Implementing a fundraising plan can be daunting work. It can appear even more daunting if someone stands at the starting point and sees only what the project will look like at its ending point.
Looking at the program as a series of steps can make it appear, and be, much less intimidating. Those steps must be taken by both leaders and team members.
During the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Fundraising Conference, Kerry-Ann Powell of The Harvest Group offered the necessary steps for plan implementation, using as an example the fundraising effort by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation to build a monument to the slain civil rights hero. Powell offered the following steps:
For leadership:
* Cast the vision and inspire.
* Articulate the objectives and priorities.
* Reiterate timelines. Focus on the first 90 days.
* Introduce the team and person who owns the tactic.
* Be visible throughout.
For the team:
* Execute the design plan, and do not implement on the fly.
* Use checks and balances to determine progress.
* Track performance and results against Objectives.
* Make course corrections as necessary.
For the organization:
* Ask what barriers to effective implementation of the funding tactic were foreseen or already existed.
