Ops Insights #057 - Fundraiser Fast Start Initiative (Part 1 of 3)

January 15, 2025 | Read Time: 3 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop

The CDO came to me and said the board and her created a Fast Start initiative and we need reports to hold the team accountable and show progress. I thought this was really cool and immediately my brain went into action mode – how can I set up the tracking and reporting for her to be able to report out, but also how can I support the fundraisers to hit 100% of the goal?

First - State the Objective

The CDO stated the objective nicely for us: The Fast Start is an initiative we will be kicking off on November 1 and wrapping up on January 31. The purpose of this initiative is to go all in on a strategic focus together as a team. For this timeframe, we will be focusing on personalized touch points.

Part I: As of November 1 ALL portfolios will be locked and loaded, ready to go.

Part II: We will then have a goal that 100% of the people in ALL portfolios have had a personal touch point from their Relationship Manager. This personal touch point could be one of the following:

1. Hand written note

2. Personal call

3. Email forwarded of a newsletter or other already created asset, with a note that we wanted them to see something that we thought they’d be interested in.

We will ensure that every single touchpoint that was made, as well as what kind of touch point it was, will be captured in the database in their account. By January 31, 2025, we will have 100% of these personal touch points completed.

Part III: From there, we will start tracking the return on those touch points. We will be tracking what came from them.

1. How many donors responded.

2. How many took the next step, which could be a phone call, meeting, tour, coffee, lunch/dinner, or signed up for an upcoming gathering.

At the close of February, we will start measuring of the 100% that received touchpoints, how many took a next step and what that step was. We will continue to measure this at the close of each quarter, reviewing it as a team and discussing trends and lessons learned along the way. This information will also be reported to ELT and Dev Committee.

Next - Get Ready

We took the following 3 steps to get ready to launch the Fast Start initiative.

1. Cleanse portfolios.

2. Fill gaps in portfolios and lock in portfolios.

3. Prepare fundraisers and track activity.

Last - Launch and Get Moving

After we were ready, it was time to launch and go. We ran team check-ins to look at progress and I offered additional opportunities to support with 1:1 sessions.

Take Action

Now, it’s your turn. Follow this path to launch your own Fast Starts initiative:

➡ For part 1 of 3: Follow the above steps to develop your own objective (or feel free to use the one provided) and create a timeline of when you’d like to start an initiative like this. Then get moving on cleansing and locking in portfolios.

➡ For part 2 of 3: See how we cleansed portfolios and filled gaps in portfolios to lock and load portfolios.

➡ For part 3 of 3: See how it was time to launch and get moving with the Fast Start Initiative.

You’ve got this!  

👋 See you next time,

Jenny

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