The Fundraising Plan

According to The Fundraising Planner - A Working Model for Raising the Dollars You Need by Terry & Doug Schaff, "A fundraising plan is not complicated. It is nothing more than naming the fundraising tasks the nonprofit needs done, figuring out who will do them, and establishing a timeframe for doing them. …a good plan will enable you to communicate more effectively and coordinate your organization's activities better. That way you will actually spend more time fundraising and less time managing the whole process. The plan should include:

• Fundraising Overview: shows the projections of how much your organization needs to raise along with a list of donors and prospects and targeted giving objectives that meet the funding need.

• Fundraising Activity Schedules: show the steps required for each fundraising activity and major prospect solicitation to occur.

• Calendars: show when various steps in events, mailings, and other fundraising activities will occur. Calendars are derived from the fundraising schedules; you may have both calendars for specific activities and a master calendar that shows the plan overview and all schedule information.

• Progress Reports: monitor the pulse of your plan. They compare actual results with projected outcomes so you can encourage activities that are progressing well and intervene in those that are lagging behind.

The fundraising plan should answer questions such as:

• How much money do we need to raise?

• Where is it going to come from?

• Whom will we approach and how?

• What research do we need to do?

• When is the right time to ask for a donation?

• Once we get a gift, how do we follow up?

• How soon after we get a gift can we ask again?"

Material adapted and quoted from: The Fundraising Planner - A Working Model for Raising the Dollars You Need. A step by step guide by Terry & Doug Schaff. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco. (1999). Located in the Resource Centre for Voluntary Organizations. Call No. FR PM HV41.2 .S33 1999.