Before You Set New Goals: What Last Year Is Still Teaching You
“The past is kind enough to give you lessons. The present is kind enough to give you opportunities. The future is kind enough to give you both.”
January has a way of rushing us.
New calendars. New goals. New expectations—often layered on top of exhaustion from year-end fundraising.
Before you start setting ambitious targets or rewriting your fundraising plan, I want to offer a pause. Not a stall. A pause that leads to better decisions.
Because last year—whatever it looked like for you—is still teaching you something valuable.
If you’re willing to listen.
Start With Reflection, Not Resolution
Many nonprofit fundraisers approach January with a mix of relief and pressure:
Relief that December is over
Pressure to “do better” this year
That pressure often leads to rushed goal-setting, overstuffed plans, or quiet self-criticism. None of those create stronger fundraising.
What does help is a gentle, structured look at what actually happened—without panic or judgment.
Here’s a framework I use my clients, and one you can use on your own or with your leadership team.
What Last Year Is Still Teaching You
1. Look at Results—With Curiosity, Not Criticism
Start with the numbers, but don’t stop there.
Ask:
What worked better than expected?
Where did momentum stall—and when?
Which efforts felt disproportionately hard for the return?
Resist the urge to label outcomes as “good” or “bad.” Results are information. They tell you where alignment existed—and where it didn’t.
The goal here isn’t blame. It’s clarity.
2. Assess Capacity Honestly
This is the step many fundraisers skip—and the one that causes the most trouble later.
Consider:
How much time did fundraising actually have last year?
What competing responsibilities pulled focus away?
Where did you or your team feel stretched thin?
Capacity isn’t just about staffing. It’s about energy, clarity, decision-making support, and realistic expectations.
If last year required constant pushing just to keep things afloat, that’s not a personal failure—it’s a signal.
3. Examine Your Systems (or Lack of Them)
Strong fundraising rarely depends on heroic effort alone. It depends on systems.
Reflect on:
Did you have a content file to draw from—or were you reinventing the wheel?
Was donor follow-up consistent or reactive?
Did planning tools support you, or add complexity?
When systems are weak, even skilled fundraisers burn out. When systems are strong, good work becomes repeatable—and calmer.
4. Notice the Level of Support You Had
Fundraising doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
Ask yourself:
Were expectations clear between leadership and development?
Did board members understand their role in fundraising?
Were decisions collaborative—or last-minute?
Support shows up in many forms: clarity, trust, shared responsibility. A lack of support often explains underperformance more accurately than effort or skill ever could.
What Not to Do With This Information
Reflection is only helpful if it’s handled with care. Here are three common traps to avoid:
❌ Don’t Panic
A tough year doesn’t mean you’re failing—or that your organization is in crisis. Knee-jerk reactions often lead to unrealistic goals or frantic strategy shifts.
❌ Don’t Shame Yourself (or Your Team)
Fundraising outcomes are shaped by context, not just effort. Shame shuts down learning. Curiosity opens it.
❌ Don’t Overcorrect
Doubling your goals, adding more events, or piling on new initiatives without addressing underlying constraints rarely fixes the problem. It usually compounds it.
Let Reflection Guide Better Goals
Once you’ve taken stock—results, capacity, systems, and support—you’re ready to set goals that are grounded instead of hopeful.
Goals that reflect reality.
Plans that fit the people executing them.
Strategies that reduce stress instead of increasing it.
January doesn’t need to be loud or rushed to be effective. Sometimes the most powerful move you can make is listening carefully to what last year is still trying to tell you—and letting that wisdom shape what comes next.
If you’d like help translating reflection into a realistic, sustainable fundraising plan, that’s work I do every day. But whether you do it alone or with support, start now.
Slow down. Take stock. Then move forward with clarity.
