7 Steps to Setting SMART Fundraising Goals That Actually Work

Setting strong fundraising goals is one of the simplest ways a nonprofit can improve its stability, confidence, and revenue growth.

Yet, for most organizations, goal-setting gets pushed to the back burner – buried under the daily demands of programs, operations, and everything else that demands your attention. 

But when a nonprofit slows down long enough to define what it truly needs and how the dollars connect to making your mission happen, everything changes! 

Teams gain focus. 

Fundraising efforts become more effective. 

Donors feel more inspired. 

Leadership has a clearer path forward.

Whether you’re setting your first goals or revisiting last year’s numbers, this article will walk you through how to set nonprofit fundraising goals that work in the real world (not just on paper).

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Why Nonprofit Fundraising Goals Matter

A fundraising goal is more than a revenue target. It’s a: 

• Roadmap for your team
• Communications tool for donors
• Budgeting anchor for leadership
• Direction-setter for staff and your board

In the nonprofit sector, where needs often grow faster than budgets, it’s easy to default to the “we need more money” mindset. Many focus on just getting funding instead of considering what the true need is (supporting those lives you serve, for instance) and how that translates into the actions required for fundraising. 

Nonprofit fundraising goals bring specificity, clarity, and structure to the fundraising process. Meaning, clear goals help organizations choose the right fundraising strategies and understand where they need to best invest their time, energy, and resources. 

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What Makes a Fundraising Goal SMART?

Before diving into setting your fundraising goals, it’s important to take a moment to understand the core elements of effective goals – ones that are going to give you better results. 

These are known as SMART goals, and they are: 

Specific: Instead of “raise more money,” define where the revenue will come from and what it will support.

Measurable: Every goal should be tied to a specific number – not just raising “more”, but how much? 

Achievable: Ground your numbers in real data, NOT wishful thinking.

Relevant: Your goals should align with your organization’s strategy, programs, and capacity.

Time-Bound: Goals need deadlines and timelines to guide your plan.

Traditional “SMART” goals, however, can feel rigid for nonprofits. So, at MVP Advisors, we prefer a practical framework that leaves room for learning, adjusting, and growing (without sacrificing clarity).

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7 Steps to Setting SMART, Effective Fundraising Goals

Whether you’re planning an event, developing a campaign, or setting up a strategy for the year ahead, here are the steps you should take to set SMART fundraising goals for your nonprofit.

MVP Playbook Resource: Use our free SMART Fundraising Goals Worksheet to guide you through these steps as you set and work towards your own nonprofit goals.

Step 1: Start With Your Nonprofit’s True Funding Needs

The best fundraising goals start with an honest assessment of what your organization actually needs, not just what you hope to accomplish or what you’ve done before. 

This step ensures your fundraising plan is grounded in reality, not guesswork, and that you’re not pulling numbers out of thin air. Tying your goal to your needs can also help you better communicate this goal to your donors, enabling you to show the true impact of their dollars and earn their trust.

Start by reviewing: 

1. Your organizational budget: 

• Operating expenses
• Program costs
• Event costs (if applicable)
• Staffing and benefits
• Administrative and overhead needs

2. Funding gaps: Where are you short? What requires immediate attention?

3. One-time expenses: Examples include technology upgrades, new program launches or needs, capital repairs or projects, and even consulting or training investments. 

4. Reserve and sustainability goals: Fundraising reserves are unrestricted funds that a nonprofit sets aside to provide financial stability, cover unexpected expenses, and protect the organization during revenue shortfalls.Think of them as a financial “safety net.” 

Healthy nonprofits aim for about three to six months of reserves. If you’re behind or haven’t started on your reserves yet, consider setting a fundraising goal to support long-term sustainability. 

5. Current partnerships or sponsorships: Does your organization have corporate sponsorships or partnerships for your event, campaign, or annual funding needs? Consider what these partnerships will cover and what remains.

Step 2: Analyze Recent Fundraising Performance

Before you set your nonprofit fundraising goals, look back at recent numbers. Donor data is one of your most powerful planning tools.

Key metrics to review include these four: 

1. Donor Retention Rate: How many donors from last year gave again this year? You can also apply this to your previous event or a similar fundraising campaign.

2. Average Gift Size: What is the average size of the donations you received last year or during your last event or campaign? Are gifts trending up or down?

3. Revenue by Fundraising Strategy: Where did the money actually come from? Review all of your funding sources, such as:

• Grants 
• Events (including tickets and/or additional fundraising activities)
• Corporate partnerships
• Planned giving
• Year-end giving
• Online fundraising

4. Donor Segmentation: Understand who your donors are and how they behave. Consider buckets of individual giving, like:

• Monthly donors 
• Major donors
• First-time donors
• Lapsed donors
• Mid-level donors
• Regular donors who give several times annually (but don’t have a recurring gift set up)
• Board members
• … and even volunteers!

What other donor segments or target audiences might you have? 

Looking at the prior year, event, or campaign helps you set realistic, data-informed goals moving forward. It also highlights areas of opportunity you may not have noticed before.

Step 3: Define Clear, Measurable Fundraising Goals

Once you understand your true needs and have reviewed recent data, it’s time to define your fundraising goals.

Think beyond the total revenue desired, and break out your goals by donor type and strategy.

Examples of SMART nonprofit fundraising goals include:

• Increase your number of monthly donors by 25% – from 50 to 63 (so, 13 more!) in six months.
• Secure 10 new corporate sponsorships before your next event. 
• Increase ticket sales to your next event by 15%.
• Increase average gift size by 10% this year. 
• Raise $40,000 in new foundation funding this year.
• Retain 55% of donors from last year. 
• Add 100 new email subscribers to support online fundraising in the next year. 
• Launch a planned giving initiative within the next quarter that targets five prospects. 

Specific, measurable goals give your team direction and provide benchmarks for success. And adding deadlines gives you a target as well as guides the process!

Step 4: Break Down Big Goals Into Manageable Pieces

A fundraising goal can be more useful if you can translate it into more manageable action steps.

Try breaking down your goals by: 

1. Donor Segment [examples]:

• Major giving – $50,000
• Board giving – $10,000
• Online giving  – $15,000

2. Fundraising Strategy [examples]: 

• Events (net ticket sales) – $10,000
• Event activities (silent auctions, wine pulls, etc) – $15,000
• Grants – $75,000
• Digital appeals/campaigns – $15,000
• Direct mail/appeal letters – $5,000
• Peer-to-peer fundraising – $2,500
• Corporate partners or sponsors – $30,000

3. Time Period: Quarterly or monthly milestones help you monitor progress instead of waiting until the end of the year or after the campaign or event wraps up. Again, time-bound goals will help you stay on track!

4. Staff Roles: Assign segments or tasks to different team members to balance workload.

This breakdown turns abstract goals into actionable, trackable priorities. If your initial goal is already straightforward or action-oriented, you may skip this step or only break the goal down by something like time period or staff roles. 

Step 5: Match Fundraising Goals With Corresponding Strategies

And speaking of strategies…a fundraising goal without a strategy is just a wish. Once you’ve defined your goals, outline exactly how you’ll achieve them.

Here are a few examples using the SMART fundraising goals we shared above.

Your fundraising strategy should match your goals, not the other way around!

Step 6: Assign Ownership and Build Accountability

Even the most well-written fundraising goals will fall flat without ownership and accountability.

To piggyback off of Step 4 and the staff roles mentioned, here’s how to build accountability into your nonprofit fundraising strategy:

• Assign clear ownership of each fundraising goal.
• Build progress reviews into weekly or monthly team meetings.
• Use dashboards or donor database reports to track progress and metrics.
• Celebrate wins along the way!
• Encourage shared responsibility and helping each other out, not pressure.

Ownership builds momentum and ensures the fundraising goals (and progress) stay visible throughout the year, campaign, or event planning process – leading to achievable results!

Tip from the Playbook: You don’t have to do this alone! If your team is at capacity, hiring a nonprofit consultant – even on a short-term contract – can help you both set and reach your goals. 

Step 7: Monitor, Adjust, and Celebrate Throughout the Year

So you’ve taken the time to figure out your super SMART fundraising goals, but things might not be going according to plan. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Fundraising is dynamic. 
• Donor behavior shifts. 
• Program needs evolve. 
• Opportunities appear and disappear. 
• Economic conditions change.

That means your fundraising goals aren’t meant to be rigid, but they should be revisited regularly.

To do this, be sure to save time on your calendar each quarter – or even monthly – to review items like: 

• Progress toward donor numbers and revenue goals
• Which fundraising strategies are performing well
• What strategies have stalled and why
• Donor feedback and trends
• Team capacity

Know that adjusting your plans is normal. 

If a grant opportunity falls through, a sponsorship doesn’t work out, or an unexpected expense arises, update your plan. 

Flexibility makes your goals more realistic and your team more resilient.

Also, celebrate wins! Small achievements really do matter:

• A donor upgrade – do a little dance! 
• A first monthly donor – high-fives all around!
• A successful stewardship call – tell a board member how well it went!
• A new corporate connection – share with your team!

Recognition boosts morale and reinforces the culture you want: strategic, data-driven, and mission-focused (not one built solely on hope).

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5 Common Mistakes Nonprofits Make When Setting SMART Goals

While goal-setting may seem pretty straightforward, there are a few common mistakes that nonprofits tend to make during this process.

To set up your organization for success, avoid these common pitfalls:

1. Setting “hope-based” goals: Goals based on wishful thinking (rather than data) lead to stress and burnout.

2. Relying too heavily on one fundraising strategy: If all your revenue comes from grants or events, for example, your risk level is HIGH. What happens if your event falls flat or grants you rely on aren’t funded?

3. Overlooking donor retention: Acquiring a donor is expensive. Keeping one is far more cost-effective.

4. Neglecting donor cultivation: Stewardship should be a core part of your nonprofit fundraising strategy, not an afterthought.

5. Setting goals without staff or board buy-in: When people help shape the goal, they feel invested in achieving it.

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Final Thoughts: SMART Fundraising Goals Lead to Stronger Impact

Nonprofit fundraising goals aren’t just numbers on a page. They’re commitments – to your mission, your community, your team, and your sustainability.

When you set goals that are supported by strong strategies, your fundraising becomes more focused and more effective. 

Over time, your organization will become more financially resilient. And you can make an even bigger impact through your mission!

If you want support building or refining your fundraising goals, or you’d like help creating a detailed nonprofit fundraising strategy, MVP Advisors is here to help. We’ll work with you to build a roadmap that’s strategic, realistic, and aligned with your mission. Send us a note or set up a call today to get started!