Crafting a Fundraising Plan

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Without a plan of action, it is impossible to do most anything, especially fundraising. Crafting a fundraising plan is crucial for several reasons – it will enable you to set achievable goals, monitor your results and refocus your efforts if a particular aspect of your plan is under performing.

A fundraising plan is always a work in progress. When you prepare the first draft of your plan, you will make certain strategic assumptions that will be tested throughout the campaign. If you are continuously monitoring the results of your efforts, you will be able to refine your plan as you move forward.

As you prepare your plan, resist the temptation to tell others what they want to hear. Often the candidate or the manager will insist that you can raise a certain amount of money. Remember, it’s your professional obligation to present a fundraising plan that can be empirically proven and achievable. Collaborate with the team to maximize the amount of money you are able to raise. During the planning process, tell the manager what you need to do your job. Any good manager will provide you with additional resources, whether freeing up the candidate’s schedule for additional call time or hiring additional staff. Negotiate with the manager to find that point where the amount of money that you can raise equals what the campaign needs.

Once you select the appropriate method to approach each of your donor groups, develop a timeline and accompanying cash flow analysis. Work with the manager to schedule a set number of hours of call time. Keep in mind that it takes between one and two weeks to begin to receive a financial return from calls. By tracking the number of calls that the candidate completes per hour and the average hourly pledge rate, you can calculate the total revenue expected from call time.

Remember that developing a fundraising plan is part art and part science. Not everything is quantifiable, so temper your projections with common sense. For instance, remember that picking low-hanging fruit in March is more productive than making cold calls in July.

Timing is everything. Raising your entire budget in the last five days of the campaign does not pay for polling in August, direct mail in September or television in October. One of your primary responsibilities is to provide daily updates to the manager on your progress. As a rule of thumb, if you are working on a congressional campaign, you can expect to receive 25% of your money in the off year, 15% in the first quarter of the on year, 10% in the second quarter of on year and 50% after Labor Day. Projecting cash flow based on your timeline and monitoring whether or not you are meeting your goals will enable the manager to make strategic decisions.

It takes money to raise money. When developing your fundraising budget, include salaries, printing, postage, event and administrative costs. Campaign managers and consultants don’t like surprises. Expect the unexpected by preparing a best and worst case scenario plan, in addition to your baseline fundraising plan. This will enable the campaign team to prepare alternative budgets in advance.


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