Investing (Resources) Wisely

If your organization is like many, your development department is over-worked. You probably don’t have the resources you need to do everything you want to do, and you are constantly having to make difficult choices about where to invest resources to get the biggest bang for the buck.

Most of your time you’re likely busy making sure that this year’s big event raises more money than last year’s or trying to convince that big donor to give more this year than last. Basically, making sure your organization has the funds to keep programs going — vital programs that serve the seniors in your community.

You’re stretched thin, which means you might not have the time to focus on what will help move the organization forward.

What will help is bringing in more revenue to serve more seniors, and the best way to do that is by building relationships with donors in the hopes they will give generously year after year, and hopefully one day leave your organization in their will or estate plans.

Finding the time for the all-important job of building those donor relationships may mean delegating the day-to-day work of acquiring new donors and managing direct marketing fundraising campaigns to others. Every good fundraiser knows it’s essential to acquire new donors every year, but it’s not always easy to accomplish on your own.

Invest for Success

One way to ensure success is to look outside your organization for experts who can help. When organizations rely on direct marketing specialists who are experts at developing winning creative strategies, who can identify and access the best donor lists and build effective integrated campaigns — their programs grow, often much faster with better results than when trying to manage it all inhouse.

You can always start small — partnering with a direct marketing agency for help on a single project or selected task — and add services as needed. What you will get are partners who act as an extension of your development team. Experts who will focus on your organization’s fundraising goals — so your staff can focus on other things like top-level donor cultivation, events and other critical development efforts that help build those all-important donor relationships.

Investing in outside help to do the heavy lifting can pay off big! When you partner with an agency that knows best practices, industry standards and trends, and fundraising methods that work, you will see a solid return on your investment — in both the short- and long-term!

To find out more about partnering with a fundraising agency contact us today!