Nepal Earthquake,

a project by The dZi Foundation

Digital Fundraising
Strategy Worksheet
A Planning Resource For Nonprofits

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 1

Contents
PART 1

Get Started
PART 2

Assess Your Current Position

PART 3

Set New Goals

PART 4

Develop Your Strategy

PART 5

Create Targeted Donor Strategy

PART 6

Build Your Case

PART 7

Monitor Your Progress

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 2

 PART 1

Get Started

Make this your best year for fundraising yet! Use this fundraising strategy
worksheet to assess your organization’s current fundraising capacity, set
challenging goals, and implement your plan.

1. Before completing this document, involve all parties responsible for your digital fundraising.
Make sure everyone is aware of the goals, plans, and most importantly, their role.

2. Remember, digital fundraising is often only a portion of an organization’s overall fundraising

strategy. This worksheet should not take the place of an overall fundraising strategy.

3. When planning your digital fundraising strategy, keep your organization’s budget projections in
mind. How much money does your organization expect to spend this year? How much income
do you expect from other sources?

4. Check out GlobalGiving’s annual calendar. You can find it online and search for GlobalGiving
Bonus Days, contests, and campaigns to include in your strategy. Even if you’re not yet part of
GlobalGiving, it’s helpful! You’ll find popular holidays and observances that might make good
fundraising opportunities for your nonprofit.

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 3

 PART 2

Assess Your Current Position

Use this section to learn from your organization’s successes and challenges last year.

How much money did your organization raise online last year? _________________

How many donors gave to your organization last year? _________________

How many donors were new? _________________

How many donors were returning? _________________

What donors were your largest sources of online donations? _________________

What tactics were most successful in generating online donations? Why? _________________________
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What tactics were least successful in generating online donations? Why? _________________________
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DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 4

 PART 3

Set New Goals

It’s time to set some challenging, yet realistic goals! These goals should not be arbitrary. Use
the previous section to consider how much you think your organization can expand its online
fundraising in the next year. Remember, fundraising takes staff time, money, and resources. So be
conscious of how much time it will take to accomplish the goals that you set. Below is an example,
with a larger chart for you to fill out on the following page.

2017 Online Fundraising Goal: $30,000 from 500 donors

GOAL Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Example: Add an additional 25 new 25 new 25 new 25 new

100 fans to our Facebook page Facebook fans Facebook fans Facebook fans Facebook fans

Example: Convert 20 Facebook 5 first-time 5 first-time 5 first-time 5 first-time

fans into first-time donors donors donors donors donors

Example: Convert 5 Facebook 1 recurring 1 recurring 1 recurring 2 recurring

fans into recurring donors donor donor donor donor

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 5

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____________ Online Fundraising Goal: $ _________________ from _________________ donors

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET

GOAL Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
 PART 4

Develop Your Strategy

What strategies are you going to use to accomplish the goals you created in the last section?
Consider strategies that will help you acquire new online donors, renew existing donors, and
upgrade past donors to major donors or recurring donors. Below is an example, with a larger chart
for you to fill out on the following page.

FINANCIAL ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT RESPONSIBLE

STRATEGY DESCRIPTION
GOAL GOALS DATES INDIVIDUAL

Example: Launch #GivingTuesday Sept. 5:

three-week is a popular Planning mtg.
Obtain pro bono ad
digital campaign charitable giving
$5,000 by Dec. 4 or earned media Alexis
to encourage day celebrated Nov. 6:
article in local blog.
donations on after Black Friday Campaign begins
#GivingTuesday and Cyber Monday.

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FINANCIAL RESPONSIBLE
STRATEGY DESCRIPTION ADDITIONAL GOALS IMPORTANT DATES

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET

GOAL INDIVIDUAL
 PART 5

Create Targeted Donor Strategy

Assess the practicality of your fundraising goal by taking a look at the donors in your network. What
is your projected donation volume from your major donors, your recurring donors, and groups in
your network? What are your goals for each of these donors? For larger organizations, it might be
unreasonable to look at each of your donors, so instead consider creating donor segments based on
giving capacity or behavior and adjusting your strategy accordingly.

TYPE PROJECTED RESPONSIBLE

NAME (ONE-TIME, RECURRING, GOAL
MAJOR, OR GROUP) DONATION VOLUME INDIVIDUAL

Increase donation
Alexis S. Major donor $500 Sarah
volume this year

Paul K. One-time $120 Convert to recurring Manual

Kiwanis Club Group $1,000 Host joint fundraiser Nadine

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 9

 TYPE PROJECTED RESPONSIBLE
NAME (ONE-TIME, RECURRING, GOAL
MAJOR, OR GROUP) DONATION VOLUME INDIVIDUAL

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 10

 PART 6

Build Your Case

When reaching out to donors, it is important to be consistent and clear. Know your organization—
your mission, your programs, your community of service, your past accomplishments—and
the value that you offer your donors. Use this questionnaire to develop consistent messages to
share with your donors this year. Be sure to revisit this section when drafting donation appeals,
newsletters, event invitations, etc.

What is your organization’s mission? _________________________________________________________________

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Why should donors trust your organization? _________________________________________________________

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What can your organization offer donors in exchange for their donations? (e.g. progress updates

or recognition in your annual report)? ________________________________________________________________

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DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 11

What has your organization accomplished to date? How many individuals have you helped? In

what communities? How have you helped them? ____________________________________________________

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Provide one or two stories of individuals whose lives have been changed because of your

organization. Seek permission and ensure their safety before sharing their stories. ______________

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DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 12

What are your programmatic goals this year? Why are these goals important? ____________________

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What would happen if your organization was not able to accomplish these goals? ________________

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What is the amount of contributions you will need from individual donors to accomplish

these goals? _____________________________________________________________________________________________

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How can donors help other than making financial contributions? __________________________________

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DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 13

 PART 7

Monitor Your Progress

Set up a meeting with responsible team members every quarter to assess your organization’s
digital fundraising progress. Use this time to determine if you have met the benchmarks you listed
in Part 3 of this worksheet and to reevaluate your annual goals. Based on your performance to
date, consider the strategies you have outlined and determine if those strategies are still realistic
and/or sufficient.

DATE TIME PLACE

Q1 PROJECTED DONATION VOLUME

Q2

Q3

Q4

DIGITAL FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WORKSHEET 14