As you plan your annual campaign, make sure you develop an annual campaign timeline to share with your staff and appropriate volunteer leadership. Your timeline can be as comprehensive as you see fit for your organization. Below is a shortened version of an annual campaign timeline for a two-month lasting annual campaign.
August, 20XX
- Run list of all last year’s campaign volunteers and how much they raised
- Meet with staff and key volunteers to discuss new volunteer leadership for annual campaign
- Meet with annual campaign chair
- Meet with marketing committee chair
September, 20XX
- Hold resource development committee meeting
- Hold marketing committee meeting
- Provide designer with annual report contents
- Recruit campaign radio/TV media
- Start lead phase solicitations for major corporate donors
- Send letter to last year’s annual fund volunteers and ask for renewed engagement
- Continue identifying new annual fund volunteers for annual campaign
October, 20XX
- Organize board campaign giving committee
- Send annual fund invitation to new volunteers
- Finalize/edit campaign PSA and distribute to media
- Send newsletter to all donors and volunteers – fall issue
- Edit and finalize pledge cards
- Edit and finalize annual report
November, 20XX
- Hold resource development committee meeting
- Hold marketing committee meeting
- Start board campaign and update board campaign giving committee weekly
- Send annual report and pledge cards to printer
- Send annual report to all annual fund volunteers and all donors $500 up
- Provide board an update of the amount raised by board campaign
- Send invitations for Holiday meeting
- Send Holiday direct-mail solicitation to all donors and volunteers by 12/XX
December, 20XX
- Host Holiday board meeting 12/XX
- Send invitations to annual fund volunteers for annual fund training
- Setup campaign landing page on website
- Push board campaign
- Continue lead phase solicitations for major corporate donors
- Provide board with solicitation packages
January, 20XX
- Finalize board campaign
- Hold resource development committee meeting
- Hold marketing committee meeting
- Hold annual fund training 01/XX for current and new annual fund volunteers
- Send newsletter – winter issue
- Schedule radio/TV interview for campaign
- Provide annual fund volunteers with solicitation packages
February, 20XX
- Host campaign kickoff 02/XX
- E-mail weekly campaign updates
- E-mail bi-monthly individual summaries
- Conduct radio/TV interviews for campaign
- Mail end-of-month campaign update
- Place first campaign ad in local newspaper/business journal
March, 20XX
- Campaign is in full swing
- Hold resource development committee meeting
- Hold marketing committee meeting
- E-mail weekly campaign updates
- E-mail bi-monthly individual summaries
- Mail end-of-month campaign update
- Place second campaign ad in local newspaper/business journal
- Conduct radio/TV interviews for campaign
- Wrap up all pledges by 03/XX
- Tie up lead gifts
April, 20XX
- Orchestrate final campaign push
- E-mail weekly campaign updates
- Place third campaign ad in local newspaper/business journal
- Host campaign finale 04/XX
- Send newsletter – spring issue
May, 20XX
- Send end-of-the-year solicitation letter to all donors and volunteers who have not given to annual campaign by 05/XX
- Send thank-you-letter to board & annual fund volunteers, including final campaign report
June, 20XX
- Hold resource development committee meeting
- Hold marketing committee meeting
- Meet with staff and key volunteers to evaluate annual campaign
- Remove campaign landing page from website
July, 20XX
- Send newsletter – summer issue
- Recruit annual campaign chair
- Recruit marketing committee chair
