When you get back to the office or start up your computer again after a holiday, it always takes a while to get re-oriented. To help you refocus on your goals, here are a few tips for where to allocate your time in the first weeks of January.

We hope you had a peaceful and relaxing holiday season, with some time off to recharge. And when you get back to work, you can feel confident that you’re starting the year off right with these areas as your top priorities during your first weeks back.

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn…

• Where to focus your time and effort during your first weeks back after the holidays
• The value of doing a “year in review” session with your team or manager
• How to prepare for a caseload refresh so you have all the info you need in advance
• The importance of saving time for self-care and setting the tone for the new year

Read the Full Transcript of This Podcast Episode Here:

Jeff Schreifels 

It’s always a mad dash to get everything done before the holidays. And after you get back to work, it can take a few days to readjust and find your rhythm. So, to help you hit the ground running after the holidays, today, we’re sharing the five things we recommend you do during your first week back. And in the meantime, Happy Holidays from all of us at Veritus Group.

Recorded 

Welcome to the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus Group featuring Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels. Twice a month, we bring you the latest and best thinking about major gift fundraising, so you can develop authentic relationships with your major donors. Here are your hosts, Richard and Jeff.

Jeff Schreifels 

Welcome to the podcast today. I’m Jeff Schreifels. And I’ve got Richard Perry here with me. You know, you’ve may be anxiously looking toward the end of the week and the start of the holiday season. And whether you’re taking off next week or not, we hope that you’re able to have some time to take a break and have some time with loved ones.

Richard Perry 

I know I mean, even if you’re taking some time off for the next couple of weeks, it’s it’s going to be busy, it’s sure to be busy as you send it out, you know, your final reminders, and you write thank you notes and any of the other last of the year tasks. I mean, but once the dust has settled, here’s the question: what should your focus be for after the holidays?

Jeff Schreifels 

That’s a good one. Well, that’s what we’re going to be discussing today, so you have a clear plan of action once you’re back in the office in the new year. Richard, why don’t you kick us off with the first tip we recommend. But now just to let you know, we’ve got five tips here. Five of them. Yep, five tips. And Richard, why don’t you start with the first tip on what happens the first week back in January?

Richard Perry 

Well, I’d say that tip number one is basically stay vigilant. Stay vigilant with gift processing. Now we talk about this all the time, Jeff, about the back office and how important the back office is to the whole front-end donor thing. I mean, and how many stories have we heard of checks being lost, or receipts not going out properly?

Jeff Schreifels 

Well especially at this time of year, you’ve got that great story, Richard?

Richard Perry 

Yeah. Well, it was February 10th, I’ll never forget this February 10th, a year or two ago. I’m in a major non-profit. And I see this table with, I would say anywhere from 800 to 1000 envelopes stacked on it. And I said, Well, what’s this? Oh, well, these are gifts from donors that we haven’t processed yet. I said, you mean from Christmas, you mean from December? And they said yes. I said, Do you mind if I look at one of them? And so I picked up the envelope and I said, Oh, I’ve noticed you’ve taken the checks out? Oh, yeah, we take the checks out immediately and bank them the day they arrive. I said, Oh, so you’re taking care of the money, but not the donor. And you remember, Jeff that this is the same organization that had huge, huge value attrition, where you had millions of dollars going out the door, because donors were giving less. But the finance department could not support additional labor during the holiday season to process things right.

Jeff Schreifels 

I know, it’s a tragedy, and yet so many non-profits blow it. And so, if you’re listening to this, this is an opportunity for your organization and you as a fundraiser to, to rise above all the other non-profits out there that are going to blow it this year.

Jeff Schreifels 

If you can stay out in front of this thing, you’re gonna be way ahead of everyone else because no one is doing this properly. And so this is why you’re saying, Hey, this is probably the number one thing you do when you get back is look at all the gifts that have come in. Are they being receipted properly, but not just that, also, Richard, it’s, you know, are you doing it the right way as far as, you know, yes, are you getting the receipt letter out, but also for those donors that are giving those big gifts, are you thanking them properly? Calling them, all of those things.

Richard Perry 

The thank you notes. If their gift was supposed to be received by year-end and you don’t see it posted, you know, where is it? What’s going on? I mean, be vigilant, stay vigilant about gift processing, and everything that’s happening on the back end. Very, very important.

Jeff Schreifels 

All right. So that’s tip number one. Stay vigilant about gift processing. Thank your donors promptly. All right. Here’s the second tip: Do a year in review.

Richard Perry 

Yep.

Jeff Schreifels 

So this is a great time, you know, like, now that the year is done, you’ve done all this work in December and everything else through the whole year, now’s the time to dedicate some some chunk of your time in that first week back and look at what were the strategies that worked for you? What didn’t? What do you think you need to be more successful this year versus last year? And then what opportunities do you want to pursue this year, that last year set you up for?

Richard Perry 

You know, this is so interesting, this year in review, Jeff, because so many people don’t do that.

Jeff Schreifels 

No, because they just keep going right?

Richard Perry 

You just keep going and doing the same, I mean, we both know, and anyone listening knows, that there’s a whole bunch of stuff that doesn’t work. And there’s a bunch of stuff that does work. Well. What is that? What are you going to do more of, what are you going to do less of as a result of the analysis of the results?

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah, things like, what were some of the touch points that I sent out that were effective? What didn’t seem to resonate? So take stock of that, okay. A majority of the of donors that I sent this out to, I didn’t hear a peep from, but when I did this kind of a touch point, oh, gosh, okay, what were the differences there? What do I need to do differently this year?

Richard Perry 

So important to have critical thinking in that. All right, tip number three, do a caseload review and prepare for a refresh. And what we mean by that is, now you’ve gotten past, at least here in the United States, you’ve gotten past the biggest giving season. And so you now know what the donor has done or not done.

Jeff Schreifels 

Right.

Richard Perry 

And so now you have to start assessing that. Oh, this donor, I expected this, but apparently they’ve gone away. Hopefully you know why they have. But maybe you need to move some donors to mid-level or back into direct mail. Or there’s something else you need to adjust. The point is, is to look at all of that, and reassess the entire caseload in terms of should they be on the caseload? Should they be in a different tier? A complete review, I mean, we basically suggest a refresh of a caseload every six months.

Jeff Schreifels 

That’s right.

Richard Perry 

Every six months. So, December and July, somewhere in there. I mean, January, July, yeah. After the year-end. So it’s very, very critical to do that caseload review. Don’t just, I mean, we find so many cases, Jeff, they just keep going with them.

Jeff Schreifels 

I know. And that’s why you see these large caseloads because they just keep people on and adding people.

Richard Perry 

So that’s tip number three: do a caseload review, and prepare for a refresh, which means you’re actually going to do a refresh, you’re not just going to like, oh, well, it’s fine. We’ll just keep going.

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah. All right. Good one. Tip number three. Now, this is tip number four. And this is a little different, but make time to thank your team for all their hard work. So this is your internal team, all the people that help you be successful as a frontline fundraiser. And so what that means is you’re reaching out to Finance, the Program people, the back-end people that are receiving gifts. All the people that that help you do what you do. There might be even volunteers or even your other fellow frontline fundraisers that work with you. I mean, you’ve done all this hard work. Especially in December, everyone’s killing it. They’re working extra hours, they’re worn out. This is the time to write those little thank you notes. Take some people out to lunch. You know all the things that allow you to show your gratitude towards your colleagues.

Richard Perry 

So that’s the outward facing tip. And the inward facing tip is tip number five: take some time for self-care now. Even if you took some time off over the holidays, you still need to make some time and effort to prioritize your self-care to get back to work. I mean, so much happens after the year end, where frontline fundraisers, development directors and so on just like, cannot catch their breath, right. And the holidays can be very draining in a different way.

Jeff Schreifels 

Gotta to deal with family and all that stuff.

Richard Perry 

I know. And so you got to really take a moment to identify your accomplishments and really celebrate your successes. And you don’t need to feel like you got to just rush back in at full force into the work now. Jeff, we’re saying this as if the person listening actually has control over all of that. I mean, but, you know, to the extent you can, you’ve got to take care of yourself, or you won’t be your best self for the important work you got to do.

Jeff Schreifels 

Exactly, exactly. All right. So let’s just quickly go over these tips again. Just to remind you. First of all, stay diligent with your gift processing, thank people appropriately and promptly. Tip number two, do that year in review. Look at overall strategies, what worked, what didn’t work. Tip number three, do that caseload review. And then refresh that. Remember, no more than 150 donors on that portfolio. So some people are going to come off, others are going to come in. Tip number four, make time to thank your internal team, what they did for you. And then finally, take that time for some self-care as well. Those are the five tips. That’s what you do at the beginning of the new year, after all the work that you’re doing right now, in January, these are the five tips we give you.

Richard Perry 

And I suggest Jeff, why don’t you, you’re listening to this now, is write those five things down and tape them next to your computer somewhere where you’re going to pay attention to them. It shows you’re actually intentional about it.

Jeff Schreifels 

Great idea. Well, thank you, Richard, for joining me today and for this episode. And I hope this helps you set expectations for yourself and your team as you return from the holidays. And on behalf of our team, we hope you have a successful end of the year and a Happy New Year.

Richard Perry 

Yes, happy New Year. Thank you.

Jeff Schreifels 

Thank you and we’ll see you next time.

Recorded 

Thank you for joining us for the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus Group. Richard and Jeff also write an ongoing blog that you can subscribe to for free at VeritusGroup.com. Please join us again next time.

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Veritus Group is passionate about partnering with you and your organization throughout your fundraising journey. We believe that the key to transformative fundraising is a disciplined system and structure, trusted accountability, persistence, and a bit of fun. We specialize in mid-level fundraising, major gifts, and planned giving, helping our clients to develop compelling donor offers and to focus on strategic leadership and organizational development. You can learn more about how we can partner with you at www.VeritusGroup.com.

Additional Resources:

• [Blog] Five Things You Must Do in Caseload Management at the Beginning of This Year
• [Podcast] New Year’s Resolutions: Part One
• [Blog] Here’s What MGOs Should Do in January