Frontloading Your Annual Fund: Helping you Jump the Shark – Part Two.

In the previous article we looked at why annual funds sometimes fail and how the final weeks of a campaign feel like trying to out-swim a shark when the distance to the shore is much longer than the distance to the shark.  Today’s article will look at the main reasons why we don’t get started sooner and what you can do about it.

Do you start fundraising on Day One?  Most don’t.  Instead, we (thankfully) crawl out of the water, exhausted from the previous campaign.  We towel off, taking a well-deserved breather after the close of the fiscal year and then stay on dry land to begin planning for the new year’s activities (30 days are gone – poof!).  After planning we begin preparing. (another 30 days – poof!).  Then we begin putting our volunteer teams together, writing letters, making sure all of our I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed so that we can get to the “real business” of launching our campaign (a final 30 days – poof!)  The first quarter of the new fiscal year is gone and we haven’t done much to add to the bank account.  The clock is still ticking and we’re just now beginning to get back into the water (because hey, there’s a shark). If this describes how your organization operates its annual fund, rest assured that it doesn’t have to be this way!

Frontloading your annual fund activity is the key to success.  Launch on or around Day One of the New Fiscal Year with the actual business of cultivating donors and asking for gifts.  So, how is it done?

First, you’ll need to review your AF programs from the past three years.  Compare each fiscal quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 ) to the fiscal year-end gross revenue, to examine how much of the overall total was achieved per quarter.  Pay particular attention to how much was raised in the first two quarters combined versus the second two quarters combined.  What’s your Q1-2 versus Q3-4 comparison?  How much of the overall total does your program secure by the end of Q2?  20%?  50%?  You get the idea…

In the next article we’ll complete this outline and give you the strongest arguments for frontloading your campaign.

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .