If you are the whole development office, your week has a default setting, and it isn’t fundraising. Left alone, the inbox, the event, and the database will take every hour you have, and you will end each Friday having been busy all week without speaking to a single donor.
I don’t say that as a criticism. The urgent work is real. Gifts have to be entered, receipts have to go out, the gala committee does need an answer. But none of those tasks raise next year’s money. Conversations with donors do, and they are the first thing to disappear from a crowded week because nobody else will notice they’re gone.
So the rule for a one-person shop is simple to state and hard to keep: put donor time on the calendar first, and let everything else fill in around it.
What only you can do
Start by sorting your work honestly. In a solo office, a short list of things requires you specifically:
Talking with donors. Calls, visits, thank-you conversations, the follow-up after a gift. This is the job.
Preparing your leaders to ask. The executive director or head of school and your board members make many of the most important asks. Your job is to tee those up: briefing notes, a suggested amount, a reminder, a debrief afterward.
Deciding priorities. Which donors this month, which appeals this year, which grant applications are worth the effort.
Telling the story. You may not write every word, but you shape what the organization says to donors and make sure it’s true.
Everything else can be done by someone else, done less often, done in batches, or not done at all.
What to drop, delegate, or batch
Go through your task list and put each item in one of four columns. Be ruthless. Here’s where I’d start.
Delegate. Gift entry and receipting can go to a trained volunteer or a part-time administrative colleague, with you reviewing a weekly report. Event logistics belong to an event committee, with you owning only the guest list and the donor moments. Mailing assembly, list pulls, and RSVP tracking all have other homes. Board members can make thank-you calls from a list you prepare.
Batch. Answer non-urgent email twice a day instead of all day. Write all of the month’s social posts in one sitting. Do database cleanup for an hour a week, not in panicked bursts.
Do less often. If you send a monthly newsletter that takes three days, consider a shorter one every other month and a phone call to your top donors in the gap.
Drop. The event that nets less than the staff time it costs. The committee you attend but don’t need to. The report nobody reads. Every office has at least one of each, and dropping them is a decision only a leader can make, so bring the list to your supervisor and ask for that decision in writing.
That last point matters. Dropping work is not something a solo development director should have to do quietly and hope nobody notices. Name it, agree on it, and move on.
A sample week
Here is a weekly rhythm I’d suggest for a full-time development office of one. Treat the hours as a starting point, not a quota. What matters is the order: donor time is scheduled first and defended hardest.
Monday. Plan and prepare.
- Review last week’s gifts and make sure every thank-you went out. (1 hour)
- Choose this week’s donor contacts: five to ten names, with a purpose for each. (1 hour)
- Prepare briefing notes for any leader or board member making a call or visit this week. (1 hour)
- Email and administration, in two set windows. (2–3 hours)
Tuesday. Donor day.
- Calls, visits, coffees, and tours. Nothing else scheduled before 3 p.m. (5 hours)
- Write up every conversation the same day. (1 hour)
Wednesday. Writing and proposals.
- The appeal, the grant application, the case material, or the impact update that’s due. (4 hours)
- Email and administration, in two set windows. (2 hours)
Thursday. Donor day, part two.
- Calls and visits, especially follow-ups from earlier in the week. (4 hours)
- Meet with your executive director or head of school for 30 minutes on major prospects and asks. (30 minutes)
- Write-ups and next steps. (1 hour)
Friday. Systems and the week ahead.
- Database hour: review entries, fix what’s wrong, run the weekly gift report. (1 hour)
- Volunteers and committees: check in, answer questions, hand off tasks. (1–2 hours)
- Look at next week and block the donor time now, before anything else claims it. (30 minutes)
Two donor days may sound like a lot for an office that also runs the gala. That’s the point. If you schedule one donor day, the gala will eat half of it. Schedule two, and you’ll keep at least one.
Weeks that won’t cooperate
Some weeks the event is Saturday, the board meets Thursday, and the grant is due Friday. Those weeks happen. The rhythm still helps, because you know what you are giving up and can decide to get it back. A simple rule: no two weeks in a row without donor contact. If this week loses its donor day, next week gets both of them.
Questions for the person you report to
If you supervise a solo development director, this one’s for you. Once a quarter, ask:
- How many hours last week were spent talking with donors or preparing others to?
- What are you doing that someone else could do?
- What should we stop doing altogether?
- What do you need from me to protect your donor time?
Then act on at least one answer. The fastest way to grow a one-person shop is often not a second hire. It’s giving the first one back the hours they need for the work only they can do.
If you’d like an outside look at where your development office’s time is going, that’s what our Development Office Audit is for.
– Mary-Ellen
Featured photo: Photo by 2H Media on Unsplash.
