Here are 3 simple advancement resolutions for the New Year, which, if implemented consistently, are guaranteed to make 2024 one of the best years you and your team have experienced.
- Invite more people. Consistently invite more people to volunteer, to give their advice, to offer their feedback, to visit with you, to attend an event, to give, and to give more. Consistently invite more people during visits, by direct mail, email, social media, text, or phone.
- Communicate why others should care first. When it is time to invite people to become more involved, reject the urge to share the specifics of your funding priorities. It’s not the exact square footage of the building in your campaign nor the third-party accolades and recognition of your program that truly motivate generosity. Instead, consistently lead your donor interactions with examples of the broader goodness of your mission. How are you changing, saving, and transforming lives? That’s why donors are involved. That’s why donors give generously. Talk, first, about that.
- Stay preoccupied with your plan – Remind others that your funding priorities should not change simply because the calendar is changing. Rarely (if ever) judge the effectiveness of an event, solicitation, or initiative solely on the results of one application. Success in advancement accumulates. In most all aspects of our work, it takes multiple touches to see progress. Create a fundamentally sound plan for 2024 and implement it.
When we earnestly and consistently invite more people, communicate why others should care, and preoccupy ourselves with our plan, we will see both the number of donors and the dollars committed increase.
Simple? Yes.
Easy? Of course not.
But, definitely worth it.