This is a question-and-answer series related to community college fundraising. This is article four of the series.
Question: How has an annual fundraising plan relieved or minimized staff burnout? Can you provide an example and share results? Can you provide an example of how you could have avoided staff burnout if you had an annual fundraising plan?
Answer: Having an annual fundraising plan minimizes staff burnout and reduces stress and chaos. For example, for the 50th anniversary celebration (which included a fundraising campaign), the fundraising goal, activities and solicitations strategies were established by a committee. One of my employees was responsible for managing the anniversary fundraising campaign. The other fundraisers were able to focus on donor cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. Having a plan and clear and distinctive duties alleviates stress, confusion, duplication of effort, burnout, confusion and chaos. These elements are counterproductive and detrimental. At the college, we have found great value in planning, organizing and streamlining so that we can better leverage our limited human and financial resources to achieve our fundraising goals. The “flying by the seat of your pants” approach does not work for us.
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