The title of the article, “Creating a Sustainable Fundraising Calendar That Works.”

Creating a Sustainable Fundraising Calendar That Works

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Successful nonprofits are those that adapt, especially in times of uncertainty. This year, 21% of organizations reported losing at least some government funding, and nonprofits that were disrupted claim that government funding made up 42% of their average revenue.

To combat uncertainty and funding fluctuations, you need a sustainable fundraising calendar that helps you raise consistent revenue but also prevents your staff from burning out. In this guide, we’ll help you craft your calendar to power fundraising success.

1. Start with your non-negotiables.

Anchor your calendar in your most important initiatives and key dates. This approach allows you to space out larger projects appropriately and helps you determine your remaining capacity for smaller campaigns.

For instance, you may start by marking the following in your fundraising calendar:

  • Fiscal year-end
  • Calendar year-end
  • GivingTuesday
  • Any signature events, such as an annual auction, gala, or 5K
  • Grant deadlines

From there, fill in other initiatives during times that don’t conflict with these important dates to avoid overwhelming your team.

2. Block time for pre-launch tasks.

After scheduling major projects and programs, fill in your pre-launch tasks. For major campaigns, work six to eight weeks backward from your launch date, blocking time for activities like:

  • Obtaining board approval
  • Cleaning data
  • Drafting marketing copy
  • Gathering stories to include in outreach materials
  • Securing a lead gift
  • Testing fundraising tools

By scheduling time for these specific tasks, you can prepare your team for what they need to complete when and prevent burnout. For example, if you’re hosting a 5K in March, you’ll likely be doing the bulk of your preparation in January and February. As a result, those months may be a poor choice for hosting a smaller campaign, which wouldn’t be evident if you didn’t add pre-launch tasks to your schedule.

3. Maintain ample stewardship touchpoints.

Your schedule shouldn’t just be filled with solicitations. It should be a tool to help you build relationships.

Evaluate your current “ask-to-thank” ratio, or the amount of solicitations you have scheduled versus the amount of stewardship communications you have planned. As a general rule of thumb, aim to have three stewardship communications for every ask.

For example, you may schedule the following:

  • A recap of the first half of the year’s fundraising activities in July
  • A beneficiary impact video in August
  • A donor satisfaction survey in September
  • A donation request in October

This way, you keep donors engaged and show you care about maintaining your supporter community, rather than just asking for funds all the time.

While a three-to-one ratio will likely work well for many nonprofits, the best cadence depends on your supporters’ preferences. Bloomerang’s email marketing for nonprofits guide recommends that you “[m]onitor email metrics such as open and clickthrough rates to determine how frequently supporters open your emails” and “[e]valuate if these metrics change when you adjust your email frequency.”

4. Build in campaign recovery.

You can’t go immediately from campaign to campaign without burning out your staff. Mark the week following a major event or campaign as a recovery week in your fundraising calendar.

During this week, avoid launching any new initiatives and keep meetings to a minimum whenever possible. Instead, schedule time for wrapping up tasks like data entry and debriefing to bring your recent campaign to a close.

This recovery time not only helps you finalize major campaigns but also gives your team time to reset and renew their focus for future projects. For busy teams, it may not always be possible to build in a whole recovery week, but even a day or two dedicated to closing out past initiatives can be restorative.

5. Color-code your calendar by segment.

Segmentation allows you to spread out your communications and reach different supporter groups with relevant messages. By color-coding your calendar for each segment, you can ensure a balanced communication cadence.

For example, you may use different colors for:

When you have a visual representation of how often you’re contacting different segments, you can prevent your team from oversoliciting major donors or ignoring other prospects. Additionally, you may use a dual color-coding system with one set of colors for each segment and another for the communication type to avoid sending too many appeals or too few stewardship messages to each group.

6. Use downtime strategically.

Quiet fundraising periods—like the summer—don’t mean there’s nothing productive for your team to do. Actually, it’s quite the opposite.

Take advantage of this time to further initiatives that will drive better year-round fundraising, such as:

  • Cleaning your nonprofit CRM by deduplicating records, deleting inactive contacts, and refreshing staff members on data entry best practices.
  • Building relationships with new supporters through personal phone calls or handwritten letters.
  • Surveying your current donor base to get their feedback on your fundraising process.

By taking these steps, you can equip your team for busier times and focus on tasks you may not be able to prioritize during major campaigns.

7. Schedule quarterly reset meetings.

To keep your organization sustainable, you need to make your schedule flexible and adaptable. Schedule a team meeting at the beginning of each quarter to review your fundraising goals for the past quarter and plan for the quarter ahead.

Ask your team questions like:

  • Did we hit our goals last quarter?
  • If so, what was instrumental in our success? How can we keep that momentum going without burning out donors and staff?
  • If not, what prevented us from achieving our objectives? Do we need to schedule additional campaigns to make up for this fundraising gap?

These meetings enable you to take a proactive approach to adjusting your fundraising calendar, making changes as necessary throughout the year to set your organization up for success.

8. Integrate your calendar with other departments.

Your fundraising team doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Cross-referencing your calendar with other departments’ calendars, like program and finance, prevents internal friction and ensures everyone has the resources they need.

For example, let’s say you’re planning to launch a major fundraising campaign during the same week that your program team has its annual mentoring program kickoff. In this case, it may be worth waiting a few weeks to gather some updated photos from the program that you can incorporate into your campaign marketing materials.

Your fundraising calendar is your fundraising team’s guiding force. By approaching calendar creation strategically, you can develop a sustainable calendar that improves fundraising outcomes and avoids staff burnout.

Throughout the process, collect feedback from your staff on the pacing of your fundraising activities or suggestions to better organize your schedule. For example, if your segment color-coding scheme has become too confusing, a staff member may suggest a way to simplify it, making your schedule easier to read and interpret.