1. Developing a fundraising strategy

Your organisation’s fundraising strategy should be based on the business plan – i.e. the activities you plan to undertake and how much they will cost.Your fundraising strategy should explain:

• What your organisation wants to do (aims and objectives)
• Why your organisation wants to do it (the need)
• Who will benefit
• What will happen if nothing is done (i.e. the effect on the community)
• When your organisation wants to do it (timeframe) how much it will cost (budget)
• How your organisation plans to raise the money
• Who is responsible for doing what (tasks)
• What funding is already secured.

While this should help clarify your thinking and enable you to plan fundraising activity, don’t feel that the strategy can’t be changed. It’s important to modify the document to reflect changes in circumstance or priorities.

Drawing up the strategy is a good opportunity to involve a wide range of people, from the trustees who should be setting the overall strategy, to staff and volunteers and relevant external contacts. Time spent getting the strategy right, should pay off when you actually come to try and raise funds.

This page is a summary of information contained in the full online toolkit.