A fundraising strategy is usually a document that reflects a thinking process done by a group. There is an easy step by step process to do this. In brief, this involves identifying how much money you need to achieve a goal, and then what you would need to do to get it. The process helps you assess the different possible routes and decide which are the best for you.
✅ Fundraising strategies can focus on big or small aims or a specific problem.
You may want to raise money for a new building, or to fix the roof of your existing headquarters. You may be looking for funds for a specific community project, to subsidise ongoing group activities or to make up for a lost source of income, for example in a pandemic or political instability.
✅ Fundraising strategies may also focus on a period of time.
You may need to fix the roof before you can host a big event that you have planned, or you might want to grow a project in the next two years and need new staff to do so. You might have a figure in mind that would cover everything you want to do in the next two years, rather than to achieve the whole vision for your group. Once you know what it is you want the funds for, you can start to think about the best way to get them.
A fundraising strategy really focuses on practicalities and the ‘how’ questions of organisational growth or solving financial problems.
If you find yourself grappling with more fundamental questions about what you ought to be doing as an organisation, or what you want to achieve in the long term, you may need to go through a wider strategy process first before getting into the questions of how to find the money.
❓ Why should we develop a strategy?
A fundraising strategy is very useful, because it makes you look carefully at how much you need to raise and what the options available to you are. It also helps to draw together everyone involved and identify practical, creative steps that work best for your group. This can really maximise the impact of effort across a group and motivate people to join in or do more to help raise money.
Often, when people start fundraising without having developed a strategy, they might pour a lot of effort into an activity that could never realistically raise the funds they hope to find.
For example, it is very common that people will put on large party style events, or festivals, only to find out that after the costs are covered that very little profit is made. Or, in other scenarios, fundraising has happened naturally and gone well, but real opportunities are missed because the focus is on repeating what has worked before.
The best fundraising strategies are practical and specific to your situation and used by the group involved. Often, they are clear and simple, which makes the easy to put into practice. This is what makes them effective.
The best way to develop a strategy is to get your group together and follow a step by step process to identify ways that you can use the strengths that already exist to make the most money with the least effort.
You probably already have all the answers. 💪🏾 Making your strategy is just a case of discussing the facts of your situation, thinking through some choices together, and agreeing where to focus.