It feels pretty devastating when you put a lot of heart (not to mention time and money) into a new non-profit or mission, only to find out it’s not going to work the way you’d hoped because you can’t get the funding.

I’ve been in a similar situation. My first campaign failed. My second campaign failed. So did my third. It wasn’t until the 10th campaign that I started understanding what did and did not work. But getting to that point took a lot of heart, time, and money!

I’m guessing you want to bypass all that heartache and get to the heart of how to run campaigns that work, right?

Here are three steps you can take to assess if your campaign is likely to succeed or fail. Without going through all that pain.

Hello, July! We’ve crossed the midyear point, and you may be saying, “Where has time gone?” Whether you are behind or ahead with your fundraising, now is the perfect time to review how you are doing.

I always pause and review where I am because I’ve got another 6 months to get back on track, stay the course, or raise the bar. I’ve learned that reviewing how I’ve done with fundraising is one of the best ways to guarantee that I will end the year on target.

Let me share with you what I do when it comes to reviewing the efforts I initiated during the first 6 months of my year.

Lately, I’ve been approached to review the email fundraising strategies of multiple Catholic organizations. This interest in email is a growing trend, and it’s become so important that I want to share a few thoughts with you on how to do it right the first time.

Why email is so popular with fundraising

Email is increasingly popular for three reasons: First, it’s much easier to get a person’s email address than a postal address or phone number. So it’s much easier to contact them – which is always “Step One” because, if you can’t reach someone, you can’t ask them.

Secondly, email is an excellent way to communicate with people. On average, people check their email three times a day. You may feel that email is a crowded space for getting your message heard, but it is much less crowded than social media, billboards and direct mail. Every appeals space may be flooded, but email still, unequivocally, proves best.

I want to introduce you to my wife, Meghan, and her passion to help Catholic women find their “dream fashion” look. In less than six months, she has quit her job at a fashion startup in San Francisco and started her own successful Catholic fashion styling firm.

Why is my wife’s story relevant to Catholic fundraising?

One of the most common questions I am asked is, “How can someone raise funds for their Catholic cause?” Case in point: My wife’s situation is no different than any Catholic looking to follow their passion and find financial stability.

I am bound to upset a few board members and directors with this article. For some reason, the majority of board members and directors of Catholic nonprofits think that an event is a great idea to raise funds. In fact, it’s the hallmark on their calendar, as if all roads lead to the big gala or dinner.

While big events may be fun, they’re also big mistakes and a terrible way to fundraise. In fact, you dig yourself deeper into a hole with every event that you organize.

I want you to know that I’m not the only fundraiser who thinks like this: Every fundraiser with a successful track record agrees that events aren’t good for fundraising. Check out this fantastic book, The Perfect Campaign by Schuyler Lehman. He is a veteran fundraiser with years of experience, and Schuyler shares my viewpoint because he and his team have found this to be true.