Fundraising Planning

A fundraising plan is the framework for your development efforts and part of sound financial planning. It helps you plan for your future and ensure your organization's stability. Fundraising planning also helps your organization cultivate multiple revenue streams; set priorities, strategies, and goals; and limits crisis fundraising.

In 2005, NAMAC partnered with Morrie Warshawski to provide four member organizations (Center for Digital Storytelling, Project: Think Different, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking and Visual Studies Workshop) fundraising planning services. As part of our Capacity Building Grants program, each recipient received a one-day board and staff retreat preceded by preparatory conversations with the consultant via telephone and email.

The planning included assessing the organization’s readiness; data review of past fundraising effectiveness; review of current reality & projected goals; identifying target audiences, developing implementation, evaluation and monitoring strategies. The organizations agreed to make the products of their planning available to use as examples to the field.

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DATA REVIEW

Completing a data review is a solid first step in your fundraising planning process. What is a data review? Simply, it’s a spreadsheet that shows three or four years of your key data (income, expenses, attendance, staffing, etc.), with two columns in between that calculate: percentage that each item represents of your total budget that year; and percentage of change from the year before.

When the Data Review is done, you can see what “story” it tells you. This is a story you will want to write up as a short report that will go on top of the Data Review when you send it out to your board and staff. The Review will give everyone a real-world look at your development profile, and help you make clearer and more informed decisions when you go into a Development Retreat.

Download a data review example

SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL

The self-assessment tool provides a method to help you think through your goals and evaluate your past and current fundraising performance. The evaluation tells you another story of "how you're doing" and gets the ball rolling on action planning.

Download the Self-Assessment Tool

DEVELOPMENT RETREAT AGENDAS, NOTES and PLANS

After laying the groundwork for their development planning, each of the four organizations worked with the consultant to prepare an agenda for the Development Planning Retreat that would be unique to their issues. The Fundraising Plans they created incorporate the decisions made at the Retreat along with some follow-up work done with board and staff. Because the four groups are very different from one another(size, age, budget, purpose, geography...) their plans exemplify this diversity.

Center for Digital Storytelling
Retreat Agenda
Retreat Notes
Fundraising Plan

Project: Think Different
Retreat Agenda
Fundraising Plan

Reel Works Teen Filmmaking
Retreat Agenda
Fundraising Plan

Visual Studies Workshop
Retreat Agenda
Retreat Notes
Fundraising Plan
Membership Plan

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Free Management Library's Basics of Developing Your Fundraising Plan

The Foundation Center has free online and in-person classes and tutorials, including Fundraising Planning.

Why Fund Media?

Behind the Scenes of Media Grantmaking