Directing the Annual Program: Budget, Channels, and Growth Targets
Owning annual giving as a director: channel mix, cost per dollar raised, acquisition against retention spend, growth targets that are honest, and the plan the board approves. The program as an investment, defended in numbers and in relationships.
Through the Human Services lens
This is frequently the first time cost per dollar raised has ever been computed at the organization, because the shop is only now growing from one staffer to two or three and inheriting a director title along with the spreadsheet. The real decision is usually whether to keep running the annual gala that consumes weeks of staff time for a modest net, or fund the retention basics, a welcome series, fast thank-yous, that this module argues cost almost nothing by comparison.
Continuing education
1.00 points
Leadership and Management · Securing the Gift
Learning objectives
- Describe the annual program as a director sees it: a portfolio of channels with different costs, returns, and time horizons, funded by a budget the director must defend.
- Compute and compare cost per dollar raised, retention, and lifetime value by channel and by donor segment, and use them to set the acquisition and retention mix.
- Build an annual program plan and budget with growth targets a board can approve and a team can meet.
- Analyze a decision to move spending from acquisition to retention and identify what it changed.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 20 min
Video lesson
Owning the annual program as a director
III Discern · Leadership and Management
- 18 min
Field guide· PDF
Channel mix and cost per dollar raised
III Discern · Securing the Gift
- 20 min
Template· DOCX
The annual program plan and budget the board approves
VI Accompany · Leadership and Management
- 16 min
Case study· PDF
Case study: shifting spend from acquisition to retention
VII Multiply · Leadership and Management
This is members-only material.
Members get every lesson, template, and worksheet in all eight tracks, plus the support to put them to work in your shop.
More in this stage
Boards, Teams & Leadership
Running the Development Shop
Directing the work is a different craft than doing it. Plans, budgets, staff structure, and the operating rhythm of a healthy shop.
Capital Campaigns
Capital Campaign Readiness
Before the feasibility study, before the consultant: an honest readiness assessment and the two years of quiet work that make campaigns succeed.
Boards, Teams & Leadership
Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping Fundraisers
The average fundraiser tenure is 16 months. Build a team that stays: hiring for the real job, coaching the craft, and career paths that retain.