The advancement clock began ticking on July 1- is your plan complete? Do you know what your objectives are for this year? Is you first annual fund piece ready to go? Have you made your first major gift solicitation call? Have you made your first cultivation visit? If you answered ‘no’ to any of those questions, you’re behind schedule – and there are no timeouts! You can’t stop the clock in this game.
Step one is to get your plan together: annual fund, major gifts, special events, cultivation visits. The annual fund should have four personalized mailings – two in the fall, two in the spring; specific asks (“you did $100 last year, would you consider $150 this year?”); segmented (alumni are different than parents); and you must do personal solicitation of the top annual fund prospects ($500+).
Step two is to implement – get it done! The biggest implementation challenge you will face is staying focused on your objectives. You will be confronted every minute of every day with potential “time wasters” – incoming non development-related phone calls, non development-related visits from fellow staff members, non development-related requests for your time, non development-related meetings, etc., etc., etc. You get my message! Every minute you spend on non development-related items will put you one minute further behind schedule toward implementation of your primary/most important/what you are being paid to achieve/what your school needs the most from you objectives. This will be your daily battle and you must rise to the challenge!
Other administration members will wonder why you said no to their request, why you must be out of the office, why you need the President/Principal’s (depending upon your model) time, wonder what exactly you do in development, etc., etc. In the midst of all the craziness, you must stay focused and disciplined. Stay on target; continue to implement your success plan. Don’t let anyone distract you.
Regarding major gifts, remember, fewer than 5% of your constituents have major gift potential. Identify those top of the pyramid prospects and create a plan to cultivate/involve them and then, at the appropriate time, solicit them. Get it done! Good luck!
