Fundraising is one of the hardest jobs in the investment world. You're constantly racing the clock… pressure from leadership, long sales cycles, and the ever-present fear of running out of time before capital comes in. There’s never enough time to build the pipeline, stay updated on allocators, and follow up rigorously.
That’s why the best fundraisers rely on structure, clarity, and tools that eliminate inefficiencies. These best practices are drawn directly from The Dakota Way and what we see working every day inside Dakota Marketplace: A platform purpose-built to make the hardest parts of your job easier.
Here are the key strategies every fundraising team should be using now.
Want allocator intelligence and workflows that support these best practices? Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace.
Why This Matters Now
In today's market, allocators are inundated with inbound requests, platforms are saturated, and the old "spray and pray" methods just don’t cut it. With increasing data fragmentation and longer sales cycles, fundraisers need to act with clarity, speed, and precision.
At Dakota, we’ve helped thousands of fund managers streamline their process, identify the right buyers, and convert more meetings into capital. And these are the core lessons that drive success.
10 Best Practices to Implement In Your Workflow
1. Set Expectations in Writing
Success starts with alignment. Fundraisers must create a written sales plan, review it with leadership, and define what good looks like… in advance. This prevents reactivity and creates a shared definition of progress, especially when weekly updates and market feedback are shared in a consistent format.
2. Define Your TAM by Channel Fit
Not every buyer is a fit. Fundraisers who define their Total Addressable Market based on product structure and channel focus are more likely to book meetings with serious prospects. This turns outreach into a strategic campaign rather than a random list of calls.
3. Use City Scheduling to Tame the Chaos
Instead of being overwhelmed by thousands of RIAs or allocators, break the market down by metro. By always having five cities on your calendar, you create natural focus, manageable outreach lists, and measurable progress.
4. Cold Outreach Daily – No Exceptions
Fundraising is a contact sport. The fundraisers who win are the ones who send 20–25 emails a day, every day. Consistency beats intensity. Daily activity builds pipeline, sharpens your messaging, and drives results over time.
5. Nail the Cold Email Formula
The best outreach emails are simple and specific: who you are, what you do, why it’s relevant, and a call to action. Allocators don’t have time to read walls of text, clarity and brevity win attention.
6. Match Story to Buyer
Tailor your pitch to the buyer’s lens. RIAs care about different things than CIOs at endowments. Sophisticated fundraisers adjust their narrative, not just their materials, to fit the audience.
7. Provide Weekly Feedback to Leadership
Share what the market is saying. Weekly reports with allocator feedback, meeting summaries, and deal movement create transparency and trust. And importantly, stop leadership from guessing or micromanaging.
8. Don’t Waste Time Chasing the Wrong Channel
Too many fundraisers get stuck pitching to allocators who can’t or won’t buy their product. Channel fit matters. If your product isn’t right for a wirehouse or a consultant, move on and refocus.
9. Simplify Your Pitch
Fundraisers must be master messengers. That means simplifying a complex investment strategy into a message a gatekeeper can repeat to an IC. The more complicated your pitch, the more likely it is to die in translation.
10. Follow Up Like a Pro
The biggest deals don’t close on the first call. Elite fundraisers follow up with clarity, add value each time, and stay top of mind without being annoying. Your CRM isn’t just a tool, it’s your memory, accountability partner, and leverage.
Want Tools and Intelligence That Support These Best Practices?
Dakota Marketplace gives you allocator profiles, AUM trends, product usage, fund launches, team structures, and workflows built for fundraising success.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace!
Why These Best Practices Matter Now
Allocators expect professionalism and insight, not generic pitches. Meanwhile, the volume of strategies on the market continues to rise, and decision-makers are more skeptical than ever. What we’re seeing at Dakota is clear:
The firms that win are the ones that focus narrowly, report consistently, and adapt quickly. Storytelling matters, but structure wins. Follow-up is the difference between losing the thread and securing the allocation.
The best fundraisers behave like operators, and these best practices give them the system to do it.
Ready to put these best practices into action? Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace!
