Strategic Alignment
We're devoting some time to a tested process that any non-profit organization should take time to do before they fundraise. Not a non-profit? That's OK. These ideas apply to anyone looking to revamp their fundraising efforts. If you're raising funds on your own as a missionary, then gather 2-3 people around you (online or in-person) and ask them to help you go through these questions. Or call us...our coaches would be more than willing to help!
All in one room, for a day or more, to take the assessment to the next level. Does it sound daunting? That’s a natural response. And so are the thoughts of, “I’m so excited about this!” Sometimes, the two lie in tension with one another. And that’s the perfect spot for a Strategy Day when it’s time to set concentrated time apart to examine the learning from assessment and begin to formulate a path forward. So gather the reflections, spreadsheets, a whiteboard, and the troops, and dedicate the time it takes to start a plan for a maximized fundraising program.
Ask yourself:
“What does your organization do?”
“What problem do you exist to solve?”
“How are you solving that problem?”
“How are you demonstrating success in solving that problem?”
If any of these are unclear - and you’ll likely need an outsider to read your answers - then your first few hours of your Strategy Day will be spent finding that clarity. Because, together, these four questions develop a strategic alignment of your efforts that help you communicate your impact to a donor in a motivating way. It’s not easy to answer these questions. So here’s how to start putting a little definition to the most important elements of those answers.
What Do You Do? That should be the easiest question to answer, right? More often than not, it’s the hardest. Once you take the first pass together at an answer (the post-it note exercise works incredibly well here), you may notice a few things. You may have a set of somewhat disparate, somewhat connected programs or events. Perhaps what you do in practice seems to have grown a disconnect from your mission. If you find that’s the case, then take the highlights and most true points from your team members’ answers, and park them in a word bank of sorts until the end of your Strategy Day. You’ll come back to them. You just need to get through the rest of the day first. If you’re all in agreement? Great! Move on with a good foundation for the rest of the day!
The Problem Defined: The solution you share with a donor is only as compelling as the size of the problem. We’re not saying you need to inflate the problem or describe it in such detail that it invokes pity. In fact, we’re pretty against that whole pity-inducing approach. Because, in the end, hope wins, right? With that in mind, find the balance of sharing the scale of the problem while still showing the hope that exists, usually through the person helped, in the work. We are all made in His image, and yet we all suffer. That’s your roadmap for defining the problem.
The Problem Solved: Once you have a problem definition, it’s time to make sure that where you put your efforts actually solves that problem and produces a measurable impact. We do this by focusing on four elements:
Inputs: Your inputs are the programs, events, etc. that you spend money on programmatically (not fundraising events). Are these clear? Do they connect to what you do and solving the problem? Or do they feel a little like noble but disconnected one-offs?
Outputs: These are your easily-measured results. Could you make an infographic of the number of people touched directly by your services? And how many of your inputs that worked? If not, it’s time to keep records and spreadsheets in real time.
Outcomes: Different from the cut-and-dry outputs, outcomes are a little out of your control, like the number of people who come to Christ or the multiplication of your efforts through those who receive your services. There are still numbers associated with these, so you need to try to measure them to demonstrate the ability to solve the problem to a donor, but you may not always directly influence them.
Impact: Your impact is a way to show your problem solved in big broad terms. In fact, they can be so large that you could have never dreamed they would happen. A few examples: a student going to college as the first in his family after years in your after school programs or being fed by your ministry, or a movement of Christians transforming a community in word and deed with the tangible love of Christ. You tell this impact through anecdote and story.
This takes the better portion of a day, and your brain might hurt by the end of it. Solution? Have lunch. Get out of the room. Talk about last night’s football game. Then revisit in the afternoon or even tomorrow and move forward to the next step...messaging.