Many nonprofits simply rely on their existing board members
to develop their fundraising goals and strategic marketing plans. It's common
for boards to turn the oversight of their fundraising over to the treasurer or
even to someone else on the board that may have some experience with finances
in their private life. In general this is usually a volunteer board member that
works in banking or accounting, or other position that involves marketing.
As with most
endeavours, board members will find that they can likely improve the results of
their fundraising efforts if they enlist the services and experience of a
professional. Just as you wouldn't turn to an amateur if you were facing a
serious illness and would likely seek out the services of a professionally
trained physician, nonprofit boards can benefit from having a fundraising
professional on board.
A fundraising professional can help give direction and provide insight to the board when creating a
fundraising campaign as well as be able to design one that will increase the
amount of funds that are raised. This is critically important for most
nonprofits given the fact that fundraising is often a nonprofit's greatest
source of funding. Being able to have a
reliable professional to turn to can not only improve your nonprofit's ability
to achieve its service level goals; it can also increase your ability to
continue daily operating in a sustainable manner.
Because of their training and experience, a fundraising
professional is able to help unify your nonprofit's approach to fundraising.
They also usually take on the responsibility of doing the hard work that is
necessary to keep up with communications that build and strengthen
relationships. This helps nonprofits to be able to keep their current donors involved
and emotionally connected to the nonprofit's goals while seeking out new donors
in ways that are the most cost effective.
Increasing the amount of monies that your nonprofit receives
from fundraising is about more than simply asking for more money from your
existing network of donors. The most successful fundraising campaigns are
usually part of a multi-year fundraising strategy. A professional fundraiser is
especially beneficial when it comes time to develop these long range
fundraising plans for your nonprofit's organisation as their experience enables
them to be able to provide realistic targets for your fundraising goals and
likely costs from year to year. This allows your nonprofit to be able to take
swift action should circumstances and needs change.
In short, while your nonprofit will likely have to pay to
hire a fundraising professional, this cost will probably be more than offset by
the increase in the amount of donations that you normally receive while reducing
your fundraising costs by providing plans that result in greater focus and less
waste during the actual fundraising process.
