October 7 changed the Jewish community. The events and their aftermath continue to impact how we raise money and engage with donors. As organizations approach the halfway point of their fiscal year or prepare for year-end, it is important to evaluate ongoing fundraising efforts to ensure they meet the moment and the needs of donors. 
 
Join Spotlight Master Class: Strategic Fundraising in a Changed World to evaluate your current fundraising strategies and practices while gaining insights into how to customize fundraising efforts to support donor engagement and giving. In this two-hour interactive session, Stephanie Schwartz will lead you through an evaluation process to determine how your organization's fundraising has fared since October 7, considering the specific point at which your organization finds itself in the fiscal year. You'll then be guided through a planning exercise to plot out the rest of your fiscal year to ensure fundraising success.

During this course, you will have an opportunity to workshop your fundraising strategies with colleagues whose fiscal years end in June and in December.

By the end of this class, you will: 

• Assess your organization’s fundraising strategy and results before and after October 7.  
• Identify differences in how you may want to approach donors in the current climate.  
• Consider how you have engaged donors since October 7 and what changes you may need to make to your current fundraising plans.  
• Create a framework for year-end fundraising (if fiscal year ends 6/30) or a framework for assessing progress to date if you’re midway through the fiscal year.  
• Think about changes to your development strategy that you’d like to permanently implement.  
• Feel confident updating your organizational leadership and board on your current fundraising strategy. 
• Create a tactical plan for reaching out to donors, with a focus on lapsed donors and those who have not yet given in the current fiscal year.  

This class is for you if: 

• You are responsible for fundraising, donor engagement, or donor stewardship within your organization. 
• You are unsure about the best approach to approach fiscal year end, the halfway point in the fiscal year, or you generally feel uncertain about your organization’s current fundraising strategy. 
• You seek to step back from day-to-day fundraising responsibilities and think more strategically about how you are engaging your organization’s donors. 

This class is not for you if: 

• You are interested in fundraising but are not involved in the hands-on aspects of managing it for your organization. 
• You are not interested in thinking of new ways to engage donors (you want to keep doing what you are doing).