"What's our plan if we only raise nine?"

A campaign chair asked that in a planning meeting for a $14 million campaign, and the room went completely quiet.

She wasn't being negative. She'd run a manufacturing business for thirty years, and she said, "I've never run a three-year plan that came in exactly where the model said it would."

So we built an answer. Three of them, honestly. Conservative, moderate, and optimistic, all built around one internal working goal.

Eighteen months later, the $4 million lead gift came in at $1.8 million.

In most campaigns, that's an emergency board meeting. In this one, it was a Tuesday, because everyone already knew what to do.

They finished at $11.4 million, and the board called it a success.

In this episode, I walk through what a working goal really is, the three scenarios you build around it, how to write triggers you can see coming, and the five sentences that keep a board steady when the number moves.

Give it a listen, then share it with someone on your team who's been waiting for a better moment to launch.

More from Tammy Zonker

Author of Calling All Heroes: Combining the Best of Donor-Centered and Community-Centered Fundraising for Greater Impact

Founder of Fundraising Transformed

President of Modern Institute for Charitable Giving

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