Do you have a BHAG? That is, a Big Hairy Audacious Goal?
You may be familiar with this popular term coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book, Built to Last. Now, it’s a widely used expression and concept to help with long-term planning and visioning.
Set BHAGs to Establish Long-Term Goals
Companies often set BHAGs for 10-Year goals. Similarly, you can apply this kind of thinking to your nonprofit. If you’ve done a capital campaign, you’ve probably done this type of long-term, big thinking.
It’s also important to zoom in a bit and make a BHAG for the next three years, and even for the next twelve months.
Think about it — what’s the one thing you can do which would move the needle at your organization? What would get you closer to your mission? What would change the direction of your community or your organization?
Think BIG!
What do you hope to accomplish in ten years? The next three years? And this year?
Examples of 10-Year BHAGs
Here are some 10-year BHAG examples you might adopt as a nonprofit:
- End illiteracy in our state
- Provide arts education for every high schooler in the county
- Ensure housing for every person in our city
Indeed, these are some big, hairy, audacious goals.
4 Steps to Make Your BHAG Happen
To ensure that these big audacious goals don’t become “wishful thinking,” it’s time to put some plans into place. And to relate your big goal to fundraising, you’ll need to determine what it might cost.
So, what needs to happen for you to accomplish your BHAG?
Here are four steps to start crushing your fundraising BHAG and mold your dream(s) into a reality.
1. Make your goals SMART goals.
Remember, SMART goals are:
- S pecific
- M easurable
- A chievable
- R elevant
- T imebound
What would it take to provide housing for every person in your city? Can you build 100 new units per year? 1,000 units in 5 years?
Translated into fundraising terms, you might use a goal like this:
We need to raise $50K per unit that houses 2 people for the first year.
Let’s pretend that means you need to raise $1 Million in the next 12 months. See? It’s specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound.
2. Break goals down into manageable tasks.
Sticking with the example above, the idea of ending homelessness in your city is overwhelming. However, if your goal is to house an additional 100 people each year, it becomes far more manageable.
That goal can be translated into financial needs. And $1 Million per year is less than $100K per month.
To raise that $1 Million, you’ll need 20 donors:
- 1 donor @ $200K = $200K ($200K total)
- 3 donors @ $100K = $300K ($500K total)
- 6 donors @ $50 = $300K ($800K total)
- 10 donors @25 = $250K ($1M +total)
That’s just 20 donors (which is less than two donors per month).
NOTE — if you don’t have the donors in these dollar ranges, lower the goal and adjust accordingly.
3. Make a timeline.
In order to raise 20 gifts of that size, you’ll probably need to ask around 30 people. (The right people who have been identified and cultivated.) You’ll want to make 30 asks to get 20 gifts because you won’t get every gift you ask for.
Thirty asks are less than 3 asks per month. You can even take off August and December and still make 3 asks per month over the course of ten months to get to 30. Note how you’re breaking your BHAG down into an achievable timeline and keeping it measurable.
4. Create accountability.
Completing your BHAG is easier said than done, so you’ll want to build in some accountability. Doing that is fairly easy. Simply share your plans with your boss and board. That’s where the rubber meets the road.
Ask them to require a monthly report of who you’ve asked in the prior month, the status of those asks, who you plan to ask in the coming months, and where you are towards your goal. Hopefully, they will see a role for how they might help achieve the big goal.
Everyone Needs a BHAG… Or Three!
Everyone ought to have a BHAG, especially for your nonprofit. Actually, you ought to have three big goals:
- One for this year
- another for the next few years
- and your biggest BHAG for the decade
Give it some thought right now. What’s your BHAG for this year? State it proudly and publicly in the comments below.
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