New Year, New Initiatives

Strategy is Key

Happy New Year!!

This is my first post for my website and I figured that I would start off the new and my blog with a post about planning about your annual giving.

By now you have made all of your year end donations and commitments to organizations and initiatives that hopefully had some meaning to you and now things have settled down.

I am here to say don’t hit the snooze button on your giving strategy until the last quarter of the year. In the philanthropic world strategy is key and your year end major gift planning should start now not later.

Why? – You may ask. Planning a major gift takes time, patience, research and energy. At the end of the year all of us are bombarded with organizations sending us end of the year appeals, mailing label, and calendars galore.

How does one start to think about what initiatives they want to support?
I am here to tell you that now is the time to sit down and think about your values. Think about what causes and initiatives you would are most PASSIONATE about- and how is it that YOU want to make an impact in society.

I will be writing a series of posts about ways to maximize your giving so that it has the most impact on causes you are passionate about.
What is the first thing you should think about when thinking of your strategy- It is you-
Giving is personal- What do you the investor want to see happen through your gift? What do you want your gift to say about you?
Who do you want to impact?
While giving is personal it does not mean that it cannot be strategic
Where do you start
First I recommend writing a list of 5 causes (maximum that you are currently involved with either financially or with your time.
Next, I recommend that you read their reports/website see what they are doing in the area you are most passionate about- After you review their financial statements you will see their priorities

Note: Salaries not bad- If an organization has a large budget and is adequately paying their staff this is a good thing- You want the people who are responsible for these programs to be paid a decent wage. I will address this topic in a future topic.

Are you still interested in the organization and their mission – reach out to them -have a phone call with the organization or attend one of their events.

Throughout 2019 I will be writing about other topics including
Donor Advised Funds
Non profit Salaries
Programmatic Expenses

If there are other topics you have questions about be sure to post your comments/suggestions I look forward to hearing them