First Step To Relevance & Revenue: Integrate Fundraising & Strategic Planning
You don't have a fundraising problem, you have a relevance problem.
“You don’t have a fundraising problem, you have a relevance problem.”
– Tom DiFiore, CEO at NCDS, Inc.
Welcome to a new five-part series where we delve into how your organization can achieve relevance – the necessary prerequisite for funding that fuels real community impact. In this initial installment, we explore how integrating strategic planning with fundraising can set your organization up for increased relevance and alignment for maximum fundraising potential.
It’s worth noting that strategic planning isn’t fundraising, though the lines are fuzzy. Strategic planning is more like your organization’s central flywheel that requires up-front energy and attention, but once it builds momentum it’s hard to stop. The more you anticipate the fundraising implications of your strategic plan, the better that plan will be.
To position your organization for the relevance that leads to revenue, let’s marry strategic planning and fundraising in a way you perhaps haven’t considered.
If strategic planning is the flywheel that guides and energizes your mission, sets clear objectives, and outlines the steps needed to achieve your goals, fundraising should be a near-top priority. Afterall, there is no mission without funding.
Here’s how integrating fundraising into your strategic planning process enhances both efforts:
Any strategic planning effort with teeth will deliver clear cost projections and establish performance benchmarks, goals, and outcomes. These are not just for internal tracking but are essential elements of effective fundraising.
A serious investor’s first question will always center on where their money will go and how it will be used to achieve tangible results. By defining these elements upfront, you build a transparent and compelling case for funding as a valuable component of your strategic plan.
One common pitfall we’ve seen in strategic planning is assuming you have a comprehensive understanding of what your community truly needs (or wants). By integrating fundraising considerations into your planning objectives, you develop a much deeper alignment with investor and stakeholder desires (relevance).
The best way to achieve this is to invite prospective major investors and key opinion leaders into the planning process as early as possible. Informed by their insights, feedback, and expectations, your strategic plan will not only be visionary, but it will also generate buy-in and momentum from the start.
If your strategic planning process generates enthusiasm and momentum from key prospective investors who have direct input, a sense of urgency for the requisite funding to implement your plan will naturally follow. When stakeholders are excited about the vision and see a clear path to achieving it, they are more likely to commit resources.
With this early momentum from influential players, further investments become much easier to sell – especially across their networks of peers, customers, and competitors.
It’s worth noting here that the more ambitious your fundraising goals within your strategic plan, the higher the quality of investors you are likely to attract to the process.
To achieve the benefits of relevance by integrating fundraising and strategic planning outlined above, consider the following steps:
Involve key stakeholders, including potential major investors, at the beginning of your strategic planning process. Their input can provide valuable perspectives and align your plan with economic interests and expectations. This early engagement also warms up what would otherwise be completely cold future funding discussions.
Develop financial projections that outline the costs associated with each aspect of your strategic plan. Include projected revenues, anticipated expenses, and potential funding sources. This transparency builds trust with potential investors and demonstrates that you have a well-thought-out financial strategy.
Establish clear performance metrics with progressive milestones to measure the success of your strategic initiatives and manage your investor expectations throughout the plan’s duration. These benchmarks will not only amplify and orient your efforts in the appropriate places, but also provide compelling evidence of progress to potential funders.
If you’ve done everything right up to the point of asking, you’ve developed a compelling “why” behind your ask, not a more creative way to ask. This aligned case for support ties your strategic plan to broader community and economic goals while answering the most common of investor questions: “What’s in it for me?”
NCDS’ 45 years of strategic fundraising has repeatedly demonstrated that the most effective fundraising has almost nothing to do with money. It’s all about alignment, reputation, leadership, and the relevance that follows. To learn more about what relevance can do for your organization, click here.
Connecting fundraising to strategic planning requires a delicate touch to avoid the appearance of a “money grab.” However, it’s an essential component to achieving the relevance your organization needs for fundraising far and above the transactional, predictable dollars you glean from membership and sponsorship models.
Contact us any time for a free consultation.
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