As the fundraising landscape shifts with the new tax law and total donations to all nonprofits is projected to drop 5% in 2018, it is critical that your fundraising efforts are wisely and effectively directed. But how do you know what’s wise and effective - and what’s all wrong?

Here are six key steps to ensure that the fundraising decisions you’re making are the right ones to fund your mission:

As the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, we ushered in not only a new year but a new tax code that reshapes our economy in fundamental ways. With the doubling of the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples, estimates project that as few as 10% of taxpayers will continue to itemize. This marked decrease means that donating to your nonprofit just got more expensive for most of your supporters since doing so won’t carry a tax benefit. Experts predict this to cause a drop in charitable donations of around $14 billion in 2018, or 5 percent of the $282 billion that nonprofits raised in 2016.

Key to responding to this changing charitable landscape is recognizing a fundamental fact: fundraising is primarily about a relationship. That relationship isn’t with the Internal Revenue Service. The key relationship is between your donor and your organization and its mission. Understanding that relationship and how it changes over time as your supporter moves through their donor journey is more critical now than ever.

But how?

Late Wednesday evening of Dreamforce, I wandered into Moscone West with a distinct purpose: secure Codey, the stuffed bear, to give to my 15-month-old son upon my return home. In the process of tackling the three tasks required to win said bear, I ended up creating a brand new Trailhead account and was instantly hooked on the training opportunities it offered.

Within a month, my Dreamforce-born obsession spurred me to reach the highest Trailhead rank of Ranger and pass the Salesforce Administrator certification exam.

1/10/2018 UPDATE: My son is a month older - and I am an additional certification deeper into my Trailblazer journey after passing the Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder today.

1/19/2018 UPDATE: Just passed the Salesforce Advanced Administrator certification. Trailhead, ho!

12/26/2018 UPDATE: And Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud Consultant certification makes four!

Here are eight observations about my journey for others interested in going from gamified Salesforce learning to real-world certification:

From #GivingTuesday to the end of the giving season, it will be critical for fundraisers to keep close track of progress toward their fundraising goals. For those with Salesforce, you can facilitate that by scheduling a report on that progress so it is emailed to key staff daily. This step-by-step recipe will walk through the creation of a fundraising report and how to schedule its delivery.

For other last minute #GivingTuesday tips, watch our webinar, #GivingTuesday Fundraising for Procrastinators.

As you gear up for #GivingTuesday and the entire end-of-year giving season, context can be critical in goal setting and fundraising strategy. With this step-by-step recipe, you can easily Report on year-end giving from those who gave for the first time last end-of-year seasons vs. previous donors who gave during that same period. This can help you craft goals for overall end-of-year giving as well as specific targets for new donor acquisition.

For other last minute #GivingTuesday tips, watch our webinar, #GivingTuesday Fundraising for Procrastinators.