The Perfect Timeline for Your Fundraiser
Sunday February 19, 2023
Any accounting business or tax advice in this era podcast is not intended as a thorough in depth analysis of your specific issues. It's not a substitute for a formula opinion. It is not good enough to avoid tax related penalties..
This is not a fundraising podcast but I realized as we're going into the fall into fundraising seasons, for organizations, this is something worth talking about. And so as we wrap up this season, I do want to leave you with one thing to consider. And maybe it's not something you've changed right now, but you plan ahead is, is the timing of your annual campaign or your major fundraiser, the right timing.
So the reason I say this is because you might find that you are asking people for money in a timeline that doesn't suit your actual operational needs. So if you find that you have a drought of giving in the summer, but you don't do your fundraiser until the fall, is your timing appropriate? Would it be more beneficial to say, hey, our fundraiser is actually in April, because we know going into Q two and three, we're low on funding then and so we want to get a boost via this annual campaign or this fundraiser.
Another reason to consider the timing is maybe you should consider, do we do our annual campaign at the beginning of our fiscal year or at the end of the fiscal year. So if you do at the beginning of the year, you know that you've done your biggest push, now you're playing catch up and saying, Oh, this is what else we need to raise to meet those goals. Versus if you don't, at the end of the year, you might be struggling and limping along all year long hoping, okay, in December, we'll get the money we need. Well, at that point, it might be too late. Like maybe now you've had layoffs and so you need to think about, well, what is the best time? And what's the most appropriate timing for our work? Not what other organizations are doing. Not based off of what oh, people like to give in December.
What is it that you need, make that connection with your donor base so that they know, while a gift anytime is great again, specifically in April, is good to help us to get through the summer. So that's it. This season, I really wanted to answer some questions that have been burning for me. And that I thought that, you know, why wouldn't you want to hear my opinion on it?
So as you're thinking about, what does the fall hold, maybe what you should consider as you go intol your budget season? Yeah, that's right. Budgeting is coming up. As you're budgeting, maybe consider those things. How might we need to change our annual campaign to better align with our organizational needs. So if you have any questions about that, maybe talk to a development person who actually does fundraising. But if you want to talk through like, what does it mean for cash flow management? I'm your gal.
You can send me a message on LinkedIn. You can also message me on Instagram, but I will say that a comment will be much better than a message. Thanks for listening to another episode of The Nonprofit Ace Podcast.
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