Let’s face it, in recent years few development programs have increased staff. More often, fundraising officers are asked to do more with less, leaving them burned out or too stressed to know where to begin. Here are 3 tips for fundraising to maximize your time and optimize your efforts:

1) Prioritize. You can’t personally get to everyone in your donor pool, nor should you. Consider how much time you will devote to stewarding long-term relationships, recapturing lapsed donors and acquiring new financial partners.

• We know keeping a donor engaged is less costly than acquiring a new one. Maintaining those long-term relationships can result in greater support, both now and later.
• Devote time to re-engaging former donors who have stopped giving. They know your organization and have emotional reasons to reconnect. Start with those who were strong supporters.
• Have at least one strategy to attract new donors to your cause. While you should encourage your current supporters to introduce you to potential donors, be specific: Host an event where long-term donors bring a potential new donor, ask faithful supporters to write five letters to friends in their network who would resonate with the mission of your organization.
• Don’t forget the self-identifiers. People who volunteer, who send a gift before you asked for it—or for more than you anticipated, who demonstrate an interest and loyalty to your organization seemingly “out of the blue” are people you should get to know.

2) Plan. Map out a year-long strategy for whom, how and when donors will hear from you. What do you want them to know? When do you want them to know it? How will you communicate and how will they respond?

• Donor communication isn’t limited to mailings and donor visits. Also consider events, press releases, non-donor directed material, thank you notes and church announcements.
• Consider the receiver’s perspective. Too often we communicate in ways that donors find incomplete or ill-timed. Just as in storytelling, donor cultivation requires a thoughtful process of bringing the person along to an engagement with the organization. How do the messages a donor receives from your organization tell the story in a thoughtful and logical manner?

3) Systematize. Critical for small fundraising shops, but incredibly valuable for larger ones, developing systems for donor cultivation will streamline the office work and keep moving donors along in engagement with the organization.

• Automate your steps. Establish timelines for each step of the process from donor identification to calls and follow-up, from gift received to acknowledgement and receipt, and annual fund contribution to conversation about estate gifts. Wherever a donor is at in the process, you can move them to the next step based on your automation.
• There are a number of tools available to help you automate. Online calendar reminders are a great way to track next steps. Consider outsourcing a step or two, such as arranging annual delivery of birthday flowers to a major donor with a local florist, or use an online vendor like www.sendoutcards.com to pre-arrange birthday and holiday cards.

When you prioritize, plan and systematize, you can allocate more time executing the task at hand, finding more time for donor cultivation and minimize missed opportunities for communication and strengthening donor engagement. Use these 3 tips for fundraising to the best of your ability.