Libertae Nonprofit Fundraising Plan: $3M to $4M Goal

Overview and Fundraising Goals

Libertae's funding sources over the past five years have remained relatively stable, with minor adjustments regarding smaller events and the availability of eligible grant options. The main sources of funding have been annual giving and event-related fundraising from the annual spring fashion show. Grants are received periodically from government agencies, corporate foundations, and private foundations, but there is no guarantee that these will be secured in any given year. As the organization evolves, it plans to add other revenue streams to support its work.

The overall goal of this fundraising plan is to increase revenues from $3 million to $4 million over the next year. To realize this goal, the plan proposes the expansion of corporate support and online fundraising, as well as programs for cultivating individual donors. The plan focuses on raising the following categories of gifts:

a) Unrestricted gifts through individual donor and corporate support under the United Way and Employer Matching Gifts program

b) Restricted gifts through foundation support

c) Gifts for physical capital through Major Donors

d) Gifts for financial capital through the annual Fashion Show and hosted activities

Annual Giving: Regular Memberships

Annual giving covers all contributions made to the organization that are not based on a purchase, event, or other exchange (Greenfield, 2004). In essence, it is a charitable investment in the work of the organization by individuals committed to its values and goals (Greenfield, 2004). The organization accepts any amount of contribution towards its activities, although all requests for support begin with a minimum of $50. This plan categorizes annual giving into two tiers: regular memberships (contributions of $500 and below) and major donor memberships (contributions above $500). The major donor category is discussed separately below.

For Libertae, membership is a conceptual term associated with the provision of financial support to the organization, and not a legal definition based on the payment of set dues. The annual giving program focuses on two objectives: (a) devising strategies for efficiently targeting existing individual donors to increase their gifts, and (b) attracting new individual donors. To generate membership contributions of $500 or less, Libertae will employ three primary strategies:

a) Acquisition efforts to seek initial contributions from new members will be carried out primarily through direct mail solicitations, email blast solicitations, #GivingTuesday campaigns, and end-of-year solicitation activities. The organization will resume direct mail solicitations after they were halted several years ago, as they demonstrated clear success when previously utilized, bringing in approximately $15,000. Email blast solicitations, #GivingTuesday campaigns, and end-of-year solicitations will be retained, although more resources will be dedicated to direct mail efforts.

b) Renewals seeking to maintain the support of existing contributors and encouraging them to renew their annual giving will also be pursued. The organization will employ several strategies to encourage contributors to renew their membership. First, Libertae will initiate a thank-you procedure that focuses on sending thank-you notes to all gift-givers. All first-time donors, regardless of the size of their contribution, will receive an invitation to a non-ask thank-you event. This inexpensive event will be organized for all donors at the end of the year, will feature an open bar, and will focus on thanking donors for their support, reinforcing the organization's mission, and providing opportunities for donors to interact with one another as well as with the organization's employees and volunteers.

c) Special appeals will be written and distributed to all current contributors every three months to encourage additional contributions in support of specific, highly beneficial projects.

References

Greenfield, J. M. (2004). Fundraising Fundamentals: A Guide to Annual Giving (2nd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Kilkenny Children's Home. (2019). Kilkenny Children's Home Development Plan. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/fundraisingplan/Sample-Fundraising-Plan.pdf

Worth, M. (2016). Fundraising Principles and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.