Merry year-end fundraising season!
I want you to get excited about year-end fundraising.
Yes, I want you to get excited about it!
Especially if you've never really done it before. If you've never tried running a real year-end fundraising campaign, this is the year I want you to go all in.
Why?
Energy, money, people, and time. As in more of all four flowing into your nonprofit this holiday season.
Maybe you have doubts. I understand.
It's peak summer. You don't want to start thinking about the holidays already. I get it.
Maybe you don't know how to make year-end fundraising work for you.
I do. Please give me a chance to persuade you. Let's talk about energy, money, people, and time. You want more of those things, right? Then read on.
Energy, to me, is the feeling you have all over your body when you're thinking about or working in your nonprofit. Is that energy positive or negative?
Do you feel alive and well? So happy you feel like you could burst? Confident and strong? Do you feel like you're gaining momentum like a locomotive picking up speed?
That's the kind of energy you should feel more often than not when you're doing the good you want to do in the world.
Do you feel that kind of energy?
If not, perhaps one of the reasons is money. All nonprofit leaders have money on their minds and it's almost always because there is not enough of it. In nonprofit work, we have a love-hate relationship with money. We say that so many things are so much more important than money. Yet money seems to be the price of admission for the important work we want to do.
You might assume that money is the biggest stressor in the life of a nonprofit leader, but my experience tells me it is people. Finding and keeping enough of the right people doing the right things is the biggest challenge for nonprofit leaders.
Finally, I think most nonprofit leaders would say the only thing more scarce than money and people is time. Even if a big check comes in or a busload of volunteers, nonprofit leaders struggle to find the time to do everything they want to do.
Energy, money, people, and time are the fire, water, earth, and wind of nonprofit work.
When all four of them are working in harmony...magic!
Do you want to feel that magic? You can. And sooner than you think.
You know magic doesn't just happen by itself. It takes planning and preparation. Listen to this podcast to give you an idea of how hard magicians work to make magic.
Your year-end fundraising can make magic, but you need to start planning and preparing now.
Good news: A year-end fundraising campaign does not have to be big, complicated, or expensive. In fact, I think the best year-end fundraising campaigns are low-cost and very simple. Even a very small nonprofit can get big results from a simple approach to year-end fundraising.
I promise you there are more people than you think who would be delighted to give you energy, money, and time this holiday season. It's all about connecting with them on a personal level and making the right ask the right way. You don't need a big budget, a big staff, or some big multimedia campaign to do that. All you need is you, a simple plan, and a few simple tools.
So how do you do it? Where do you start?
Right here and right now. In August and September, I'm going to walk you through a step-by-step process that will launch your year-end fundraising campaign by October 1. I'm going to give you the coaching, instruction, support, and tools you need to make this year-end fundraising season truly merry.
And when I say I'm going to give all of this to you, I mean it: It's all free.
Here's how it works and here's what you get:
1. I'll guide you step-by-step through the process of planning and preparing your year-end fundraising campaign. You can choose to read my blog posts (two a week) in August and September. Or you can join the live webinars I'll host every Thursday to coach you through the process.
2. Whether you follow the blog or join the webinar, I'll send you a free tool to go along with each step of the planning process.
3. If you live in the Motor City, I'm doing some free workshops in September. These will give you a chance for live interaction with me and other nonprofit leaders.
4. I'll invite you to join a private Facebook group just for people who sign up for my year-end fundraising program. You can interact with me live in the group and also interact with other nonprofit leaders who are making year-end fundraising programs of their own. This is a great place for peer coaching and support.
5. Each Friday, I'll email a review of what we covered that week, including links to the blog posts and recorded webinar. I'll also send you the tools for that week.
All of this is free. Just sign up here to join the program. We get started August 8!
In October I'm going to put the entire year-end fundraising program into a book and online course, which will be for sale. In other words, if you choose to participate now, you'll get all of the content, instruction, and tools free of charge. If you wait until October, you'll have to pay.
So sign up now.
This year-end fundraising season can be amazing for you. Not just in terms of the money you raise, but in terms of the joy and satisfaction you feel. I want that feeling for you this year.
Do you want it too?
Let's get started. Join the year-end fundraising program today.
Onward and upward!
BT Irwin, smallnonprofitcoach.com
