Put your objective in plain view.
Setting goals is a critical step in developing a campaign. When developing goals, you should take into account not only specific financial objectives (we need to raise $25,000), but also organizational objectives like finding 100 new donors, or creating 500 new leads/connections. Those goals work hand in hand, but unless they are stated, neither will likely happen.
Once you've determined your main objectives, you should set a goal to help measure your progress. Measurable (numeric) goals are important because they're clear and specific. They allow you to communicate a need or success.
Simply saying, "We want to raise money!" doesn't allow you to track your progress, but saying, "Our goal is to raise $15,000 with this campaign" gives you the ability to check your progress and see how you're doing.
Set Your Goal Based on Your Objective
If your main objective is to acquire new donors, your goal will be set based on either:
- The number of individual donors who give during the campaign (e.g. 200 donors), or the number of assets received (e.g. 200 gift cards)
If your main objective is to raise capital, your goal will either be:
- A dollar amount for how much money you hope to raise (e.g. $10,000), or the number of assets received (e.g. 10 cars)
Make Your Goal Both Challenging and Realistic
When you set your goal, you want it to be a challenge– set a goal that will push you as an organization. It's okay to set big goals, even if you aren't sure that you can reach them. Your goals should challenge you and encourage you to work hard and fundraise aggressively.
With that said, you also want your goals to be realistic. When you're setting your goals, look at your past fundraising attempts and build off them. So, if you currently have 300 total donors in your database, it's probably not realistic to acquire 2.000 new donors during 1 campaign. But, you might be able to acquire 100 new donors--and that would mean significant growth for your donor database!
As you set goals that are both challenging and realistic, you set your organization up to successfully grow.