Soapbox Engage Blog

Nonprofits and development professionals are ambitious and driven–just look at the mission and vision statements you're tirelessly working to achieve! There are some scenarios where being ambitious, eager, and optimistic are beneficial and other times when it's more appropriate to channel those aspirations into realistic fundraising goals.

Setting fundraising goals that are too ambitious can actually work against you. Any goal that feels unachievable can make your fundraisers feel inadequate or set for failure. On the other hand, goals that feel too easy aren't inspirational or motivating and won't bring a sense of satisfaction when achieved.

There's both an art and a science to setting goals for your fundraising campaigns. It's essential to set goals that are appropriately challenging for each campaign.

Table of Contents

1. Identifying the fundraising goal
2. Make sure your fundraising goals are SMART
3. Break your fundraising goal into gift ranges
4. Factors to consider when setting fundraising targets
5. Offer multiple giving options for your fundraising goals
6. Keep donors updated throughout your fundraising campaign

Fundraising Goal Basics for Nonprofits

Many organizations don't set clear and concrete goals for each fundraising campaign. Without clear goals, measuring success and feeling accomplished can be challenging.

Start by clearly identifying the fundraising goal

Setting a clear and measurable fundraising goal is critical because it ensures that everyone is on the same page about the objective and what "success" will look like. Having a specific goal can also help you adjust your strategies along the way to ensure success or improve your outreach.

Having clear and measurable goals also helps when communicating with donors. People want to help, but they need to trust that you understand what you want to achieve adn how you'll accomplish it.

Make sure your fundraising goals are SMART

One of the most popular and effective goal-setting strategies is the SMART goal framework. Use these five measurements to ensure your goals are clear, actionable, and achievable as you create your fundraising goals.

Specific: It's not enough to say you want to raise more money or engage more supporters than in previous years. What specific amount of money would you like to raise? How many new donors would you like to attract? What program impact would you like to achieve with this campaign?

Most nonprofits review previous campaign results or other historical data as reference points for setting reasonably challenging goals based on past trends.

Measurable: Can you measure the goal you set? Whether you're counting the number of donations received, dollar amounts, or new supporters, it will be difficult to measure progress without a quantifiable objective.

If your goal is to attract "more" supporters than last year, technically, one more supporter is a victory. However, everyone will have their own interpretation of what "more" means. How many more supporters would you like to engage with this fundraising campaign?

Attainable: Excellent goals are challenging to reach to foster inspiration and growth, yet not so lofty that it feels impossible (since that will discourage your team and your donors). Understanding your donor base and current giving capacity will help you set attainable financial goals. Previous fundraising campaign results can also help you set appropriately challenging objectives.

Relevant: Your supporters want to participate in mission-driven campaigns that will make a difference. Your supporters want to fund a specific action, not a number on a spreadsheet. Understanding and communicating the "why" behind your goal is critical.

Time-specific: Though some fundraising campaigns might be ongoing, setting a deadline for participation will create a sense of urgency. Additionally, a timeline makes it easier to track progress and eliminates the feeling of "never-ending" work for your team and your supporters.

One of the easiest ways to make even the scariest fundraising goal more realistic is to pace it out. After all, fundraising is a marathon, not a sprint. Consider setting incremental goals to break them down into more time-boxed objectives for more significant financial goals. This strategy also gives you natural "check-in" points to ensure you're on track to achieve the larger goal.

Break your fundraising goal into gift ranges

After setting fundraising goals for your campaign, develop a gift range chart that breaks your goal down into different size gifts to present to your supporters.

An effective strategy for setting suggested giving levels is to base them on previous campaign results. Set the suggested giving levels marginally higher than the previous average donation amounts.

Consider also pairing incentives with each giving level that correlates to your mission. For example, if your nonprofit offers academic intervention for students, connect each giving amount with the cause.

• A donation of $25 provides one week of tutoring for one student
• A donation of $100 provides one month of tutoring for one student
• A donation of $500 provides one semester of tutoring for one student
• A donation of $1,000 provides one year of tutoring for one student.

Connecting a tangible outcome to each donation tier will demonstrate the impact of each gift. This can inspire supporters to increase their contributions as they understand how their generosity impacts the mission.

Factors to consider when setting fundraising targets

Now that you've got your SMART goals set, there are a few other factors to consider as you create successful fundraising goals.

Assess your available budget: It's critical to evaluable all your available resources, including your promotion costs, before choosing fundraising strategies. Imagine planning your strategic social media campaign only to discover you don't have a social media budget.

Don't forget to leave a bit of wiggle room in your budgeting to accommodate any changes along the way.

Assess and segment your donor lists: Some audiences will always be more essential than others in any fundraising campaign. Segmenting your donor lists will allow you to identify which donors are a fit for each fundraising campaign or drive. Larger fundraising campaigns may benefit from conducting a donor feasibility study to identify potential new and high-value supporters.

Connect your fundraising goal to your nonprofit's mission: Your current fundraising campaign is not isolated from your previous or future efforts. As you communicate your goals with donors, demonstrate how each goal fits your overall mission. Donors are more likely to contribute–and continue to support long after your campaign is over–when they understand how their gifts fit into the bigger picture.

Offer multiple giving options for your fundraising goals

Offer your donors multiple giving options to make the donation process convenient and help you reach your fundraising goals.

Your supporters' preferred giving methods are often connected to giving levels. Mid and lower-level supporters often appreciate convenient online giving options. In contrast, those with significant giving potential will most likely prefer an in-person donation request.

It's good practice to be prepared to accept gifts from your supporters in three primary ways:

• In-person: Major donors often place a high value on personal interaction with your team. In-person giving also strengthens your relationship with these major donors, creating long-lasting partnerships.
• Online: Custom online donation pages with branding and information about your fundraising campaign can increase your donations. Include high-quality photos, testimonials, and other content that reflects your mission and your current fundraising goals.
• In writing: Supporters at all giving levels appreciate thoughtful, timely communication from your nonprofit. Whether you send these updates via direct mail, email, or other methods, personalize these interactions as much as possible to communicate how their gifts are impacting your mission.

Keep donors updated throughout your fundraising campaign

Transparency is critical, whether you're on track to reach your goals or navigating some roadblocks and challenges. Keeping your donors updated throughout your fundraising campaigns allows them to take action. If you're falling behind, donors can step up their efforts–but only if they understand the status of the campaign.

Donation thermometers are a practical tool to help people visualize the progress toward specific fundraising goals. Many nonprofits place these metrics on donation pages, social media, and email updates.

Create a system to update donors throughout each fundraising campaign. Whether you have a schedule to provide timely updates or you share progress as you pass certain milestones, consistent progress reports convey that you're invested in the campaign and attentive to your supporters.

Every fundraising campaign should begin with setting clear and specific goals. From there, you can create strategic plans to achieve your goals.

Now that you're ready to set fundraising goals for your upcoming campaigns, here are three more resources to keep your fundraising going strong.

• How to Recruit Sponsors for Nonprofit Fundraising: Sponsors can take your fundraising event or campaign to the next level by providing financial and promotional support. Whether planning a summer fundraising campaign or a year-end event, corporate sponsors can bolster your fundraising efforts. This blog takes a quick dive into understanding why and how to attract sponsors for your next fundraising event or campaign.
• 3 Reasons Donors Love Corporate Matching Gift Programs: Corporate matching gift programs are becoming an increasingly popular offering among philanthropic-minded businesses looking to better engage with their employees, improve their reputation among consumers, adn support a range of causes. Companies agree to financially match contributions their employees make to eligible nonprofits in many cases. Check out this blog to learn how these types of nonprofit-business partnerships can benefit donors, too!
• 10 Strategic Ways to Improve Your Online Donation Form: No matter your fundraising strategy, most of your donors will probably wind up in the same place–your online donation page. If you want to raise more money, you have to make the giving process easy and pleasant. Your online fundraising growth is directly tied to the quality of your donation page. This blog offers some best practices and small changes you can make to ensure your donation page is a top-notch donation gathering machine.