You spent the year planning your fundraising activities. Now that the school year is coming to a close, it’s time to take a look at the results. Just how successful were you? What worked and didn’t work? What would you change? Those are just a few of the questions you should ask yourself at the conclusion of a fundraiser.
Evaluating your results, just like the planning process, is an important part of successful fundraisers. It gives your group a chance to decompress and compare notes as well as share thoughts and ideas. Here are three tips that will help you determine whether or not your fundraiser was a success.
- Tap participants for feedback. The more information you can glean from your volunteers, teachers and the school’s principal the better the next fundraiser will be. What did they like or dislike about the fundraiser? What worked? What would they change? What was the feedback from the community? After all, your volunteers are the ones on the front line, and soliciting feedback from them is crucial to how you will go about planning for your next event.
- Compare results from previous years. Numbers don’t lie. Ask yourself these questions. Did you reach your goal? Did you fall short? Did you stay within your budget? How does it compare to last year? If an event or product didn’t meet your expectations then maybe you need to find something else to sell for next year.
- Don’t be afraid to evaluate. Sizing up your fundraising efforts helps you face the facts. Be honest with yourselves. Every group is different. What works for one, might not work for everyone. As you hear feedback it can help you avoid past mistakes, tweak your methods and approach, and integrate new ideas and strategies you may not have thought about before. A year-end evaluation will set the stage for the upcoming year and enable your school’s fundraising team to move forward with confidence that next year’s events will be even more successful than the last one.