Why nonprofits don’t need goals (and what they need instead)

I heard James Clear on a podcast recently and he said, “Be more concerned with your trajectory than your position.” I paused the podcast, backed up 30 seconds, and listened again to make sure I heard it right because I knew I’d be sharing those words over and over again. 

I loved this statement because many of us get really focused on our position (where we are right now and where we want to be) instead of focusing on where we’re headed. I’ve certainly been guilty of this.

I’m guessing you’ve already heard or read your fair share of goal-related advice. I used to be a hard-core goal setter but after declaring my word of the year as Progress in 2019, my mindset really shifted. I still set mini-goals for myself but I don’t get so tied up in them anymore, even though I have the kind of personality that pretty much guarantees I’ll meet my goals (this isn’t as great as it seems, trust me). 

But all the talk about goals and resolutions got me thinking about nonprofit life and why I think nonprofits really don’t need goals.

Let me explain by asking my nonprofit leaders this: Have you ever been in a board meeting where your board members debated what the fundraising goal should be? If not, it’s quite an entertaining process. Oh, they pour over the budget and the expenses and if the word “stretch” isn’t used, the meeting doesn’t count 😜 

I’m exaggerating a little but unfortunately, it does happen like this often. And it results in a Board Chair handing the Executive Director a set of “goals” that may or may not be attainable. But that’s not even the worst outcome.

The worst outcome is a set of goals that looks great on paper but even if achieved, it doesn’t move the nonprofit forward. 

Why wouldn’t meeting a stretch goal move you forward?

Because even when you meet a big goal, you haven’t established the systems to help you recreate that success. The result is a staff that is constantly pushing to meet the next goal, ignoring best practices for slow, steady growth and accelerating toward burnout. Not to mention, the difficulty it presents when budgeting for programs and staff.

What your nonprofit needs more than lofty goals are systems that move you forward at a steady pace and allow you to recreate success year after year.

What do I mean by systems? Let’s look at a few examples of goals vs. systems (or KPIs)

Goal: Raise 10% more this year than last year (this is being generous to the goal setter because typically that statement is just a number with no regard to the percentage increase or what segment those funds will come from)

System: Establish a donor communications schedule that prioritizes current donor retention and regularly provides the opportunity to reach out to potential new donors. 

See the difference? Any team can pull out all the stops and have a banner year. You might stumble onto a large gift that isn’t repeatable or have an event that does better than usual which results in meeting the big goal but doesn’t solve how you’ll do that again the next year. 

The system, on the other hand, creates a mechanism that you can scale and use to create momentum. If you know you’re emailing your current donors quarterly with relevant information about the progress you’re making, the initiatives completed, the programs on the horizon, and a strong call to action, you can predict the conversion rate of those emails based on simple analytics. No matter how big your donor list grows, you’re still only writing the emails four times per year and the bigger your list grows, the more dollars you raise. Plus, when this system is working, you’ll have more time to go after potential new donors.

Let’s look at one more example.

Goal: Find five new opportunities to do bingos, spirit nights, and raffles to raise more money.

System: Create a fundraising event analysis that truly captures the cost of low-impact “events” and evaluate whether this time is better spent on one-to-one fundraising. 

How many times have you gotten into a spirit-night-type event and realized it takes more time and effort than you thought? The appeal is strong. The restaurant promises an easy avenue to lots of money -- just give these flyers (with the restaurant’s branding all over them) to everyone you know, have them come to eat, and you’ll get 10% of the sales. If they show the flyer. If they come during this tiny window of time. If. If. If. 

So you dedicate printing costs to the flyers. You spend time posting about it on social media. You assign staff to man the event. And you get what? A few hundred dollars? And those who typically attend? You guessed it - they are already donors. Or, they are board members and family members who already know (and probably) support what you do. 

But the exposure, you say! Do you mean that flyer that had all the restaurant’s branding on it? 

What if instead, you took a few hours to outline the steps these spirit nights involve, calculated the true cost of doing them, and then brainstormed five other ways you could raise the same amount of money with less work? I’m not saying events are bad! Many nonprofits use events as a lifeline to their budgets and systems like Tixily are making it even easier to sell tickets online.

But what if you took the time it took to do these spirit nights and made phone calls to your existing donors instead, thanking them for their giving? What if the staff you assigned to the event spent those two hours writing thank you notes? Or batching social media posts for the next month that tell the impact of your work and not the pleading to come and eat at Outback?

While the immediate, short-term outcome of the system might not be cash in your account, the long-term gains of cultivating loyal donors will almost certainly outweigh the benefits of a few hundred dollars.

The data is crystal clear - you will always raise more money through one-on-one fundraising than you ever do at these one-off events that really benefit the restaurant more than you. 

I’m not saying they are wrong or bad. I’m saying that if you establish a system to evaluate their true impact first, you will be able to see the long-term benefits instead of the short-term gains and make better decisions. 

The benefit of systems is the ability to create a process that will serve you not just this year but for years to come. Goals are important because they give us something to reach for and something to keep us motivated. But if we are only consumed with reaching the goals each year and then starting over on January 1st, we are short-changing our potential. 

Once you have your systems in place for donor retention, evaluating events, and for marketing your nonprofit year-round, you can start to add in goals that make sense for you. With systems in place to support those goals, you’ll find a much better balance and probably be surprised at the ease of meeting what once seemed to be unattainable goals.

“Be more concerned with your trajectory than your position.” Now that you have the systems mindset, you can put this statement into practice. Your position might leave you “behind” on a particular goal but with a system in place for long-term growth, your trajectory will be right on target. 

What systems will you put into place this year? Tell me about them in the comments!

Until next time,

Andrea

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