing.

Understanding borrowing, how that affects construction, if there are new buildings in a plan. The timing on when we bring cash into an organization is so important.

So never lose sight of that. And that invaluable relationship between a finance office and the development team.

Buy that finance team some donuts and make them your best friends, because that's where the magic happens.

It's that intersection between marketing and development and finance, and it's really a team effort. And I mean, I love taking the CFO out on visits with me when I would meet with donors and talk about all things finance.

So many of our investors are financial minded. I like the finances, but I always like to say I like to bring in the money and you can count it.

And so really pulling the hood back for our most sort of our highest end donors is so important. And giving them insight into the finances.

Don't be shy about that. Don't be shy about it because every organization has its challenges. And as I said just a little bit earlier, the donors want to know.

They want to know what's working and what's not. And from a finance standpoint too, and more often than not, they're going to give you advice.

And nine times out of ten or maybe eight times out of ten, it's going to be really good advice. So don't be afraid to go there either.

Stay focused on your fundraising plan when shiny objects and urgent requests arise

Josh:

So thinking about focus and we just talked through what may change your fundraising plan.

That could be things internal, things external. But thinking about focus, how can organizations keep their teams focused on the plan when you have all these things externally or even internally?

Things like shiny objects or urgent requests from the board, etc. that pop up throughout the year.

How would you guide our audience to how to keep their staff focused in the midst of all of that?

Krissie:

I think that's where that annual plan comes in. It's so important to have that plan and have it put it in front of the board and make sure they understand this is our strategy for this year.

And I'm not just talking about a fundraising plan that's important but just having a plan for the year, fundraising being one component of it.

As a CEO, we have various one page documents for the different areas of the organization, but understanding what the priorities are for a year, at least from a fundraising standpoint, it gives you permission to say no. And I think that is the most important.

We as fundraisers, we're trained to say yes because we want to build that relationship, we don't like saying no. But when the shiny object pops up, which it always does, and if it's not happening on a monthly basis, you're very, very lucky. But we can't say yes to everything that comes our way. There has to be organizational or institutional discipline.

And when you have a plan and when that plan has been well communicated with board members and with your senior staff, you go back to that plan and you say, that's a great idea, why don't we put it on the list to look at for next year?

But we can't do that right now. Or if we say yes to that now, here's what we can't do.

And that's a really important, I think, distinction where in just being strong in being able to analyze that and be able to push back, I think is something that just by the nature of fundraisers, we want to say yes to everything, but it's not always a good idea.

And I would say to you that when those shiny objects pop up, many times they are, I'll give an example.

Like when I worked in schools, it was almost every year. Why don't you guys have a crew program? Okay, great.

Then we'd have a donor say, I've got five people who are ready to give $1 million for the crew program.

And we would, at first, people would be like, wait, that's so much money. We should say yes.

But when you actually sit down and do the cost analysis of that, of what the construction costs are, what the overhead is, what the people costs would be, you really start to understand, you really start to get to a place where you're like, oh no, we definitely can't afford to do that.

So I would say if and when you get challenged on, why can't we do it, make sure you're going back to understanding the cost and the true cost. That means the human capital cost too.

And if there's a construction cost or facilities cost, understand that.

All of a sudden the numbers start to go 100 times worth more than what the donor or the person coming to you actually thought it would cost.

And I think that's an important exercise. Sometimes when there's shiny objects.

But also I just I would say anything that is outside of mission and outside of that articulated one year plan, unless you have a strategic plan and strategic plans, they are the thing that you go back to and you can say, no, that's not on here.

I think those are almost a protective mechanism for organizations and institutions because you have articulated your priorities.

Anything outside of that set of priorities, it's a no for now. We have to stay laser focused if we want to be successful.

Anytime those lines get blurred, you're opening yourself up for the next shiny object to be blurry to.

And so staying true to those strategies, staying true to your mission, not having mission drift, not having strategic drift, it's critical for ensuring success.

Josh:

Love that and it reminds me of a personal story.

I was on a capital campaign project team, and we were looking at building a community center that had a children's play area, and it had some rooms for counseling and just really great project.

And we were looking at, let's say, 30 million to build and to fund it for the first three years.

And then, as we started looking at the cost of what annual cost would be and how we would fundraise for that, it changed a lot of what we wanted to do for that project.

Because, look, I mean, it's great to say, oh, well, we've got folks who are willing to step up and give major gifts for this $30 million campaign, but then when it costs 1.5 million a year to fund it, that's a whole different story.

And very few people are aware of those details outside of the project team.

They just feel like, oh, this would have been so great, and I don't understand how we couldn't do this. We've got my cousin or my husband's willing to fund it.

And there's a lot more to funding ongoing community projects like that than people realize.

Krissie:

Absolutely. And I think those hidden costs, it's our job to make sure that any cost that could crop up, both from a maintenance standpoint, but also like, don't forget, you got to have somebody who's going to clean that building, right?

And is your grounds crew big enough to bring on three new turf fields and a new science and art center?

Sometimes we forget, we move right past that.

And I think that's the attention to detail that I think seasoned fundraising professionals can bring to the table and I mean, I have many, many years, 25 years of being in those conversations that allows you to be able to think that way.

And so for anyone who's starting out there, when you are analyzing cost, make sure you're putting everything on the table and sit with your finance people and make sure they're thinking through every bit of it, too.

I would say too like those shiny objects sometimes are awesome ideas. So have a parking lot on that annual plan where you remember those and the people who brought them to you and go back to them.

Sometimes they're just it's just the wrong time idea. And it's not a matter of if but when.

I would say, you know, never meet a donor with a straight no, but say that's a great idea. We can't do that now.

But I want to add that to our list of things to think about, things to bring to the CEO, things to talk with the executive director about because many times these are worthwhile ideas.

And sometimes there are ideas that we need to do actually.

Having a gift acceptance committee is actually crucial too.

I should have mentioned that too it's like when the shiny object comes up, if you have a gift acceptance committee, you can go to them and say this person just came to us and said they want to leave us a farm in New Hampshire.

Are we going to accept that or not? And you’ve got your board chair there. You’ve got your development committee chair there. Maybe you have legal counsel there, you have your CFO there, and you’re analyzing that and saying, you know what? We have to jump at this opportunity. It’s never going to come back.

I have that in a school that I worked at, we were building a science and arts center, and we had a donor come to us and say, I want to give you money for some turf fields.

And it wasn't in the plan. And we said, if you can go to a list of prospects who wouldn't want to give to the science and art building who are just athletic prospects, and we know they aren't going to be interested in this other building.

You can do that with ten families. We've got a deal, and we did it, but it didn't impact the other project.

So sometimes you got to strike while the iron is hot. But you got to make sure you're not going to shoot yourself in the foot by saying yes.

Josh:

Love that. And, even you mentioned turf fields. And it just got me thinking, hey, that's a great gift and that's a great enhancement.

But in five years, when the green turf fields are now brown and need replaced, it's not as attractive to fund that replacement as it was to enhance it.

Krissie:

Absolutely. Build in an endowment component for any capital costs.

Make sure you're raising money for endowment for any new facilities, anyone out there who's doing a capital fundraiser for a building or a space or a field, put your endowment in it.

Use that as a part of your program so that you can take care of it forever.

Closing thoughts

Josh:

Krissie, our last question of every episode, my favorite question.

If you are standing on stage in front of a thousand nonprofit leaders and can share one thing with them on our topic today, one sentence, what would you say?

Krissie:

Well, I think I might say failure to plan is planning to fail. I love that.

Your fundraising plan is not a document. It is a decision about what you're going to do and what you're not going to do.

Josh:

Love it, love it. As always, check out Nonprofitpulse.com to see the show notes.

We'll have links to Krissie there on LinkedIn as well as Team IMPACT, her incredible organization. And this has been such a helpful episode, Krissie.

Planning is always with us and for those who are in small to mid-sized nonprofits listening to the show right now, I'm sure there's so many things that you want to do and so many opportunities that are knocking at your door.

But without the proper planning, all of that is for not. Planning is such an important part of every day, every month, every quarter of your nonprofit fundraising life.

And so, Krissie, thanks so much for joining us, and I hope everyone will connect with you on LinkedIn and check out Team IMPACT.

Krissie:

Thank you so much for having me, Josh. Appreciate it.

Josh:

Hey, thanks for listening.

If you enjoyed this conversation, please share or leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

Also, head on over to Nonprofitpulse.com to sign up for our monthly newsletter, as well as check out all the links and resources in the show notes. We’ll see you next time.