I'm charged with setting up Plans for our Devo team of 4 and I have many questions... Anyone who is a Plans guru, please email me and let me pick your brain!! Or if you know of someone I can contact, please let me know.
Here is my first question
One of my responsibilities is Annual Fund, Individual Giving up to $4,999. There are 6 Giving Levels that make up that group of donors. I send out monthly renewals with a standard 3 steps (month of - mail, month after - mail, and two months lapsed - get a call.)
Do I set up 1 plan for all my Indiv AF donors for the year? Do I set up a plan for each level of giving(6)? Or do I set up 12 plans by monthly renewals?
Thanks for any assistance!
I would set up one plan per fiscal year--assuming that your membership program operates on a yearly cycle.
I would then add a Step when their renewal mailing goes out. I wouldn't do more than that ahead of time, because ideally they are going to respond to you as soon as they see that letter, and you won't need more follow-up steps. So that when you do need to follow up with your second month-after mailing to your people that haven't renewed,you can add a new step that says "month-after mailing sent". And then those people will come back, and whoever doesn't, that's the time you add the phone call step. As time goes on, when you're looking at a constituent's profile, you can look through previous fiscal years and start to get a sense of when they tend to respond to your renewal mailings--whether they renew after the first mail piece, or they always need the phone call.
I hope that answers your question.
Also, having one plan per fiscal year is a clean, easy way to help you track your donors in a uniform way, as that income relates to your budgeting and reporting.