Spring Cleaning
Need some ideas for ‘Spring cleaning’ in your fundraising operation?
Probably best to look at those things you’ve buried in the deepest closet of your mind, hoping they somehow would just fade from memory … until next Spring. Maybe it’s stuff in the ‘too boring’ or ‘too hard’ categories.
At the risk of jolting you from sunny slumber, here are some possible Spring cleaning chores to consider …
Lists — clean ’em, scrub ’em, screen ’em, integrate ’em. Come up with a reasonable business rule defining ‘active’, and stick to it. Give every name a goal. Toss out the underwear with the holes.
Website conversion — pick apart your process for capturing and converting online leads. Examine it like GM is deconstructing Tesla’s new electric car (I want one! Model S please!). Simplify, clear out the mold and anything that slows down, adds steps, or simply confuses.
Break down a wall — identify the organizational arrangements that impede effective fundraising in your shop. Is it a wall between direct mail and online channels? Between teeny donations and MAJOR gifts? A wall between ‘fundraising’ and ‘communications’? Between membership and bequests? A wall between investing for endowment earnings and investing for donor growth? Between fundraising and your chief executive. Pick a wall and smash it. Re-arrange the bureaucratic furniture. Spring is the time to improve the feng shui in your shop.
I know. Boring stuff. But you know deep down you’ll feel much better once you’ve conquered one of these chores.
Get out the rubber gloves. What’s on your Spring cleaning list?
Tom
One response to “Spring Cleaning”
Behavioral Science Q & A
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Yes yes. Definitely, Tom.
Maybe invent a rating system with definitions that force you to think each time. For example:
URGENT! But is this really important? How important?
Sacred Cow Barbecue: Don’t do this one. Actually needs to be destroyed.
Start the barbecue process.
IMPORTANT! Great impact for mid-term and long-term.
VERY IMPORTANT! Game changer