How can you balance your work and personal life during a major gifts campaign?

Forget pie-in-the-sky dreams and aim for reachable stars! Setting realistic goals for your major gifts campaign is like drawing a treasure map – you gotta know where the buried gold truly is (not just fantasize about mountains of it!). Start by digging into your org's past hauls – what fundraising magic have you pulled off before? Then, think like a detective, researching and cultivating potential donors: who's got the treasure-filled chests (and the generosity to share)? Now, map out your goals: fundraising target, timeline, donor connections – make them achievable, not "climb Mount Everest in flip-flops" crazy. This way, you won't face burnout or disappoint yourself or your team.

In my experience, using a project management tool, like Asana, Monday.com, or Basecamp, can greatly help with planning and prioritizing tasks across a specific period of time and across teams. If your organization does not have the capacity to subscribe to a project management tool, I would advise using your calendar to block off times for important tasks and set goals for each upcoming quarter. While it can be overwhelming looking at a list of 100+ major gifts prospects, try breaking down the list over several weeks or a month. This will allow you to focus on ~5 prospects/day.

Communicating your capacity with your manager and team is critical for major gifts fundraising success. In my experience, I've found that it can be hard to balance the actual work with all the internal ZOOM meetings that are put on my calendar. I would recommend communicating with your manager how much time you need to research potential donors, conduct outreach, and make calls/meet with prospects. Then, you can request sitting out of specific internal meetings or blocking off a percentage of your weekly time on your calendar.

Maintaining a balance between work and personal life during a major gifts campaign is crucial for your overall well-being. The nature of such campaigns can impact your physical, mental, and emotional health, emphasizing the importance of self-care. Prioritize your needs by ensuring a healthy diet, regular exercise, and moments of relaxation. Incorporate mindfulness or meditation to manage stress and anxiety effectively. Allocate time for personal activities, hobbies, or passions that bring you happiness and fulfillment. Recognizing the value of self-care not only enhances your ability to navigate the demands of a major gifts campaign but also contributes to sustained effectiveness and satisfaction in both your professional and personal life

It is incredibly important to celebrate the wins before jumping into another campaign or initiative- internally and externally. Amongst your team or organization, I would recommend shouting out the core team members that made the win possible, in-person at a staff meeting or through your internal communications platform. You can go a step further and organize a team breakfast or lunch to celebrate as well. Remember, the average tenure of a fundraiser is 16 months, so you want to ensure your fundraising team is motivated and energized for their next campaign, prospect call, appeal, etc. Externally, you want to thank your donors and share the impact of the collective fundraising win. What will these new funds allow your organization to do?

A team is critical to a major gift campaign especially in a nouveau area. A good plan with troubleshooting or if you like scenerio planning helps a lot. You are able to project outcomes negative or positive and become proactive. Estimated spending also becomes realistic with scenerio planing, you are able to engage castles in the air and moderate. You also able to engage strategic low invest high yield or high investment high yield against results and impact