What are your org’s New Year’s resolutions?
Posted Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 1:16 pm by Shiloh (12 posts)
It’s official, 2008 is over. The ball has dropped, presents have been unwrapped, and yesterday we inaugurated a new president. In the nonprofit online fundraising world, the end of the year means a brief respite from the days of frenetically paced emails, calculus-level equations to determine segmented content targeting, and new, specially designed holiday landing pages and donation forms. By now, you’re no longer anxiously watching donation figures in one of the worst financial periods of US history. Your numbers are in. It’s a perfect time for reflecting on what you learned and resolving to be stronger in 2009.
As you begin making the transition from year end fundraising to a solid plan for 2009, take stock of what worked and what didn’t. Look at the systems you used to implement your strategy last year. Where were the inefficiencies? Did you have any delays or late nights as a result of these inefficiencies? I know, I know, you made a special attempt to forget those over a beer at the office holiday party. But they were likely there, and you made a mental note to take care of them after the new year. Whether it’s tweaking your data integration to ensure accurate reporting, updating your web stylesheet to take care of that annoying spacing issue, expanding your social networking presence, or reviewing your donation funnel and forms to make sure they’re streamlined and user-friendly, it’s a great time to get started.
The specific line of questioning you use will depend on your role, but regardless of your position, mapping out your year now will ensure your enhancements have been implemented, tested and revised in plenty of time for holiday 2009.
