If you’ve spent any time around the K2 fundraising team, you will regularly hear us refer to building fundraising muscle. Especially for new organizations (or organizations looking to grow) – I will personally repeat that phrase over and over. Building muscle is not like a quick fad – muscle building takes time. In the spirit of clarity and further explaining our rationale at K2 and why we use terms like this – what is fundraising muscle?
- You’re focused on your processes – the things no one sees and no one cares about, until it’s too late. When you take the time to strategically and properly set up a CRM, a proper email system, a project management system, etc., not only are you buying yourself tens of hours down the road, but you’re going to be able to do more with the donors and data you capture.
- You’re consistently tracking and practicing the strategies in your fundraising toolkit. You can’t measure what you don’t know. For example, if you don’t know who gave to you at this point in the previous year, you’re missing an opportunity to easily engage your best donors – you’re current ones. Here’s a great piece from Allison Housley on data analytics when it comes to marketing (which drives fundraising): The Power of Using Data in Your Marketing Decision-Making – K2 & Co.
- You’re resilient. There are a million things you can’t control in the fundraising space – outside political factors, restrictions around giving, economic downturns, major funders passing away, and more. You name it, we’ve seen it. However, good fundraisers don’t make excuses because they’ve built a resilient program. A program that is set up to learn from setbacks, refine the strategies used in donor engagement and continue to improve on those strategies. Our newest Fundraising Account Executive Megan Linder has some great tips on strategies to use in fundraising: Expert Fundraising Tactics From K2 – K2 & Co
Now you know the term – Fundraising Muscle. Keep building your fundraising muscle—processes, consistency and resilience will make your nonprofit stronger than ever!
– Kristen Sheehan, Founder and Partner