As you work towards optimizing your fundraising, working more efficiently, and more effectively, you will need a plan to guide your fundraising team’s effort.
A fund development plan can help your team work more strategically and ultimately raise more money. This article will walk you through creating a fund development plan with helpful tips and best practices to implement at your organization.
Fund development is the process of creating, managing, analyzing, and optimizing a nonprofit’s donor acquisition, engagement, and retention strategies.
A fund developer’s responsibility is to acquire donors with high donor lifetime value, foster a good relationship with the donor base, and ensure all fundraising communications and marketing activities work towards the organization’s long-term success.
Fund development is a bit like rehearsing for a play. You put in months of work practicing, building sets, and advertising so you can smash it during the performance. Similarly, fund development requires time and preparation so that nonprofits can be prepared to make the right ask and secure the right donors at the right time.
Developing genuine, long-term relationships with donors is crucial for fund development. But other aspects include building solid organizational structures that support philanthropic efforts, prospect research, and resource acquisition and allocation.
This is truly the bread and butter of a fundraiser’s work, and just like the amount of rehearsal before a performance, the quality of a nonprofit’s fund development plan determines the success of its campaigns.
