Because so much of our work is counted or can be counted, advancement folk often ask this question first.
How many donors should we send this solicitation to?
How many donor calls should we make so that we end the year strong?
How many gifts will make this giving day successful?
A far better question to start with is, “Who?”
Who should receive this solicitation?
Who should we call to make sure we end the year strong?
Who needs to give in order to make this giving day successful?
When we start with “who?”, we focus our attention on the differing impacts donors and prospective donors bring and align our strategies based on what outcomes we would like to see.
“How many?” is not the best question to start our planning, even though it may be a question used to evaluate our results.
