If I need to raise a lot of money for my project, should I have other KPIs while doing that?

Spoiler: Yes.

I spoke with someone in an important state raising $6 million/year to build political infrastructure (e.g. staff training, candidate recruitment, message testing).

Fundraising is almost always 90/10 (90% of money from 10% of donors). Anytime your KPI is money raised, you need to focus on "elephant hunting," i.e. pursuing a few dozen prospective donors.

But "Elephant hunting" has some big drawbacks:

1. Along the way, it doesn't create any value or observable traction

2. With few data points of feedback, it's hard to improve and iterate

My advice to this person: Find at least one KPI other than money raised. For example, perhaps build a network of smaller donors who believe in the mission, and form them into a community.

Adding a KPI in addition to total funds raised has several benefits:

1. You get a lot more market feedback, letting you iterate much faster

2. Moving that KPI creates value and evidence of traction

3. That traction is likely to be helpful with the "elephant hunting" (high-dollar fundraising)