Editor Note: this blog post is the 3rd part in a series of professional articles about sports fundraising. It was written by a published author and expert in the field, Dr. Richard Leonard.
Usually, it is up to the program administrator, board of directors, fundraising team, and other internal and external stakeholders associated with the fundraising program to set fundraising goals.
However, it doesn’t mean that there are no integral rules guiding that kind of decision-making process, and if you are a part of an organization or a team that doesn’t have a luxury of having a group of fundraising professionals around, you might find the principles below helpful for your next fundraiser.
They are as follows:
1. All fundraising goals should ultimately emanate from the fundraising vision, mission, and value statements.
Why are you doing what you are doing? If your team could have a motto, what would it be? Or, maybe you already have a vision statement? What kind of values does your team or organization stand for?
Think about it and look at the market around yourself. Are there any companies or individuals out there that support your vision, mission, and values? Make a list of those.
2. Define long-term objectives first.
Subsequently, short-term actions should be formulated regarding how to accomplish each long-term goal.
3. Base all fundraising goals in reality.
It is critical to base all fundraising goals in reality. It is necessary to ask the following questions:
- Do we currently have the internal resources to achieve the projected fundraising goals? If not, do we have the future potential to acquire the essential resources to accomplish fundraising goals?
- Do we have the people or the likelihood of finding the people to attain fundraising goals?
- Is the timeframe for executing fundraising goals practical?
- Will there be any internal or external resistance or confrontations to fundraising goals? If so, can they be overcome or will they be debilitating to the objective?
4. Fundraising goals should be easily comprehensible to everyone.
Make sure your goals are straightforward, concise, and written in common language.
5. Each fundraising goal should be distinctive and salient.
In other words, are the fundraising goals repetitive or are they unique in origin? Don’t state the same goal twice just because it is important.
6. Everyone in your team or organization should support these goals
Each fundraising goal should have the unconditional endorsement and focus of everyone on the fundraising team and in the athletic organization.
In the overall athletic organization setting, the athletes, coaches, administrators, and concerned stakeholders should be knowledgeable as to the fundraising goal-setting process.
Without everyone’s input, key stakeholders might not take an active interest in the fundraising program, which may in turn leave some, if not all, fundraising goals unattained.
7. Each fundraising goal should be as precise and measurable as possible.
You can only control what you can measure.
The advantage of quantifying objectives is to supply all concerned with concrete numbers to compare projected fundraising goals with actual fundraising results.
8. Fundraising goals should be challenging but realistic.
Setting fundraising goals ‘beyond the reach’ of current resources and capabilities could be profoundly discouraging to all who are involved in the fundraising program.
Conversely, setting fundraising goals that are too easily achieved will depreciate the critical value of goal setting and achievement. A fundraising administrator (or a person in the team serving as the fundraising administrator) and team must balance these two factors to maximize the fundraising program’s potential.
9. Make the individuals in a team accountable for the goals
In order to be effective, fundraising goals need individual and/or team accountability.
Simply stated, a fundraising goal without individual and/or team accountability will fail because assumptions will be made about who is supposed to work on and accomplish the goal. Don’t reply on such assumptions.
10. Fundraising goals need to be time exact.
While the word ‘deadline’ has a negative connotation in our society, in goal setting and achievement it is tremendously appropriate. The time frame to achieve a particular fundraising goal must be challenging but realistic.
For more information on this and other fundraising topics, please go here
