Don’t hate us for bringing this up, but before long you’re going to be knee deep in planning for next year.
If you’ve been following our blogs for even a minute, you’ll know that Front Range Source is all about the plan. Whether it’s a strategic plan, a fundraising plan, or a year-end survival plan, you’ll be better at everything you do if you’ve got a roadmap.
We realize you’re scrambling to meet goal by December 31, but there are a few things you can be doing now that will help you in January when you turn your attention to a new year of fundraising.
1. Monitor what you’re doing now. The start of any good plan is an assessment of what’s worked – and not worked – in the past. Fundraising is about testing, refining and testing again. Check out the Front Range Source Toolbox for all kinds of tracking and evaluation tools. You’ll find a year-end fundraising analysis, a three-year analysis, an appeal report, plus lots more.
2. Keep track of your good ideas. When you’re in the middle of something, ideas tend to pop up. Keep track of those ideas or you’ll lose them. It’s kind of like how you think of great holiday gifts in June, but when December comes you’re at a loss for what to get Grandma. Start a Word document, or use post-its, or the notes function in your phone, or a whiteboard, or whatever works for you and jot down those creative thoughts as they come.
3. Keep track of other people’s good ideas. Keep an eye out for great samples. Eblasts, direct mail pieces, videos, etc. Save them, refer to them and be inspired by them.
4. Collect testimonials and compliments. Over the years we’ve seen some wonderful donor comments on reply devices, in year-end emails and on Facebook. Hoard these tidbits and use them in donor communications next year.
5. Start creating a vision for next year. Imagine you’re in the middle of next December. What would you like to be different than it is today? What do you wish you’d done earlier this year? What’s working really, really well? Write these thoughts down and let them guide your planning for next year.
6. Build buy-in for next year’s plan. Share the fun. The more you involve your entire organization in the excitement of year end, the more willing your colleagues will be to support you in next year’s work. Ask different teams in your operation to open the mail on different days. Run around with a bullhorn every afternoon announcing how much money came in that day. Organize foot races to the mailroom. Have fun and make sure everyone else does, too.
7. Sign up for our planning and evaluation workshops. If you’re anywhere near the Front Range, we’d love to see you at our hands-on fundraising strategy session on January 24, 2026 or our fundraising evaluation workshop on February 12, 2026.
We wish you every success for this year and next!
