under the snow, the flowers grow

You may not yet be done with the end of calendar year solicitations - as per my last post, I am officially not - my final ask of 2010 will be delivered between 8 and 10 am on the 31st to 6,000 or so alumni who have strong history of support without a 2010 gift (note that I am focussed on the donor centric calendar year, not my fiscal year construct.)

But that being said, it is completed, scheduled to send (along with an email tomorrow am with a more christmas centric giving message) and as of the middle of this afternoon, we are all on break until January 3.

While I am not at work, I am thinking about what I planned in our office retreat last February for us to do this spring. My own personal assignment to me over the next week and a half is to analyze what worked (I have access to reports and the Email Service Provider that we utilize from home) and so I will spend a couple of hours looking at what worked and what didn't work. I will make some changes to what we have planned based upon those results.

In executive summary format, what is working for me is simplicity - text based emails, messages from people rather than accounts and multi-platform messaging. The plan includes more and stronger reporting on where people are coming to the giving form from along with some smaller more targeted campaigns for specific funds. I will be working with on and off campus "signers" to center more around text messages from people rather than accounts to take advantage of what has been effective to date.

By taking advantage of this time to step back from the every day for a few days, I can plant those bulbs that will blossom into flowers as the spring unfolds. Fiscal year end is right around the corner - make sure that you are prepared.