SMART is an acronym that is gaining notable popularity in the business world and stands for the key functions that experts say generally need to be incorporated into your goals to align you on the path to success. This system was introduced in 1981 when an article by George Doran (There’s a SMART way to write management goals) highlighted the need to methodically establish what you will work on to optimize your chances of success.

This gave rise to the five-part model of cultivating the best objectives for projects in many industries. Although many variations have emerged explaining the phenomenon of SMART goals, the ideal model for fundraising would comprise;

S – SPECIFIC

M – MEASURABLE

A – AMBITIOUS/ ACHIEVABLE

R – RELEVANT

T – TIME BASED

Using this SMART model to cultivate and set goals for fundraisers and other projects makes it easy to create effective action plans for them and also makes it easy to later assess levels of success. Proper advice and counsel on fundraising activities, especially for nonprofits, charities, and social businesses, can be obtained through the right nonprofit and fundraising consultancy.

The details of the SMART model for fundraising can be explained as follows;

S – SPECIFIC

First of all, it is very important to clearly determine what the end result will be when setting goals. In the fundraising environment, being specific simply means being crystal clear about your financial goals and the impact it will have on your organization when these goals are achieved.

Go above and beyond to answer the questions of “what” needs to be done to achieve the stated goals? And “who” will benefit from the fulfillment of these objectives? Together with “where” and “why” they increase the specificity. Clearly outlining and writing down these specific goals helps avoid distractions. Examples of specific goals for fundraising could be:

• Get 200 new donors

• And raising 25% of last year’s total donations to provide food, housing, and education to exploited homeless teens.

M – MEASURABLE

This feature of the SMART Fundraising Goals model provides some clarification on specific goals set by answering “how much” and “how many” questions to make them easily quantifiable. In other words, measurability can be achieved by establishing defined methods of how to know if objectives are met or not, such as:

• how much will be raised

• Who will be responsible for tracking progress

• How to know when the objectives are met or not.

A – AMBITIOUS/ ACHIEVABLE

It is very beneficial when fundraising goals are ambitious and achievable. There is significant difficulty in using the understanding of skill and available resources to hit the sweet spot between realistic and ambitious goals. It’s important to note that difficult goals often encourage higher performance. However, always keep in mind that unrealistic and unattainable goals can lead to frustration and damage to morale, which is especially key for fundraising.

Providing answers to the following questions will help any organization set achievable fundraising goals:

• Average donation size?

• Funds raised from previous online campaigns and events?

• Number of donors in the previous campaign?

• Organizational resources (skills, time and money) committed to the fundraising campaign?

R – RELEVANT

Achieving setting specific, measurable, and achievable goals without relevance screams incomplete and false. It is indisputably necessary for fundraising goals to be relevant. In this SMART goals role, you need to clearly establish how fundraising and meeting the goals set for your organization’s cause works. Here the main question to be answered is “why?”.

To thoroughly verify the relevance of the fundraising goals to be set, it is vital to investigate the direct relationships to the organization’s missions. This can be done by declaring:

• What will it do particularly for your organization and its mission to achieve the stated goals?

• What direct or indirect impact will be felt by highlighting the lives to be improved or even saved?

• Does your target population benefit directly from this goal?

• Clear connections and relationships between the current activities of the organization and those after the achievement of the objectives?

Clearly describe who benefits from the funds raised in relation to the original missions of the organization, highlight and express relevance.

BASED ON TIME T

Although it is the last of the five SMART characteristics, it is just as important as the others because deadlines play an important role in making goals specific and measurable. A goal that is not based on time can be suspended indefinitely. Fundraising goals and objectives require consistent start and end dates, as they provide visible benchmarks and powerful motivation for both fundraisers and their donors. The deadlines must also be ambitious but possible because they are very important for the budget of the organizations. Having campaign schedules makes it easy to regularly check the level of progress towards goals. SMART fundraising goals should clearly describe:

• Campaign start date

• End date of the campaign.

• Campaign timeline with locations set at certain important points during the campaign

• Present steps and tasks to execute with suggestions to face challenges and unforeseen events.

Establishing, cultivating and executing SMART goals during the management of fundraising events and campaigns increases the probability of success, implementing success in raising the funds that the organization needs. This five-character SMART model can be very beneficial in ensuring success in managing social enterprise fundraising and other projects by giving focus and direction to your campaigns.