The End of the Fiscal Year

Or.... Excuses For Not Posting in Over a Week

In the life of a higher-education fundraiser, the end of the fiscal year is a month of pure HELL. Like most Universities, our fiscal year ends on June 30th and on that date we must add up our totals for the year and make our goal - or not as our case may be.

I am a lucky one. I exceeded my personal goals months ago. Yippee! I attribute my success to pure talent and low bars. When you're given broken fundraising programs, as I was, the only place to go it up. Score!

Unfortunately we also report as a collaborative group and that group is not going to make its goal. Bummer. So we spend our final month sending reminder letters, hand-written notes, emails, phone calls, smoke signals, over-night packages, telegrams, instant messages, tweets and facebook posts in a desperate attempt to come out on top. We're combing through prospect lists, looking for that ONE donor who has eluded us for the past year and is just waiting to write a check for $25,000 by June 30th. It's stressful. And we're not alone. For obvious reasons fundraising continues to take hard hits. Donors who gave $1,500 for years are sending us $50 and it's devastating. But we understand. Most of us are there too, analyzing our spending down to the last nickel and putting our money where we believe it will matter most. Sometimes our sympathy makes asking harder.

But just like individuals, universities and non profits are effected by a down-economy. Our endowments are under-performing and our students have greater need for scholarships and financial aid, and so we soldier on!

There are just 5 days left to raise lots of money. I have put wedding projects on hold while I work extra hours and dig a little deeper. I have made time to search for a new wedding-related toy and I am happy to say that I will soon be the proud owner of a Print Gocco!!!


This little baby is going to make me some pretty, pretty invitations and I am PUMPED to try it. Woohoo!

Have a wonderful weekend and if you are in the Columbus area, I hope to see you at Comfest this weekend. I will have a giant pink mug and my hippie dress on!