It takes a team of committed individuals to shift the thinking and actions of an organization in a lasting way. In other words, you can't do this alone!

No matter how small your organization, there are at least a few other people who care about making your organization financially sustainable. Consider engaging these people by adding them to your team as you shift your fundraising from a context of scarcity to one of abundance.

The first step in building a team is selecting a team leader. This may be an obvious choice. For example, if you are beginning this process yourself, you are probably the team leader by default! If you have a few people already willing to join your team, you will need to decide as a group which of you will be the team leader.

The team leader's responsibilities include:

• Coordinating and implementing your organization's annual fundraising plan.
  
  
• Managing the team to meet deadlines and complete assigned tasks.
  
  
• Ensuring that all data is captured in the database tracking system.
  
  
• Personally taking on or delegating all tasks needed to fulfill each element of the fundraising plan.
  
  

Who else should you include on your team? Look for people you enjoy working with who are:

• Dedicated to your organization's work.
  
  
• Passionate about your cause.
  
  
• Willing and able to serve on the team for one year.
  
  
• Dependable, with a solid track record of following through on what they say they will do.
  
  
• Good communicators.
  
  

The specific responsibilities of each team member will vary depending on that person's interests and strengths. As a whole, the responsibilities of team members include:

• Organizing, attending, and inviting people to events.
  
  
• Making follow-up and thank-you calls.
  
  
• Cultivating new supporters and existing donors.
  
  
• Asking people for money, when appropriate.
  
  

The ideal team generally has a total of seven people: two staff members (or volunteers if you have no staff), two board members, and three volunteers. Keep in mind that this is an ideal scenario, and your team's composition may vary. It is far more important to find people with the qualities you are looking for than to try to fit your team to these criteria.

If you don't have seven people right away, you can begin with a few committed people and expand your team as you connect with new people who are passionate about your mission. It is much better to wait for the right people than to fill your team with people who aren't really a good fit.

Passionate, dependable team members are the people who will get your organization off the annual fundraising treadmill and onto the path toward sustainable funding.