Donor appreciation in the small shop

When you work in a small fundraising office (or shop), you’ve got to be judicious with your time to get everything done.  I know.  I’ve been there.

I once worked in a nonprofit where one other person and I shared all the administrative and fundraising tasks, and some of the program tasks.  It wasn’t easy.  But it did teach me that I HAD to prioritize my “to do” list and focus on those things that would bring me the most bang for the buck.  What I figured out pretty quick was that spending most of my time on special events was not the best use of my time.  Making thank-you calls or taking major donors to lunch was a much better way to spend my time.

If you are the only person working on fundraising for your organization, you’ve got to work smarter, not harder.  Make sure that whatever you are doing is worth doing, and moves you toward reaching your fundraising goals.  You’ve got to move to being proactive instead of reactive.  In fact, when you don’t have a plan and you spend all your time putting out fires, there is no time to work on things you should be doing.

Once you prioritize your activities, look for ways to systematize your activities.  Using a donor-tracking software will help you streamline gift-entry processes and easily generate thank-you letters.  Anything you do more than once, you should be thinking about how you can do it more easily.

Thanking donors should alays be a priority, no matter how much time you have on your hands.  There’s no better use of your time as a fundraiser than thanking your donors.