I am delighted to send you some thoughts I had this week while on vacation. My husband and I traveled to DisneyWorld with our 14 year-old son this past week and we very much enjoyed the time as a family. My husband and I also got a kick out of seeing this place through the eyes of a teenager.
We arrived home last night and I am ready to spend the next two months building relationships and raising funds for my clients. I have heard from many professionals in fundraising that you cannot raise any money in the summer. “Everyone is on vacation and out of town,” is the comment I heard recently from another consultant.
Waiting until summer is over means that we lose one sixth of the year. I will admit that many people are out of town and those who have families may have very different schedules from the school year. Sometimes it is more difficult to contact potential donors, but there are also many fewer organizations attempting to contact them because “everyone is on vacation”.
This summer, I am encouraging my clients to select a handful of major donors to cultivate during the next eight weeks. Learning about a donor or prospect’s visit to an exotic place or their visit to their grandchildren can be valuable time spent in learning about their interests.
Do not buy into the fallacy that things do not happen in the summer. Ask what can you do next week to make your fall more successful.
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