Virtually every area of professional development – the philanthropic environment, communications, fundraising and staff development – involves the use of strategic planning, and engaging in proper planning offers a number of benefits. Participants at a recent Fund Raising Congress session presented by Ketchum Canada Inc. found out that done well, strategic planning provides direction, enables enlightened decision making, enhances fundraising performance, provides a defensible basis for decision making, builds teamwork and consensus, addresses organizational issues and provides an invaluable framework for managing change.
Beginning with a view of the macro fundraising environment, three stark realities that impact directly and/or indirectly on fundraising loom large:
- decreasing public funding,
- increasing not-for-profit needs; and
- the increasing competition for the charitable dollar.
In more micro terms, the sector is experiencing an increase in individual and foundation giving at the same time that corporate support appears to be on the decrease. More and more, Canadian corporations are becoming targeted and market-driven, as well as sponsorship and program oriented.
Some of the trends affecting the sector include the changing effectiveness of the different methodologies that fundraisers use. For instance, direct mail results are plateauing, the return on special events is decreasing, and there is an increasing importance being placed on major gift solicitations and planned giving. Add to the list falling donor loyalty, a rising donor sophistication and discrimination, and what we are left with is donor fatigue. This means that cultivation and stewardship for current donors and the identification and cultivation of new ones is more important now than ever before.
Ketchum offered the following pointers to help your strategic planning process:
- Establish a process for arriving at a plan, the key elements being leadership and support.
- Also fundamental to the plan are issues like ownership and buy-in.
- Identify strategic, operational and funding priorities.
- Establish a mission and values that are consistent with each another.
- Assess your fundraising environment for internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.
- Determine needs, issues, and goals.
- Educate and involve the leaders. It’s crucial to have them on-side.
- Define the roles and responsibilities of the development function, the Board, sub-committees, the CEO and staff.
- Create the action plan.
