With so many people out of office and our inboxes slightly quieter than usual, August is the perfect opportunity for major fundraisers to get ahead of the September rush. From taking stock of your prospects to planning supporter communications, these five tips will guarantee smooth sailing during the busiest fundraising season of the year.
Audit your prospect pipeline
We’re almost three-quarters of the way through the year, so it’s time to take stock of your prospect pipeline to set yourself up for success in Q4. Rank your prospects and compare them to where they were at the start of the year. Who’s moving along nicely, and who’s stuck and might need some extra attention? Once you know where you stand with your prospects, segment your database and map out your donor communications for your end-of-year appeals.
Refresh your research
The dreaded question. When was the last time you updated your donor database? We know it’s tedious, but it almost guarantees fundraising success. Here are a few ways to get started:
- Run a CRM audit to identify any missing or outdated information.
- Use LinkedIn to look for new job titles, roles, and signs of wealth changes, like new ventures, promotions or retirements.
- Review your email marketing platform for recent interactions, opens, clicks, and event attendance.
- If you haven’t already, add donor interest tags to your database using previous giving history, survey data, event sign-ups, or one-to-one donor conversations to identify areas of interest like environment, health, education and capital appeals.
- Carry out a wealth screening to identify your top prospects sitting in our Wealth Intelligence Database.
Plan your donor communication & cultivation activities
Don’t leave your cultivation to chance because you’re too busy firefighting! Use this downtime to get ahead by mapping your intentional donor touchpoints for the rest of the year. Create a communications calendar with key dates you’d like to schedule outreach around. Make sure your touchpoints aren’t just about the next ask; include campaign updates, impact stories, and personal thank yous to deepen your donor relationships.
Once all your activities are planned, assign who will deliver them and set automated reminders so you know they’ll happen.
Make sure your messaging still aligns with your prospects’ interests
Have your funding needs and priorities changed since the start of the year? If not, the warm prospects you identified in January will likely still be a good fit (unless their philanthropic priorities have changed).
However, if your funding needs have changed, your messaging needs to be updated along with your prospect pipeline. If you’ve added donor interest tags to your CRM, it will now be easy to search and verify if the prospects you’re trying to engage are still aligned with your funding needs.
Book your key meetings while it’s quiet
With the back-to-school rush, it’s hard to get anyone’s full attention once September hits. Secure meetings now with your leadership team and trustees to align on end-of-year fundraising priorities. This will ensure you can get buy-in on key prospects, your ask strategies and campaign plans before things get too hectic.
Schedule cultivation catch-ups with your top prospects. They’ll likely be away in August, so aim for early September and get into their diaries now. The new school year is a fresh start for many, so position the meeting as an exclusive chance to hear about and influence your end-of-year projects.
At Prospecting for Gold, we specialise in research, wealth screening, consultancy and regulatory compliance, making fundraising more effective and successful.
Successful major gift fundraising isn’t just about securing a donation. It’s about building relationships, understanding people’s motivations and aligning their interests with your cause.
Our wealth screening and data summary report is free when we screen 2,000 or more of your UK supporters. Ready to transform your major gift fundraising? Contact us today.