year-end review workbook 2019 - qgiv.com · year-end review workbook 2019 was a wild ride! if...
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Donation Forms I Event Registration I Peer-to-Peer Text Fundraising I Auctions
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TABLE OF CONTENTSEach section consists of a review page with fill-in-the blank
questions and a page of valuable resources to help you plan for 2020!
2019 Fundraising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 - 6
Recurring Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 - 8
Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 - 10
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 - 12
Donor Retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 - 14
Donor Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 - 16
Nonprofit Marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 - 18
Website & Donation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 - 20
Board Involvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 - 22
YEAR-END REVIEW WORKBOOK
2019 was a wild ride!
If you’re like most nonprofits, you started 2019 with a ton of questions. When you adjust for inflation, giving was down in 2018 — and that came with a lot of questions. Where were our donors? Why did they give less than usual? What did it all mean?
But you’re a fundraiser, so you put your head down and powered through it. And you did an outstanding job! Now, a year later, it’s time to look up from our campaigns, put our programs on pause, and take time to reflect on the last year.
We hope this workbook will be a valuable tool as you think back over 2019 and plan for 2020. No two organizations are the same: some of these questions won’t apply to you, and you may think of some questions not included in this workbook. But we hope these questions get you thinking, help you celebrate your wins, and show you areas you can improve in 2020.
2019 was a wild ride, but 2020 is almost here—and with it comes new opportunities to adapt, to shine, and to thrive. With a little planning, it’ll be the best year yet.
Happy fundraising! The Qgiv Team
2019 FUNDRAISING Every nonprofit has unique fundraising needs. Your fundraising goal is a key aspect of working toward your organization’s mission. As the 2019 fundraising year comes to an end, consider your performance over the course of the year. Where are you in relation to your fundraising goal? What have you learned this year that is applicable to your fundraising plan in 2020? Consider the following questions to determine how you can grow fundraising in 2020.
Did you set a fundraising goal for 2019? What was it? Did you meet your goal?
If you met your goal, what strategies helped you hit that milestone? How can you incorporate them into next year’s campaigns?
If you didn’t meet your goal, what contributed to missing that milestone? What lessons did you learn this year that you can apply to 2020?
Based on this year’s fundraising goal, what would you like to raise in 2020? How did you choose that amount?
What fundraising tools and programs did you use in 2019? Do you need to add any tools or resources to your 2020 plan? Can you eliminate any?
Did you run any campaigns or events in 2019 that were unsuccessful? Can you eliminate any of them? If you can’t eliminate them, what steps can you take to make them more profitable in 2020?
Did you run any campaigns or events in 2019 that were especially successful? What can you do to recreate that success in 2020?
What big obstacles did you overcome this year? Based on your experiences this year, what plans can you have in place if you encounter similar obstacles in 2020?
Fundraising Resources
5 Tools to include in Your Online Fundraising Campaign
10 Fundraising Lessons from Harry Potter
Your Fundraising Team is Larger Than You Think
Ways to Avoid Burnout This Fundraising Season
5 Ways to Boost Fundraising with Better Donor Relationships
6 Fundraising Lessons from Lord of the Rings
Do You Track These 8 Important Fundraising Statistics?
5 Tech-Savvy Ways to Maximize Your Fundraising Efforts
The Science of Fundraising & Why Recognition is a Powerful Motivator
The Guide to Effective Fundraising for Nonprofits
Overcoming Ask Anxiety for Major Gifts
Grow Your Giving: Donor Cultivation Strategies for Every Nonprofit
RECURRING DONATIONS Retaining loyal supporters is an integral part of nonprofits’ fundraising plans. Recurring donors have many benefits (like higher retention rates) over donors making one-time gifts, even if that one-time gift is sizeable. Fundraising thought leader Erica Waasdorp found that monthly donors were six times more likely to include the organization they support in their will and these donors give between $288 and $432 a year on average. Multi-year giving is more common with recurring donors, so that $432 a year can really add up over the lifetime of that donor. Consider the questions below to determine how you can start or improve upon a recurring giving program in 2020.
Did you have a recurring giving program this year?
If no, what’s preventing you from establishing a recurring program? How can you begin establishing a base of recurring supporters in 2020?
What was your retention rate for recurring donors in 2019? What can you do to increase ongoing engagement with your recurring base in 2020?
Do you have a plan for encouraging one-time donors to become recurring donors? What can you do to draw those one-time donors into a recurring donation program?
Do you have a plan for asking existing recurring donors to increase their recurring gift amount? How can you work toward upgrading your recurring donors’ gifts?
What special communications do you send your recurring donors? How can you even more effectively communicate your recurring donors’ impact?
Recurring Donations: Resources
3 Ways To Create a Meaningful Recurring Donor Experience
How to Promote Your Recurring Giving Program on Social Media
Radical Recurring Giving Guide
10 Things You Need to Know About Recurring Giving
How to Turn 1-Time Donors into Recurring Donors
Form Design Tips That Will Help You Build a Recurring Donor Base
Are Recurring Donations Right For You?
5 Easy Steps to Start and Grow Your Monthly Donor Program
EVENTS Did your fundraising events sink or swim in 2019? Did you stick with your organization’s signature fundraisers this year, or did you shake things up and try out some new event ideas? Fundraising events can be a huge asset to an organization’s fundraising plan or could prove detrimental if events don’t raise more than they cost to host. Assess your fundraising events using the questions below to strengthen your fundraising event strategy in 2020.
How can you make your successful events even more successful in 2019?
Did you run any really successful events this year? What do you think made them successful?
Did any of your events fall flat this year? What could you do to improve them next year?
Should any of your fundraising events be retired in 2020? Why?
If you need to retire any fundraising events in 2020, do you need to take any steps to recover that potential loss of revenue?
What kinds of events do your donors really seem to enjoy? How can you apply your donors’ preferences to existing events?
What obstacles did you face while you planned and executed events in 2019? How can you mitigate those challenges in 2020?
What can your staff do this year to make event planning less stressful in 2020?
Events: Resources
5 Foolproof Ways to Raise More at Your Fundraising Events
Great Fundraising Events: From Experience to Transformation
Four Seasons of Fundraising
Sponsorship Letters and Your Nonprofit: Leveraging Letters for Better Results
7 Outstanding Nonprofit Sponsorship Request Letter Samples
Post-Event Survey Tips and Template
Organizing a Nonprofit Event: Tips to Add to Your Checklist
Event Management Software: 5 Tips to Find the Right Solution
Working on Promoting a Fundraising Event? Here’s What to Expect
Event-Specific Social Media Calendar Template
How to Attract, Cultivate & Wow Sponsors
PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING Peer-to-peer fundraising is more than an opportunity to raise additional funds for your nonprofit. This subset of fundraising events is an opportunity to convince your supporters to become invested in the success of your organization. Not only are participants asked to donate themselves, they’re given resources to fundraise on your behalf. Did your organization ask your supporters to take part in peer-to-peer fundraising events in 2019? Were participants excited to take part, or reluctant to fundraise? Assess the success of your peer-to-peer fundraising to determine how you can do even better in 2020.
Did you run any peer-to-peer fundraising events in 2019? If yes, did you meet your fundraising goal?
If you did not meet your fundraising goal, what gaps can you identify that might contribute to that outcome?
If you met your peer-to-peer fundraising goals, what made your event so successful? How can you replicate that success in 2020?
What was your participant recruitment like during your 2019 peer-to-peer fundraising? Are you happy with the number of participants and their level of involvement?
What can you do in 2020 to get participants more excited about fundraising?
Do you need to adjust your peer-to-peer participant recruitment efforts in 2020? What strategies can you try to recruit more participants and get them more engaged?
What feedback did your participants give you about your peer-to-peer events? How can you use that feedback to make you 2020 events even better?
Do any of your 2019 peer-to-peer events need to be retired? Alternatively, do you need to add new peer-to-peer events to your schedule?
Peer-to-Peer: Resources
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising | The Ultimate Guide
Marketing Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Event
11 Simple (but Impactful!) Ways to Improve Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Gamify Your Peer-to-Peer Event!
Find & Engage Your P2Peeps
A Beautiful Friendship: What Corporate Decision Makers Want in P2P Partnerships
Activating Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers
Peer-to-Peer Participant Fundraising Tip Sheet
5 Peer-to-Peer Tools to Use If You Want to Raise More Money (and How to Make Them Work!)
Peer-to-Peer Events You Can Host For Under $500
Whoa, That’s Meta! How to Raise More Money Through Peer-to-Peer Sub-Events
When (and How!) to Use Recurring Donations in Your Peer-to-Peer Campaign
Qgiv Peer-to-Peer Event Registration Best Practices
Fundraising Mash-Up: How to Combine Auctions with Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
3 Ways to Encourage Discouraged Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers
Smash Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Goal with Qgiv’s Email Campaigns
3 Marketing Tips for Your Next Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser
7 Ways to Get More Participants More Involved with Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns
Help Your Helpers with a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tool Kit
Your Secret Weapon for Peer-to-Peer Engagement: The Personal Fundraising Center
Why (and How) to Segment Emails to Peer-to-Peer Participants
9 Simple Ways to Improve Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Matching Gifts and Peer-to-Peer: Why (and How!) to Do It
The Key Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Best Practices for Success
DONOR RETENTION The average donor retention rate across all nonprofit organizations is 45%. In 2019, most nonprofits saw more than 50% of their 2018 donors decline to make a gift this year. How did your nonprofit perform in 2019? What can you do to improve your organization’s retention rate in 2020? Consider the following questions to assess your donor retention strategy in 2020.
What was your donor retention rate in 2019? Was it better or worse than the industry average of 45%?
Did you have a donor acquisition goal this year? Did you meet that goal or did you miss it?
What donor acquisition methods did you use this year? Did anything work especially well? Could any of your methods be improved?
What new donor retention avenues could you explore in 2020?
What is your donor acquisition goal in 2020?
What donor-retention methods did you use this year?
Which of your donor retention methods got the best response from your donors this year? How can you work that into your donor retention plan for next year?
Where do you see room for improvement in your donor retention methods? How will you address those gaps in 2020?
How can your development department get the rest of your organization involved in fundraising and donor retention?
Donor Retention: Resources
Donor Retention: The Essential Guide for Fundraisers
How To Improve Donor Retention and Re-Engage Lapsed Donors With Email
How to Use Outbound Text Messages to Boost Donor Retention
Email Series: Boost Your Donor Retention
Five Donor Retention Practices You Can Do in Five Minutes or Less
5 Ways to Boost Fundraising with Better Donor Relationships
How to Keep Your Giving Tuesday Donors
How to Add a Little Donor Love Language Using Qgiv
The Art of an Unforgettable Thanks
#DonorLove: Forever and a Day
Grow Your Giving: Donor Cultivation Strategies for Every Nonprofit
How to Have Coffee with Your Favorite Donor
Delighting Donors
DONOR COMMUNICATIONS How you communicate with your supporters is one of the major factors that determine whether they’ll continue to support your nonprofit. Are you reaching your donors where they are? Are you providing them with content relevant to their interests? Is your organization being transparent when communicating how donations are being used? Ask yourself the following questions to determine how your donor communications performed in 2019, and what changes can make your communications stronger in 2020.
What kinds of donor communications are you sending? How do those differ from your donor acquisition communications?
How frequently do you communicate with your donors? Should you communicate with them more frequently? Less frequently?
What donor communication channels did you use in 2019?
Are there any communication channels that were especially effective this year? What can you do next year to make them even more effective?
Are there any donor communications channels you used this year that did NOT perform well this year? Is there anything you can do to improve those channels? Should you cut them instead?
Did you identify any communications channels that you didn’t use in 2019 that you want to explore in 2020? What do you need to do to move into those spaces?
Donor Communications: Resources
What They See Is What You Get: Using Visual Storytelling to Engage, Connect & Motivate Your Donors
The 5 Stories Every Leader Must Be Telling
Revolutionize Your Asks: How to Write Your Best-Ever Case for Support
Video Stories: You Know You Need ‘Em. Now What?
How to Create Your Best-Ever Nonprofit Newsletter
Template: Donor Communication and Stewardship Plan
Be Smarter & More Engaging With Email
Know Who Should Write Your Fundraising Appeals? The Answer Might Surprise You
Bright Idea: Storytelling Tips From Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
How Yellowstone Academy Successfully Uses Images and Videos to Show Impact
Storytelling for Fundraisers: How to Tell Compelling Stories That Make Donors Want to Give
Nonprofit Storytelling: Who Cares, Anyway?
4 Nonprofit Writing Tips for Fundraisers (That You Can Start Now!)
9 Awesome (and Effective) Fundraising Letter Templates
Show Donor Love With Incredible Thank-You Letters [The Guide]
The Art of an Unforgettable Thanks
How to Run an Effective E-mail Campaign
4 Steps to Communicating With Grant Funders
How to Use Powerful Images
NONPROFIT MARKETING Your marketing strategy determines how you’re presenting your nonprofit organization to its audience. Does the look and content of your marketing assets present the organization in an authentic way? Do your actions align with your mission statement? Do your materials cause donors to respond in the way you want them to? Ensuring your marketing is an accurate reflection of your nonprofit is of vital importance. Assess your marketing needs for 2020 using the following questions.
What’s your nonprofit’s mission statement?
Does your mission statement align with your day-to-day activities?
Is your mission statement compelling and exciting to potential donors? If no, how could you re-write it to be more inspiring?
Re-word your mission statement so the donor is at the center of the action. What can your donors accomplish through their support?
What new marketing assets will you need in 2020? Think about things like photos, email templates, logos, letterheads, brochures, etc.
Do you have any marketing assets that you can re-use in 2020? Do they need to be updated or refreshed?
What stories did you tell in your marketing and communications in 2019?
How did those stories impact your donors? What stories seemed to be most successful? Did you have any stories that flopped?
Based on your most successful 2019 stories, what guidelines can you use when choosing your 2020 stories?
Nonprofit Marketing: Resources
Amp Up Your Marketing By Replacing Stock Photos With Your Own
5 Ways to Improve Your Nonprofit Email Marketing Strategy
5 Reasons Your Nonprofit Should Invest Time in Social Media
Spring Cleaning: Outdated Statistics Show You Need to Clean Up Your Collateral
Micro-Influencers: What They Are & Why Nonprofits Need Them
Assessing Your Nonprofit’s Logo: 6 Questions
Build Your Street Cred: Establishing Your Nonprofit’s Identity Online
Donor Persona Development Checklist
WEBSITE & DONATION FORM Your organization’s website and online donation form are often what donor’s base their first impression of your nonprofit on. Your website should grow and change alongside your organization. Your donation form should reflect your organization’s brand while maintaining ease of use for donors. Refreshing your website and donation form can be time-intensive if major changes are needed or could require just a few small tweaks to improve their look and functionality. What changes need to be made to your organization’s website and donation forms in 2020 to increase website visitors and grow online donations?
When was the last time you updated your website?
Go through your website and check for (and fix, if you find them!): + Broken or missing navigation items + Broken links + Out-dated content + Out-dated administration, board, or staff information
Ask a friend, family member, or volunteer to go through your website. Ask them: + Is the site user-friendly? + Can they find information they’re looking for? + How easy is your website to read? + Can they easily access and use your website on their mobile device?
Ask them to visit your donation form. Ask them: + Can they easily find and access the donation form? + What would they add (or remove) to make the donation page more inspiring? + Is any part of the donation form difficult or aggravating? + How long did it take for them to make a gift? + What did they think of the confirmation page? + How long did it take for them to receive their email receipt? + What would they add to the confirmation page or receipt to make other donors feel great about
making a gift?
Website & Donation Form: Resources
6 No-Fail Tips for Year-End Donation Forms
Nonprofit Website Wellness Check: How to Diagnose & Cure Your Website’s Ailments
5 Tips To Improve Your Nonprofit’s Website Accessibility
Get More Online Donations: 3 Reasons Your Main Donation Page Should Be Like Chinese Takeout
Elevation: Setting your Nonprofit Website Up for Success: UX and Content
The Online Donor Journey: Maximize your Online Fundraising by Walking in Your Donors’ Shoes
Quick-Start Checklist for Online Donation Forms
5 Key Mistakes to Avoid with Your Nonprofit’s Website (and What to Do Instead!)
Donation Form Check-Up Checklist
Bright Idea: Make Your Donation Forms Do More
Donation Form Best Practices: Make it Easy to Make More Money
Mobile Mania: Using Mobile Donation Forms
Website Accessibility is Important. Here’s How Your Nonprofit Can Be Accessible
How to Build Your Best Fundraising Website
Improving Your Nonprofit Website on a Budget
How to Improve Your Nonprofit’s Website
5 Signs It’s Past Time to Redesign Your Nonprofit Website
Nonprofit Website Design: 14 Do’s & Don’ts for Killer Sites
BOARD INVOLVEMENT A great board can boost fundraising for nonprofit organizations. Even if your board wasn’t 100% on board with fundraising or donating in 2019 doesn’t mean it’s too late to turn this trend around. Identify which board members aren’t donating or fundraising and find out why. For 2020, remove obstacles preventing board members from donating and strive for 100% board participation in fundraising efforts.
Are 100% of your board members donors this year? What strategies will you use to ensure 100% board participation in 2020?
How connected are your board members to your organization’s ongoing fundraising activities?
Are you satisfied with your board members’ level of engagement in fundraising activities?
If no, what gaps can you identify?
How can you address those gaps with your board members?
What do you think are some obstacles board members face when they’re asked to get involved in fundraising?
What resources or options can you offer to help them overcome those obstacles?
What do you think will get board members more involved in fundraising?
Board Involvement: Resources
Why Fundraising is the F-Word to Your Board & How to Fix It
How to Get Your Board Members More Involved in Fundraising
5 Things Your Board Members Really Need You to Do
Why Board Members Hate Fundraising & How to Fix It
3 Awesome Reasons Your Board Members and Major Gifts Team Should Be BFFs
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising for Boards? You Betcha!
WHAT WINS DID YOU CELEBRATE? WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DID YOU IDENTIFY? WHAT GAPS CAN WE HELP YOU FILL?
If you’ve identified new fundraising campaigns, new programs, or new fundraising tools you want to include in your 2020 strategies, we’d love to talk to you. Whether you’re looking for an updated fundraising page, silent auction tools that make your life easier, integrations that will save you time, or other fundraising tools, we’re here to help!
Check out our suite of fundraising tools at qgiv.com or call us at 888-855-9595 to share your plans for 2020 and learn how we can help make them happen.
The Qgiv Team
www.qgiv.com
HERE’S TO A SUCCESSFUL
2020