If you don’t have a fundraising retreat planned for this summer, take the time to get yours on the calendar and to personally reach out to those you want to attend. Investing in a retreat will help advance your campaign in the months ahead. That’s why people now call these sessions an “advance,” instead of a retreat. No matter the name, the outcomes are priceless. We recommend structuring your retreat to achieve the following five outcomes.
Increased knowledge and understanding. Share information about the organization’s mission, vision, goals, successes-to-date, and the impact that the fundraising campaign will make. This is at the core of your campaign – everyone needs to be able to tell the story, and to tell the same story! Share the case for support with participants. Encourage participants to ask questions. Include time for staff to talk about how the campaign will impact their work.
A stronger team. Be sure to invite campaign leaders and volunteers along with staff who are involved in fundraising. Participants can include the board chair, members of the development committee, campaign chairs, development staff, people from your finance team, and your executive director or CEO. Create activities that encourage people to get to know each other. Encourage participants to come prepared with a short description of their role in the campaign, a success they have experienced, and a question or solution.
Agreed upon activities. You want to make sure that when people leave the retreat, they know what they are going to do over the coming months, and what everyone else is going to do. These next steps can be as simple or as complex as they need to be. For example, for those directly involved in fundraising, they may leave with a commitment to meet with specific people to introduce the campaign. The people from finance may leave with a charge to create financial reports that more clearly communicate how much has been raised and for which priorities.
More targeted marketing and communications. When marketing staff or consultants are part of a retreat, they can gain a better understanding of the audiences being targeted, and how the message needs to be refined for each audience. They can listen to questions about the case for support and update the document/video(s) to answer those questions.
Meaningful reports. Take time during the retreat to look closely at fundraising reports. Discuss which information is most helpful and where more – or less – detail is needed. Different people will want different reports to support their work. When your data specialist participates in the retreat, they can modify reports to provide more meaningful data.
These are suggested outcomes. Take time to define what you want to achieve and create an agenda that guides participants towards those outcomes. What’s most important is that you don’t waste people’s time: share the agenda and materials in advance. Modify these to meet participants needs. Include some fun as you help your team gain the information and understanding they need to be successful in the months that lie ahead.
Copyright 2023 – Mel and Pearl Shaw of Saad&Shaw – Comprehensive Fund Development Services. Video and phone conferencing services always available. Let us help you grow your fundraising. Call us at (901) 522-8727 or visit www.saadandshaw.com.
