Happy New Year! – Looking Back

29 Dec Happy New Year! – Looking Back

30 December 2025

By David Allen, Development for Conservation

Happy New Year!

Time to start again. January of another year.

This is part of a blog that I post every year just before and just after New Year’s Day. I modify it slightly, and I add to it from time to time, but basically, it’s the same message. 2025 is over. Fa, sol, la, ti, Done. Whatever was going to happen happened. Whatever was going to come in came in. And there’s not much you can do about it now to change the outcome.

Other than learn from it, of course.

And that brings us ‘round again “to Do.”

2026 yawns before us. It could be anything. It definitely will be something. What will it be for you?

The month of January is named for the ancient Roman God Janus. He was the god of beginnings and symbolized transition from one condition to another: from past to future or from youth into adulthood. Janus was always portrayed as having two faces: one looking backward into the past, and one looking forward into the future. In that sense, he was a doorway, a threshold, a passage.

As we cross our own threshold into 2026, January is both a good time for reflection and a good time for planning – to look back and to look forward.

As a special favor to me, to you, and to other readers of this blog, I’d like to ask you to take a moment and choose ONE thing you are most proud of having accomplished in 2025 and share it in the comments. Collectively, we have done a great deal of good. Let’s take a moment and lean into that feeling before we get too wrapped up in what might or might not happen in 2026.

As you reflect on the year that was, grab a second cup of coffee and think more comprehensively on what actually happened. Where have we been? What have we learned? What could we have done differently? What MUST we do differently to get to the results we need in 2026?

Here are some ideas to get you started.

For Example: Write yourself a letter.

As a general statement, we spend way too much time in fundraising in the rearview mirror. We base our goals and objectives on our actual results from last year. We assume we will do the same things this year – because that’s what we did last year. Because that’s what we’ve always done. But what if what we’ve always done won’t get us where we need to be?

There is a time and place for candid reflection. And this is it. Did you write yourself a letter last year? – about your 2024 results? The board campaign and major gift development? The membership drive, communications theme, fundraising events, and the development plan as a whole?

If so, now is the time to go back and read what you wrote back then. What happened? How did you respond? What assumptions were you making that didn’t turn out to be true? What did you learn?

Now assume that you are no longer there a year from now – not anywhere around, in fact. Write your replacement a letter explaining how you got to this point in January 2026. Where your organization is related to fundraising. About your results in 2025 – the board campaign and major gift development. The membership drive, communications theme, fundraising events, and the development plan as a whole.

Talk to this future you about what you were thinking at this time last year. Your priorities and assumptions and how they might have changed. Be analytical and reflective, but most of all, be candid. Talk about what you learned and what you might have done differently in hindsight. Talk also about what you’re most proud of, and where your efforts might have been brilliant.

Now turn your attention to the future. What assumptions are you making about 2026? What will you do differently? What MUST you do to be successful, and what MUST you do in 2026 to meet the organizational goals in 2027 or even 2028 and 2029?

If it turns out that you aren’t there a year from now, your reflections will help whoever is. If you are there, they will provide you an important baseline from which to measure your progress.

For example: Say Thank you!

I have a client who talks more about creating a culture of appreciation than a culture of philanthropy. I like that a lot. It’s not that the two ideas are all that different. It’s more that the idea of a “culture of appreciation” is so much easier to understand and engage with.

Was there a donor who made an extraordinary gift (for them!)? Was there a volunteer who really stepped up in a time of need? A Board member who leaned in in a bigger way? Or maybe a staff member who made your life easier in some super-appreciated way (even though it wasn’t their job)?

In your mental review of 2025, identify at least five people who fit one of those descriptions and say thank you in some special and memorable way. A gift card to their favorite coffee (or wine) shop. A book of poetry. A framed photo. Flowers. Chocolate.

Saying thank you this week will set a nice tone for you in January as well.

For example: List your Top 40

Considering your aspirations and goals for 2026, consider curating a list of the forty (or so) relationships that will be the most important to your professional success. Or perhaps revisiting the list you created last year.

Who would make that list for you? Are they mentors? Board members? Donors? Volunteers? Staff relationships?

Whoever they are, hand write each person’s name on a paper list. As you do, take a moment to consider each person instead of each name. When was the last time you interacted with that person? When was the last time you initiated that contact? When will you see them next? Do they know how much they mean to you?

It wouldn’t hurt to keep the list visible where you run into it regularly through the year.

In next week’s blog, we’ll look forward.

In the meantime, Happy New Year! Happy January! – just ONE thing that you can look back on with some level of pride. Share it in the comments. Do it now!

Cheers and Have a Good Week!

-da

PS: Your comments on these posts are welcomed and warmly requested. If you have not posted a comment before, or if you are using a new email address, please know that there may be a delay in seeing your posted comment. That’s my SPAM defense at work. I approve all comments as soon as I am able during the day.

The photo is a public domain photo most likely taken from a late-18th-century Italian marble bust of Janus that is part of the collection at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia