This 3-step exercise will bump your fundraising success to the next level.
I call it setting your “Largest Possible.” (LP, for short.)
Step 1: Think
Ask yourself the following question:
If I would really put in my best efforts, and I’d have all the elements I need for success in place, what is the largest possible $ (or £ or ₪) amount I could possibly imagine raising?
“But Avraham, I did everything I possibly could during my last campaign. What more can I do?”
Really? You did everything possible?
What about efforts or strategies or aspirations that were beyond the glass ceiling you set for yourself? What could you have done if you were free of any and all restrictions holding you back?
Be bold. Think big. Last year, you did $300K. Can your LP this year be $400K? Or, if it was $600K, could you move up to $1M?
So, what’s that LP? What’s the amount that springs to mind?
Step 2: Speak
Verbalize it.
Say it out loud: “If XYZ were in place (or out of the way), my “Largest Possible” goal for the next campaign would be $XXX.”
Have you said it yet? Good.
Now, once you’re really committed to your LP decision - which may take a few days of thinking - go ahead and verbalize it to your board, your staff, your team.
Why? Because sharing that LP is the first step toward making it reality.
Step 3: Plan
Strategizing time.
Take a blank piece of paper and write at the top: “How to get to $XXX in this year’s campaign.”
How indeed?
Well, a good place to start might be questioning your past beliefs about what’s really possible for you. Those ideas or plans you’ve rejected in the past? Why did you reject them? Can you rethink them?
Could you invest more? In manpower? In coaching? In new fundraising technology?
Another great resource - the advice of people who’ve done a good job of this before you.
Reach out to a few successful leaders and ask:
- How did they do what they did?
- Whom did they speak with?
- What was the game-changer for them?
The best part of this exercise?
The knowledge that once you’re able simply to express your LP, you’ll know you’re already doing great.
Don’t feel quite ready to nail down an LP? Star this email and come back to it again and again until you’re up for the challenge.
One simple exercise, incredible potential for results.
Have a great fundraising week,
Avraham
© Avraham Lewis & Co.