2 Resolutions for 2012 Worth Making

I'm not advocating doing anything crazy, but what's something that makes sense for your donor base that you aren't doing yet?

I wrote an article some time ago about taking risks wisely; you can access it here. For those of you who want the abbreviated version: First defend any new idea with a short, written summary of the concept, potential audience, budget, timeline to implement and expected outcomes. If you can't adequately defend it, it's probably not the risk you want to take right now.

Secondly, limit your new strategies to one at a time so you can manage and measure. Next, when an idea fails, give it up; keeping it on life support seldom changes the outcome. Finally, evaluate every innovation — even when one fails, there may be successful portions that can be turned into a winning program.

You know your donor file, and you have statistics to show what works with them. I never advocate giving up what works to chase after the newest, shiny fundraising program. But add something new and see if you can attract a new demographic of donors, increase average gift, improve annual donor value, reactivate lapsed donors — or whatever will make 2012 an even better year of fundraising for your nonprofit.

Enjoy your New Year and remember: There should always be "fun" in FUNdraising. I hope you are enjoying this challenging career as much as I am.

Pamela Barden is the creative juice and the copywriting machine behind PJBarden Inc. You can follow Pamela on Twitter @pjbarden.