✔️ Preparing to fundraise checklist
1) Are you legally allowed to accept donations? 📑
In many countries you have to be registered with the government in a specific way to be able to accept donations or grants. You most likely will need to prove that you are a registered charitable organisation in order to legally accept donations and be exempt from paying taxes on them. Contact your local government or tax authorities to find out what you need to make sure you are registered properly to be able to accept donations and raise funds. In many countries all fundraising must display your registration number too show you are an authentic charity, and many grant makers will ask for it on applications.
2) Are you ready for the administration of fundraising? 🗂️
There is some important administration to consider as you prepare to fundraise.
Asking for money: when you ask for money, make sure you are clear on how you will use the money, as this is binding and it is hard to change this after the fact. If you ask people for money to fix a roof, you must then spend it on the roof and nothing else. If you need to change what you want to spend it on, you have to go back to them to seek permission. If you want more general support, you can ask people to support your strategic goals or your ongoing operations. In many countries it is against the law to raise money for one activity and then use it for something else, even if the other activity is within your organisation.
Thanking and acknowledging: it is important to thank funders, primarily because that is good manners, but also because it serves an administrative purpose. Thanking acknowledges a gift and any terms and conditions that are attached to it, including what you have agreed it will be used for.
Record keeping: it is important to keep records of who you have asked for money, what you asked for and what the outcome was. This will help you monitor your fundraising success and help you manage relationships with funders and supporters (you can check for example, if they have already given or been asked to give). It will also very likely be a condition of your registration as an organisation that can raise and accept funds. Often you are required to keep up to 7 years’ worth of records showing your fundraising activity and this should align with your annual accounts.
3) Are you organised in a way that supports fundraising?🗄️
It is worth thinking about how you can be best set up for fundraising. One way is to form a new, fundraising specific committee and invite your existing members or new people to be part of it. In doing this, think about the skills you need for fundraising. Can you include someone who is good at administration? Can you include someone who is creative? Can you include someone who has a lot of connections, or is a confident spokesperson? Depending on what you decide to include on in your strategy, your committee may need:
👩🏿💼 A chair person
👩🏻💼 A finance/administrative person
👩🏽💼 An events lead (someone with planning skills and connections that will help sell tickets, secure prizes etc.)
👩🏼💼 A grant funding lead (someone who has good research and writing skills)
👩🏾💼 A communications person (someone with media and communication skills, who can help promote activities, act as strong spokesperson and help create marketing resources)
Your committee may need other roles than this, depending on the activities and targets you have chosen. Identify the skills you need and the roles that would help deliver them. Invite or advertise for people to take on these roles. Fundraising is often very fun, so you may well meet a lot of enthusiasm!
4) How can you change your wider organisation to support fundraising? 🌱
A great way to support your fundraising activity is to build a culture of giving within your organisation. A culture of giving is when everyone involved in an organisation donates to it in some way, and is offered the opportunity of supporting in other ways too. For example, you may donate five hours a week as a volunteer. You will of course feel this is more rewarding if your contribution is explicitly acknowledged (and celebrating everyone’s contribution is a great way to start building a positive culture of giving). But if you are that volunteer and someone was selling raffle tickets, would you be happy to be left out, because they assumed you had already given what you could by volunteering? Or would you want the opportunity to join in, take part and support the organisation you already invest in?
Many organisations make the common mistake of not considering their staff, volunteers and board as supporters and stakeholders. And many organisations make the mistake of seeing fundraising as a separate, procedure - a thing like filing a tax return. This is a mistake because at its most fundamental, fundraising is very human enterprise. People give to people, not to facts and statistics. People like to feel engaged, informed and consulted. In short, people operate in relationships not in transactions. Because fundraising is a human activity, it can (and should!) engage every person involved in your organisation. Your people are real assets!
By making sure people have the opportunity to contribute and are valued for the contribution they make, you can do some very effective fundraising before you even open the door! You also set yourself up or doing more effective external fundraising.
For example, if a member of staff/ volunteer has engaged in a fundraising event or initiative, they are more likely to recognise other opportunities that could be good for fundraising. You will increase the number of opportunities you see this way. A further example is if someone is personally engaged with what the organisation does and feels that their own investment, whether time or money or something else, is valued, they have a positive personal story to share.
Whether this story is shared in a face to face meeting or features in a grant application, it is a powerful resource. People give to people and personal engagement shines through in a very compelling way. Also, being engaged in this way is empowering. Many people find it easier to ask someone to join in with what they are already doing themselves (i.e., supporting an organisation) than to ask someone to do something they have personally not yet done.
A culture of giving empowers your board, staff and volunteers to make successful fundraising asks.
If you are starting out with a new fundraising strategy, you have a great opportunity to consider these approaches and help shift your organisational culture so that it supports your fundraising in the most effective way!
Fundraising is most successful when it is seen as a central, important feature of the organisation and everyone takes pride in it being done well.
How can you recognise a culture of giving?
An organisation with a culture of giving....
🤲🏾 Celebrates all contributions
🤲 Focuses on the people behind the cash
🤲🏿 Values long-term relationships and recognises that relationships grow over time
🤲🏽 Emphasises shared goals and collaboration
🤲🏼 View fundraising as a central and collective responsibility
🤲 Takes pride in ambition and growth
🤲🏽 Supports staff and volunteers by investing in the skills needed for fundraising