Pledge Drive Over? Time for Strategic Review (Part 1)

To reduce the likelihood of next year’s annual pledge drive being a do-over of this year’s, or worse – a reinventing the wheel – don’t completely wrap up before you do a Strategic Review of this year.

And guess what? The best time to engage and recruit new folks or leaders for your Stewardship Team in the coming year? During the Strategic Review! This will give them a chance to learn what has been done, and to use that information to build a better drive next year.

Discussion Points

Let’s start with discussing how things went (we will get to data in the next post!).

For each of the activities that you were engaged with, gather input from everyone involved (minister, administrator, treasurer, board members, stewardship team, event volunteers, etc.) regarding:
What went well?
What could have gone better?
What’s your suggestions for the next effort (pledge drive next year, any future capital fundraising)?

Consider these Categories:

• Recruitment, Orientation, and Preparation of Key Leaders. Was intelligence from past years used? Would different or additional information have been helpful? Were the tasks covered sufficiently, or would different roles and positions have been helpful?
• What Strategies were Used? Were these implemented well? Were they effective? Did they effectively reach all of the members and potential contributors? Were some strategies specifically for people that you particularly wanted to reach?
• Recruitment and Use of Stewardship Volunteers. Were enough volunteers engaged? were their duties clear; was there good communication with them?
• Member and Contributor Lists. Was input gained from Caring and Membership, so sufficient information was available to approach everyone effectively? Were the lists updated during the drive so people were not asked after they had pledged, or were “missed”? Was the pledge drive used to clean up the membership list (not recommended!)?
• Materials and Communications. Did you take advantage of all of the communication outlets available, with materials that suited each format? Which got the most “views”? Which seemed the most effective? Did you use data, rationale, stories, history, visuals, quotes, prayers, and testimonials so everyone had something that might touch and inform them?
• Events and Worship. Were there ways for people to engage – with their actions? In celebration? Were they inspiring, thought provoking, challenging, moving, delicious, fun(!)? Were there chances to build community? Were some people missed or not given the chance to be included?
• Role of Minister and Staff. Were clergy and staff used well? Were they carrying too much of the drive, were they not informed/engaged? Were they invited to provide their expertise and creativity? What did they say about their involvement?
• Enthusiasm, Vibe, and Morale. Did the drive build on enthusiasm for the congregation? Did the members and the team feel good about their pledges and about giving? Did it instill anticipation or dread for next year’s drive?
• Wrap Up. Did the drive go on and on, or wrap up smartly? Were the methods to reach out to those who did not respond effective and efficient? Were those messages caring and supportive or punitive? How well did it go?
• Record Keeping & Data. Was the recording of pledges and gifts efficient? Are systems in place for reminders and auto pays, for quarterly household pledge payment reports? What data will be useful for next years leaders to be looking at? What kind of data analysis do we need; can we do?
• Timeline. Did the planning start at the right time in the calendar? Was the active part of the drive (opening to closing) to long or too short? Was there an overlap or conflict with another effort or event which created a distraction?

The Part 2 will be about data – put both of these together to start your planning for the next cycle!

Mark Ewert is a stewardship consultant with the Stewardship For Us team. Mark works with congregations on their stewardship programs and can be reached at mewert@stewardshipforus.com, via the UUA’s Congregational Stewardship Resources page (http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/consulting), or through your regional staff.