How is your fundraising/development planning Going for 2025

[u/Nonprofit-Guru]

I'm curious how everyone is approaching fundraising/development planning for 2025. There are a lot of potential changes on the horizon. Are you changing anything up or keeping events and campaigns the same for the coming year? Any changes to communications? I want to make some changes, but don't want to dedicate too much time to anything new in a year that could have a lot of changes.

What are you struggling with? What are you excited about? I want to hear it all!

[u/jcravens42]

A nonprofit I work with is going to do a lot more messaging about why it is necessary to provide the services that we do. We think that will not only help with donations but also help educate a lot of people who don't seem to understand the profound wealth gap and why people with full-time jobs can't make it to the so-called "middle class." We think it will also be useful to our elected representatives in making the case in legislative houses - we've kept them with this latest round of elections, thank goodness, and they are all strong allies. We're also making sure our clients know that we are NOT changing, that we are not going to abandon our commitment to DEI, etc.

[u/Nonprofit-Guru → u/jcravens42]

First off - I'm kind of fan-girling. I've followed you for (quite a few) years and have learned so much. :)

I love this idea. We have started talking about many of our programs and have they are serving the ALICE population. We've also started to use more of this language with elected officials, local and state. It's good to know we're on the right track with this thinking. We serve some "controversial" populations and showing impact goes a long way in helping donors and the general public understand why there programs are important. We've become better at showing impact and keeping the conversations focused on that versus what/how/why we do it. People want to know how their contribution makes an impact.

I love that you are doubling down on the commitment to DEI. DEI is a part of our organization as much as any program we provide. The board, leadership, and staff are committed to the principles of DEI and I hadn't thought of promoting that.

[u/jcravens42 → u/Nonprofit-Guru]

Well, first off, THANK YOU for the compliment. I'm honored.

I am lucky because this particular nonprofit has a national body that is unwavering in its values, even in the face of the incoming administration, and so I can fall back on that if a local board member starts complaining that we shouldn't be so "woke." As far as I'm concerned, if national says it in a social media post or on the web site, we can too. That was something I did at the UN a lot, when I would be in an office where, say, there was zero activity around gender equity: I'd go to official UN messaging and policy and then start putting requirements in reports and messaging.

I think promoting DEI right now is more important than ever - people need to know which nonprofits have their back, so to speak.