How to approach Assessment
So you’re thinking it’s time to assess what’s working and what’s not when it comes to fundraising. Welcome to step 1: assessment. Getting a good read on your current situation is critical to making sure you can chart the best path forward, and it takes both the right mindset, questions and action steps. Let’s start.
It’s time to assess. Which means it’s time to navel-gaze, lock myself in a room, pour over the spreadsheets (or lament their absence), find that missing link, maybe ask someone for their opinion and then look where I can fill the gaps. Right?
Wrong. Assessment isn’t a solo sport.
When you’ve decided it’s “go time” on assessing your organization’s fundraising efforts, the first step is your mindset. Assessment doesn’t happen in a vacuum, though it will require some desk and office time above your normal schedule. Assessment time is a chance to look outward almost as much as it’s a chance to dig deep inside and figure out how to maximize your fundraising efforts.
So before you open Excel or your donor database, start with a little planning and head game in mind:
Commit to Transparency: No one ever grows without honesty. For some, the hardest part about honesty is admitting where you went wrong. For others, it’s acknowledging what you’re doing well! Chances are, you have a little of both going on. Write those down intentionally - there’s something powerful about pen and paper or a little typing session - and don’t sugarcoat it nor discount the good things.
Look at the Long and Short-term: Here’s another intentional exercise. Sit down and categorize what of your fundraising you want to assess and plan for in the shorter term and the longer term. Look back some, and then look at today and what’s ahead.
Involve the right people...but not too many! Like we mentioned, assessment is not a solo sport. You work in a team, so you need to assess as a team. If you’re a one-stop-shop, look to others in your organization whose job titles may not be connected to yours but who have a vested interest. Or as a close donor friend. If you’re in a larger organization, maybe limit the conversation to 4-5 people tops. Whoever is in the room with you, make sure they can be honest, are “big thinkers”, see the good in even challenges, and can be with you throughout the process.
Balance your Gut Reaction with Deep Dives: Both matter. What you just have a hunch went wrong as well as what the data shows didn’t work is part of the puzzle. So balance the two perspectives. Then, have someone on your team check your work. Did you knee-jerk? They can probably tell. Is the data showing a pattern you didn’t yet see? Perspective is helpful.
Take that “nose to the plow” attitude in order to get the work done because it will take time. But as you’re assessing, keep the view upward and outward to people, perspectives and timeframes that can help you form a whole picture.