Originally Posted on LinkedIn on May 17, 2017
Ah summer! Time to relax. Take a vacation. Enjoy those summer hours you’ve been anticipating all year. It’s been a busy year and you deserve some down time.
Down time? What’s that?
Development Department heads know that there is no such thing as down time. Non-profits are typically understaffed and overworked and development staff often fall victim to unrealistic expectations. You’d think that the high stress would earn the development team some solid R&R during the summer months. But no such luck.
While there is always plenty to do in July and August, the rhythm and mood often reflect those lazy, hazy days of summer. Here are some projects perfectly suited for summer that will have benefits in the months and years ahead.
Spring Cleaning in Summer: At home, clean your closets and organize your basement. In the office, clean up that database. Take time at the start of summer to evaluate the most troublesome problems with your database. Maybe it’s duplicates. Maybe it’s having your staff catch up on that pile of “things to be put in the database when there’s a free moment.” Maybe it’s finally capitalizing on some of the features of the database that your team has not been using. If the tasks are voluminous and repetitive, it may be a good assignment for a summer intern.
Christmas in July: There is no worse time to map out your end-of-year plan than at the end of the year. Summertime is perfect (unless you have already done it). Consider how you will build up to December with communiques in September and October. Plan your Giving Tuesday strategy. Figure out who on staff will be responding to donor inquiries during that critical last week of the year. Consider new approaches, including challenge matches or complementary communications campaigns. Brainstorm creative themes, but don’t spend too much time on the specific content. Nail down the logistics. Write it all down.
Relax and Ask: While your annual goals may be preventing you from relaxing, your wealthy major gifts prospects are relaxing in their summer homes and enjoying their extravagant vacations. Summer is the perfect time to culminate your year-long cultivation efforts into the actual ‘ask.’ Getting to ‘yes’ may be easier if you are sipping lemonade by their pool in the Hamptons. Of course, if your donors are not ready, summer remains a great time to cultivate with friend-raiser events or one-to-one outreach.
Working from Home? Planning on a Working Vacation? Write a LOT: Probably one of the most productive things you or your staff can do outside of the office is write. That’s why the summer months are perfect for writing materials to help year-round. The more you get done in July and August, the better prepared you will be throughout the year. Consider drafting a “canned” proposal for general operating support to present to foundations or programmatic reports to share with funders. You can also use the summer to update your acknowledgement letter templates or one-pagers to give to prospects describing your organization’s programs.
With Memorial Day coming up quickly, you probably have your long weekend and vacation plans confirmed. At the same time, plan for a productive summer to help you start September ready to surpass your fundraising goals. Think about the resources you’ll need — an intern or a consultant, information from other departments, time on the president’s calendar. Then get ready for the lazy, hazy, productive days of summer!
Adine Schuman Pusey Consulting 