Every organization, no matter its size, needs a fundraising plan to guide and support its efforts. Here you'll find advice for designing a workable plan for your organization.

ELEMENTS OF A FUNDRAISING PLAN
by
Richard Male

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the fundraising plan is to have a planning document that clearly spells out the overall fundraising picture of the organization. In most plans, the agency takes a historical look at the past three years and seeks to project probable funding sources three years into the future.

In the introduction to the fundraising plan, the agency articulates the overall goals for the plan (such as we want to diversify our funding strategy, want to increase our controllable income, want to form strategic partnerships, want to broaden out from over reliance on government funding) listing the key elements within this document.

BACKGROUND : In this section we cover the historical background and impact of the organization. The key sections should include:

• History and historical impact (accomplishments) of the agency
• Mission statement
• Current Programs with one sentence description of each program

CASE STATEMENT : The case statement is a clear, concise, compelling one page statement spelling out the reasons a donor would want to make a contribution or grant to your organization. Within the context of the plan, this statement should pull together some of the above information and should reflect the passion of the organization.

DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION- EXTERNAL ANALYSIS - This section should encompass the external environment that is creating a need for the organization. In this section include:

• Economic and social indicators - for example poverty, educational, housing, health care; cultural and digital divide issues, etc
• Political climate - What are the political factors that are working either for or against the organization? What is happening in Washington and your state that may support or derail our efforts to raise funds for our constituency and agency?

SWOT ANALYSIS - A SWOT ( Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats) assessment provides a quick overview of the organizational dynamics, identifies strengths and opportunities from which to build, identifies weaknesses and potential threats, and helps to determine if the threats identified are real and controllable or uncontrollable. If the threats are uncontrollable, such as the general economy or the weather, understand them, but do not spend much time acting on what is out of your control.

The Strengths and Weaknesses are INTERNAL to the organization and the Opportunities and Threats are EXTERNAL. Try to do the SWOT with a combined group of the staff and some key board members. After you list the SWOT on a flip-chart be sure to analyze what it means for the organization.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT/DYNAMICS - In this section the agency wants to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the board of directors, especially as it pertains to its capabilities to raise funds. Is the board an active or passive body of people? Are their people who are positioned to open up funding doors? Does the board have a history of raising funds? Is it motivated to raise funds? Is there strong leadership on the board? What about the president of the board, is she/he a strong leader? If you would have to pick an animal or insect to describe the board what comes to mind and why? In many cases with grassroots organizations, the board was not designed as a fundraising board. Therefore, the development of a resource development committee that has strength, influence and contacts should be organized to help implement the plan.

In this section we discuss the role of the CEO/Executive Director plays in the fundraising process. Is the Executive Director the founder? Is she/he a charismatic or a passive leader? Does she/he have a strong influence on the board of directors? Does she/he have good contacts in the corporate, foundation, religious, and governmental communities? Can these contacts be used to open doors to raise new money?

What can do done to increase board and staff involvement in the fund development process? Is there a need for retreat or board training? Do new board members need to be recruited who bring in new skills, and contacts? Do we need to strengthen our fundraising committee on the board?

FUNDING HISTORY - Gives a historical sense of where the money has come from to support the organization. Try to break down this analysis by funding sources and years? What % of money historically has come from government funding, private foundations, corporations, donors (individuals), earned income, religious, planned giving (if any), special events, United Way, etc. Have these percentages been increasing or decreasing during the past three years. You may want to break down the revenue by program areas since much of the pubic and foundation funding will be restricted to specific programs.

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