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The Development Plan: Foundation for Success

by Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE, President and CEO, Capital Venture

What the Plan Looks Like
Part Three

One thing to remember about your development plan is that it's more than a document. Both the process and the product are important.

In past articles we've talked about the importance of having a development plan as well as who should be involved in its creation and implementation. It is equally important to have a written document to follow. This document will be critical to the evaluation process, which we will discuss in the next article.

The document should begin with an analysis of your organization's prior development efforts (provided the organization has made such efforts in the past) and also state your organization's mission and vision, which should drive all development efforts. Next, list the broad-based goals of the development plan as well as the objectives of each goal.

Goals and Objectives

Many times, people confuse goals and objectives. Goals are broad-based items, for example:

• Raise public awareness of our organization;
• Develop a more effective board of directors; or,
• Increase alumni participation.

Objectives, on the other hand, are more specific and should be SMART:

• Specific;
• Measurable;
• Action-oriented;
• Realistic (yet visionary); and,
• Time-defined.

Objectives for the goals stated above might be:

• Develop a website that is frequented by 100 potential donors each month, by December 2008;
• Increase the size of our board from nine to eighteen people, by 2010, adding three people each year over the next three years; or,
• Increase the percentage of alumni who contribute through the annual phone-a-thon from 14% to 25% over the next two years.

The Specific Steps

Specific strategies or action steps to accomplish the stated objectives should also be included. It is critical to address three questions for each objective in the development plan:

• Who is going to take action?
• When will the activity be completed?
• How much will this strategy cost? What are the benefits (financial or otherwise)?

Timelines, responsible personnel, and budgetary needs, which will be critical in the evaluation process, should also be included.

Each strategy must be specific enough to be able to identify exactly what the organization is going to do in order to achieve each goal and the accompanying objectives. Strategies must be measurable, meaning you can determine if you have accomplished specific steps. (For example, did you identify 20 potential development committee members by August 31?) Strategies should be realistic, yet visionary. (Can you list 20 people who are logical prospective members of this committee and who you believe would likely agree to serve on the committee?) And, as shown below, each step should have a timeline to measure the organization's progress.

A typical segment of the plan might look like this:

All areas of development should be covered in the development plan, including various fundraising approaches, such as direct mail, grants, special events, telephone fundraising, and personal solicitation. The plan should also address the various constituencies that will be approached for support, such as foundations, corporations, individuals - which may include alumni, parents, members, community members - and organizations, such as churches, service clubs, etc.

The development plan should also focus on the infrastructure that is needed to manage a development program - technology; communications; research and cultivation; stewardship; human resources, including board, staff, and volunteers; and policies and procedures.

The development planning document should be easy to follow, be referred to often, and be evaluated regularly. In the final article in this series, we will look at how to measure success and adjust the plan when necessary.