Every year has its fair share of curveballs, teaching us that it is always good to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances. This past year made it clear to that no matter what population is being served, it’s important to be prepared for the unexpected. Having fully stocked shelves and items ready-to-go allow you to serve your clients on a moment’s notice.
Sure, cash campaigns are always welcome, and probably rank higher on your organization’s priority list. However, donors vary in their giving preferences too. Especially during these times, and in particular with some of the younger donors, many people are more inclined to give goods, because by doing so they experience a more tangible form of giving, whether by shopping for items themselves or purchasing them online through a drive. As one of our donors recently said: “If I have a giving budget of $50 today, I would much rather use it to buy toiletries or non-perishable foods that I know will help a family in need. Donating the same amount as cash, without knowing where it’s going- wouldn’t feel as impactful”.
With that, we present you Roonga’s guide for Annual In-Kind Planning. In seven clear steps, your organization can kickoff the year with a thoughtful, useful annual plan for all of your in-kind needs. These suggestions are based on multiple conversations we’ve had with nonprofits we partner with, as well as with our 10 years of experience with in-kind giving. Some aspects of your planning will vary based on a number of factors, but we believe these principles are a great framework. We hope you find this guide useful. Happy new year from our team to yours!
8 Steps to Annual In-Kind Planning
Step 1: Define your goals
To start, think about the items you need most to support your clients. Identify the types of clients you serve, and then the items that are the first to go off the shelves, or the items most requested by those you serve. You should also think about how your needs change over the course a year. Try to be as specific as possible. For example, instead of just listing “non perishable food” as a priority item, think about what types of foods are most needed. Perhaps these are protein based cans such as tuna and beans. Or maybe it is dry foods such as rice and pasta. Or maybe it’s a combination of specific items to form a meal (like a Thanksgiving basket). For clothing, think about specific items (e.g. hats, gloves, coats) and sizes. You could, of course, stick to a more general category, but keep in mind that you may have less control over what is being collected or you may get less desirable items (cherry pie filling). The table below shows some examples of popular items you may choose to collect:
| Clothing | Food | Supplies |
| Winter-wear | Canned goods | School Supplies |
| Socks | Snacks | Cleaning Supplies |
| Underwear | Pantry items | Toys |
| Blankets | Baby Formula | Toiletries |
Step 2: Determine how many drives are feasible each year
Each organization’s ability to support these drives will depend on your resources and goals, but it is always good to think holistically about the year and schedule out your campaigns. We recommend organizations plan 3-4 large in-kind programs each year — both to meet your seasonal needs, but also to provide your donors with in-kind options throughout the year. More savvy organizations will have up to 12 annual drives, with each month focusing on one item. This helps drives focus and stay ‘top of mind’ with your audience. You’ll be able to stock on your most needed items, while offering a year-round opportunity for donors in your city (and beyond) to support you with in-kind donations. If you are concerned about competing for mindshare from your cash and other campaigns, target your outreach efforts to a subset of your support base. Some nonprofits have developed lists of donors who prefer in-kind donations, and you can reach out to them specifically for your in-kind needs without taking away from your cash campaigns.
Step 3: Set realistic yet challenging targets
It is always encouraged to have a target goal of the number of people you’d like to serve and therefore the number of items you’d like to collect . Things to take into account while setting a target:
- Your available storage space
- The population you serve (target # clients)
- Your donor base
- How often are items distributed
- How long the campaign will run
We recommend setting a target that is substantial, yet realistic. Especially during this time, your need may have increased, but before you double your goal, think about how much more your donors and supporters can support above and beyond what you are asking from them. If you ran a similar campaign in the past, we suggest aiming for at least the same amount collected last time, plus 10%-15% for a stretch goal.
Step 4: Set a target launch date for each drive
Once you list your most needed items, it is time to think about the right timing to collect each one to maximize success. For example, if you are collecting gently used winter wear, you might want to run the drive during the fall (when people typically sort through their closets in preparation for winter), or alternatively shortly after winter ends. If you are collecting new winter-wear, choose a time in which those items are widely available and are offered at affordable prices. Roonga can help organize large orders too.
Here are general guidelines on when to launch our most popular drives:
- Hygiene products: Year-round (anytime)
- Back to school drive: May – July
- Winter wear: Sept-Nov
- Thanksgiving: October
- Christmas adopt-a-family or collection drives: Sept – Nov
Step 5: Determine type of drive and then create a work-back schedule
You now have your list of drives, and a target launch date. You’ll need to decide what kind of program you’d like to run. Are you planning to collect new and used items in collection boxes – or run an online collection drive? Or perhaps run an “adopt-a-person” or “adopt-a-family” program so that individual needs can be addressed specifically? Whatever you decide to do, the details of the planning will vary.
Once you know the type of program you’d like to run, it’s time to break down the timeline into smaller chunks of work leading the launch dates. We recommend listing all the action items that need to happen in order to launch and manage the drive successfully. Be sure to tweak the timelines, actions, and dates based on the scale of the drive, the experience you’ve had with similar drives, and other dependencies (do you need to interview families? Will you be ordering items in bulk? etc). Assign an owner from within your organization to each line items and check with them regularly as the campaign approaches.
Below is a sample of how a schedule could look – of course, this is just a start and needs to be customized for your program.
Step 6: Launch your drives and spread the word
Once you’ve prepared and launched your campaign, the most important aspects of a successful drive is (not surprisingly) communication. You will need to communicate to multiple audiences, such as:
- Your internal staff
- Volunteers who will help organize, collect, sort and distribute
- The group(s) you support (families, seniors, etc)
- Your existing donor base – including individual donors and groups (e.g., companies, churches, services groups, and more)
- The broader community
- Vendors you’re partnering with
Each audience requires a different communication stream, actions, and timelines with deadlines. While each of these audiences is different, they share one thing in common: they all need a reasonable amount of time to rally and deliver what is required of them. No-one likes to feel rushed or stressed. Therefore we recommend making sure that each link in this wonderful chain is well informed and has the time to execute.
Step 7: Track and refine
Your campaign is now underway, but your work isn’t quite done. We recommend ongoing tracking on how things are going, asking the following questions constantly:
- Are we tracking to target? It’s important to understand how many items you have collected along the way. Oftentimes, volunteers and donors are very excited at the start of a campaign, so you will see a flurry of activity shortly after launch. Then assuming that you continue to remind your supporters of the progress of the campaign during the entire drive, you will continue to receive items, but it is not often until close to the end that you will see another burst activity. Most organizations heavily promote towards the end, trying to close the gap to hit the goal, and many donors also wait until the last minute to donate. Having said this, throughout the drive, tracking progress is key so you know how much you need to push during the middle and end of the drive.
- Are all the “work streams” working as planned? Are volunteers lined up to collect/organize the items? Are the transport/distribution details locked? Will you have someone on-site to oversee and manage deliveries? Are families aware of the pick up schedule?
- How’s our communication? Are we reaching all possible audiences? Are we following up and being responsive to questions? Are we sending reminders? Are we able to touch the audience in a variety of engaging ways? Usually donors respond when they are prodded, and in-kind donors in particular are excited to hear about these opportunities – so don’t shy away from communicating the need and following up. Your campaign will not be successful without sufficient outreach.
As the days go by, always think two steps ahead, and make sure all the pieces of the puzzle are falling in place. Don’t be afraid to make small changes as new details unfold.
Step 8: Thoughtful wrap up
- Thank: Be sure to thank EVERYONE who took part in the operation. If you can’t personalize the thank you, be sure to thank them broadly in a letter/email/social media. A picture (or video) is worth a thousand words. If you have any visuals to share with the audience, be sure to do so. Data points showing the impact of the campaign (we served X families) are also key.
- Debrief: Host a follow up meeting with the parties involved. Depending on the scale of the campaign it could be one debrief for all, or one for each major workstream. In this meeting be sure to highlight the successes but also listen and ask the team what worked well, and what could be done even better for future campaigns. Capture notes.
- Summarize learnings: This is an extremely important step often skipped by organizations. The knowledge acquired throughout the campaign is going to make next quarter’s/year’s campaign run a lot more smoothly. Summarize the learnings and implement these changes in the next campaign.
Here is some good news. A thoughtful annual plan makes it a lot easier to execute down the line. It saves time and money, and much unnecessary stress, which… let’s face it, none of us needs right now.
We hope you enjoyed this guide. Let us know what you thought. We hope you’ll be able to dedicate some time over the next few days and weeks to plan your in-kind campaigns for the year. We are here to help with any questions!