Setting Goals

Staring a new year is a great time to look at setting goals for your organization.

Your organization would benefit and grow from periodically looking at your organization’s goals and setting new ones.  Setting goals offers your members and volunteers a clear understanding of where your organization is headed and helps give them a sense of accomplishment.

Here are some ways to help when it comes time to set goals:

1. Take a look back at your previous year.  Did you accomplish everything you wanted to?  Did you raise enough money to benefit your community?  Did your volunteers and members know where your organization was and is going?
2. Set SMART Goals, created by George T. Doran. These stand for:
   1. S – Specific (or Significant).
   2. M – Measurable (or Meaningful).
   3. A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
   4. R – Relevant (or Rewarding).
   5. T – Time-bound (or Trackable).
3. Look at the big picture.  Attainable goals are great, but so are wonderful goals that are difficult and hard to come by.  Having a “big picture” goal will help with this.  If you don’t have a mission statement, this would be a good time to make one.  Forbes.com has a great article on how to do this.  A mission statement will allow you to make sure your members can see where the organization is going and what everyone should be doing.

No matter what your goals turn out to be for the new year, Benefit Bidding can help you achieve them.  Fundraising is important and can help you achieve your goals and better help your community.