How to write a fundraising plan

A good fundraising plan will not only demonstrate what you need to do in the future, it will also put that planning into context.

Fundraising plans do not have to be complex or long documents. However, they should contain important information, be clear and be easily understood by everyone within the organisation.

Suggested sections to include within your fundraising plan:

Introduction

What you could include:

  • summary of:
    • what your organisation does
    • who it is for
    • how and where you do it
  • your vision, mission and values
  • notable and recent achievements
  • competitor analysis
  • your future delivery plans.

You may also want to highlight the key drivers that shape your sector through a PESTLE analysis and a SWOT analysis:

PESTLE analysis:

  • political
  • economic
  • social
  • technological
  • legal
  • environmental.

SWOT analysis:

  • strengths
  • weaknesses
  • opportunities
  • threats.

Existing expenditure and fundraising activity

What you could include:

  • summary of overall annual organisational expenditure
  • financial risks your organisation may face
  • breakdown of annual expenditure into subsections (projects or services)
  • table of who has fundraised to date, including:
    • what projects or services they fundraised for
    • how they fundraised
    • how much time they spent fundraising
    • how much money they brought into your organisation. For example, trustees, personnel and/or volunteers
  • how much it's costing your organisation for existing fundraising activity
  • return on investment (ROI) from existing fundraising activity.

Current and future fundraising needs

Like the table showing a breakdown of annual expenditure, you could also use one to show a breakdown of current and future fundraising needs, which summarises:

  • current income secured
  • income already pledged for the future
  • shortfall against projected expenditure.

You could also include a table and associated costs of any new initiatives you want to introduce for the future.

A timeline is also helpful to have. This could show when income needs to be secured in order to continue delivering existing projects or services, as well as when to start new initiatives.

Fundraising resources needed going forward

It's useful to have a table of all available fundraising streams, with an indication of those that are currently being used and those that you hope to use in the future.

These could include:

  • grant awards
  • contract awards
  • regular giving donations from individuals
  • donations from businesses
  • gifts from high net worth individuals
  • legacies, left in last wills and testaments
  • crowdfunding initiatives
  • community-run activities
  • corporate sponsorship
  • income earned through sales
  • event profits
  • Gift Aid
  • loans
  • in-kind donations from individuals or organisations.

You may also want to include:

  • cost of the above fundraising resources
  • internal and/or external resources required to fundraise towards the current/future expenditure shortfalls.

It's also useful to include an explanation of how fundraising activity and associated personnel and volunteers will be supervised, monitored, and evaluated.

For example:

  • job descriptions and person specifications
  • delegation of responsibilities
  • reporting lines
  • checks and balances, such as the production of regular reports and regularity of fundraising meetings
  • personnel and volunteer evaluation reviews
  • training needs
  • your fundraising monitoring procedure.

Protecting your reputation

You should ensure that your organisation’s data, name, logo, and intellectual property are protected.

In this section, you can include your organisation's policies and procedures, including but not restricted to:

  • financial management
  • whistleblowing
  • earned income
  • conflicts of interest
  • commercial partnerships
  • what constitutes a ‘good donor journey’.

You could also include:

  • how your fundraising activity will express the need for your work
  • how it will have a positive and respectful attitude towards donors and the wider public
  • accountability
  • financial, reputational, and other risks that your organisation may face and how those should be avoided or managed
  • complaints procedure.

Fundraising regulations

You should include a confirmation that your organisation will comply with legal rules, regulations and recognised standards that relate to fundraising, as described in the Code of Fundraising Practice and other fundraising resources.

Trustee responsibilities when fundraising

Charity trustees have overall responsibility and accountability for their charity, and this includes its fundraising.

They have a key role to play in setting their charity’s approach to raising funds, making sure that it is followed in practice and reflects their charity’s values.

Getting this right can be very rewarding, a valuable and visible result of a trustee’s commitment to their charity, those that it supports and those that support it.

As the regulator of charities in England and Wales, the Charity Commission expects charities that fundraise to do so in a way that protects their charity’s reputation and encourages public trust and confidence in their charity. This includes:

  • following the law and recognised standards
  • protecting charities from undue risk
  • showing respect for donors, supporters, and the public.

The commission also encourages other key people involved in charity fundraising to be familiar with the responsibilities of trustees. These include:

  • senior charity staff and charity staff working on governance, compliance, controls, and risk management
  • trading company directors and senior staff
  • professional fundraisers
  • businesses and consultants working in fundraising.

Members of the public can use the commission’s guidance to find out how fundraising is regulated and how to raise a concern or make a complaint about fundraising.

Useful resources

GOV.UK has a wide range of useful information on fundraising as well as fundraising guidance for trustees.

Other useful websites include: