A Realistic Look at Annual Fundraising Campaigns

By James P. Daniel

The annual fund cannot succeed as a gap-filler. It’s not about the cash, and it can’t just continue to raise more and more money.
Rather, the annual fund is the pump mechanism on the famous major-gift “pipeline.” It is the intake system and one of the important tools for managing the hydraulics of the pipeline. To focus on the cash increases the risk for driving the management attention away from loyalty. The cash is only the sign — albeit a critical sign — that loyalty is building.

2. Focus first on LYBNTs (Last Year But Not This Year). Start with them on day 1 of your fundraising new year and stay on each of them until that person renews. In the end, we all know that it is much more successful and inexpensive to retain than to acquire. So build a program around the goal of securing maximum growth from minimal acquisition. (Sounds paradoxical, but it’s a very interesting problem to contemplate.)