Development Assistant Essentials
Whether your ministry is introducing a Development Assistant, or expanding your program staff, there must be a clear and focused list of priorities.
Work will expand or contract to fill the time available. Today I want to share four ways to streamline development assistant tasks to best benefit your efforts.
- Instant gratification. Imagine receiving a call immediately after giving! Donors need to be thanked; having an available person to reach out, to make that phone call in a timely manner will help your ministry stand apart from the rest. Whether the giver speaks with a live person or listens to a heartfelt voicemail, a connection is made. You value them – not just their dollars.
- Face-to-Face Focus. An assistant is a wonderful opportunity for a second set of eyes when it comes to your scheduling face-to-face prospect meetings. I encourage leaders to not fully delegate their scheduling with donors, but to rather expand scheduling possibilities. You have your list of people to focus on. The development assistant has additional prospects they work on scheduling. Together you arrange twice the number of opportunities to become and remain relevant to potential donors.
- Relevant Reports. Follow-up communication is key for events in today’s world because givers want to know how their money is impacting others. Placing a development assistant over reaching out for communicating routine updates retains donors and frees up your time for donor recruitment.
- Automated Accountability. Arcs in the giving year require forecasting, follow-through, and follow-up. A development assistant can alleviate some of the responsibilities for the October – December and April – June campaigns. Depending on the level of detail and the level of steps that you are taking through the year, your ministry has a packed timeline. Utilize assistants by having them monitor and update you on deadlines, upcoming due dates and overall progress to help you better meet goals.
These are four essential priorities a ministry’s development assistant can focus on to maximize impact and grow significant giving as you move forward!
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