Three action items for your development plan

In the world of nonprofit fundraising, one certainty is seeing job descriptions tasking the new head of fundraising with creating a development plan. This begs the question, for me, of if they already have one, and if not, why?

A development plan is critical in fundraising success. If you’re not in the world of nonprofit fundraising, equate this to a business plan or an action plan.

At Altrui we have written dozens of development/fundraising plans, and in many cases we support their implementation.

Here are three action items that will benfit your new plan:

1. Break down revenue areas based on your budget. If your budget has a line item for indivudal giving, have an area for that in your plan. Foundation giving? Same thing. And so on.
2. Include specific actions for specific team members, whether they are on your fundraising team or are programs folks, or board members. Everyone can play a part in fundraising. For example, on the page for individual giving, who is charged with the success of that area?
3. Ensure there is capacity to work on anything included in the plan. Take time to consider capacity with every revenue area. This will make a huge difference when implementing it.

There are many more actions to take while working on your development plan, and I’ll get to those another time.

Best wishes with you plan!