Considering how dynamic the current business environment is, we need to focus intensively on the short-term—tracking donor experience performance and key initiatives and metrics for each month, quarter and year. The rate of change of a key metric (positive or negative) will indicate where we need to modify our initiatives or create new ones. It is easier to do this in a timely manner with a very short plan and an “agile” planning process.

An “agile” donor experience planning process is an iterative, incremental method of managing strategic planning and operational programs. It allows more flexibility to respond to internal or external forces. It is easier to update a one to two page plan than to separate the wheat from the chaff within a 50 page tome that typically sits on the shelf until the next year’s planning cycle.

Finally, we need to test, test, experiment, test, adjust and then do it again.