In the rush (or pressure?) to grow our annual fund gift receipts year-over-year, we can lose the broader understanding of context and, in fact, advancement program health.
What if, for example, we grew an annual fund from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 over the course of a 5 year period. And, during that same time period total annual giving went from $6,000,000 to $7,500,000.
Yes, the annual fund grew spectacularly and total giving also grew over the 5 years. But, the percentage of total giving made up by the annual fund catapulted from 17% to 67%.
This level of annual fund giving is probably not healthy for the institution.
When we want to better understanding a healthy amount of annual fund support for our institution, there is wisdom in asking these 3 questions:
- Are we only inviting our donors to make annual fund gifts each year?
- Are most of our most capable donors making their best gifts each year in support of the annual fund?
- Are we counting significant gifts to the annual fund that the donor has indicated will not be repeated or are we counting significant gifts to the annual fund that, if we did not receive those gifts in the future would be difficult to replace?
If we can answer “yes,” to any of the above questions, and our annual fund totals are moving beyond 30% of our total gift amounts each year, we are probably positioning our annual fund in an unhealthy way for our institution.
Year over year annual fund growth goals are a good thing.
But, to apply the adage, “Too much of a good thing probably won’t be.”
