Summer Slowdown? Seed Your Fundraising Success for Next Year
Summer. For many workplaces, it’s a time of slower paces and lighter schedules. But for nonprofits, this lull can be the perfect opportunity to prep for a banner fundraising year ahead. Here’s why summer is prime time to:
- Capitalize on Relaxed Schedules: With vacations and less urgent deadlines, summer offers a window for focused planning. Dive into your fundraising strategy, analyze past campaigns, and identify areas for improvement and opportunities for future growth.
- Cultivate Donor Relationships: Summer is a great time to reconnect with existing donors. Plan informal gatherings, personalized emails, or even handwritten thank-you notes. Strengthening these relationships paves the way for future support.
- Explore Creative Fundraising Ideas: Embrace the sunny season! Plan an outdoor movie night, a charity sports tournament, or a community picnic. These events foster a sense of connection and can be fun for both participants as well as fundraising staff.
- Refine Your Online Presence: Many people have more leisure time in the summer. Revamp your website, update social media content, and consider launching a targeted online campaign.
- Recruit and Train Volunteers: Summer can be a great time to bring new energy on board. Reach out to potential volunteers with flexible summer schedules.
By taking advantage of the summer slowdown, Principal Gift Solutions (PGS) can partner with you to:
- Solidify your fundraising plan: Set aggressive yet attainable goals, engage target audiences, and establish timelines for upcoming campaigns and initiatives.
- Develop campaign marketing materials: Develop compelling content, donor emails, and social media posts to launch your campaigns with a bang in the Fall. Once the summer lag is over, there is little time available to create content for marketing campaigns.
- Assess and evaluate program resource allocation and effectiveness: Are the programs you are investing in providing the greatest ROI? Are you missing opportunities to generate revenue by redirecting resources to different program areas for initiatives? Engage in an exhaustive evaluation of your program that concludes with a detailed roadmap for the second half of the year.
- Team building: Summer is the perfect time to enhance and grow team culture and camaraderie in your department. Host a strategic planning retreat that engages every member of your team and gives them a voice in the future direction of the program. Plan a fun social event, preferably outdoors, for staff to bond and enjoy time together.
- Engage with potential corporate partners: Summer months are ideal to engage local business and community leaders to explore opportunities for partnerships that provide value for both organizations.
Remember, summer is a time for planting seeds. By investing the time and energy now, you’ll be well-positioned to reap the rewards of a successful fundraising year come fall. So, don’t let the summer sun slow you down – use it to fuel your fundraising fire!
** PGS has partnered with multiple clients to facilitate strategic planning retreats with great success. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your planning needs.
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