If you’re an executive director or a fundraiser at a nonprofit, the chances are that hitting your fundraising goals isn’t as easy as it may seem to your board or volunteers. The reason is straightforward. Organizations fall short when their fundraising strategy is outdated or they’re making easy, avoidable mistakes.
The following is a list of the most common fundraising strategy mistakes we’ve curated. It also includes quick tips on how to fix these mistakes. Your nonprofit doesn’t have to miss your fundraising targets. Instead, these tips will help you find creative solutions for your fundraising goals, enabling your organization to thrive through effective fundraising event ideas.
Fail #1: Ignoring Nonprofit Donor Feedback
The top fundraising strategy fail your nonprofit can do is ignore donor feedback. Many organizations treat feedback as an optional activity, but it’s not. It’s an activity all organizations should do with surveys, chats, polls, etc. When donors share their thoughts with you about your programs, fundraising, or operations, they’re telling you what’s important to them. Ignoring them will only cause them to lose interest.
How to Fix It for Your Organization
One of the most effective fundraising activities for your nonprofit is to develop a meaningful donor feedback strategy. For instance, invite donors to provide feedback through surveys and short, “What do you think?” calls or emails. Remember, listening builds trust, which is essential for fundraising.
Fail #2: Doing the Same Thing Every Year
Have you been doing the same event year after year and telling everyone it’s a tradition? While tradition is a good thing, such as an annual event, things can get, well…stale. It’s essential to try new things to avoid stagnation, and worse yet, donor fatigue. As we know, there’s great competition for attention! Therefore, it’s essential, even with traditional events and fundraising activities, to try new approaches.
How to Fix It for Your Fundraising
It’s always vital to add fresh ideas. Therefore, explore easy-to-do fundraising ideas or elements to traditional events that add a little variety. For example, you can add a shoe drive fundraiser to any one of your fundraisers. It allows people to declutter, is great for broadening your community reach, and is also wonderful for the planet. See our 100+ unique fundraising ideas.
Fail #3: Not Setting Clear, Measurable Fundraising Goals
Sometimes, particularly with smaller nonprofits, the aim is simply to raise as much as possible. But that’s vague, and it’s not a goal that anyone can really rally around. Clarity is essential so that your supporters know what you need and how close or far you are from that goal. It allows you to increase or dial back urgency and celebrate wins. Measurable goals provide your team and donors with a clear sense of purpose.
How to Fix It
The most essential thing for a fundraising strategy is to have SMART goals. That is, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. So, instead of saying to people you’re raising money, it’s better to say something like, “We’re raising $10,000 by October 10 to purchase student laptops for our afterschool program.”
Fail #4: Relying on One Fundraising Revenue Stream
A common mistake many nonprofits make with their fundraising strategy is to rely on a single revenue stream. For instance, organizations often seek to fund most of their operations through grant requests or from one major donor. That’s a big mistake and can land you on the wrong side of thriving. A single denied funding request can lead to your nonprofit failing and collapsing. Therefore, it’s essential to diversity.
How to Fix It for Your Fundraising Stream
The rule in fundraising is to diversify your revenue stream. What that means is creating various approaches to raising money. For example, you can create a major gifts pipeline, or you can expand your in-person events with online fundraising campaigns. You can also improve at identifying matching gifts or partnerships to boost engagement and fundraising revenue.
Fail #5: Not Telling a Compelling Nonprofit Story
While statistics and facts are essential, they don’t move people. What does? Storytelling. So, your fundraising strategy needs to go beyond the facts. It’s critical to master good storytelling and focus on the stories, as much and as respectfully as possible, on compelling individual and community stories. Remember that you’re inviting people to support your cause. Ask yourself often, why should they care?
How to Fix It for Storytelling
It’s essential to make storytelling a central part of your fundraising efforts, incorporating it into your social media and marketing. Learn what there is to know about how to tell a compelling story. Attend conferences, read extensively, and consider taking a course or two. Highlight the people on your team, as well as those who’ve been impacted by what you do.
Fail #6: Making Everything About Money
It’s understood that fundraising is about raising money, but here’s the thing: some nonprofits only make it about money. For example, there’s always an urgent appeal. Or there’s a succession of donation requests, but there’s not much value-add about connection, community or impact. The best fundraisers know that they must build meaningful relationships. So it’s vital to get past the fundraising transaction.
How to Fix It
One way to fix this fundraising fail is to move beyond just asking for money. Your community and supporters understand they should donate as much as they can. But trust in nonprofits comes from meaningful relationships. Send updates, express your thanks (often), and invite people to join your community. Fundraising is about relationships first and raising money second.
Fail #7: Overcomplicating the Fundraiser
Fundraising doesn’t have to be complicated, and a good rule of thumb is to keep things simple. A complicated fundraising event with overwhelming planning, uncoordinated volunteers, and a steep learning curve to get up to speed is a fundraising fail. Moreover, it can exhaust and demotivate your volunteers and donors. So, remember that it’s essential to balance the energy involved in fundraising with the effort it takes.
How to Fix It for Your Fundraising Events
Again, keep things simple. If you sense that your supporters are exhausted from the lead-up to your fundraising events, it’s likely time to rethink things. You want to think of fundraising activities that are fun and allow people to get involved in easy ways. For instance, a fun run isn’t complicated, and your community will want to get involved.
What Makes a Fundraising Strategy Actually Work?
As someone who spent many years as a professional fundraiser, I know that a solid fundraising strategy takes agility, intentionality, and donor focus. If you want to continue with traditional fundraisers, such as annual events, that’s okay. But it’s vital to balance tradition with the new. It’s crucial to keep things fresh, exciting, and continually moving forward in ways that keep people engaged. Serve your mission in fundraising without burning people out.
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