It’s once again time for a new calendar to hang on your wall, resolutions to be made, kept, and broken, and, hopefully, a clearly defined path for your nonprofit.  Here are 10 changes that you can make in development and fundraising this year and reap the rewards for years to come.

1. Motivate yourself to make changes.  It is time to stop accepting the status quo.  I can give you a million sayings and quotes but you know you want to improve yourself and your nonprofit this year.  So start now.
2. Find one new (to your organization) way to:
   1. Retain current high-level donors
   2. Retain current mid-level donors
   3. Retain current low-level donors

   **You could choose to focus on a single level of donors but somehow the mid- and low-level donors are rarely the choice. When you consider how much easier it is to move lower level donors up the ladder than to find new donors, it should be obvious that no one should be ignored (again) this year. * If you are looking for ways to achieve this goal – consider purchasing your copy of the Donor Retention Project or read what I learned while listening to the series by clicking here.

3. Organize your fundraising systems.  There is something in almost every job that is awkward and or incredibly annoying to achieve each week, month or year.  So stop complaining to your friends and family and improve the process.
4. Provide a new way to update donors about their impact.  It doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money, but each time you improve your communications and connections with donors, you increase your odds of retaining and strengthening the relationship.
5. Create one new donor thank you event (in person or virtual).  There are so many ways to thank big and small donors that it should be easy to come up with a new newsletter, new event, new twitter chat, new mailing, new gift, new  – well, you get the idea.
6. Gain new donors without purchasing a list. There are plenty of new and creative ways to do this. Find ideas internally through brainstorming sessions with staff or volunteers.
7. Consider one other way in which you can improve your annual campaign.  Even if your annual campaign provides consistent results, you can improve your numbers by analyzing your mailings, rethinking your asks, retooling your emails, or providing new opportunities to give.
8. Institute new learning opportunities for development staff.  Improve your staff’s effectiveness while increasing job satisfaction.  It’s a win–win.
9. Institute new learning opportunities for volunteers.  Volunteers who grow and learn within an organization and alongside like-minded volunteers will be more likely to stay committed to the organization with their time, and their money.
10. Start that capital campaign you have been putting off.  During 2013, at Mersky, Jaffe & Associates headquarters, we received many phone calls from nonprofits that had postponed improvement projects during the worst years of the recession.  Well, as our clients can attest, now is the time to initiate a capital campaign.

Call or email us if we can help you achieve any of your fundraising goals this year.