What to do when you don’t know how to reach a goal

Every time I have a goal number or gap in my budget I don’t know how I’m going to fill, I do this exercise to help me breakdown a big scary number into smaller, more obtainable steps. 

This exercise is based on building a gift pyramid, which is a breakdown of fundraising numbers into smaller numbers (or donors). It’s a “pyramid” because it shows how typically in an organization (not always), a lot of donors give a little, which make up the “base” of your gift pyramid, and a few donors give a lot, which make up the “tip.” Here’s an example:

This can be useful when you have no idea how you’re going to reach an overall number. Fundraising $100,000 may sound impossible. But asking 10 people/foundations/corporations to support with $10k suddenly is a little less out of reach. 

Pro tip: This can also be a helpful exercise to do on your current donor base - how many donors make up the top 20% of your fundraising? Ideally, you want a healthy distribution so that you’re not overly reliant on a handful of donors - including grants - to bring in the majority of your funding!

To build a gift pyramid, find an online free generator, like this one from Donor Search. Enter your goal $, and see what it suggests for the breakdown (for example, how many $100k gifts you need to secure, how many $10k, how many $5k, etc.). Feel free to adjust and play around with the numbers for a breakdown that makes sense for you and your current donor base. 

Then, put this in a Google Sheet, with a column for “target”, “current”, “prospective” to map out what you currently have and who you can approach. 

Don’t worry if you don’t have this 100% figured out - no fundraiser knows exactly where the funding will come from. But by going through this exercise of breaking down a big goal into smaller ones, you are taking an actionable step to getting unstuck. 

Now the most important part - look at your gift pyramid and ask yourself “what do I need to do to approach the 1st person?” I always suggest going with the easiest/least scary step or donor first and build on the momentum. 

Try this and let me know what your next step is!

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