Does your nonprofit keep a marketing and fundraising calendar?

If your answer to that question isn't a resounding, YES, then you need to read on. And if your answer is, "What's that?" then you really, really need to read on.

I know that on a good day calendars and scheduling are about as exciting as sorting your sock drawer, but they are so very important to your nonprofit's fundraising and marketing success that we really do need to drudge through the topic.

A Marketing/Fundraising Calendar is a year-long calendar where you plan what marketing/fundraising activities you'll do when. You have 2 types of events for the calendar: the end date where you plan to finish the project and then the little dates along the way where you need to schedule the tasks that lead to the finished project. After all, folks, fabulous marketing doesn't happen on its own. In fact, lackluster marketing doesn't even happen on its own.

Big marketing dates on your calendar might include things like:

Completing your website
Getting a brochure
Redesigning your logo (or even getting a logo)

Big fundraising dates might include things like:

Fundraising letters (you should send at least 1 each quarter)
Annual report (this can cross over with marketing)
Newsletters (or e-Newsletters)

Then, you need to back up and start putting in the tasks that need to get done to meet these deadlines.

View your deadlines as written in ink and set in stone. The tasks can be flexible, but the end date is set. If you don't do that, then you'll find yourself constantly bumping back the deadline. A simple project will turn into a year-long headache.

HOW, you may be asking do you set up the calendar? (This is where we get a little geeky excited.) There are so many options for your yearly calendar, but here are a two that vary from super technically cool to super simple:

Our absolute favorite project management system (i.e. calendar and so much more) is Basecamp. Through Basecamp you can establish different projects, set your milestones (goals), assign to-dos, upload files and share them with your team, and, if you have a smart phone, you can access it from ANYWHERE.
We don't recommend using a traditional monthly calendar, because it's super helpful to see all your year's goals at once. When we first opened our doors, we printed a simple paper calendar. It was a series of 6, 8.5"x11" vertical sheets of paper divided into two months each. The dates were simply 1-31 with lines for the tasks/goals. We used self-laminating sheets, tied the papers together with pretty ribbon and hung it on our wall. It worked remarkably well to show us the year-at-a-glance.

Setting up a calendar can be really daunting, especially if you don't know where to start. But we've done dozens of these at Turnbull Marketing Group, and we would be delighted to help you set up your 2010 Marketing/Fundraising Calendar. Since it's calendar-time, we're offering a special -- $150 and here's what you get: