Resolutions for the New Year. Your organisation should start by making some today

For many, 2021 could not have come soon enough. 2020 started with bushfires impacting the states of Victoria and New South Wales. COVID-19 caused havoc and sent most everyone to a working from home arrangement. Events, as we knew them, were cancelled. Face to face fundraising, particularly street canvassing, was diminished or wiped out. Fundraising revenue was dramatically impacted. 2021 is here! It’s the New Year. Start 2021 by making some resolutions.

New Year resolutions you might consider

Diversifying fundraising revenue

Many charities in Australia have faced significant pain of COVID-19 due to the fact they lack a balanced portfolio of funding. Instead of a balance across fundraising channels, the focus of many organisations has been on events and face to face fundraising. When COVID-19 hit, events were cancelled and the face to face solicitors were pulled from the streets. Charities had to scramble. 

Why not spend some time in the early months of the new year to develop a Fundraising Strategic Plan to diversify your revenue streams? 

2021
Documenting business processes

Staff of charitable organisations frequently change. Some staff positions change over every 18 months and this means a dramatic loss of institutional knowledge. When new staff come on board, organisations often reinvent the wheel rather than train staff against procedures that are documented.

Why not document every procedure across the organisation so these dynamic documents reflect the day to day business? Subject matter experts should be tasked with maintenance of the processes once they are developed. This ongoing maintenance ensures the procedures are kept up to date as your business grows or changes.

Cleansing data

Tired of all the Return to Sender mail? Cleansing your data, including matching your data against the Australia Post National Change of Address (NCOA) file will reduce the amount of wasted mail and will ensure your mail reaches destinations faster and in a more accurate fashion.

A CRM check up

Does your CRM feel a bit like a ship without a captain? Before it hits an iceberg, maybe it is in need of an independent examination and a bit of a tune up? A CRM Review is a way to get an external expert to review the state of affairs of your CRM and to offer you targeted ways in which you might improve its performance. This exercise is typically happens across several days and will result in a report and an action plan for you to follow.

Mystery shopping

Do you often wonder what it is like to be a donor of your organisation? Why not engage some mystery shoppers to serve as donors and to gain valuable insights to reinforce good behaviours and implement some needed changes? Mystery shopping involves the establishment of scenarios which are deployed by the shoppers. By shopping those scenarios, shoppers offer first-hand experiences. In the end, you will receive a report filled with learnings and recommendations for actions.

The first quarter of the year is the best time to action the resolutions you have waited to implement. Staff are coming back energised from the long Christmas and New Year’s break and you are well positioned to tackle big picture items. Put some of these on your list and consider how FundraisingForce may assist you.