Rule #64: “Strategy drives EVERYTHING!”
Keith Cleghorn
Executive Vice President of Client Services
Too often, organizations begin fundraising conversations with tactics. Should we launch a campaign? Send another email? Host an event?
While these are important decisions, the most effective fundraising doesn’t begin with activity—it begins with clarity about the objective.
Doug Shaw captures this principle well in Rule #64: Strategy drives EVERYTHING! in his book “More Rules of Fundraising.” Strategy isn’t the same thing as tactics. Strategy begins by defining the result the organization must accomplish and by understanding why people will respond. It establishes the overarching approach for achieving that result. Tactics are simply the methods used to execute that strategy.
This distinction extends far beyond fundraising. Healthy fundraising programs are often a reflection of healthy leadership. Organizations rarely struggle because they chose the wrong tactic; more often, they struggle because the leadership team hasn’t reached clarity about what they’re trying to accomplish—or what problem they’re actually trying to solve.
Good strategy isn’t built on intuition. It’s informed by data, experience, and donor behavior. When leaders begin with data instead of assumptions, they’re far more likely to choose tactics that produce results. Strategy provides a framework for making better decisions instead of simply reacting to the next challenge.
At Douglas Shaw & Associates, we spend less time asking “what campaign should we run?” than we do asking “what are we trying to accomplish, and what does the data tell us?”
When strategy comes first, tactics become much easier to identify. Resources are stewarded more wisely, teams become more aligned, and fundraising grows more effective. Because when the objective is clear, the right decisions become easier to make.
Read the next rule here . . .
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