When You’re The Only One In The Office…

It was the day after Christmas, and I was in the office.

Not a soul was there, but I went in because I needed to check on the status of some donors. Lots of questions were coming in – can I make a stock gift, what’s your tax ID number, will you send me a tax acknowledgment letter, why was my credit card charged twice?

Have you ever experienced that feeling working in development?

When you are the only one left in the office trying to do everything you can to raise as much money as possible before midnight on December 31?

No one tells you when you start in a fundraising role that it can be really lonely. That you can feel like you have the weight of the world (or the weight of your nonprofit - which sometimes feels bigger!) on your shoulders. That if you don’t raise enough money then staff won’t get raises. That if you don’t raise enough money, then this new initiative isn’t possible. That if you don’t raise enough money, then your organization won’t be able to help as many people.

Can you relate?

That feeling of… this is all on me.

I’m sure you are in the middle of your busiest time.

You are following up with donors who haven’t committed yet.

You’re drafting another email appeal.

You’re making another call about payment not made.

You are updating your team on your fundraising forecast.

And it’s hard to see the light for January, when things will calm down.

But now is the time to think about what January will be like. How you’re going to take some time to consider how you can have an even better fundraising year. How you’re going to retain more donors. How you’re going to update your case for support. How you’re going to review your CRM database to find new major gift prospects and trends that you hadn’t yet identified.

Imagine what this time next year will feel like when you are the only one in the office, without that weight on your shoulders because you took the time to strategize how to raise more money.

Imagine how you’re going to feel when you’re confident in your financial forecasts.

We never know what awaits us in the future, but we can make a plan. We can prepare for the next 12 months and think through who will do what and when. We can think about new messages to test. We can think about commitments we as staff will make, like saying thank you to at least one donor each day. We can strategize with our board members to identify new major gift prospects. We can commit to finding ways to reduce anxieties in fundraisers by preparing earlier on for the end of the year (we know the end-of-year crunch will come, it always does!).

These are just some of the items we can work on together.

I’d love to chat and see if we can find a way to work together. Investing in a fundraising consultant is about long-term planning and ensuring the financial health of your nonprofit’s future. As you put together your budget, consider including a line item to raise more money and decrease the stress of your fundraisers. It will be worth it.