This is a great time for a fundraising retreat. Sure there are vacation schedules to tangle with, but in general, this is the true “calm before the year-end storm” moment for fundraising staff and volunteers.
It’s a good time to pause, look at the big picture, collect lessons from the past, and re-charge plans. Think of it as an opportunity to course-correct, a chance to fine tune plans based on “real-life” experience fundraising.
It doesn’t have to be a full-day, but it does have to be a chunk of time away from the office, the e-mail, and the phone where you can unplug from the present demands of your fundraising work.
Ann and I are preparing for a retreat tomorrow and we’re excited about it because it seems to us a near perfect agenda. We thought we’d share the key pieces with you:
- Take Stock: what went well and what didn’t. Retreats should be a safe space for the team to consider successes and failures. Every failure is actually an opportunity to fine tune and rule something out.
- Create or re-state a vision: If you’ve read our blog before, you know that if we believe in anything, we believe in creating a vision of your fundraising program and having that vision drive your work. What do you want your fundraising program to look like? Not just in dollars, but in donor engagement as well.
- Get the teams talking to each other: Even if you are in a small fundraising operation, you want to gather people who are helping with fundraising or who you want to help you raise money. And if you are in a larger operation, you already know that fundraising staff members often work in silos. They don’t know what others are doing and how it could help their own work.
- Do the Math: Particularly if you have a fiscal year that ends on December 31st, you will want to look at your results half-way through the year and see if you are going to make your budget. For those of you who are just starting your budgeting year, it’s a great time to reflect on your results and see if this year’s budget makes sense.
- Make a plan for the specifics: Don’t leave the retreat without writing down any plans that are made or any action items that need recording. Your notes should reflect next steps that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).
Whether you are a one-person shop or a member of a large team, set some time aside this summer, press pause, evaluate, and re-connect with your big picture. We’ve got some tools to help you. This strategic objectives worksheet is just one of the tools in our Free Toolbox you can use to organize your next retreat.
What would your ideal fundraising retreat look like? Do you have any suggestions for someone who is planning one for the first time?
