writing a fundraising business plan

How to Write a Successful Fundraising Plan

Why You Need a Fundraising Plan

Many non-profits, particularly smaller charities and start-ups, operate without a fundraising plan. When someone has an idea for an event or a campaign, these organizations simply put together a host committee or volunteer group and go for it. They may send out a letter here and there, and do some donor meetings, and when the bank account seems to be low, they often go into “panic mode” and race around trying to find cash to keep the doors open.

This is definitely not the best way to run your development program. Even if your non-profit is flush with cash, running an un-organized and un-planned fundraising operation is a recipe for stress, headaches, and ultimately… financial ruin.

So, how do you avoid this fate? The best way is by having a written fundraising plan. No matter how small your church, school, or charity is, or how far along you are into your operations, your group needs a comprehensive, well-written fundraising plan. A written plan will allow you to focus your efforts, plan out your yearly fundraising calendar , and give you guidance on strategy and tactics when you are in the thick of events, mailings, and calls. In short, your fundraising plan will keep you sane in the insane day-to-day world of the development office.

Your Plan: Who and When

The first questions you need to answer are: who should write your plan, and when should they write it? I’ll answer the second question first… When should you write your plan? How about now! Seriously – if you are operating without a plan, it is worth your time to sit down for a week and write your plan. Ideally, you’ll write a plan every year, or will write a 2, 3 or 5 year plan and tweak it at the beginning of every year.

As for who should write your plan, if you’ve got a development staff (like a development director), they should write the plan, in consultation with your charity’s CEO or Executive Director (E.D.) as well as the board. If you don’t have a development staff, then it is probably best for the E.D. or head person to write the plan, again, in consultation with the non-profit’s board of directors. You can also seek help from a qualified development consultant, many of whom specialize in writing fundraising plans.

The Anatomy of a Fundraising Plan

O.k., you know you need to write a plan, you know who is going to write it, and that person has consulted with all of the appropriate stakeholders and is ready to write. What needs to be part of the plan?

1. The Goal

The best starting point for your plan is with the end point in mind: what is your overall fundraising goal? (Even better: what is your overall fundraising goal for this year, and for each of the next four years?). This number should not be drawn out of thin air. It should be based on the needs of the organization. How much money will your group need to raise in order to carry out the activities that you want to carry out?

2. The Mission / Your Message

If the goal answers the question, “How much money do you need?” then the mission answers the question, “Why do you need it?” What is your organization’s mission? What do you plan to do with the money you raise? What is your operating budget, and why is it the amount it is?

3. The Tactics

Once you know how much you need to raise and why you need to raise it, you need to figure out how you are going to raise the full amount. What tactics will you use to raise your goal amount this year? Next year? The year after? Go into detail here, and figure out a goal for each of the tactics that adds up to your total goal. (For example, if you need to raise $5,000 you may say that you will raise $3,000 through a major donor group and $2,000 through an event). Some common tactics include:

• Individual Giving – Asking major donors to make gifts to your organization.
• Major Donor Groups – May include board giving, a finance or development committee, etc.
• Events – Both large and small.
• Direct Mail
• Telemarketing
• Online and E-Giving
• Grants – Foundations, Corporate, Government
• Corporate Giving Programs
• United Way Fundraising
• Minor Donor Groups – Yes, they do exist!
• Participatory Fundraising – Like walk-a-thons and chili cook-offs
• Annual Giving and Multi-Year Giving Campaign

When it comes to tactics, there are no shortage of ways to raise money, only a limited amount of staff and volunteer resources to implement your ideas. Try to include a good mix of fundraising tactics, and be willing to nix ideas that end up not working, and make up the lost revenue elsewhere.

4. The Timeline

Many organizations stumble here – they come up with a solid budget, have a great mission, and draw up a plan that includes a solid group of fundraising tactics, but fail to set timelines, and thus never seem to get things done.

Some development pros like plans that have only basic timelines: Hold an event in April, send out a mailing in September, run a board giving campaign in November. I actually prefer far more detailed timelines that list not only big picture goals, but also all of the small goals that go into making that big goal a reality (a management consultant might call this a “critical path.”) For example, instead of just listing that we’re having an event in April, I would also list when decisions on venue and entertainment need to be made, when sponsors will be solicited, when invitations will go out, etc.

Whichever type of timeline you include, include one… it will force you to think critically through your fundraising decisions, and provide invaluable guidance on your activities as the year progresses.

Want a step-by-step guide for writing a fundraising plan that works? Check out our webinar How to Write a Successful Nonprofit Fundraising Plan .

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How to Create a Successful Fundraising Plan + Template

Craft your nonprofit’s next fundraising plan with these easy steps and a helpful template.

The Fundamental Fundraising Plan Template

Why your organization needs a fundraising plan template.

Fundraising is a challenging but critical aspect of keeping your nonprofit afloat. It allows your organization to earn the funds it needs to grow and help more beneficiaries.

The most successful fundraisers will tell you that an effective fundraising strategy requires top-notch organizational skills to stay on track. A comprehensive fundraising plan template can make a major difference in your approach and provide the framework for more intentional, successful fundraising.

At Aly Sterling Philanthropy , we equip nonprofits with the fundraising solutions they need to better understand donors and raise more for their cause. Our consultants have constructed this fundraising plan template based on years of experience.

Follow these seven steps to create a comprehensive fundraising plan that works for your organization:

• Determine your nonprofit’s fundraising goals.
• Outline your nonprofit’s budget.
• Create a fundraising plan calendar.
• Construct a gift range chart for your fundraising plan.
• Build your case for support.
• Define the logistics of your fundraising initiative.
• Delegate fundraising plan tasks to your team.

While these tips are most easily applicable to major fundraising efforts such as capital campaigns, you can adjust them to work for your annual giving program and other initiatives as well. No matter your nonprofit’s type or size, you can find success with the following steps and template.

Essential Steps for Creating a Fundraising Plan

#1. determine your nonprofit’s goals..

When crafting your nonprofit’s fundraising plan, identify specific, tangible goals that will help your organization succeed in its mission. These goals should be achievable and align with your strategic priorities and goals for the future.

Use a goal chart as a visual aid during this process. By recording your objectives using this tool, you can revisit them later when building your fundraising plan.

Avoid focusing on fundraising benchmarks alone. In addition to fundraising aspirations, set goals to help you grow your community, improve donor retention, increase the number of major gifts you acquire and more. The more varied your goals are, the better. You might set a goal to increase your nonprofit’s:

• Major gifts: Major gifts are the largest contributions your organization receives. How many major gifts are you aiming to receive, and what amount would you like each gift to be?
• Donor acquisition: Donor acquisition refers to the number of new donors you secure over a given period. How many new donors would you like to engage throughout your fundraising initiative?
• Donor retention: Donor retention measures how many donors continue to give to your nonprofit year to year and campaign to campaign. What donor retention rate are you aiming for throughout your upcoming fundraising drive?

For each goal, identify any obstacles that may stand in your way of achieving it. These might be time constraints, budget, the nature of your organization or any number of potential roadblocks.

When you identify the potential obstacles, you can incorporate a strategy for tackling them into your overall fundraising plan.

If you are conducting a major campaign, this is the right time to conduct a feasibility study . Work with a third-party consultant like Aly Sterling Philanthropy who can help determine if your organization is ready to take on a large campaign, how to prepare and how much you can expect to raise. The feasibility study will survey your stakeholders to answer these questions:

• Is your cause compelling?
• Does the project or campaign make sense and solve an existing problem?
• Does the campaign have support from volunteer leadership and board members?
• Who are the potential campaign leaders?
• Are there any external concerns?
• Is now the right time for a campaign?
• How much should your organization expect to raise?

A feasibility study prepares you for your campaign by helping you develop realistic goals and proactively address obstacles. This process helps your organization build a stronger case for support and generate excitement for the campaign among donors, board members and volunteers.

Lay out fundraising plan objectives with a goal chart.

#2. outline your nonprofit’s budget..

An integral part of crafting your fundraising plan is settling on a budget. Your budget will ensure you don’t expend too much money while pursuing your fundraising goals.

Use findings from past campaigns to shape the budget for your fundraiser. For example, review the success of your last capital campaign or other major fundraising push to determine whether you allocated enough resources in your budget to achieve your goals.

Account for your income sources before allocating funding to your various expenses. One way to clarify where funding will come from is by crafting a budget chart. This chart should reflect:

• Specific sources of income.
• Specific expenses.
• Income and expenses from previous fundraising drives.

With this information, your team can better decide whether or not an expense is reasonable for your budget and craft your fundraising plan to account for trends from past budgets.

Make sure your budget also has the flexibility to account for any unexpected circumstances that arise throughout your campaign. Your budget should be as detailed as possible to keep your team on track and ensure nothing is left to interpretation.

Finally, craft your budget to be forward-thinking and use past results to predict future outcomes. This practice helps you keep an eye on expansion and maintain a positive outlook on the future.

How should funding be allocated across your nonprofit?

• Income and expenses from previous years.

#3. Create a fundraising plan calendar.

Outlining a fundraising calendar is essential when developing your nonprofit’s fundraising plan.

Mark the start and end dates of your fundraising push, budget meetings, board meetings and more in this fundraising calendar.

Share this calendar across the different departments of your organization to keep everyone on the same page as you work through the tasks in your fundraising plan.

Having a detailed plan laid out in a calendar is especially important for large undertakings such as capital campaigns since these fundraising initiatives are split up into a series of phases, including the:

• Planning Phase
• Quiet Phase
• Kickoff Phase
• Public Phase
• Conclusion and Follow-Up Phase

Because each phase has a different timeline, noting them in your shared calendar makes your entire team aware of where you are in the process.

Remain flexible when necessary, but use the calendar to track the progress of your fundraising efforts.

Do you have a fundraising calendar in place?

#4. create a gift range chart for your fundraising plan..

When developing your fundraising plan, your nonprofit should create a gift range chart to identify the donations needed to achieve your fundraising goals. Gift range charts help nonprofits plan their efforts by breaking fundraising goals into smaller, more manageable benchmarks.

So, how do you make a gift range chart? Here’s what to do:

• Separate your gift sizes. Specify different tiers of gifts and how many donations you’ll need to secure within each tier. The largest gift should make up 10-20% of your goal.
• Add the number of prospects you should contact for each tier. Include more than you think you need to maximize your results. For example, if you need two donors to make the highest gift, reach out to four prospects.
• Note the cumulative totals for each gift amount. This should be the final column of your chart.

With a gift range chart, your team can see:

• The size and number of gifts necessary to meet your goal.
• The number of prospects needed to supply these gifts.
• The total proportion of your fundraising goal accounted for in each gift level.
• The need for additional fundraising pushes to meet your overall goal, like partnering with a product fundraising company to sell different items to your supporters or launching a peer-to-peer initiative on social media.

The major gifts at the top of your chart will take longer to cultivate, so it’s extremely helpful to know how many prospects you’ll need to connect with upfront.

Remember, when you’re conducting a major fundraising push like a capital campaign , you’ll know you’ve reached the end of the quiet phase when you’ve obtained 50 to 70% of the gifts outlined on your gift range chart.

Armed with this information, your team can be strategic when choosing which prospects to engage with during your fundraising efforts. You can spend less time reaching out to supporters who aren’t needed to reach your fundraising total and ensure you get in touch with the high-value supporters necessary to help achieve your goals.

How will your fundraising goal be achieved?

• The size of gifts necessary to meet your goal.
• The total proportion of your fundraising goal accounted for in each gift range.

#5. Build your case for support.

Prospects need to have a compelling reason to give to your organization. There is no better way to grab their attention than by creating a dynamic case for support.

Your case for support needs to be specific and actionable to reassure donors that your organization has a clear direction for using the requested funds.

Your case for support should include:

• A brief overview of your nonprofit, including purpose and impacts.
• Your specific need for private dollars and how they will be used.
• A call to action and options for giving and learning more—for example, link to an online giving page, provide a giving envelope, etc.
• Name and contact for more information.

This should be one of the first tasks your team works on so you can prepare all your marketing materials and donor information packages before the fundraising initiative kickoff. Create a branded case brochure that delivers prospective donors everything they need to know about the initiative in a professional, detailed package.

Also, community-specific appeals can highlight how a nonprofit impacts its community and how its local support network is integral to the organization’s success. Check out how Aly Sterling Philanthropy serves the Cleveland, Ohio area to get an idea of how a local consultant can impact your team’s fundraising approach. A consultant can help you articulate your needs and craft a donor-centric fundraising appeal that’s informed by the fundraising landscape of your local area.

#5. Create your case for support.

What is your case for support.

• A clear mission statement.
• A brief history of your nonprofit.
• Your specific fundraising goals.
• Your gift range chart.
• A detailed overview of what your organization will achieve with their support.

#6. Define the logistics of your fundraising push.

Your team should ensure that there are no surprises throughout your fundraising efforts. The best way to be prepared? Diligently breaking down the logistics of your upcoming fundraising projects.

Using a planning chart, identify as much relevant information as you can relating to your projects, such as:

• Date, time, location and attendance.
• The cost of the project (payroll expenses, marketing budget, cost of the venue, etc.).
• Goals associated with your projects.

By taking the time to lay out this information, you can marry your budget with your calendar to ensure you stay on track financially throughout the entire process.

Plus, your team can more effectively delegate tasks among departments, set aside money in your budget for these projects and overcome potential roadblocks before they pose a real issue.

#6. Plan out your campaign.

How will you execute your fundraising campaign.

• The cost of the project (payroll expenses, marketing budget, cost of venue etc.).

#7. Delegate fundraising plan tasks to your team.

To successfully achieve your fundraising goals, your nonprofit should delegate fundraising activities across your organization. One way to optimize role delegation is to use a calendar matrix.

A calendar matrix helps team members in varying roles stay on top of their work by outlining fundraising activities by department.

In your calendar matrix, include logistical details to improve your team’s understanding of the big picture of your fundraising initiative. These details may include:

• Costs associated with events or projects.
• Anticipated fundraising income from each activity.
• Personnel required to carry out activities.
• Deadlines and benchmarks associated with each task.

Every team member should contribute to achieving your nonprofit’s fundraising goals. By using a calendar matrix, you help those in different departments see how their work fits into the big picture of your organization.

#7. Delegate fundraising plan tasks among your team members.

Who is responsible for your campaign tasks, the ultimate fundraising plan template.

Now that you’ve seen the fundraising plan process broken down into separate steps, it’s time to bring it all together in a comprehensive fundraising plan template. Below, you’ll find our ultimate template in its entirety, featuring the documents we’ve discussed in each section.

Additional Resources

By following these seven steps, your team should have the foundation it needs to tackle your fundraising efforts and successfully meet your goals. Crafting your strategic fundraising plan may take a lot of effort upfront, but it’s worth it. The plan provides the structure needed to keep your team on task throughout the entire fundraising push.

For additional help building your fundraising strategy, check out these resources:

Hiring a fundraising consultant, nonprofit feasibility studies, the ultimate capital campaign guide.

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[email protected] alysterling.com

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Nonprofit Fundraising Plan: 13 Must-Do Steps for Success

• February 9, 2022

A nonprofit fundraising plan is a guiding document designed to help you raise the money you need to achieve your goals.

It breaks down your organization’s vision into actionable, highly-specific steps for success.

It doesn’t matter if you are running a multi-million dollar nonprofit organization or are a small start-up: the key to financial success is a well-thought-out fundraising plan. Don’t set yourself up for failure by just ‘winging’ the fundraising process.

Instead, get your team together (or go solo if it’s only you) and get to work on creating your nonprofit fundraising plan.

What Is A Nonprofit Fundraising Plan?

A nonprofit fundraising plan is a document that strategically organizes all of your fundraising activities over a certain period of time (usually one year). These strategic plans chart out campaign dates and strategies, donor-tracking and retention plans, special event details, and a targeted communication schedule.

In addition to being strategic, you want to make sure that your fundraising plan is flexible enough to accommodate changes as they arise. If your fundraising plan is rigid and formulaic, chances are, you’ll miss out on some great opportunities. The key is to have an adaptable fundraising strategy with set goals that will also allow you to respond to unexpected challenges. We know this all too well – after all, the pandemic certainly threw a wrench in even the best-laid plans.

Before we dive in on how to create your own nonprofit fundraising plan, I want to go over a couple of questions you might be asking.

What is Strategic Fundraising?

I mentioned strategic fundraising earlier but what is it exactly? Strategic fundraising refers to moving your organization’s mission forward by honing in on what you do best. It involves the buy-in of multiple stakeholders such as your staff and board members, and maps out a path forward as you raise funds. 

A strategic fundraising plan is intended to keep you on track toward your fundraising goals by using your organization’s resources as effectively and efficiently as possible while keeping aligned with your overall mission and vision.

How Does a Nonprofit Fundraising Plan Differ From Other Fundraising Plans?

A nonprofit fundraising plan organizes your fundraising activities over the course of a year. You may have other fundraising plans that detail the fundraising campaigns and activities included within your overall plan.

Download a free fundraising plan template:

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Why do you need a fundraising strategy?

First and foremost, fundraising plans get everyone – staff, volunteers, board members, and potential donors – focused and on-track to hitting your goals throughout the year. With a set plan in place, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and won’t lose sight of priorities along the way. It should give your team a clear idea of what will be expected of them as well as the anticipated results.

These documents are also essential in shifting an entire organization’s attitude about fundraising. Let’s face it, fundraising is oftentimes reactionary. Problems such as an economic downturn or changes in federal funding can arise at any time.

A better way forward is to have fundraising goals, which then dictate your fundraising efforts and fundraising strategy.

A fundraising plan should provide a clear course of action from diversified funding streams, leaving everyone with a little less stress on their plate when problems do pop up.

It all boils down to the fact that when you are in the thick of an underperforming capital campaign, you are much more likely to come out on top if you have a plan in place to tackle the issues.

Are you ready to create a great fundraising plan? There’s no time like the present to get started. Follow these 13 must-do steps to ensure your fundraising plan is ready.

How To Write A Successful Fundraising Plan

1. reflect on your past finances.

Before you start putting together a fundraising plan for the upcoming year, it’s best to look at last year’s finances. At minimum, take a note of your total revenue and expenses. What’s going to carry over to this year? Which fundraising initiatives were successful? Which ones didn’t go as planned and either need more attention or should be scrapped altogether? Should more funds be allocated towards a certain initiative over another? Will new staff be brought on?

If you maintain a donor database or other CRM , you’ll be able to access this data quickly. If that data isn’t available or you are a start-up, look at your estimated budget or check out the stats of similar organizations.By reflecting on your past finances, you’ll be better equipped to create targeted fundraising goals going forward.

2. Define Your Vision

Any successful fundraising plan will have a vision. A vision statement acts as an anchor for your organization but outlines the direction going forward.

There’s only so many hours in a day, and only so many days in a year. Being able to articulate your organization’s vision allows you to strategically set priorities rather than attempting to tackle everything all at once. It lets your staff and your donors know the direction of where your organization is going and how you’re planning to get there. Keeping your vision statement top-of-mind as you’re creating your fundraising plan leaves little room to get sidetracked along the way.

3. Consider New Trends for Your Fundraising Plan

Through the pandemic, nonprofits have demonstrated their resiliency by rolling with the punches and reimagining the way they market their fundraising. It’s no surprise that how we market and fundraise is constantly changing, especially with new technology. 

Keeping up to date with emerging fundraising trends can help you market and engage more effectively and efficiently. Here are a few new marketing trends worth considering when putting together your fundraising plan:

Influencer Marketing

Does the adage “people donate to people who they trust” sound familiar? That’s because it’s so true! With 49% of consumers depending on influencer recommendations , influencers are here to stay.

Teaming up with a celebrity or a public figure to amplify your reach isn’t a new concept but social media has created all sorts of opportunities for specific niches of influencer marketing. These days, influencers can be any popular figure or subject matter expert with a significant online following. They can be local celebrities, board members, or politicians eager to advocate for your cause. There’s also varying levels of influencers but they generally fall into one of two buckets: 

• Macro influencers – larger reach (100K+ following)
• Micro influencers – smaller reach (10K-100K following)

There’s benefits of leveraging both but it certainly depends on your budget. Macro influencers obviously have a wider reach which is helpful for growing brand awareness. On the other hand, micro influencers may have fewer followers compared to their macro counterparts but they tend to have higher engagement due to being closer with their audience.

If you’re in the beginning stages of influencer marketing, know that it’ll take time, effort, and research. However, when you find the right person to endorse your cause, they’re enhancing your credibility by putting you front and center of an audience that already trusts them too. 

Video Marketing

In today’s digital world, nonprofits and charities should consider investing in video and visual storytelling as a key fundraising tool.

Over the past decade video marketing has only grown in popularity. With more and more smartphone users, people are spending an average of 19 hours a week watching videos online. When it comes to fundraising, 80% of the highest-grossing campaigns on CauseVox have used video as part of their campaign. In fact, 57% of people who watch nonprofit videos go on to make a donation .

Without a doubt, an impactful nonprofit video is one of the most effective tools in your belt for rallying support. I’m referring to those videos that showcase the remarkable journey from trial to triumph of an individual or group.

The best thing about video marketing is that it doesn’t have to be a full-scale production especially if you have limited marketing dollars. These days, shooting high-quality videos doesn’t have to cost an arm and leg. Short-form videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels are extremely popular ways to connect with your audience. All you need is a smartphone and good lighting to get started!

SEO… you’ve likely heard this acronym tossed around but what is it exactly?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is another way to target your audience and expand your reach organically. How search engines work can seem like a mystery but SEO can help demystify it a bit. In short, search engines use algorithms that crawl, index, and rank websites. When a user enters a search query, a search engine will return content that best matches the query. 

Effective SEO means optimizing your website to show up at the top of search engine result pages (SERPs) when users enter keywords and phrases relevant to your mission. The higher you rank, the more often you show up – which means that users will be more likely to see and click on your link. Ultimately, the goal of SEO is to increase website traffic and subsequently bring in and convert donors .

If you haven’t made SEO a central part of your fundraising strategy yet, you should. This means making sure that you have relevant keywords that represent your brand, creating high-quality content, and mobile-optimizing your website. I can talk about SEO all day and it certainly deserves a dedicated article (or class) of its own. Luckily, there’s a webinar you can check out that breaks down how to build a sustainable SEO strategy.

Although it can take up to six months to see improvements in your search engine ranking, the long-term ROI proves that it’s an effective marketing and fundraising tactic. 

4. Set Your Fundraising Plan Goals

Your fundraising goals should be based on what funds you need to keep the organization operating.

Your goals are also the catalyst and “North Star” for all your fundraising activities.

It is best to start with what your costs were during the last three fiscal years. If that data isn’t available or you are a start-up, look to your estimated budget or check out the stats of similar organizations.

Jot down the precise amount you need for the upcoming year. Then, build on this goal. Do you see growth in your organization’s future? If so, increase your year-to-year goals based on your anticipated growth.

You’ll notice that the fundraising goal worksheet example above follows the SMART framework: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Here’s how to get SMART when charting out your goals: 

• Specific:   What will the goal accomplish?  How will it be accomplished?
• Measurable: How will you measure success? How will you know when you’ve accomplished your goal?
• Achievable:  Is it realistic and possible? Have others done it before?
• Relevant:  Is the goal relevant to the problem you’re trying to address?
• Time Bound: When do you expect to complete this goal?

5. Align With Your Mission

You’ve got the right team in place and a basic idea of the goals you need to meet. Now it is time to make sure these goals align with your nonprofit’s fundraising objectives.

Bust out that organizational mission statement. This statement should answer these questions:

• Why is your organization in operation?
• What types of change are you making in the world?

Base your fundraising plan on how these dollars are helping put your mission into action.

You aren’t just raising money. You are raising money to make a difference. So, dissect your mission statement and goals and align the two. Explain, in detail, how much money you need to accomplish everything in your mission.

6. Detail Your Methods

After you’ve aligned your goals and mission, it is time to describe exactly how you will be raising those funds. You want your fundraising plan to be so detailed that even those outside of the organization will be able to understand it!

List the types of fundraising techniques you will be using. Include strategies such as:

• Crowdfunding campaigns
• Face-to-face asks
• Phone calls
• Mail campaigns
• Email marketing campaigns
• Fundraising Events
• Thank-a-thon
• Grants and matching gifts
• Corporate giving and partnership development
• Recurring donation campaigns
• Month-long focus on endowments and planned giving
• Capital campaigns

(Be sure to also check out our comprehensive list of fundraising ideas for more inspiration.)

Then, list the steps you need to take before and after each of the above activities. You may need to train volunteers, get your materials ready, or talk to someone about setting up the campaign website. Take some time to really dive deep into each of your fundraising strategies.

Also, be sure to think of both short-term and long-term activities. What can you focus on now and what fundraising tactic can you expand if your organization needs additional funding?

7. Look at the Big Picture

Does your organization have a strategic plan? If so, you’ll want to make sure that your fundraising plan aligns with it. Creating 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year plans is a best practice in the nonprofit world, and you can do this with your fundraising plan as well.

Your 1-year fundraising plan should be very specific. Detail every fundraising activity you will engage in over the course of the year.

Your 3 and 5-year plans can be much broader. Highlight key activities for each month, as well as your ultimate goals. If you see your organization growing and needing additional resources in 5 years, then outline a basic schedule that includes the steps you need to take in order to meet this demand.

Also, be sure you’re tracking every cent of fundraising revenue from previous years, as this will help you create data-backed fundraising goals for the future.

8. Bust Out Your Fundraising Plan Calendar

You’ve written down all of your fundraising plan information in a document. Your team has come to an agreement on appropriate financial goals, aligned those with your mission, described your fundraising techniques in detail, and then put this information into 1, 3, and 5-year plans.

Now, it’s time to get out your calendar which will supplement your total fundraising plan. Your fundraising calendar will help you to stay on task throughout the year. Let’s say you are nearing the busiest time of the year for fundraising—the holidays.

Your calendar should detail all the steps you need to take before the “busy season” starts such as establishing your goal, website preparations, and volunteer training.

Mark down your hard deadlines, action deadlines, communication schedule, and your donor retention strategy schedule. Viewing these dates as inflexible will keep you on task, even if you have to make adjustments here and there.

Keep your fundraising calendar on hand at every development meeting. This is a great tool to keep your schedule and goals top of mind. Need to keep track of important dates that may be related to your cause? Check out NonProfit Tech for Good’s sample cause awareness day calendar .

Take a look at our article on creating a fundraising calendar for additional information on creating a stellar fundraising calendar. You’ll find a template and worksheet you can use to build your own calendar.

Your final fundraising plan is likely to change as your organization grows, and that is okay! It isn’t meant to be a static document.

You should never ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ in fundraising. You are setting yourself up for failure if you go this route. Taking the time to develop a thorough fundraising plan will pay off in dividends and help you and your fundraising team stay on-task for years to come.

9. Assemble the Troops

When it comes to planning, you definitely need all hands on deck, so figure out who needs to be involved in the process. After all, your development team may be in charge of fundraising, but it takes the entire organization to produce consistent results.

So, let’s get the right people sitting around the table. First, make sure that your board of directors is involved. Their input and support are necessary for this document to “go live.”

Small organizations may only have one or two employees, and it is, therefore, best to have your board there to advise you and get involved helping to create the plan.

Larger organizations that have many departments should focus on creating this plan with top-down support. Therefore, it is best to include the leadership team, the development department, and those working with communications and marketing.

If you are at a loss as to where to start, talk with a professional nonprofit consultant. They can get you started or even guide you through the process if you require extra help.

10. Determine & Delegate Activities

At this stage, it might seem like there’s so much to do and only so much time to do it in. Once you’ve got your team assembled, create a timeline to determine who’s doing what and when. Your timeline will be a roadmap for all your fundraising efforts and can include things like when to launch a campaign or when to schedule out social media posts.  

Make sure to review your timeline with your team to ensure that everyone’s on the same page and that it’s realistic. Chances are, your team members are saddled with other responsibilities so by divvying up activities, you can ensure that you’re not overwhelming them if they already have a heavy workload. 

Consider using a project management software to help with this process.

11. Perform a SWOT Analysis

As an additional level of assessment and to make sure nothing is slipping between the cracks, you may want to perform a SWOT analysis . When done correctly, a SWOT analysis can be an extremely powerful fundraising tool.

But what exactly is a SWOT analysis and why should you use it?

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning and evaluation tool that can provide direction by assessing your organization’s internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats). Below is a SWOT analysis template with sample questions in each domain:

A SWOT analysis takes a critical look at your operations, giving you a clearer idea of the overall health of your organization, how you’re doing compared to similar organizations, and areas where you can improve.

12. Segment and Strategize For Different Donor Types

When it comes to fundraising, personalization is key. You wouldn’t talk to a ten year old the same you would communicate to a thirty-year old. It’s the same concept with your donor base.

You donors aren’t a monolith so skip the generic communications and instead, segment and tailor your messaging for different donor types. One of the most common ways you’ll see a nonprofit segment donors is by gift amount. You could have a segment for small-dollar donors, mid-level donors, and major donors. Of course, it’s up to you to choose what the cutoff amount for each category is. 

Major Donors

The definition of a major donor will vary from organization to organization. For some, the criteria for a major donor could be anyone who gives $10K or more, while others may view anything above $1K as a substantial gift. Regardless of how you define who a major donor is, as a fundraising professional, you already know that they’re important, especially since 88% of all nonprofit funds come from just 12% of donors .

Mid-Level Donors

Similar to major donors, the amount threshold will vary based on your average gift size and donor base. Mid-level gifts can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.

Small-Dollar Donors

Small-dollar donors are just as important as mid-level or major donors. These are individuals providing $5, $25, or even $75 to your organization each year. Even if it may seem like a nominal amount, it’s still important to steward them well .

Once you’re done segmenting, make sure the messaging to your donor is appropriate for the amount they’ve given. If the most a donor has donated to your organization was $25, asking them for $1,000 doesn’t make a lot of sense and would likely turn them off. 

In a similar vein, small-dollar and mid-level donors have the best potential to be monthly recurring donors which can provide more value over a lifetime compared to a one-time donor who may donate a higher amount. Sometimes, breaking down a large amount into smaller chunks over time is more digestible and an easier ask for your donor.

For instance, Anne is a $25 donor but she donates to your cause every month. That’s $300 every year. Ben on the other hand is a $500 donor but he only gives once. Over the course of 3 years, Anne will have given $900 compared to Ben’s one-time gift of $500. While you still value and appreciate Ben’s gift, based on this, it’s worthwhile for you to focus on communicating recurring giving programs to your small-dollar and mid-level donor groups.

To maximize gift size while fully automating donation payments, CauseVox’s pledge donation option allows donors to make a donation pledge now and pay in designated installments. 

Other Ways to Segment

While segmenting by gift amount is popular and common, it’s not always the most personal approach. How much someone gives only tells you their giving capacity but it doesn’t provide much more information otherwise. You’re not going to know how often they give on average (propensity), why they gravitated to your cause, and what they care about (affinity). 

If you don’t want to segment by gift amount, you can always consider segmenting donors based on their level of involvement, their interests, or even by geography. For example, a volunteer will interact differently with your organization compared to someone who’s receiving services. Alternatively, you wouldn’t want to send the same messaging to a lapsed donor and to someone who engages with your organization regularly. 

When you’re attuned to the specificities of a donor (i.e. their interest and intent), you can make their donor journey way more meaningful. The possibilities are endless, so go wild!

13. Keep Everything Organized With the Right Software

The last step in your fundraising plan is to figure out how to keep everything organized. 

Are you cobbling together disparate donor information across multiple spreadsheets? Are you struggling to find the most recent version of a spreadsheet? Do you have spreadsheet fatigue? If the answer is a resounding ‘yes’, you’re not alone. It honestly sounds like a nightmare. 

Fortunately, there’s a better way. Whether you’re using Google Sheets or Excel, it is not remotely close to being a replacement for a dedicated donor database. When it comes to keeping everything organized, it’s time to ditch the spreadsheets and switch to a customer relationship management (CRM) software. CRMs are designed to help you track donor information, provide insights, and give you more control of your fundraising efforts. Of course, choosing the right software can make or break your fundraising plan. 

Let’s face it, there’s no shortage of fundraising software out there. If you’re trying to narrow down your options, here’s why you should choose CauseVox. Our fundraising platform is designed increase giving and reduce back-office tasks with features such as:

• Smart donation forms,
• Automated receipts,
• Donation tracking and insights,
• Built-in CRM to track and build donor relationships,
• Event ticketing,
• Customizable peer-to-peer and crowdfunding campaigns,
• And expert support delivered by real people

We’ve helped thousands of nonprofits simplify their fundraising and reach their goals. You’ve put in the blood, sweat, and tears all year. Let us help you make your job a little easier, all starting at an unbeatable cost of $0 . 

Download a comprehensive fundraising plan template:

Get started on causevox.

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This post was updated in December 2023 for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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How to Create a Strategic Fundraising Plan for Nonprofits

Ready to get strategic? Having a thoughtful fundraising plan in place can help you avoid the pitfalls of being too reactive with asking for money. Plus, it can help you stay focused on your goals – without forgetting your mission. In this article, we'll share how to create the perfect strategic fundraising plan for your nonprofit.

Fundraising is crucial for your organization, but your fundraising goals will likely fail without a good plan. Strategic fundraising plans give your nonprofit a map to success.

Building a team, remembering your mission , and finding what works best for your organization and donors will help create that map.

In this blog, we discuss why a strategic fundraising plan is vital to your organization. We will also walk you through a step-by-step guide to creating a strategic fundraising plan of your own.

What is Strategic Fundraising?

A strategic fundraising plan focuses on your mission and includes your board, staff members, and fundraising objectives. Fundraising can feel overwhelming when reacting to the latest trends or budget shortfalls, so having a long-term strategic plan in place ensures you stay on track.

Each step of your plan should include which path to take as you reach or miss a campaign’s fundraising goal. It is ideal to have one major strategic fundraising plan for the year. This is different from a general strategic plan , which can help your organization take on a variety of challenges and goals.

Strategic fundraising allows you to make educated decisions about your fundraising so you keep your primary goal in mind. A strategic plan will not only help your organization raise more but will also free up your staff and board’s time and talent so you can double down on your mission and build deeper connections with your donors.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Create a Strategic Fundraising Plan for Nonprofits

There are too many times when fundraising feels like throwing ideas at a wall to see what sticks. With a strategic plan, your nonprofit can decide whether those ideas fit with your mission and donor base before tossing them at the wall.

The following steps should be a starting point in creating a strategic fundraising plan. As you see your plans’ results, you can adapt and change what doesn’t work for your organization.

1. Include your mission

The variety of campaign types and marketing tools can be distracting when fundraising. Your organization’s mission may get lost in the mess of events, online campaigns, major donors, and fundraising emails.

Your mission is the most critical fundraising tool you have. Without it, your supporters may lose sight of why they are donating and will quickly find a nonprofit with clearer objectives.

When fundraising, remember to keep your mission at the top of your donors’ minds. Here are a few easy ways to do this:

• When sending out appeal letters and emails, always remember to include your mission statement at the top.
•  At your fundraising events, you can give exact numbers or tell a story about how your donors’ gifts are getting you closer to reaching your mission.
• Each newsletter is a chance to keep your supporters updated on where their donations are going and how they have impacted the organization’s mission.

2. Create objectives

Your mission is your nonprofit’s ultimate goal. Your objectives are the steps your organization takes to get there.

Laying out your organization’s objectives will give your donors another clear example of how their gifts can make a difference. Promoting these objectives, and breaking down how they can be successfully funded, will give your donors a pathway to follow – and a more focused approach for your fundraising plan.

If your mission is to build schools , an objective might be to raise enough for one school, or for the lumber needed for your project.

When creating a fundraising plan, include these objectives and develop campaigns to fund them. When these objectives are met, you can celebrate with your donors and update them on how these objectives are making an impact.

The success of these objectives will encourage your supporters to help you meet more of your goals.

3. Build a team

No one can carry out a plan by themselves! Involving your board and staff in the creation of your strategic plan is essential to its success.

Your strategic plan will include several fundraising avenues, and your team will have a variety of expertise you can use. Whether you use your team on different campaigns or to reach different objectives, you will want to create a team that can best benefit your organization.

3.1 Solicit Major Donors

Find volunteers , board members, or staff members with personal connections to some of your major donors. Work with them to build a stronger connection with the donors and create a separate fundraising plan to meet that donor’s particular interest in your organization.

3.2 Event Committees

Do you have a volunteer who loves to design? How about a board member who bakes delicious cakes? Fundraising events are when you can use these skills to benefit your nonprofit. Encourage your volunteers and board members to join an event committee and share their expertise.

3.3 Corporate Sponsorship/Partnership Solicitation

You never know where a corporate partnership can lead. A local company may start with an interest in using you for their company volunteer day , but that does not mean you can’t turn that interest into a sponsorship. Your board members can be the perfect way to turn a one-day event with a company into a long-term partnership.

3.4 Social Media Campaigns

Crowdfunding and Peer-to-Peer campaigns have grown in popularity. The success of these campaigns relies on your relationship with volunteers who have large communities of their own. Encouraging volunteers to become leaders in these efforts can raise funds and develop strong fundraisers for your organization.

4. Find funding options for different donor types

While it is easy to rely on campaigns and events that have been successful in the past, recent years have proven that sometimes it is necessary to think outside the box. When creating a strategic fundraising plan, you should include different fundraising types to reach a broader range of donors.

Everyone wants that one donor who can give your organization a million dollars, or even a few thousand, but that does not mean you should ignore the rest. Smaller, mid-size , and major donors all have different interests and needs. By reaching out to them in different ways, you can be sure to get the most out of your fundraising campaigns.

4.1 Smaller donors

Your smaller donors are often ignored outside of the annual end-of-year campaign or event. This year, you can try to reach out to this group of individuals in more than one way. Why not have an online raffle or sell   scratch cards for a few dollars a person? While it may not bring in thousands of dollars, your return on investment for smaller events like these may turn out to be worth the trouble.

4.2 Mid-level donors

Mid-level donors are the ones who you can count on for a few hundred to one thousand dollars a year. These donors can be some of your best supporters in the long run. The best way to encourage these donors to give more is to find easier ways for them to donate.

Some of these donors may work for companies that match their donations but do not even know it. Sending out a simple message to your donors about asking their companies for matching donations can put this idea in their minds. Donorbox has also included a section on our online donation pages for   company-matching donations .

Some of your mid-level donors may also be ripe for a recurring donor campaign. Recurring donors give a pre-determined amount of money every year to your nonprofit. This amount is taken out weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually and is money you can count on and include in your budget. Developing a campaign to promote your ability to accept recurring donations safely is one way to excite donors about this type of gift.

Visit our blog to learn How to Turn One-Time Donors Into Recurring Donors .

4.3 Major Donors

We have already discussed using donors and board members to help build relationships with major donors . This is a necessary first step, but you will want to create distinct ways your major donors can make their mark to continue that relationship.

Some major donors love to take part in capital campaigns or fund specific projects. Other donors may be willing to match donations from other supporters. Their involvement in a matching campaign can bring in more gifts and make an even greater difference to the organization. The idea is to be creative and work with these donors to find what most interests them.

Pro tip:  Different donors require different approaches. However, your donation form should be designed to cater to all donors and help increase your donations. You can do this by matching your form to your branding, adding varied donation amounts, and making it easy to sign up for – and control – a recurring giving plan. Check out how Jelly’s Place offers descriptions of each donation amount to encourage higher giving on their Donorbox donation page!

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5. Use New Marketing Techniques

The development of technology has opened a plethora of marketing options. In addition to mail and email campaigns , you can now send out fundraising material through social media using daily posts, ads, and your biggest supporters’ online communities.

Smaller organizations may limit their use of social media over fears that they cannot compete with the bigger names. Social media is just another way to speak with your donors. Regardless of your nonprofit’s size, you can use this conversation tool to benefit your organization in many ways.

We have written an article on   How to Plan and Execute a Stellar Nonprofit Social Media Campaign . If you have avoided social media in the past because you are unsure how to make it work for you, this article is a great resource.

Crowdfunding and Peer-to-peer campaigning are other examples of how social media has changed the rules for nonprofits. Your donors and volunteers have strong communities of their own. With your help, they can spread the word about a campaign to their community and raise funds to help you reach your goal. Learn more about crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising on our blog.

6. Research Past Campaigns

While there are several new options for fundraising campaign types and marketing techniques, it is your job to decide what works best for your nonprofit. When developing a strategic fundraising plan, the research stage is an essential step. How have your donors responded to past attempts at mail, email, and social media campaigns? What fundraisers in your past have given you the best return on investment?

If most of your donors are older, a social media campaign may confuse and frustrate them. Or worse, not reach them at all. If you have a developing group of younger professionals in your donor base, you may want to find easy and quick ways to reach out to this group of individuals.

By finding this information, you are not starting from scratch. You can base your fundraising plan and budget on past amounts raised and on likely revenue increases if you change the way you reach out to donors.

A detailed database with this information is crucial when it comes to deciding which campaign types and marketing tools will work for your organization. Donorbox’s donor management features include several ways to enter donor information that will help you in your next strategic fundraising plan.

7. Start Online Fundraising

After your team creates a detailed plan based on your mission, donors, and past successes, now is your chance to turn that plan into action.

Your strategic plan should have a variety of different ways to raise funds this year, but almost all of them will require you to write a  fundraising or appeal letter . Writing a powerful letter to your donor list can raise large amounts for only a little money and work.

Your fundraising letter should tell a compelling story, speak directly to your donor’s interests, and create a sense of urgency. That sense of urgency could be the one thing that encourages your donors to act, so visit our blog to learn more about How to Create a Sense of Urgency in Fundraising Appeals .

After sending out your appeal letters and holding events that focus on your mission and donors, you should be tracking the results. Are your efforts raising more money and taking less time than before? Are you building stronger relationships with your donors and volunteers? At the end of the year, your strategic plan’s success should be evident in the funds you raised and the connections you made.

Donorbox  is here to help you with all your fundraising needs. For more tips and tricks to add to your strategic plan, visit our blog . Subscribe to our newsletter for a hand-picked list of blogs delivered to your inbox every month!

Raviraj heads the sales and marketing team at Donorbox. His growth-hacking abilities have helped Donorbox boost fundraising efforts for thousands of nonprofit organizations.

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How to Write a Fundraising Plan in 2 Steps

• Fundraising
• Major Gifts

In this guide you’ll:

• Learn how to define your goals and strategies.
• Review previous year’s fundraising performance.
• Gain access to helpful resources and templates.

Keep your team focused on what matters most with a fundraising plan!

A well written plan will help you outline your fundraising priorities, goals, and plans for a specific amount of time, usually 12 months.

The vast majority of nonprofits — over 57% — do not have a written fundraising plan. According to research by Dr. Adrian Sargeant, world-renowned fundraising researcher, “organizations with a written fundraising plan consistently outperform organizations without one.”

Ready to craft your fundraising plan?

About the Author

Rachel Muir

When she was 26 she launched Girlstart, a non-profit empowering girls in STEM in the living room of her apartment with $500 and a credit card. Several years later she had raised over 10 million and was featured on Oprah, CNN, and the Today show. Today Rachel transforms people into confident, successful fundraisers.

Learn more at rachelmuir.com .

Develop a Winning Strategy and Raise More This Year!

Home » The DoJiggy Fundraising Blog » Write a Successful Fundraising Plan [Free Templates]

Write a Successful Fundraising Plan [Free Templates]

It’s not always easy to know where to start with fundraising. Although it may seem like a complicated process, it doesn’t have to be if you create a solid fundraising plan before you begin. With the proper guidance and tools, you’ll find it easier than you think.

This blog will guide you through the process of developing an annual fundraising plan so that your organization can maximize funds and impact for your cause. We’ve even thrown in a few example fundraising plan templates.

What We’ll Cover

What is an annual fundraising plan, why does your organization need a fundraising action plan, create an effective fundraising plan in 6 simple steps, fundraising back-up plans are a must, free nonprofit fundraising plan templates.

Annual fundraising action plans provide a detailed layout of a nonprofit’s future fundraising projects, goals, and activities for the year and how to achieve them.

Here’s what to include in your annual fundraising plan:

• Specific fundraising goals
• Clear timelines
• Details of fundraising events and campaigns
• Long and short-term strategies to accomplish your nonprofit’s goals
• Available resources to meet those objectives

Many nonprofits, particularly smaller charities and groups, operate without a fundraising plan. When someone has an idea for a campaign, these organizations put together a host committee and start planning without firm goals and objectives. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what needs to be done next or if goals are reached in a case like this.

This is where your fundraising plan comes in handy. With clearly defined goals and appointed roles, a solid fundraising plan will help to ensure that your nonprofit’s strategies are well organized, run smoothly, and as successful as possible. Also, with a strong fundraising plan, you can take the time, energy, and creativity required to find new donors and develop the right strategies to smash your nonprofit’s goals . 

Designing a successful annual fundraising plan enables your nonprofit to track and monitor its progress, which is vital for mission fulfillment . So, let’s help your organization create long-term strategies and achieve your desired results by giving you the tools to create an effective fundraising plan in 7 simple steps.

Step 1: Decide Who and When to Write the Plan

Although starting your fundraising plan can feel like a daunting task, the longer you put it off, the more likely you will regret not doing it sooner. Just think – every minute you waste thinking about starting is valuable time you could be raising money for your cause. With this in mind, the answer to when you should get planning is now!

Fundraising action plans are generally written by the Development Director or Development department. The nonprofit board of directors and the Executive Director also have an essential role to play, and their feedback and participation are critical. Your nonprofit may also wish to hire a skilled development consultant for assistance; many have experience drafting fundraising plans.

It’s essential to keep up the momentum once you have the hang of writing fundraising action plans. Preferably try to create one by the start of every year, or write a two, three, or five-year plan and revise it at the start of each year.

Step 2: Define Fundraising Goals

Establishing a clear fundraising goal will help your group to design an effective fundraising plan. From the get-go, define your goals and objectives for your yearly fundraising processes.

Ask your committee to determine the following:

• How much money do you need to raise?
• What resources do you have available?
• What do you plan to do with the money raised?
• What is your operating budget?
• What other outcomes do you want from your campaigns?

Don’t leave these things to chance. Keep your eye on the prize throughout the event planning phase to help ensure success.

Check out our free printable Fundraising Goal Planner template here .

Step 3: Analyze Past Fundraising Efforts

If you don’t know where you went wrong, how can you improve next time? This is a crucial tip when it comes to creating your fundraising plan. Refer to the previous year’s fundraising events to evaluate their successes and failures. Ask yourself:

• Did you meet your objectives? If not, why not?
• What went right? How can we build on that to make it an even bigger success?
• Did we stay within budget?
• What unexpected costs did we encounter?
• What benefits did we generate? (such as brand awareness, income, donors, and sponsors)

By asking the right questions and analyzing past fundraising efforts, you’ll be on your way to designing an effective fundraising plan that will bring success to future events.

Step 4: Identify Current Resources and Gaps

Outlining clear fundraising goals is one thing, but your nonprofit needs many resources to meet them. It’s important to determine what you have at hand and what you’ll need to obtain to achieve your goals successfully. Create a list that can be regularly updated with everything and everyone available to support your campaign.

This can include:

• How many staff members, volunteers, sponsors, board members, and vendors do you have?
• How many hours are they willing and able to contribute to fundraising efforts?
• What is the annual budget?
• Do you need to outsource anything to get the job done more effectively? How will that affect the budget?

Step 5: Map out a Timeline to Get it Done

It can be challenging to keep track of everything that’s happening within your organization. This is where creating an effective timeline comes in handy. Help your nonprofit stay organized and keep tabs on your projects and goals by:

• Setting realistic deadlines for each stage of your fundraising campaigns
• Highlighting special occasions and other key dates in your fundraising plan
• Pinpointing how much time you have to achieve each goal
• Identifying campaign milestones and tracking their progress

Don’t fail at the last hurdle by not building or sticking to a solid timeline. Make sure to always include one and if in doubt, remember that a detailed timeline forces you to think critically about your fundraising choices and offers priceless advice on your actions as the year goes on.

Check out our free printable  Annual Fundraising Planner template  here.

Step 6: Establish Yearly Strategies

Once you’ve identified your fundraising goals and available resources, you’ll need to list ways to achieve your desired results. Are you planning to raise all the money you need this year? Or is the campaign part of a longer-term project, such as a two or three-year capital campaign?

The best approach is to develop your annual strategies using donor patterns and knowledge of your donor base . There are countless strategies to meet your fundraising goals; here are some of the most popular:

• Asking for donations from individuals
• Selling custom merchandise
• Fundraising events – walk-a-thons , auctions , and raffles
• P2P Crowdfunding campaigns
• Corporate Giving – Gift Matching programs
• Grants from governments, corporations, and foundations
• Recurring giving and membership campaigns
• Board Fundraising
• Direct mail campaigns
• Social media hype with online giving options

Check out our free printable Fundraising Event Planner template here .

As you can see, the list of ways to reach your fundraising goals is incredibly varied. This is an excellent opportunity to show how diverse your nonprofit is by applying a creative mix of fundraising strategies. Use your fundraising action plan to list which tactics work well together and which don’t. Remember, fundraising through multiple income streams can boost your nonprofit’s exposure, profitability, and awareness beyond what you might think imaginable.

Having a sound fundraising action plan is great, but what do you do when the unexpected happens? Contingency planning is a vital part of your fundraising plan to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible and keeps your donors happy. Here are a few ideas for backup plans that could end up saving your fundraising event:

● Be Ready to Go Virtual or Hybrid

If we’ve learned anything during the last couple of years, it’s how the show must go on, regardless of the circumstances. Switching your nonprofit’s fundraising event from in-person to a hybrid or virtual format is a great example. Make big savings, promote inclusivity , and boost participation numbers and outreach by offering online options.  

● How Flexible Are Your Contracts and Vendors?

If you don’t have a backup plan, unexpected cancellations could be disastrous for your fundraising budget. When organizing a fundraiser, it is critical to verify how strict your contracts are and opt for flexibility, cancellation clauses, and adaptable vendors and partners.

● Make it Simple and Convenient to Donate Online

Ideally, your annual action plan will be full of projects, fundraising campaigns, and key events. But what happens to donations if anything is postponed or canceled at the last minute? This is where online giving options can save the day! Provide online bidding for auctions, donation buttons on your fundraising pages, and online ticketing and registration for a safe and seamless experience for your donors and staff. 

Fundraising plans don’t need to be complicated. Use our free sample fundraising plans to get started.

Fundraising Goal Planner Template

Annual fundraising planner template, fundraising event planner template, fundraising plan conclusions.

A solid fundraising plan can make or break your nonprofit’s charity efforts. Remember that your plan is a living document. It’s forever adapting, evolving, and improving along the way. Make sure to add regular changes and updates when necessary to optimize the success of your fundraising campaigns. Ideally, you want to review the plan monthly to ensure you’re on track. So, take these simple steps and start writing.

Create a free account and see how we can help your organization smash your fundraising goals!

P2p crowdfunding, golf tournaments, online stores, sweepstakes, raffle fundraising, related resources.

About Sarah Bender

Originally from Surrey, UK, Sarah has worked remotely in various online fields for the last 8 years. Currently, she is focusing on writing blogs on online fundraising and special events for a UK audience. When she is not spending her days researching and writing, you can find her running around after her two highly active young sons which constitutes a serious workout program!

See other posts from Sarah Bender

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• Charity Raffles
• Walk-a-thon Resources
• School Fundraising

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Start » strategy, how to write a nonprofit business plan.

A nonprofit business plan ensures your organization’s fundraising and activities align with your core mission.

Every nonprofit needs a mission statement that demonstrates how the organization will support a social cause and provide a public benefit. A nonprofit business plan fleshes out this mission statement in greater detail. These plans include many of the same elements as a for-profit business plan, with a focus on fundraising, creating a board of directors, raising awareness, and staying compliant with IRS regulations. A nonprofit business plan can be instrumental in getting your organization off the ground successfully.

Start with your mission statement

The mission statement is foundational for your nonprofit organization. The IRS will review your mission statement in determining whether to grant you tax-exempt status. This statement also helps you recruit volunteers and staff, fundraise, and plan activities for the year.

[Read more: Writing a Mission Statement: A Step-by-Step Guide ]

Therefore, you should start your business plan with a clear mission statement in the executive summary. The executive summary can also cover, at a high level, the goals, vision, and unique strengths of your nonprofit organization. Keep this section brief, since you will be going into greater detail in later sections.

Identify a board of directors

Many business plans include a section identifying the people behind the operation: your key leaders, volunteers, and full-time employees. For nonprofits, it’s also important to identify your board of directors. The board of directors is ultimately responsible for hiring and managing the CEO of your nonprofit.

“Board members are the fiduciaries who steer the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure the nonprofit has adequate resources to advance its mission,” wrote the Council of Nonprofits.

As such, identify members of your board in your business plan to give potential donors confidence in the management of your nonprofit.

Be as realistic as possible about the impact you can make with the funding you hope to gain.

Describe your organization’s activities

In this section, provide more information about what your nonprofit does on a day-to-day basis. What products, training, education, or other services do you provide? What does your organization do to benefit the constituents identified in your mission statement? Here’s an example from the American Red Cross, courtesy of DonorBox :

“The American Red Cross carries out their mission to prevent and relieve suffering with five key services: disaster relief, supporting America’s military families, lifesaving blood, health and safety services, and international service.”

This section should be detailed and get into the operational weeds of how your business delivers on its mission statement. Explain the strategies your team will take to service clients, including outreach and marketing, inventory and equipment needs, a hiring plan, and other key elements.

Write a fundraising plan

This part is the most important element of your business plan. In addition to providing required financial statements (e.g., the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement), identify potential sources of funding for your nonprofit. These may include individual donors, corporate donors, grants, or in-kind support. If you are planning to host a fundraising event, put together a budget for that event and demonstrate the anticipated impact that event will have on your budget.

Create an impact plan

An impact plan ties everything together. It demonstrates how your fundraising and day-to-day activities will further your mission. For potential donors, it can make a very convincing case for why they should invest in your nonprofit.

“This section turns your purpose and motivation into concrete accomplishments your nonprofit wants to make and sets specific goals and objectives,” wrote DonorBox . “These define the real bottom line of your nonprofit, so they’re the key to unlocking support. Funders want to know for whom, in what way, and exactly how you’ll measure your impact.”

Be as realistic as possible about the impact you can make with the funding you hope to gain. Revisit your business plan as your organization grows to make sure the goals you’ve set both align with your mission and continue to be within reach.

[Read more: 8 Signs It's Time to Update Your Business Plan ]

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How to Write a Successful Annual Fundraising Plan in 6 Steps

Can you do it?

The contestants on The Great British Baking Show manage to get it right with impressive frequency.

But… that either requires a good memory or a lot of guesswork.

Do you really want to make fundraising so hard? Or leave so many things to chance?

The solution is to have a recipe or rather, a plan, that maps out all your fundraising for the year.

You see, your annual fundraising plan is a treasure map that leads you to the exact activities that will raise the most money for your nonprofit over the course of the coming year.

It’s what makes the difference between nonprofits that thrive and those that just survive.

Your plan will:

• Keep you focused on what works and stop you from chasing every shiny new idea.
• Balance your activities, keeping you from letting entire months slip by with no active fundraising, then squeezing in too many fundraisers and Asks at the end of the year (which feels really crappy to donors!).
• Allow you to time your appeals for the best results and spread your grant writing throughout the year, instead of cranking out a year’s worth of grants in the Fall when you’re also planning your year-end campaign. That approach to grant writing doesn’t work, by the way.
• Engage your Board. You can show them exactly what’s coming up and invite them to choose which activities they want to be involved in.
• Give you the power to deflect the “great new ideas” your Board, staff, and volunteers come up with, because you can show them what you already have planned.

Actually, having a plan gives you an out. You can say to them, “Wow, that’s a great idea. But, my fundraising plan for the year is already pretty full [show them your written plan]. In order to take on your idea, one of these will have to come off.” They’ll back right off, and you won’t overcommit yourself trying to make them happy!

This strategy helps educate them that you have a lot on tap already and that you won’t be dropping everything to sell poinsettias, publish a cookbook, enter a national contest, or write a letter to a celebrity asking for money (or whatever else they’ve come up with).

So, why don’t more nonprofits have a fundraising plan?

Given the many ways a fundraising plan can make your life easier, it’s hard to understand why so many organizations don’t have one.

Often, fear of creating a less-than-perfect plan holds people back. Or the search for the perfect template. Or finding the data you need. Sometimes Imposter Syndrome rears its ugly head and keeps you from making a plan because you think you’re the least qualified person to do it.

But here’s the thing: done is better than perfect . Done means you have a map and can start driving toward your destination.

Your imperfect, good-enough, fluid annual fundraising plan will give you the roadmap for the year, so you always know what is happening next. In fact, a fundraising plan that’s 50% done and 100% implemented will ALWAYS produce better results than no plan at all.

If you’re smart and build revenue projections into your plan, you’ll have a good idea of cash flow for the year. You’ll also have the confidence of knowing when the time is right to spend money on programs, something many young and small organizations struggle with.

And your plan will give you a reality check to hold back when you’re tempted to barrel ahead with a new program before you’ve fully figured out the funding for it.

Some people think, “I don’t need a plan. I’ll just make it up as I go.” And I get that. I used to be one of them.

But a plan changes the game. With a plan, you’ll:

• Be more productive because you’ll be working on tasks that move you toward your goals.
• Feel confident that you aren’t wasting time on unproductive tasks.
• Leverage your resources of time, energy, and money on things that will give you the greatest return on investment.

The process of writing your annual fundraising plan will be transformational and freeing. Don’t put it off. Just do it!

And here’s the recipe you need.

6 Steps to Writing Your Annual Fundraising Plan

After creating fundraising plans for myself and clients for 20+ years, I’ve found a formula. And here it is – six steps to writing an annual fundraising plan, regardless of the size of your nonprofit or how long your organization has existed.

If your organization is just getting started, it’s a perfect time to create a plan that guides your fundraising activities for the next year.

Do you have to start in January ? No! As you grow into your fundraising strategy, you’ll want to start your fundraising plan when your fiscal year starts.

But there is no time like the present! So let’s dive in.

1. Learn from the past.

Start the planning process by reviewing your history. Specifically, review your activities and numbers from the last year. What worked? What didn’t? What did it cost you to raise money in terms of expenses and time?

Look at the data for each fundraising activity and ask yourself if it was worth it. What was your return on investment? What was your cost to raise a dollar?

Based on this information, choose what to repeat in this year’s plan. Leave out events that cost too much relative to what they brought in. Drop activities that only generated nickels and dimes.

A nonprofit I work with has tried several different campaigns on Valentine’s Day, and they always fail to ignite. It’s hard for the organization to abandon the Valentine’s Day campaign because they feel like it should work.

But, the Valentine’s Day campaign hasn’t worked, in spite of all the tweaks they’ve tried. So, it’s time to let it go and focus on other campaigns that DO work!

The organization’s Spring campaign is not tied to any holiday, and yet it’s always successful, as is Giving Tuesday. How about a campaign in between those two tied to a specific, urgent need?

As you review each activity from last year, ask yourself:

• Should we keep doing it?
• Can we tweak it and make it better?
• Is it time to dump it?

My point here is this: make plans based on data, not emotion. Don’t repeat the 5K just because some people in your community love it. Keep it because it makes a lot of money, even when you consider the labor and money you have to invest in it.

Events can be the trickiest when deciding whether or not to repeat them. For nonprofits that have been around a while, they like to do events again and again because it’s become a tradition. But look – tradition doesn’t pay the bills!

For each event, aim to raise at least four times what you spend on the event. Often, an event brings in the cost plus a few thousand dollars more. Anything less isn’t enough to justify your time and energy!

If your nonprofit is new, you get to skip this step. But… be ready to do it next year. So, take the time to track your data this year, and you’ll be all set for this step next year!

2. Set an Impact Goal.

Every nonprofit needs direction so they can stay focused throughout the year. What they need is an Impact Goal which is a beacon to guide you through your journey and ward off distractions.

An Impact Goal defines the impact your nonprofit will make this year. It’s a quantifiable, specific, measurable goal your organization’s team agrees is important and doable if everyone works together.

For example:

• An animal rescue group might aim to increase the number of animals they save by 25%.
• A food bank might intend to serve an additional 100,000 meals.
• An affordable housing program might shoot for eliminating their waiting list.
• A child advocacy organization might set a goal to double the number of volunteers trained to protect children in the court system.

Your entire fundraising plan should support your Impact Goal by providing the funding to make it happen. If your Impact Goal is to increase services in a particular program by 25%, then you need targeted campaigns that move you toward that goal so that the money is there to reach the goal.

Work with your team to determine your Impact Goal, and then post it for everyone to see – your team, Board, volunteers, and supporters.

3. Set 3 critical goals.

When there’s no finish line, how do you know when you’ve crossed it? When there’s no target, how do you know if you hit the mark?

Yet so many nonprofits try to raise money this way. They have no fundraising goal and try to just raise as much money as possible.

Don’t do it that way! It’s too vague. Having no goal actually makes fundraising harder because you can’t tell people what you’re trying to do.

On the plus side, you win no matter what. If you don’t set a fundraising goal, you can’t fail.

But you don’t win if you don’t bring in enough money to fund your programs.

You cannot achieve your potential without a goal. You want to strive! When you strive, you thrive. But you need something to strive for.

For your annual fundraising plan, you need three goals:

1. Total dollars to raise: Be specific. If your Board adopted a budget for the fiscal year, your fundraising goal is the same as the total expenditures, plus at least 5% for cash reserves. If you’re just getting started and everything is fluid, calculate how much money you need to run the programs you aim to run this year. That’s your fundraising goal.

For example, a new project provides grocery store gift cards to college students coping with food insecurity. The organizer set a goal of sending five $100 gift cards each month.

That’s $500 a month for 12 months, or $6,000. Add 5% for cash reserves, and the total is now $6,300. Then add another $500 for administrative costs. Your total is $6,800, and that’s your fundraising goal. See how that works?

Most programs are more complicated, but the bottom line is the same. You have to know how much money you need to run your programs before you can set your annual fundraising goal!

2. Total number of current donors to renew: Every time someone gives you money, you have an opportunity. You can make that donor feel special and appreciated to the point that they give you another gift. And another. And another.

Donor retention is something you must pay attention to if you want your organization to grow and thrive. Across the nonprofit sector, retention rates hover between about 40-45%, meaning donors leave nonprofits more often than they stick around.

Why? Donors leave when they don’t feel appreciated or needed. However, you can build warm touches into your plan to make donors feel good so they feel like part of your team and want to help change more lives.

So how many donors should you try to renew? All of them! But seriously, 100% retention is unrealistic because life is fluid and peoples’ situations change.

Your donor software may calculate your retention rate for you or you can manually calculate it. If you don’t know your retention rate, shoot for 50%. If 100 people gave you money last year, can you convince 50 to give you money again this year?

Keep this number on your radar all year long so you can tweak your fundraising activities in real time to give donors a better experience. THAT’S what increases your retention rate!

3. Total number of new donors to acquire: If you’re losing 50 out of 100 donors (from our example above), you have to replace those 50 donors just to break even and keep your donor base at 100. To grow your organization, you have to replace the donors you’re losing – and then add more. What should your goal be? 10% more? 20% more?

Here’s an example. If you had 100 donors last year, and your goal is to get 50 of them to give again, that leaves 50 to replace. And if you want to grow your organization, you could set a goal of increasing that number by 20%. So the number of new donors you need to acquire would be 70.

Build donor acquisition activities into your fundraising plan, and you’ll continually add more people to your donor base.

We all think about the first goal of raising money, but we rarely spend time on donor retention and adding new donors. By focusing on all three goals, you’ll ensure you always have enough donors to support your organization’s work.

4. Play to your fundraising strengths.

Don’t worry about the nonprofit down the road. Instead, choose fundraising activities that play to your personal strengths and your organization’s assets. 

So, what are YOU good at?

Are you a great writer?  A dynamic speaker? A master networker?

List the things you’re great at so you can leverage them in your fundraising plan. You want to stretch, grow, and learn new skills. But for the foundation of your fundraising strategy, work with your strengths. Don’t commit to things that suck your energy and leave you frustrated.

Once you have a list of your personal strengths, assess what your organization has going for it so you can leverage that .

Think about things that make your organization stand out from the crowd. For example:

• A compelling mission that draws people in
• A large base of support 
• Well-known staff and Board members
• A building that lends itself well to a tour, like a shelter or a school
• A location on a busy road
• A Facebook page that has a lot of engagement
• Hundreds of volunteers

When you create your fundraising plan based on your strengths and your organization’s assets, you’ll find fundraising easier and more fun.

5. Choose the right strategies

Here is where the previous four steps come together. As you consider what activities you want to include in your fundraising plan this year:

Refer to Step 1:  What has worked in the past that you want to repeat? Or what have you done before that you can tweak and improve?

Refer to Step 2:  What activities will help you take big steps toward achieving your Impact Goal?

Refer to Step 3:  What activities will help you raise the total dollar amount you need? Which ones will help you reach your donor renewal goal? Which ones will help you reach your donor acquisition goal?

Refer to Step 4:  What activities will play to your personal strengths, without pushing you too far outside your comfort zone? What activities will leverage your organization’s assets?

Do 1 special event.  You’ll never fully fund your budget with lots of little events. Instead, hold ONE big fundraising event each year. Give it everything you’ve got and make it a signature event , so everyone in town knows it’s your event.

Make it a FUN event that people talk about for days afterward. And make sure it makes you plenty of money (at least 4 times what you spend) so it’s worth the effort.

Go after 10 grants.  Do your research , and identify 10 solid grant prospects. That’s about what we usually find for clients. Chances are good that with 10 grant opportunities, you’ll have deadlines scattered throughout the year and you can keep your grant pipeline full.

Do you need exactly 10? No. The goal is to not leave grant money on the table , which is easy to do when you don’t plan. Find grants that are a hand-in-glove fit for your nonprofit and go after them. If your nonprofit is new, you’ll need about three years of programming under your belt before you go after grants. Use those three years to build up your donor base and find the right signature event.

Get 1,000 individual donors . Yes, that’s one thousand donors. That many donors will give you a solid base of support. If you lose one, you’ve still got 999. Start by figuring out how many donors you have right now. Then work on adding 100. Once you have those, go find another 100. If you already have 1,000, add another 1,000. By taking on this goal in smaller bites, you’ll be successful.

6. Write it down!

Finally, let’s write!

If your annual fundraising plan isn’t in writing, it isn’t real.

It’s too easy for you to change course or let things slide if your plan is in your head – and that leads to lack of accountability.

People get held up trying to decide what format to use. But you know what? It doesn’t matter! Do what works for you.

A Google Doc or Sheet is a great place to start because you can collaborate with your team.

One way to structure a plan is in buckets: individual donors, major donors, monthly donors, signature event, business partners, faith community, family foundations, and other.

You may have different buckets. Think about the groups of people who give you money and who might give you money if you asked.

List strategies and goals for each bucket, building on what worked in previous years. Write down dollar amounts! Some people don’t like to attach dollar amounts to goals, but you have to get comfortable with dollar amounts to succeed in fundraising.

Another way to structure a plan is in a calendar format. Take it month by month and write down every strategy that will get you to your goal.

I like to start with a plan broken down by buckets and then break that bucket-driven plan out into a color-coded calendar, so I know exactly what I need to do every month.

Once you get a draft, you can refine your plan until it feels just right. Continue to adapt your plan as the year progresses. If one strategy doesn’t work out, add something else to make up for it.

Your Planning Team

Anyone who will be responsible for implementing the annual fundraising plan should be involved in the planning process. When people have input into a plan, they’re more likely to buy into the plan. 

Include Board members in big-picture discussions, but not in the details, unless they plan to help in a volunteer capacity. Once you get your fundraising plan completed, share it with the Board for their review (not their approval), and listen to their feedback with an open mind.

Then, talk to each Board member individually to ask them where they would like to help. If you talk to the Board only as a group, you won’t get commitments. You need to have these 1-on-1 conversations to get the engagement from them that you’re hoping for – turning your Board into a fundraising Board !

Staying on Track

It’ll take a minute to put your fundraising plan together. And a lot of brain power.

Once it’s done, keep it handy so you can adjust it as you go.

Review your plan at the beginning of each month and ask yourself:

• What’s working?
• What’s not working?
• Where are we on dollars raised last month and year-to-date? How are we doing on donor renewals? Donor acquisition?
• What’s coming up in the next 30 days that I need to be working on? 90 days? 6 months?

The worst thing you can do is take your amazing plan and put it in a folder somewhere, forgotten. Refer to your plan each month to see what you should be doing so you can work ahead of deadlines and stay on track to meeting your fundraising goals for the year.

The Bottom Line

Your annual fundraising plan is critical in reaching your fundraising goals. Take the time to get it done and put it in writing!

As you get comfortable working with and trusting your plan, you’ll have the map you need to raise the money you need to fund your programs and change lives.

If you want help with this process, join us January 17-31 for Fundraising Blueprint. I’ll walk you through these steps, plus I’ll give you my color-coded, detailed annual fundraising plan template AND a sample plan! Sign up at www.GetFullyFunded.com/Blueprint

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About the author: sandy rees.

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Comment…Hello,am Zipporah from Kenya & after going through the fundraising structure i have seen it’s very good & you must have been a blessing to several individuals.Am born in Kenya & am working in Kenya. As for me i hope you will understand my case & advise me. I have been thinking all through how i can get somebody who will help me with a loan to start some rental buildings here in Kenya because it’s a very good business.I would have liked the company to do everything as their own& keep the title while they collect their house rent until they finish their loan & interest & then they handover to me the plot ,buildings & the title deed. Kindly advise me because i can see you are blessed with knowledge.Even to accomplish all that you are doing for years,you must have been very knowledgable. Thanks in advance.

I don’t know of any businesses or individuals who are looking to loan money in Kenya. Maybe you could search for a nonprofit already working in that country who would be interested in helping you?

[…] rising a nonprofit so you possibly can fulfill your mission means having a fundraising plan with various income […]

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Your step-by-step nonprofit fundraising plan

As a nonprofit , it is important to raise money to keep things afloat and work towards your mission. One of the best and most significant ways to receive donations is through fundraising, and to do this you need a fundraising plan.

A fundraising strategic plan details key goals related to donor acquisition, fundraising calendars, donor retention, and more. It is a critical tool for getting everyone on the same page — including board members and potential donors — and working towards a common goal and this is essential to the success of your cause.

Get the template

What is a fundraising plan?

A fundraising plan is a document that highlights your fundraising goals and strategies  and how you hope to achieve them. It’s basically a roadmap for staff members to follow and helps you track and measure your progress throughout the course of the year. The plan typically includes:

• Key dates and timelines
• Campaigns and events
• Fundraising activities
• Objectives of each event and campaign
• Roles for fundraisers

A great way to make sure you include all the essentials each time is to use or create a fundraising plan template. You can create one in minutes on monday.com Work OS using our Template Center. With a set structure in place, you can help avoid distractions and losing sight of priorities along the way.

That said, your plan should be flexible enough to update whenever the need arises. Things change and your plan must be able to accommodate those changes. You don’t want to lose out on incredible opportunities simply because it’s not part of your fundraising strategy. monday.com gives you the ability to quickly pivot and make updates and changes in real-time so everyone is on the same page.

How to write a strategic fundraising plan

If you’ve started on any type of strategic plan for your organization, chances are you already have the skills to put together a proper fundraising plan that can yield results. A fundraising plan should do more than just outline fundraising ideas. It should detail everyone’s role and tasks, as well as the objectives of each task. A fundraising strategy helps organizations get aligned and brings everyone together, set the course, and keeps everyone in the same direction. A fundraising plan works best when everyone is involved in its creation, from staff members to stakeholders. While having everyone contribute is a good way to put ideas to paper, delegate a few key people to compile and structure the plan in the most effective way. It helps to get insights from everyone in the organization but stick to just a few people to actually work on the strategy once all ideas have been finalized.

To begin the planning process, invite all parties to share their input and be involved in raising funds for your organization. Consider it a group project. Share your goals and budget with the team and work together on a strategic plan for the next six to 12 months. Also, use fundraising results from the previous year as the benchmark so everyone knows where the organization stands in terms of funding and what the future prospects are.

If everyone understands what needs to be done and how to get there, it will be easier to achieve your goals as a unit. Remember to identify the key decision-makers, but get everyone involved in the process.

Questions to consider when creating a fundraising plan

There are a few questions to consider when mapping out your fundraising plan example. This will help you put together a skeleton, which can be fleshed out more as you go. Some questions to ask yourself are:

• What past strategies have been most successful for fundraising? Why was it successful and what were the challenges?
• What do our donors want to see from our organization? What type of messaging do they respond to?
• What opportunities are available?
• What fundraising campaigns have not worked and why?
• What do we have to work on to improve our strategy?
• What do we have to avoid?
• What are the risks involved in trying something new?

The value of asking these questions is that the discussion will extend beyond the plan you want to create to give you a broader view of your fundraising efforts, how to improve and what the potential obstacles could be. It also sets the tone for what the project entails, expectations, and conversations around fundraising.

6 steps to create a fundraising plan

There are a variety of reasons why you should implement a proper fundraising plan. This plan will ensure that you and your team are held accountable with a range of benchmarks via the process. Below are the steps:

1. Take a look at your past finances

Whenever you begin developing a new fundraising strategy, you must first examine your current financial situation. This allows you to extract critical insights from the data, such as how your firm has evolved in the last year and where you will see it heading in the future. Pay close attention to where your campaign income has come from before so that you may include it into your future plans, such as:

• Major donors: The meaning of a major donation varies widely from organization to charity. A few thousand dollars can be considered a substantial donation for a tiny nonprofit, but bigger companies consider major gifts to be in the six-figure range. Regardless of the criterion, the top 12% of contributors account for an average of 88 percent of individual donor funds.
• Corporate giving: Businesses and companies are the last source of fundraising funds for many charitable groups. A large portion of this money comes from charity programs, in which employers financially match their workers’ large contributions to approved charitable groups.
• Individual small- and mid-level donors: These are the bulk of donors, with donations spanning from a few dollars to over several thousand dollars. If your charity has a large number of small and mid-level contributors, you may want to focus on increasing repeat or repeating contributions.
• Corporate giving: Companies and businesses are the last source of campaign funds for many charitable groups. A large portion of this money comes from matching gift programs, in which employers financially match their workers’ generous donations to approved charitable groups.
• Nonprofit grants: If your agency has previously relied on grant financing, you are aware that this may be a terrific source of cash to jumpstart a new venture or endeavor.

2. Define your idea

To improve your fundraising approach, you must first have a good knowledge of who you are as an institution. It would be difficult to engage with donors and acquire appropriate money if your nonprofit’s goal was not clearly specified and communicated.

Even though your organization has been there for a while and you have a strong concept of where you’re from and what you do, outlining another one at the start of your planning stage may be quite beneficial. This will keep your purpose, vision, and values at the forefront of your mind while you plan and achieve your fundraising objectives.

3. Look at new trends

Making sure you’re up to date on any developing fundraising patterns in the nonprofit field is a vital component of fundraising. Staying current will allow you to engage with your intended audience more effectively and promote fresh donations.

You will also have a better idea of the various ways you may connect with your contributors and cultivate strong relationships with every one of your supporters if you take note of recent trends and keep an eye out for any others while developing your fundraising plan. Once you can integrate new ideas into your plan, you may be able to attract a new market and build your donations.

4. Establish goals

Establishing fundraising objectives for the entire year might help you stay on target. Goals may assist you and your team remember your primary goal, support efficient prioritizing, and stay on track with your entire strategy. Begin by developing a single overall aim that is consistent with the mission of your company. Then, narrow it down into a few short-term goals that will assist you in achieving the larger one.

These minor goals do not have to be directly tied to fundraising, but they should be in line with your purpose and overall aim. They can be connected to employing additional employees to meet other aims, changing your fundraising efforts, or changing the structure of your company.

5. Grow your network

Whatever your objectives are, you most certainly have a few that revolve on increasing your fanbase and generating fresh donations. Return to the previous part, where we covered analyzing your past finances, and take a close look at where the majority of your new revenue comes from, using this to influence your future goals.

For instance, if you raised the majority of your finances from individual contributors and it didn’t cost very much to implement, highlight your efforts again here. You can opt to focus on those who have previously indicated an interest in your charity but have yet to submit their first gift, or you can start from scratch and present yourself to fresh possibilities.

6. Remember donor stewardship

While obtaining new contributors is a crucial component of fundraising, acknowledging and cultivating existing supporters is just as important. Examine your existing retention rates – are your contributors staying with you for years or abandoning you as quickly as they receive their one and only tax rebate?

A strong donor stewardship program is required for your organization to boost its retention rates. If you don’t already have one, include it into your fundraising strategy and create some goals around it. Donor stewardship extends much beyond simply sending a letter of thanks and a tax certificate after a contribution is made.

Consider what you’ll do to retain the donor, create a connection with them, keep them updated on the effect of their donation, and retain existing donors each year.

Choose the right nonprofit software to build your fundraising plan

To ensure your fundraising plan is actionable and results-driven, you have to make your objectives and strategies clear and achievable. It also has to be effective to achieve your desired goals. Consider what people, systems, and processes are necessary to get your plan off the ground. You don’t want it gathering dust. You want a plan that can be put into action.

That said, the nonprofit fundraising software you use can influence the way to create your nonprofit development plan. If you use a donor management system, you can focus on donor journeys and how best to communicate and engage with them. If you’re using a nonprofit CRM , you can take a more responsive approach to fundraise for the best results.

monday.com fundraising template

Ask yourself what software you need to get the ball rolling and what features best suit your organization. monday.com’s fundraising template is an easy-to-use template and dashboards to help you maximize your fundraising efforts and make the most impact. The template is designed to simplify and streamline your operations in one convenient location, while intuitive features and integrations let you customize and track all your efforts in real-time so you don’t get left behind.

With this template you can meet your fundraising goals faster, plan, track and launch campaigns, engage with donors and create targeted communications to your supporters to help start your journey to success.

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6 Steps to Writing a Great Fundraising Plan

• December 30, 2021
• Snowball Fundraising

How to Make Your Fundraiser a Success

New and growing nonprofit organizations often wonder how to prioritize the competing demands of board development, fundraising, programming, and marketing while working on a shoestring budget. My advice? Start with a fundraising plan — a document that organizes your fundraising goals, objectives, and strategies over a defined period .

Developing diversified, sustainable funding helps organizations withstand the inevitable ups and downs of the nonprofit lifecycle. Economic downturns, drops in board giving, changes in federal funding, etc., can quickly sink the ship unless your organization plans for them in advance. 

Think of a fundraising plan as a lifejacket: – make sure to have it on board before you hit rough waters.

Additionally, a fundraising plan ensures that your organization can capture and hold the attention of donors. With 1.5M+ nonprofits in the United States, standing out from the crowd can be tough. Show potential supporters that you can maximize the impact of their gifts and can responsibly manage donations by developing a realistic, well-researched fundraising plan.

From schools to nonprofits, fundraising success depends on your ability to create an effective strategy. Fundraising plans include more than well-wishes and a quick meeting; they require in-depth knowledge of your organization and its needs, capacity, budget, calendar, and donor base. But don’t worry,  a fundraising plan doesn’t have to be complicated. Follow these six simple ways to get started writing your fundraising plan.

Step 1: Create Effective Fundraising Goals and Strategies

Whether you have well-established annual or semi-annual fundraisers, or want to do something new, you should always set goals and strategies at the beginning of your fiscal year. To understand what your organization stands to gain, you must break down the goals and objectives into measurable pieces through strategic planning.

Strategic planning is the foundation of a solid fundraising plan and includes specific numbers, markers, goals, and objectives for your fundraiser . 

It’s not enough to say, “I want to make money by the end of this effort”. That’s too vague and not measurable. Instead, try saying “By day three I want to make ¼ of our overall goal of $300,000.” 

Including specific goals and markers from the beginning effectively measures where your campaign is and where you need to go. This is the primary step to creating a measurable fundraising strategy .

Strategic planning also includes understanding your target audience through market research . Ideally, your organization already has a donor base from which to pull. If not, market research becomes critical to ensuring the success of your fundraiser. Your organization’s life cycle placement will determine the importance of market research. Unless you are a new organization or are doing a major re-brand, you should be aiming to retain your donors. This will determine much of your strategy.

After setting your organization’s goals and creating measurable markers, you can look into effective campaign ideas and best practices to create the actual strategy. This means utilizing the who and what to find the how . This is where you choose the best approach to creating your fundraiser, and requires asking questions like: 

• Will online or in-person work better? 
• How long do you need? 
• How will you market? 
• How much money or time can you devote to it? 

The strategy informs the rest of the campaign, making it a crucial first step towards a successful fundraiser.

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Step 2: Focus on Capacity Planning

Capacity planning creates a solid foundation for a successful and sustainable fundraiser. To determine your organization’s capacity:

• First, determine the requirements of your fundraiser.
• Next, analyze the current capacity to complete it.
• Finally, plan for the future.

Capacity planning includes analyzing your available workforce, resources, and organizational capacity. This will determine what you have, what you need, and what you would like to have in the future.

For example: Boutique bakery Cake for Babes decided to do a bake sale fundraiser benefiting premature babies’ hospital funds. If they had included capacity planning in their original plan, they would have noticed that they did not have the necessary number of staff for the event. This meant they did not campaign for a higher number of volunteers, leading to a lot of confusion, little training, and more customer complaints. Next time, Cake for Babes will include capacity planning and will have the required workforce for their event.

Remember that capacity planning and building is an investment that will aid the longevity of your organization. You can do an informal or formal analytics report to determine what you need, what you have, and what you are missing. This will then inform your overall fundraising plan. 

Things to consider while building your capacity plan include:

• Financial management
• Evidence-based programming
• Strategic planning
• Evaluations 

It is important that your organization’s capacity also includes cultivating a fundraising culture. This means involving your staff, board, and donors in fundraising efforts. Including everyone in fundraising impacts, challenges, and successes ensures they remain invested in your organization’s efforts; this will have long-term positive impacts.

Step 3: Build a Fundraising Calendar

Building a fundraising calendar leads to a sustainable fundraising plan. Creating and executing a fundraiser involves a lot of work, communication, and effort. Complexity rises when more people or organizations become involved. Having a calendar keeps everyone on track and allows you to measure the progress you set in your goals and strategies.

A fundraising calendar should summarize everything your team needs to do to raise money, retain donors, attract new donors, and benchmark your progress. 

First, gather key dates, such as your fiscal year, and write out anything already planned for the year (i.e., hard deadlines, unlikely to change). Next, make a list of what you will need and what projects you hope to complete next year. Finally, customize your calendar to fit your needs throughout the year. 

At the end of your campaign, you can see what worked and what did not. If you want to do that particular fundraiser again, you can improve the calendar for the following campaign.

Step 4: Plan Your Funding

Fundraising plans should include the type of funding your organization will target. Your campaign depends on many factors. Funding is one of the primary components that determines your overall strategy. The type of funding you’re targeting will determine who your target audience is, what your goals are, what you hope to achieve, and how you need to achieve them.

For example: Your organization needs $10,000 for marketing. However, your campaign efforts focus on speaking to the individuals in your community. The community proceeds to donate, but you only receive $1,500. You should always aim to include the community, but in this case you should apply for a grant. Grants provide a specific sum of money upfront while the community gives as they can.

Funding sources can include, but are not limited to:

• Planned giving
• Individuals. 

These funding types all have different requirements. Some, like grants, will need an application. Others may require you to track whether gifts to your organization were donated virtually or in-person from recurring donors, new donors ,  one-time donors, or recurring donors. Note that planned giving depends on how established your organization is and on the strength of your donor relations.

Step 5: Create a Budget

Creating a fundraising plan means having a budget in place. This will determine how much money you are willing to put into the campaign and where you want to spend it. Taking a comprehensive view of your fundraiser includes looking at the associated expenses, comparing them to a realistic estimate of potential earnings, and determining if it will lead to a sustainable outcome.

When writing your budget, start with your expenses (costs) and then add in expected revenue (anticipated funds). Utilize your past fundraising efforts to create the best estimate possible. To help, split expenses into annual costs and one-time investments. From there, you can cut costs, prioritize, re-organize, and “wishlist” unnecessary expenses. This will help you prioritize during the planning process.

Keeping track of your fundraiser budget before, during, and after your campaign can also help you in the future. You will have an easier time keeping track of your expenses and revenue, comparing your total losses and gains, and prioritizing necessities versus wish lists. In short, it will help you measure your fundraiser’s success in accordance with your goals and objectives.

Step 6: Aim to Retain

“Think of your fundraising efforts as a bucket and your donors as water,” Classy explains . “If your bucket has too many holes in it, your donors will slowly trickle out.” Focusing too much on bringing in new donors can cause holes in your bucket.

This is where having a solid fundraising plan comes into play. Strategies to maintain donors include relationship building, investing in data and technology , asking for feedback, demonstrating your impact, and showing appreciation.

Donor-organization relationships should be a cycle that starts with the ask, goes to the donation, moves to appreciation, and returns to the ask. Ideally, donor-organization relationships should not be a single interaction. To build an engaged and connected base of supporters, your donor engagement strategy needs to be an ongoing priority. 

If you are still not convinced, remember that donors will not return for future campaigns if they are no longer invested in your cause or feel unappreciated. Investing in retention ensures you can study donor tendencies and appeal to their interests.

The time and research needed to write an effective fundraising plan pays off. With these six steps, you and your team now have the necessary steps to create an effective strategy to develop a stronger understanding of capacity, foster relationships with your donors, learn how to set realistic bench arks, an marks, and build a sustainable organization. Go get started!

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How to Write a Winning Fundraising Proposal

Writing a winning fundraising proposal is a two-pronged challenge. Not only do you have to convince people your project is worth their money, but also that it will make a genuine difference.

And that is what this guide aims to help you do.

We break down the writing process into a series of steps where these two threads are tied together, helping you communicate your vision in a compelling fashion that does justice to your cause.

Key takeaways

• A winning fundraising proposal convinces donors of the project's worth and potential impact.
• The proposal should detail the problem, the proposed solution, and the expected positive changes.
• It's crucial to outline specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals and objectives.
• The proposal should demonstrate the organization's capability and provide a detailed budget and funding needs.
• A strong call to action at the end of the proposal can leave a memorable impact and prompt the audience to act.

What is a fundraising proposal ?

A fundraising proposal is a document designed to persuade potential donors, sponsors, or investors to provide funding or resources for a project, cause, organization, or event. It outlines the fundraising initiative's purpose, goals, and benefits, providing detailed information on how the funds will be used and the impact they will achieve.

But there’s more to it than just asking for cash. This document makes your project come alive, showing the details of the problem, your plans to fix it, the budget that needs raising, and the positive changes you aim to bring.

A fundraising proposal aims to communicate the significance of the initiative, the need to raise funds, and the impact those funds will make.

Fundraising Proposal Template

Boost your fundraising with our interactive template. It's designed for clarity and influence, enabling a targeted, data-driven proposal. Enhance donor engagement, increase funding, and make a greater impact.

Steps to write your fundraising proposal: Key elements to include

If you're ready to start writing fundraising proposals, here are the steps you will need to take and the key elements you need to include if you want to see your project get funded.

1. Start with a strong executive summary

When starting your fundraising proposal, make your executive summary clear, to the point, and full of energy.

Begin with introducing your fundraising project or cause. Why is it important? Why does it need not just their time here but their money, too? You're not just listing facts but sharing a story. Talk about the problem or need you're tackling, but help the reader visualize the brighter future your project promises.

Give a sneak peek of your plan to make your vision come true. Mention your solution and how you'll achieve it, but keep it broad, as you’ll provide the real details later. Highlight what makes your project special and why your team is the best to make it happen.

2. Define the problem or need

In this part of your fundraising proposal, you must discuss the issue your project is tackling in more detail.

Begin with a clear picture of what's currently happening that shouldn't be. What's going wrong, or what are we all missing out on? Use real stories, numbers, or feedback from people to bring this issue to life.

Stress that even though this issue is big, it's not too big to tackle. There is hope, and indeed, that is where they- and you- come in. Change is possible, and you are encouraging and empowering them to be a part of it.

3. Present your solution

Now that we've discussed the problem, it's time to bring your solution.

First off, explain clearly what your solution is. What's your plan to tackle the issue you've described? Get into the details here—describe the steps you'll take, the methods you'll use, and the resources you need. Keep it simple and clear.

Then, talk about why your solution is the best option. Explain why you've chosen this approach, using evidence, research, or examples of similar successful projects. This part isn't about saying other ideas are wrong but convincing others that your plan fits this problem best.

Remember to describe the significance of the impact your solution will have. Think about the broader effects. How will things look different after your solution is in place? Describe the positive changes you see in the future.

4. Outline your goals and objectives

Goals and objectives are similar but not the same. Goals are your big dreams—the major changes you want to see because of your project. Objectives are the specific actions you'll take to reach those dreams.

They should follow the SMART criteria:

• Specific (clear about what you want to do)
• Measurable (you can track progress)
• Achievable (it's possible to do it)
• Relevant (it fits with your overall mission)
• Time-bound (has a deadline)

When discussing your goals, try to light up your readers' imaginations. For example, if your project aims to improve education in needy areas, a goal could be to better the education of 500 students in a year. Then, your objectives might detail steps like giving scholarships to 200 students, training 30 teachers in innovative teaching methods, and refreshing the curriculum by the semester's end.

5. Detail your budget and funding needs

Start by organizing your financial plan so that it's easy to keep track of. List the major areas where you'll spend money, such as personnel, supplies, and operational expenses. For each area, briefly explain why the money needs to be spent. You aren't trying to justify every little expense, but show that you have thought about what is required and how much it will cost to run.

Then, state the total amount you need to raise. Here, you add up all the costs and reiterate the overall aim of your fundraising. For example, say, "With $10,000, we can give ten students a scholarship. With $20,000, we can help 20 students and buy new learning materials." Specific figures, specific results.

6. Demonstrate your organization's capability

Showing off your organization's strength in your fundraising proposal is crucial. Here, you can show that your team has the right skills, experience, and a history of making things happen.

Begin with a quick look at your organization's history, focusing on your big wins. Talk about the projects or actions you've taken in the past that made a real difference or ongoing projects that you've seen some indications of success with. These establish your credibility and help build trust.

Then, shine a light on the people in your team. Introduce the key players, sharing what they've done before and what special talents they bring to this project.

If you work with other groups, local communities, or government bodies, talk about that, too. These partnerships show that you're not going it alone—you're part of a bigger team, all pulling in the same direction to make a real difference.

7. Include a Timeline

This is where you show how your project will unfold, step by step. Start by listing out the big steps of your project. For each one, point out the main goals you plan to hit and give a rough idea of when you expect to reach them. These steps might include everything from the early planning to doing the project and checking how well it worked.

Make sure your timeline shows the order of events in a way that makes sense, taking care to avoid any logistical mistakes that can damage the proposal's credibility.

When you share your timeline, keep an optimistic and forward-thinking tone. You're inviting donors to see how their support will help your project progress and achieve results with real impact.

8. Explain your sustainability plan

This explains how your project will keep doing great things long after the initial buzz and funding have died down.

Begin by sharing your strategy for keeping the project financially healthy in the future. You might talk about different ways you plan to make money, team up with other organizations, or get more funding. The main point is to show you've got an innovative plan to keep things running even when the first round of funding is all spent.

Then, discuss how you'll keep the project going operationally. This includes how you'll continue the activities, keep your team together, and manage your resources. Maybe you'll train people in the community to take over some jobs or use technology to do more with less.

9. Detail the evaluation and reporting plan

Explaining your plan for checking how well the project is doing and keeping your donors updated is essential.

First, talk about how you'll check on the project's success. What methods will you use to see how things are going and what impact you're making? Be clear about the tools and approaches you'll use to collect this information.

Then, explain how you'll tell your donors about what's happening with the project. This could be through regular emails, updates on your website, or online meetings where you share the latest news. The plan is to keep donors in the loop, ensuring they always know how their money is helping and what you've accomplished.

10. End with a strong call to action

A strong CTA leaves a memorable impact and gets your audience to act. Start by telling your readers exactly what you want them to do next. It could be donating money or setting up a meeting to talk more about the proposal.

You should also emphasize why their help is important. Refer back to your statement about how their support will lead to positive change. It's about showing them the crucial role they can play in this story.

Example of a fundraising proposal template

Having the right tools to create and distribute your fundraising proposals makes all the difference. The right tools give you and your team more time for what matters most - doing important work and attracting and retaining a healthy donor base. Qwilr's fundraising proposal template is a perfect starting point for organizations seeking to create proposals that grab attention for all the right reasons.

Here is what our fundraising project proposal template includes:

• Introduction: Introduce what you're all about and make a connection with your reader right from the start.
• Understanding The Problem: In this part, we detail the problem and its urgency.
• Your Priorities: This section ties your project's goals with what's important to your donors. It's about showing that you can make awesome things happen by working together.
• What Success Looks Like: Here, you describe what achieving your goals will mean for your project and everyone involved.
• Our Approach: Dive into how you plan to make your vision a reality. This is where you talk about your strategy and the careful planning behind your project.
• Our Services: Outline the specific things your project will do. This part is all about the steps you'll take to meet the needs you've talked about.
• Our Achievements: Celebrate what you've already accomplished. It's a way to show you have a track record of making things happen and delivering on your promises.
• Our Team: Introduce the amazing people working on your project. Highlighting the skills and passion of your team reassures donors that the project is in good hands.
• Investment Required: Explain how much money you need and how the money will be used, showing your commitment to transparency and honesty.
• Call to Action (CTA): This is where you encourage readers to get involved. Make it clear and easy for them to take the next step, whether donating, learning more at your crowdfunding fundraiser page, or another way to help.
• Conclusion: End by reminding everyone of the shared vision, the impact of their support, and the difference they can make. Leave them feeling inspired and ready to join you on this journey.

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Final Thoughts

Writing a great fundraising proposal requires a mix of the emotional and the practical. A strong story that compels readers to take action and make a financial contribution. This story should be supported by data, past experience, and a detailed plan to enact real change within a community.

We hope this guide has helped make this challenging but rewarding job a little bit easier for you. Qwilr’s fundraising proposal template can help here too: a dynamic, easily-customizable document that grabs (and holds) attention while you tell your story and lay out your plan. Try it today!

About the author

Brendan Connaughton | Head of Growth Marketing

Brendan heads up growth marketing and demand generation at Qwilr, overseeing performance marketing, SEO, and lifecycle initiatives. Brendan has been instrumental in developing go-to-market functions for a number of high-growth startups and challenger brands.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best format for a fundraising proposal.

The ideal format for a funding proposal is straightforward and grabs attention. It should make a strong emotional connection and clearly show what you plan to do, how you'll do it, and the difference it will make. Make sure to include key information, such as what needs to be done, the expected results, and a clear invitation to donate or participate, all shared in a way that's easy to understand and hard to ignore.

How many pages should a fundraising proposal have?

A fundraising project proposal should be just long enough to include all important details but keep the reader's attention. Typically, this means keeping it between 5 to 10 pages, depending on how complex your project is.

Can I add images and charts to my fundraising proposal?

Absolutely! Adding pictures, charts, and infographics can really bring your funding proposal to life. They help make your points clearer and break up any long text sections. Just be sure any visuals are helpful and relevant.

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How To Write A Successful Fundraising Proposal: A Comprehensive Guide

Fundraising is the lifeblood of nonprofits and charities, and a well-crafted proposal can mean the difference between success and falling short. While fundraising software is an excellent tool that boosts nonprofits’ growth, today’s lesson is about creating something equally dynamic — a fundraising proposal that compels donors to invest in your cause.

Compare Top Fundraising Software Leaders

In this blog, we’ll discuss what a fundraising proposal is, things to keep in mind before you start writing and how to structure it. In the end, we have some great tips that’ll elevate your proposal to the next level.

We also talked to nonprofit professionals and grant writers and added their valuable insights and expertise throughout the article. Jump ahead to your preferred sections by clicking the links below!

Article Roadmap

What Is a Fundraising Proposal?

• Things To Keep In Mind Before You Start

Executive Summary

Problem statement, proposed solution, team experience and qualifications, evaluation and risks.

• Some Tips To Create a Killer Proposal

A fundraising proposal is a formal document that helps convince potential donors to give financial support to your organization’s cause or project. It acts as a persuasive argument that enables you to make a compelling case about why your initiative deserves funding. It helps communicate:

• What your fundraiser is about
• Why your cause matters
• How much money you need
• How you can use the money

It’s important to craft a good fundraising plan before creating a proposal, as it will promote accountability and keep everyone on the same page. A good fundraising plan precedes a great fundraising proposal, so make sure to give both documents their due attention.

Things To Consider

Before defining why your nonprofit needs funds, here are some things to consider to make your case even more convincing:

The Cause You Work For/ Problem You Solve

Deepthi Sirla , Project Manager at the NGO Nirmaan, emphasizes the importance of research and needs assessment as the basis for creating a great proposal.

The first thing you need to do is needs assessment. Unless you’re very clear about what the need is, you cannot make the proposal seem effective. And for you to recognize the need, there should be a lot of research that goes into it. What’s the target population you’re looking at? What’s the impact that you’re going to make? The project will fail unless you understand the target population well.”

She talks about how research can be a time-consuming but worthwhile process. Some proposals require many months to a few years of research to be effective.

It’s key to clearly define the issue your organization addresses. You can use data and statistics to paint a vivid picture of the need and why it requires funds.

The Solution

The second step is to showcase your program or project as the answer. Explain how it works and the outcomes it will achieve. It helps both you and your potential funders to break down your intended outcomes into SMART goals .

Define your project as the solution, and remember to demonstrate its impact. Show how your organization can bring about positive change in the cause you’re working for.

Know Your Target Audience

Rosemary F. Chudnof , a professional nonprofit grant writer, said that knowing your potential funders is critical.

It’s not enough to research foundation names and deadlines, or even to read a funder’s statement of priorities. You must dig deeper and discover who they have funded, in what amount, and how recently. Then you know whether your organization has a strong priority alignment. You never want to waste your sweat and tears on a proposal that has no chance of funding.“

Try to understand your potential funders’ priorities, mission and past funding trends. This will help you tailor a proposal that resonates with their values. Knowing your audience will help personalize your proposal, which will further persuade them.

Sirla had a similar point:

The structure is similar for any kind of proposal but varies slightly depending on who you’re writing for. Are you writing it for a corporate? Or an NGO? Because corporates tend to look more at numbers, number of beneficiaries while NGOs look at stories.”

Demonstrate Past Expertise

It’s time to take out your organization’s highlight reel and showcase your nonprofit’s expertise, experience and impact. Pick out success stories and testimonials that provide evidence of your nonprofit’s work. Written testimonials are just fine, but pictures and videos are even better. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

Get Clear on Budget and Objectives

Outline your budget clearly, showing exactly how you will use funds. This demonstrates responsible financial management and helps you gain clarity into your objectives and goals. Define long-term and short-term goals and which ones are the priority right now.

How to Structure Your Fundraising Proposal

A fundraising proposal should include:

An effective executive summary is the first impression you make on potential donors, so crafting a compelling one is crucial.

Sirla emphasizes the importance of a good proposal summary:

The executive summary has to be very captivating, it has to be very attractive. It needs to convince the audience to read what comes next.”

Some tips to keep in mind are:

1. Include a cover page: Insert your organization’s name, logo, project title, date and contact information.

2. Keep it concise: Aim for 1-2 pages or approximately 300-500 words. Remember, it’s a summary, not the entire proposal.

3. Start it off strong: Grab the reader’s attention with an impactful statement or statistic that highlights the problem you address.

Kalyan Kakarla , Program Manager at Nonprofit Organization Alokit, talks about how starting your document/presentation with a question can help guide the thought process.

We try to start with a question that makes them think about our company’s end goal. We ask them a question that will make them answer in a way that our vision comes out, trying to bring out the ‘why.’ Why does our company exist? What is it going to solve? We’ve found that to be an engaging way to start communicating.”

4. Introduce your organization: Briefly state who you are and what you do. You can review some of your past key projects and impact to build credibility.

5. Define the need: Clearly outline the problem or challenge you aim to address and how it can help your nonprofit’s cause.

6. Present your solution: Showcase how and what your nonprofit does to address your target population’s needs. Aim to highlight your solution’s significance and its predicted impact.

7. Briefly mention your team: Succinctly go over who your team consists of and their expertise. This helps build trust and enhance your legitimacy.

8. State the funding request: Talk about the total amount of funds you need and how you’ll use them.

9. End with a call to action: Encourage the reader to learn more by reading the full proposal or contact you to discuss further.

Instead of calling it a problem statement, Sirla prefers calling it a needs assessment.

We cannot solve problems, it’s absolutely not in our hands, we can only address certain needs.”

Before starting with the needs assessment, go over your organization’s background, mission and track record to help build context. To write a compelling problem statement:

• Use data and statistics to demonstrate the need’s severity.
• Connect the problem to larger societal structures or how it impacts a specific community.
• Include real-life stories and anecdotes to create a sense of urgency.
• Stay focused on the specific issue.
• Avoid using inflammatory language or playing the blame game.

In this section, you should define your overall goal and then break it down into smaller, SMART goals. This provides both you and your potential funders with clarity about what to expect.

Mention specific activities you’ve planned and how they directly help in achieving your goals and project mission. Be sure to make it detailed, but don’t go overboard — you don’t want to bore the audience with too many points.

This step is a great place to include visuals like charts, diagrams and flow charts to effectively illustrate project activities and make it more solid.

To make your presentation more effective, Sirla suggested:

You need to have clarity. Unless you have clarity of why you’re doing it, you cannot really convince the donor to fund it, right? And make sure to add some visuals. Instead of just presenting the data in numbers, do it with graphs, or a brief PPT or something visual…make it visually more appealing.”

Baidurya Bhusan Sen , Co-founder of the NGO Alokit, agreed:

You need to have a very sharp focus on the end outcomes and the impact and not leave it fuzzy…have a very clear understanding about how the program is leading to desired outcomes.”

It’d also help to showcase how your project is different from previous similar campaigns and what sets you apart from competitors. Is your approach more innovative, effective or impactful? Explain how, with examples. Don’t forget to mention your project’s timeline, resources and personnel.

Ah, the dreaded B word. Here are a few things that can help navigate this tricky part:

• List all project expenses: Create a comprehensive list of all anticipated costs associated with your project. This could include personnel, materials, equipment, travel, venue rentals, marketing and administrative costs.
• Quantify each expense: For each listed expense, clearly state the estimated amount needed. Be as specific and realistic as possible in your estimations.
• Categorize your expenses: Organize your expenses into logical categories for easier understanding. Common categories include personnel costs, project materials, operational costs and evaluation costs.

You should also include your previous financial plans and performance for reference. Use them as an opportunity to demonstrate how successfully you’ve completed them.

On financial resources, Chudnof said:

For new or startup organizations seeking grant funding, it’s important to consider your existing financial position. For example, if your annual budget is $20,000, don’t apply for a $150,000 grant. Instead, start local: look for grant opportunities from funders in your community who have a vested interest in providing services.”

Chudnof further explained how grant funding can be slow and frustrating. However, building a base of smaller grants can help avoid these challenges by:

• Creating language you can use again on larger grant applications.
• Increasing your legitimacy for future funders.
• Boosting finances, even if in a small way.

A great way to persuade funders is to prove to them that you know what you’re doing and that you can do it well. How can you do that? Highlight your team’s expertise and what they’re capable of.

You can do it by:

• Developing individual profiles for key personnel to showcase their strengths.
• Making them concise — 1 to 2 paragraphs for each profile is enough; you don’t want it to look like the end credits of a movie.
• Focusing on relevant skills and experience and using strong action verbs to describe their past achievements.

Chudnof said:

The more specific you can be about your accomplishments, the more likely you are to get the funding you need to continue. If you are a new or startup organization, you will need to convince the funder, through actual stories and evidence, that you are planning to fill a crucial gap in services in your community.”

She also suggested that:

If you are seeking a program grant, funders want to know that the program will continue after the grant period ends. The more you can demonstrate your sustainability plan, and rely on your existing track record the more likely you are to succeed.”

If your team reflects diversity and inclusion, consider highlighting this aspect to demonstrate your commitment to a broader range of perspectives and experiences.

Last but not least — talk about your evaluation plan, i.e., how you’ll measure your project’s success against stated objectives. Describe the data you’ll collect and how you’ll use it.

You should also outline how you’ll communicate your progress and results to donors, including the frequency and format of reports. This adds another layer of trust and lets funders know that you won’t disappear into thin air as soon as you get the money.

Also, discuss potential challenges, risks and pitfalls you might encounter and how you plan to mitigate them.

I think it’s very important to be honest and transparent in telling what we know and what we don’t know. Let them know this is what we’re trying to do to learn more. And these are some risks involved with it. So being vulnerable and honest about our limitations is crucial in creating proposals.”

Now comes the final part (phew, almost done!).

The call to action should clearly specify the desired action for the donor to take next. Make it easy for them to donate and contact you further. You can also ask them to share your proposal with others to increase your resources.

Lastly, thank them for their time, regardless of the financial outcome. You want to be professional and courteous even if funders don’t open their wallets.

Use Dynamic Storytelling

Compelling narratives and stories can help donors emotionally connect with your case.

Sirla said that “people get connected to stories a lot.” However, choosing the right kind of story is also key in captivating funders. She dropped a surprising nugget:

We usually tailor-make these stories. We find people we think would appeal to the donor. The more the suffering of the beneficiaries, the better the chances of receiving funds.”

She also emphasized that:

You need to add an element of pathos in every story that you get. Maybe make it more sobby? That is the truth. It makes it more engaging because you’re actually showing that there is this need and that it needs to be addressed.”

However, there’s a fine line between trying to evoke an emotional response and being overly sentimental. It may often come down to how sincere your efforts are.

Sirla belongs to a queer community and has written a bunch of proposals for them. She talks about how relating to the cause on an intimate level and being passionate about it is vital.

You have to identify with the cause. You have to be attached and passionate about it; otherwise, it becomes just another activity for you, and you won’t be able to give it your best.”

Build Rapport With Beneficiaries

Here are some things Sirla said that’ll help you collect the right stories:

You have to be genuine about addressing their needs. You can’t be like ‘I’m trying to help your community. So please tell me your story.’ Doesn’t happen like that, you have to build rapport first.”

She also highlighted the importance of transparency:

Tell them exactly what you can offer. Don’t set unnecessary expectations or false hopes…the conversations might not go to the next level but at least you won’t spoil your relationship with them.”

If you’re looking to boost your donor relationships, fundraising software is an excellent tool for it. You can analyze which communication channels and content work best for which donors. Based on this information, your staff can personalize and craft campaigns in a laser-targeted way to maximize donations.

Start this process by assessing your software requirements to pick the best fit for you. You can access our fundraising software free requirements template and comparison report to compare market leaders and the features they offer.

Keep It Concise

Just like the point, we’ll keep this sentence concise — aim for 3-5 pages and avoid too much jargon.

Pay Attention to the Layout

Proofread, proofread, proofread. Typos and errors scream unprofessionalism, so you don’t want that. Be attentive to the design and layout — it’s not just about what’s being told; it’s also about how it’s being told.

Chudnof, who has extensive experience in writing grants and proposals, shared some of her key tips:

Many grant applications have word counts for each question – honor them. You don’t want your proposal eliminated from consideration due to a procedural issue. On the other hand, some applications include very long word counts; in this case, don’t feel that you need to add more information than necessary. Make your case as succinctly and clearly as you can, and then stop. Before you submit your application, part of your editing process should eliminate extra verbiage for clarity.”

Refer To Other Proposals

Sirla talked about the importance of referring to similar proposals and precedents:

If there was any similar project or intervention, through another nonprofit, you can add about the impact it made.”

This helps further solidify your case and shows funders you’ve done your research. If you’re looking for examples of some great fundraising proposals, these templates are a great place to start.

Fundraising proposals are only one aspect of the fundraising process. Other key elements include fundraising campaigns , unique fundraising ideas that bring the community together and dynamic fundraising solutions that help execute all this.

If you’re looking for fundraising software but are overwhelmed with all the options in the market, don’t fret. Check out our free comparison report that’ll help you find the best fit for your nonprofit. Good luck!

Which insight did you like the best for creating fundraising proposals? Which ones are you planning to implement next time? Let us know in the comments!

Contributing SMEs

As a project manager at the NGO Nirmaan Organization, Deepthi Sirla specializes in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. She designs and executes skill training and livelihood projects tailored for LGBTQIA communities, fostering empowerment and economic independence.

Collaborating with small LGBTQ community-based organizations (CBOs), she provides capacity-building support to strengthen their impact and sustainability. Additionally, Sirla conducts gender sensitization sessions to raise awareness and promote understanding of queer communities, advocating for inclusivity and acceptance.

Rosemary Frenza Chudnof is the owner of RFC Writing, LLC. She is a licensed attorney, grant writer and nonprofit strategist. She has nearly 15 years of experience researching, drafting and submitting successful grant applications. She also specializes in nonprofit resource development, fundraising materials, board recruitment and strategic planning.

In addition to her nonprofit specialties, Chudnof rounds out her writing practice by drafting web content across diverse industries, including biographies, site pages, blog posts, articles and more. She serves a national client base.

Kalyan Kakarla is a program manager at the nonprofit Alokit. He has been in the education development sector for 5 years and worked as a teacher for 2 years in an Indian government school. Kakarla trains and coaches school principals and is extremely passionate about making an equitable education system in his country.

Baidurya Bhusan Sen is the co-founder of the nonprofit organization Alokit and has been running it for the past 4 years. Previously, he worked at India School Leadership Institute, where he acted as the program lead and then went on to head curriculum design. Sen has been in the education sector for more than a decade and worked in multiple organizations, including Teach for India and Shoshit Seva Sangh.

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The complete guide to writing a nonprofit business plan.

August 14, 2019

Leadership & Management

July 7, 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statistics from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) show that there are over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations currently operating in the U.S. alone. Many of these organizations are hard at work helping people in need and addressing the great issues of our time. However, doing good work doesn’t necessarily translate into long-term success and financial stability. Other information has shown that around 12% of non-profits don’t make it past the 5-year mark, and this number expands to 17% at the 10-year mark.

12% of non-profits don’t make it past the 5-year mark and 17% at the 10-year mark

There are a variety of challenges behind these sobering statistics. In many cases, a nonprofit can be sunk before it starts due to a lack of a strong nonprofit business plan. Below is a complete guide to understanding why a nonprofit needs a business plan in place, and how to construct one, piece by piece.

The purpose of a nonprofit business plan

A business plan for a nonprofit is similar to that of a for-profit business plan, in that you want it to serve as a clear, complete roadmap for your organization. When your plan is complete, questions such as "what goals are we trying to accomplish?" or "what is the true purpose of our organization?" should be clear and simple to answer.

Your nonprofit business plan should provide answers to the following questions:

1. What activities do you plan to pursue in order to meet the organization’s high level goals?

2. What's your plan on getting revenue to fund these activities?

3. What are your operating costs and specifically how do these break down?

Note that there’s a difference between a business plan and a strategic plan, though there may be some overlap. A strategic plan is more conceptual, with different ideas you have in place to try and meet the organization’s greater vision (such as fighting homelessness or raising climate change awareness). A business plan serves as an action plan because it provides, in as much detail as possible, the specifics on how you’re going to execute your strategy.

More Reading

• What is the Difference Between a Business Plan and a Strategic Plan?
• Business Planning for Nonprofits

Creating a nonprofit business plan

With this in mind, it’s important to discuss the individual sections of a nonprofit business plan. Having a proper plan in a recognizable format is essential for a variety of reasons. On your business’s end, it makes sure that as many issues or questions you may encounter are addressed up front. For outside entities, such as potential volunteers or donors, it shows that their time and energy will be managed well and put to good use. So, how do you go from conceptual to concrete?

Step 1: Write a mission statement

‍ Having a mission statement is essential for any company, but even more so for nonprofits. Your markers of success are not just how the organization performs financially, but the impact it makes for your cause.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating a mission statement. A strong mission statement clarifies why your organization exists and determines the direction of activities.

At the head of their ethics page , NPR has a mission statement that clearly and concisely explains why they exist. From this you learn:

• The key point of their mission: creating a more informed public that understands new ideas and cultures
• Their mechanism of executing that vision: providing and reporting news/info that meets top journalistic standards
• Other essential details: their partnership with their membership statement

You should aim for the same level of clarity and brevity in your own mission statement.

The goal of a mission statement isn’t just about being able to showcase things externally, but also giving your internal team something to realign them if they get off track.

For example, if you're considering a new program or services, you can always check the idea against the mission statement. Does it align with your higher level goal and what your organization is ultimately trying to achieve? A mission statement is a compass to guide your team and keep the organization aligned and focused.

Step 2: Collect the data

‍ You can’t prepare for the future without some data from the past and present. This can range from financial data if you’re already in operation to secured funding if you’re getting ready to start.

Data related to operations and finances (such as revenue, expenses, taxes, etc.) is crucial for budgeting and organizational decisions.

You'll also want to collect data about your target donor. Who are they in terms of their income, demographics, location, etc. and what is the best way to reach them? Every business needs to market, and answering these demographic questions are crucial to targeting the right audience in a marketing campaign. You'll also need data about marketing costs collected from your fundraising, marketing, and CRM software and tools. This data can be extremely important for demonstrating the effectiveness of a given fundraising campaign or the organization as a whole.  

Then there is data that nonprofits collect from third-party sources as to how to effectively address their cause, such as shared data from other nonprofits and data from governments.

By properly collecting and interpreting the above data, you can build your nonprofit to not only make an impact, but also ensure the organization is financially sustainable.

Step 3: Create an outline

Before you begin writing your plan, it’s important to have an outline of the  sections of your plan. Just like an academic essay, it’s easier to make sure all the points are addressed by taking inventory of high level topics first. If you create an outline and find you don’t have all the materials you need to fill it, you may need to go back to the data collection stage.

Writing an outline gives you something simple to read that can easily be circulated to your team for input. Maybe some of your partners will want to emphasize an area that you missed or an area that needs more substance.

Having an outline makes it easier for you to create an organized, well-flowing piece. Each section needs to be clear on its own, but you also don’t want to be overly repetitive. 

As a side-note, one area where a lot of business novices  stall in terms of getting their plans off the ground is not knowing what format to choose or start with. The good news is there are a lot of resources available online for you to draw templates for from your plan, or just inspire one of your own.

Using a business plan template

You may want to use a template as a starting point for your business plan. The major benefit here is that a lot of the outlining work that we mentioned is already done for you. However, you may not want to follow the template word for word. A nonprofit business plan may require additional sections or parts that aren’t included in a conventional business plan template.

The best way to go about this is to try and focus less on copying the template, and more about copying the spirit of the template. For example, if you see a template that you like, you can keep the outline, but you may want to change the color scheme and font to better reflect your brand. And of course, all your text should be unique.

When it comes to adding a new section to a business plan template, for the most part, you can use your judgment. We will get into specific sections in a bit, but generally, you just want to pair your new section with the existing section that makes the most sense. For example, if your non-profit has retail sales as a part of a financial plan, you can include that along with the products, services and programs section.

• Free Nonprofit Sample Business Plans - Bplans
• Non-Profit Business Plan Template - Growthink
• Sample Nonprofit Business Plans - Bridgespan
• Nonprofit Business Plan Template - Slidebean
• 23+ Non Profit Business Plan Templates - Template.net

Nonprofit business plan sections

The exact content is going to vary based on the size, purpose, and nature of your nonprofit. However, there are certain sections that every business plan will need to have for investors, donors, and lenders to take you seriously. Generally, your outline will be built around the following main sections:

1. Executive summary

Many people write this last, even though it comes first in a business plan. This is because the executive summary is designed to be a general summary of the business plan as a whole. Naturally, it may be easier to write this after the rest of the business plan has been completed.

After reading your executive summary a person should ideally have a general idea of what the entire plan covers. Sometimes, a person may be interested in learning about your non-profit, but doesn’t have time to read a 20+ page document. In this case, the executive summary could be the difference between whether or not you land a major donor. 

As a start, you want to cover the basic need your nonprofit services, why that need exists, and the way you plan to address that need. The goal here is to tell the story as clearly and and concisely as possible. If the person is sold and wants more details, they can read through the rest of your business plan. 

2. Products/Services/Programs

This is the space where you can clarify exactly what your non-profit does. Think of it as explaining the way your nonprofit addresses that base need you laid out earlier. This can vary a lot based on what type of non-profit you’re running. 

This page gives us some insight into the mechanisms Bucks County Historical Society uses to further their mission, which is “to educate and engage its many audiences in appreciating the past and to help people find stories and meanings relevant to their lives—both today and in the future.”

They accomplish this goal through putting together both permanent exhibits as well as regular events at their primary museum. However, in a non-profit business plan, you need to go further. 

It’s important here not only to clearly explain who benefits from your services, but also the specific details how those services are provided. For example, saying you “help inner-city school children” isn’t specific enough. Are you providing education or material support? Your non-profit business plan readers need as much detail as possible using simple and clear language. 

3. Marketing

For a non-profit to succeed, it needs to have a steady stream of both donors and volunteers. Marketing plays a key role here as it does in a conventional business. This section should outline who your target audience is, and what you’ve already done/plan on doing to reach this audience. How you explain this is going to vary based on what stage your non-profit is in. We’ll split this section to make it more clear.

Nonprofits not in operation

‍ Obviously, it’s difficult to market an idea effectively if you’re not in operation, but you still need to have a marketing plan in place. People who want to support your non-profit need to understand your marketing plan to attract donors. You need to profile all the data you have about your target market and outline how you plan to reach this audience.

Nonprofits already in operation

‍ Marketing plans differ greatly for nonprofits already in operation. If your nonprofit is off the ground, you want to include data about your target market as well, along with other key details.  Describe all your current marketing efforts, from events to general outreach, to conventional types of marketing like advertisements and email plans. Specific details are important. By the end of this, the reader should know:

• What type of marketing methods your organization prefers
• Why you’ve chosen these methods
• The track record of success using these methods
• What the costs and ROI of a marketing campaign

4. Operations

This is designed to serve as the “how” of your Products/Services/Programs section.

For example, if your goal is to provide school supplies for inner-city schoolchildren, you’ll need to explain how you will procure the supplies and distribute them to kids in need. Again, detail is essential. A reader should be able to understand not only how your non-profit operates on a daily basis, but also how it executes any task in the rest of the plan.

If your marketing plan says that you hold community events monthly to drum up interest. Who is in charge of the event? How are they run? How much do they cost?  What personnel or volunteers are needed for each event?  Where are the venues?

This is also a good place to cover additional certifications or insurance that your non-profit needs in order to execute these operations, and your current progress towards obtaining them. 

Your operations section should also have a space dedicated to your team. The reason for this is, just like any other business plan, is that the strength of an organization lies in the people running it.

For example, let’s look at this profile from The Nature Conservancy . The main points of the biography are to showcase Chief Development Officer Jim Asp’s work history as it is relevant to his job. You’ll want to do something similar in your business plan’s team section.

Equally important is making sure that you cover any staff changes that you plan to implement in the near future in your business plan. The reason for this is that investors/partners may not want to sign on assuming that one leadership team is in place, only for it to change when the business reaches a certain stage. 

The sections we’ve been talking about would also be in a traditional for profit business plan. We start to deviate a bit at this point. The impact section is designed to outline the social change you plan to make with your organization, and how your choices factor into those goals.

Remember the thoughts that go into that mission statement we mentioned before? This is your chance to show how you plan to address that mission with your actions, and how you plan to track your progress.

Let’s revisit the idea of helping inner-city school children by providing school supplies. What exactly is the metric you’re going to use to determine your success? For-profit businesses can have their finances as their primary KPI, but it’s not that easy for non-profits. Let’s say that your mission is to provide 1,000 schoolchildren in an underserved school district supplies for their classes. Your impact plan could cover two metrics:

• How many supplies are distributed
• Secondary impact (improved grades, classwork completed, etc).

The primary goal of this section is to transform that vision into concrete, measurable goals and objectives. A great acronym to help you create these are S.M.A.R.T. goals which stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. ‍

Vitamin Angels does a good job of showing how their action supports the mission. Their goal of providing vitamins to mothers and children in developing countries has a concrete impact when we look at the numbers of how many children they service as well as how many countries they deliver to. As a non-profit business plan, it’s a good idea to include statistics like these to show exactly how close you are to your planned goals. 

6. Finances

Every non-profit needs funding to operate, and this all-important section details exactly how you plan to cover these financial needs. Your business plan can be strong in every other section, but if your financial planning is flimsy, it’s going to prove difficult to gather believers to your cause.

It's important to paint a complete, positive picture of your fundraising plans and ambitions. Generally, this entails the following parts:

• Current financial status, such as current assets, cash on hand, liabilities
• Projections based off of your existing financial data and forms
• Key financial documents, such as a balance sheet, income statements, and cash flow sheet
• Any grants or major contributions received
• Your plan for fundraising (this may overlap with your marketing section which is okay)
• Potential issues and hurdles to your funding plan
• Your plans to address those issues
• How you'll utilize surplus donations
• Startup costs (if your non-profit is not established yet)

In general, if you see something else that isn’t accounted for here, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and put the relevant information in. It’s better to have too much information than too little when it comes to finances, especially since there is usually a clear preference for transparent business culture.

• ‍ How to Make a Five-Year Budget Plan for a Nonprofit ‍
• Financial Transparency - National Council of Nonprofits

7. Appendix

Generally, this serves as a space to attach additional documents and elements that you may find useful for your business plan. This can include things like supplementary charts or a list of your board of directors. 

This is also a good place to put text or technical information that you think may be relevant to your business plan, but might be long-winded or difficult to read. A lot of the flow and structure concerns you have for a plan don’t really apply with an appendix.

In summary, while a non-profit may have very different goals than your average business, the ways that they reach those goals do have a lot of similarities with for-profit businesses. The best way to ensure your success is to have a clear, concrete vision and path to different milestones along the way. A solid, in-depth business plan also gives you something to refer back to when you are struggling and not sure where to turn.

Alongside your business plan, you also want to use tools and resources that promote efficiency at all levels. For example, every non-profit needs a consistent stream of donations to survive, so consider using a program like GiveForms that creates simple, accessible forms for your donors to easily make donations. Accounting and budgeting for these in your plans can pay dividends later on.

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Fundraising

• Lesson 3: Writing a Fundraising Proposal

It must also convince funders that your organization is fiscally sound, transparent and capable of achieving the goals and objectives of the proposal.

• Make contact with a “real” person and then address the proposal to him or her.
• Plan ahead so that your proposal isn’t rushed or crisis-related.
• Show that you know who else is working in the field and what they are doing.
• Involve others in editing the proposal.
• Explain acronyms.
• Keep it short – not more than 10 pages for the body of the proposal and less if possible.
• Show that you care about the work show some passion.
• Pitch the tone correctly – be human rather than academic, let the human story come through, but don’t go overboard on emotion.
• Take a “one proposal fits all” approach if you have done your homework on the funding agency, use what you know to make the proposal fit the agency.
• “Pad” your budget to include things that are not relevant to the project.
• Hide information the donor is entitled to.
• Send so much documentation that the reader gives up before he or she begins.
• Assume that the donor knows all about you so you don’t need to bother to present yourself well.
• Use unnecessary jargon.
• Make the project fit the donor criteria at the expense of what you think needs to be done.

Writing Tips

• Write simply and avoid jargon.
• Use short sentences.
• Use the active rather than the passive voice when you can (e.g. “specially trained project staff will run all training courses” rather than “all training courses will be run by specially trained project staff”).
• Check for spelling and grammar mistakes – if necessary get someone else to read it through and make corrections.
• Revise and rewrite if necessary.
• Don’t exaggerate.
• Write for a non-technical reader.

Layout Tips

• Use headings and sub-headings, but do so consistently e.g. all headings in one lettering or size, all sub-headings in another.
• Number your pages.
• Bind or staple the document in the right order.
• Use white space – have wide margins.
• Don’t crowd the text.
• Use a font that is easy to read.

Additional Resource

Fundraising Proposal Example

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• Lesson 1: International Fundraising Associations
• Lesson 2: Developing a Fundraising Plan
• Lesson 4: Crowdfunding
• Lesson 5: Staging a Fundraising Event
• Selected Bibliography

Fundraising Company Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Financial Service Industry » Fundraising Company

Are you about starting a fundraising company ? If YES, here is a complete sample fundraising business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE .

The fundraising business is one that requires great oral and written skills for any entrepreneur intending to start this business. Asides, these two skills, the entrepreneur must also be one who has great inter-personal skills as well as public relation skills.

However, while there is no business that exists without an aim of making it profitable, this business requires an entrepreneur to have a true desire at helping others in promoting causes that are deemed worthy and noble.

It is important to find a niche in this business as there are a lot of organizations and associations that are of a noble cause, such as those fighting a deadly disease, reducing poverty, reducing oppression, increasing literacy or protecting the environment, and requires funds to be raised for them.

Starting this business would require an experience of some sorts because of the so many skills involved in raising funds. As with any other business, you would need to get in touch with a business consultant who has the required experience.

The business consultant will help look into the fundraising niche you intend going into and determine if you would make it and also point out likely obstacles you are likely to face when starting and whilst running the business. The business consultant will also offer strategies and advice that would help make the fundraising business become a success.

Writing a business plan is very essential for one’s business as it helps provide an overall direction for a business. While writing a business plan might sound hard and complicated, it is for this reason that there is a sample fundraising plan written below for you;

A Sample Fundraising Company Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

Even though most fundraising organizations prefer face-to-face interaction as it has always been a way to build valuable relationships, however, it is also know to be very expensive. Technology has come to play a huge role for fundraising organizations as it is not only easier to get more donors, it is also less expensive for the organizations who choose to indulge in it.

Donors in many decades back only donated to fundraising organizations that they had an history with and therefore treated donations to these organizations as one would with paying bills, donors now are however different and donate based on perceived needs.

Fundraising organizations are becoming more proactive than reactive by using social media to raise funds in advance for a cause that might not have occurred yet. Strategies are developed and newsworthy events maximized in order to connect a cause with their mission, even though this might look more exploitative.

Non-profit fundraising organizations that are mostly online and accept online donations have a 24% chance o increasing fundraising than those who don’t. These organizations have resorted to using activities such as blogging and sharing of video content in order to further increase their effectiveness.

Revenue growth in this industry is however not assured especially or non-profit fundraising organizations, where it was found that 47% of these non-profit fundraising organizations had the same revenue between two years.

More than $18.2 billion was raised by fundraisers in 2015, according to Blackbaud’s 2015 Charitable Giving Report, with more than $2.2 billion coming from online giving data. This shows a growth in overall giving in the united states as compared to 2014.

In 2015, small non-profit fundraising organizations saw a growth while medium sized nonprofit organizations have been on the other hand experiencing a decline from year to year. Organizations with the highest increase in charity giving from year to year were those that dealt in international affairs, however educational institutions had the highest online growth when compared to other niches.

2. Executive Summary

Zo Gill Fundraiser is a leading fundraising business that will be based in Fargo – North Dakota and will serve both corporate and individual clients and help them in achieving their organizational or personal goals and objectives. Our intended services which will include trainings and consultancy services will allow us cater to a wide range of customers here in Fargo – North Dakota.

Our vision is to ensure that we have more than fifteen clients by our second year of business that will not only allow us breakeven but also ensure that we garner a solid reputation and be amongst the top leaders in the industry. In order to achieve this, we intend to go the extra mile in hiring the finest professionals to help us achieve our intended goals.

Even though we would be based initially in Fargo – North Dakota, we are in a strategic location that will ensure that clients from Minneapolis, Chicago and Denver can get to us. We intend to have a strong base first here in Fargo before branching out to establish our fundraising business in other nearby states and all around the United States of America.

Our services to our clients will be one that will be based on transparency, honesty and the professional ethics and standard business practice required for this kind of business. We will ensure that we always act on the long-term interest of our clients so as to build the right relationship that will ensure that our business grows.

We believe in hiring and having professional and the best staff to help us handle our intended business. We will hire staff who understands our core values as a business and who are ready to work in ensuring that we attain our intended goals and objectives as a business.

We are ready to pay our staff well and will do all we can to ensure that they have the best welfare packages across similar start-ups of our kind here in Fargo – North Dakota. We will also ensure that our staff undergo continuous training that will allow them have enhanced skills as well as retain a high level of productivity for the organization.

We believe in customer excellence and so due to this have hired trained customer care executives who thoroughly understand how to handle the clients as well as the market and industry trends to handle our clients. This we believe will allow us retain a high number of our clients.

Finally, our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Zoe McGill is a veteran in the industry and has over 15 years as a professional fundraiser. She has several certifications and qualifications as well and sits on the board of some non-profit fundraising organizations. She has the tenacity to endure that we attain the desired goals and objectives for our business.

3. Our Products and Services

Zo Gill Fundraiser is a profit oriented fundraising business that deals in basic sector – education, health, environment and food; and work with clients in this sector to raise the needed funds that will ensure that they achieve their intended goals and objectives.

Due to the fact that we are profit oriented and intend to make as much profit as we can, we have set forth different strategies that will allow us create multiple sources of income that will boost our bottom line and sustain our fundraising business.

Any stream of income we intend to add to our core service will be one that is under the permissible laws of the United States of America. Therefore, below are some of the services that we will offer to boost our bottom line;

• Sales of publications
• Consultancy and advisory services
• Trainings and offering of other forms of expertise
• Charging service users
• Selling products made by the beneficiaries of the organization

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• To have more than fifteen clients by our second year of business that will not only allow us breakeven but also ensure that we garner a solid reputation and be amongst the top leaders in the industry.
• To achieve our vision, we intend to ensure that we have a solid business structure by hiring qualified personnel who thoroughly understand our policies and objectives and are committed to ensuring that we attain them.

Our Business Structure

Having a solid business structure is very important to us here at Zo Gill Fundraisers especially as we are focused on achieving our objectives at the time we intend. Due to this we are ensuring that we go all the way in sourcing for and hiring only highly qualified personnel who do not only possess industry experience but those that will show a high rate of commitment towards helping us achieve our goals and objectives.

In order to ensure that the productivity rate for our employees are high, we intend to pay them fair wages and ensure that they have a great welfare package that is the best in similar start-ups such as our across the industry. We know that an attractive pay as well as welfare package is a great stimulant to ensuring that the goals and objectives of the organization are helped achieved by the employees.

We also intend to ensure that our employees work in a conducive and highly creative environment and that they see themselves as stakeholders in helping ensure that we are seen as fair, honest and transparent in our dealings. Also, our employees will undergo the necessary training that will not only enhance their skills but also ensure that productivity for the industry is achieved at an optimal rate.

Therefore below is the business structure we intend to build at Zo Gill Fundraisers;

Chief Executive Officer

Administration Manager

Human Resources Manager

Projects Supervisor

Marketing Team

Customer Service Executives

Security Guard

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

• Drafts strategic policies that will provide direction for the organization
• Meets high profile clients on behalf of the organization
• Removes or modifies strategies that are not deemed effective on behalf of the organization
• Communicates management’s policies to all staff
• Ensures that organizational policies are widely implemented in the organization
• Ensures that the organization and its administration runs smoothly
• In charge of sourcing for and recruiting qualified personnel on behalf of the organization
• Carries our orientation and induction for new personnel
• In charge of payment and welfare packages for staffs
• In charge of what projects the organization undertakes
• Ensures that feasible and achievable milestones are set on behalf of the organization
• Ensures that the organization maintain a high level of success in its projects
• Prepares all financial information and statement on behalf of the business
• Ensures that the books of the organization are reconciled with that of the bank monthly or quarterly
• Ensures that the budget is effectively implemented by all the departments
• Ensures that adequate market research is conducted on behalf of the organization in order to find new target markets or opportunities
• Drafts effective marketing strategies on behalf of the organization
• Conducts direct marketing on behalf of the organization
• Possesses accurate information about the organization and remains updated about industry trends in order to pass along accurate information to the clients
• In charge of receiving calls regarding enquiries, feedbacks and complaints from clients and ensuring that they are well attended to
• Keeps an updated database of customers on behalf of the organization
• Ensures that the premises is protected during and after work hours
• Patrols the premises after work hours to ensure that no intruder enters the premises
• Passes along vital security tips to company personnel at regular intervals
• Ensures that the premises remains clean at all times
• Ensures that cleaning supplies are always in stock
• Carries out any other duties as might be determined by the Human Resources Manager
• Ensure that field workers get to their intended location on time
• Carry out regular maintenance of the vehicle
• Obeys all traffic rules and regulations

6. SWOT Analysis

As with any other business, we are driven to ensure that we attain excellence when it comes to starting and running a standard fundraising business that is profit oriented. For this purpose, we hired the services of the finest business consultant here in Fargo – North Dakota with the right experience to look through our business concept and help us determine if we are likely to thrive in this business.

In looking critically at our business concept, the business consultant was able to take stock of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats so as to determine if it was necessary for us to go into the business or not here in Fargo – North Dakota and what we were likely to face if we indeed go ahead in starting the business. Below therefore if the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Zo Gill Fundraiser business;

There are several strengths that we posses as a business that ensures that we are ahead of the pack and this includes the fact that we are offering our clients – existing and potential – a wide range of services that will meet their various needs.

Another factor lies in the fact that we hired the right staff who are not only experienced enough but who also thoroughly understand the industry and our core values and are willing and committed to ensure that we attain our desired goals and objectives.

Finally, our last advantage is the fact that our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Zoe McGill has over 15 years of experience raising funds in the profit and nonprofit sector as well as in several niches. She currently serves as a board member in several non-profit fundraising businesses as well and will ensure that we attain our desired goals and objectives as a business.

We do not have enough hands at the organization to carry out all our intended services and so even though we need additional staff, we cannot get more for now due to funding. We also have less time with which to accomplish the goals of our clients; we are however confident that we would work through our weaknesses in order to achieve our goals and that of our clients.

• Opportunities

Various opportunities are available to us as the fact that we will build relationships and networks with donors for the future purpose of our own business. We have the opportunity to get many potential prospects – through education and communication – that are still not aware of what we do as a company.

The threats that we are likely to face at Zo Gill Fundraiser are that we are likely to face tremendous completion from other fundraising businesses such as ours. Also, the uncertain economy which places a huge pall on likely fundraising sources as individuals will be unwilling to part with large donations will affect how we run our business and the kind of clients we will attend to.

However, every businesses faces threats every now and then and we have laid down strategies to ensure that these threats have no effect on our business.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

While most fundraisers in the past were usually those that were more of nonprofit in nature, the trend as started shifting away to accumulate fundraising businesses that are totally profit oriented. This came about in a bid to reduce having to seek for funds from the government and also the fact that nonprofit fundraisers were beginning to be bogged down with too many requests from clients, with some not being able to help their clients attain their goals and objectives because they were handling too much at once.

Also, nonprofit fundraising organizations could not handle all the niches in all the industry which led to the birth of profit oriented fundraising organization and allowed clients that could afford the services go for this kind instead.

While it was normal to run these kind of businesses from home, more people going into this business, especially those that are going into it for profit, are now preferring to lease facilities instead and ensure that the business looks more professional so as to boost the confidence of clients. Also, hiring qualified staff has come to be a must and these qualified staffs need to be placed in a facility that is not only professional but conducive and easily accessible as well.

Fundraising organizations have now started operating online and this has been made possible due to the influx of technology which has made more people to prefer to use the internet to raise money that would help them attain their goals in return for a fee. These internet based fundraising organizations do not need to lease a huge facility as this business is one that can be run from home.

8. Our Target Market

There are several institutions and individuals that require the use of fundraisers in order to be able to achieve their intended goals and objectives. Therefore, due to this fact we intend to conduct a market survey that will enable us understand exactly who we are targeting and what strategies we should draft in order to be able to meet up to the expectations of our target market.

The market research we are also conducting would allow us have an idea of what our existing and potential clients would be expecting from us. From our result, we are in business to offer our services to the following group of people;

• Educational institutions
• Health institutions
• Environmental protection organizations
• Small Businesses
• Charity organizations

Our competitive advantage

The fundraising business either profit or non-profit are both established with the intention of achieving a noble cause, and so even though profit based fundraisers might seek to get more clients, it is not usually done in a competitive environment as that of a normal business.

However as a for profit fundraiser, we have several strategies that will ensure that we get the required number of clients to our business in order to allow us achieve our intended goals. These strategies are designed to give us an edge over the others.

First off, we intend to ensure that we hire quality staff who do not only have the required industry experience but also understand our policies and objectives and are highly committed to ensuring that we achieve them. Our qualified personnel will also ensure that our business ethics and transparency is maintained at all times in order to positively communicate our brand to our customers.

We know how important it is to create an awareness that will ensure that our target market is aware of services and so we have laid down marketing and publicity strategies that will not only help us generate interest and penetrate the target market but also bring in clients who are in need of fundraising to patronize our business.

Finally, ensuring that our clients get excellent service is paramount to us and so we intend to ensure that we offer the best customer service experience to all our clients which we know will lead to more referrals for our business and take us to the standard we hope to achieve for our business.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Due to the recent changes recently in this industry as regarding funding, more fundraisers are beginning to look inward in order to ensure that revenue is generated to help sustain and grow the business either profit or non-profit oriented.

Therefore at Zo Bill Fundraisers, we have been established with sole intention of generating profit that will help sustain our fundraising business and ensure we are capable at handling the various requests of our clients. Therefore, Zo Gill Fundraisers intends to generate income via the following means;

10. Sales Forecast

Even though more people in this industry are geared towards nonprofit fundraising businesses, there is still a high demand for profit oriented fundraising business as those who seek have a certain goal they intend to attain using these services.

Being one of the few of our kind in this industry, we are well positioned to getting a huge share of our target market and are optimistic that we would meet our target of ensuring that we generate enough income to sustain and grow our business within one year.

Our statement is based on the result gotten from a thorough analysis of the industry, where we analyzed our chances of survival and well we would be able to thrive in the industry, which allowed us come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projection is based on information that was gathered from similar start-ups such as ours here in Fargo – North Dakota.

Therefore, below are the sales projections for Zo Gill fundraiser based on our location, the statistics gathered in the market, and other assumptions for our business;

• First Fiscal Year-: $200,000
• Second Fiscal Year-: $400,000
• Third Fiscal Year-: $800,000

N.B : It should be noted that the above sales projections were carried out based on what is obtainable in the industry and on the assumptions that there won’t be a change in the factors used to carry out this analysis, such as more clients preferring to nonprofit fundraising businesses or a competitor arriving in our location and offering same businesses like we are offering. Should there be any change in the factors used, it might have a positive or negative bearing on the projected figures.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Every business needs generated revenue in order to be able to carry out its activities and remain in its industry for a long time as it deems fit, and to achieve this, such a business must know how to market itself well to generate the intended awareness for itself and services. Marketing is therefore a very important aspect in any business and should not be taken lightly by any entrepreneur or group looking to start a business.

To this effect, we have therefore conducted a thorough market survey that will enable us penetrate our target market and generate the right interest for our business. In conducting an accurate market survey, we made use of detailed information and data from similar businesses such as ours in this same location and we used that to structure our business in such a way as to attract the right clients to us.

In helping us to draft the right strategies, we hired a reputable marketing consultant who not only understands the market and the industry but who also knows what strategies are likely to help us succeed in this industry whilst also allowing clients understand what we stand for and how we can help them achieve their intended goals and objectives.

We also have ensured that our marketing teams have been empowered to help draft strategies and also modify strategies that do not reflect our core values and positively communicate our brand. In summary, below are the marketing and sales strategies we intend to adopt in offering our wide range of activities at Zo Gill Fundraiser;

• Ensure that we network with industry stakeholders, especially those in our target niche and also other nonprofit fundraising businesses in order to introduce and promote our fundraising business here in Fargo – North Dakota as well as round the United States of America
• Engage in direct marketing of our business to existing and potential clients in our target market
• Use our official website to vigorously promote our business
• Advertise our business in local newspapers and magazines as well as on radio and television stations here in Fargo – North Dakota
• Ensure that our fundraising business is listed in local and online directories
• Throw a party when launching our business in order to generate the needed awareness for Zo Gill fundraising business here in Fargo – North Dakota, USA

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Because we intend to ensure that we can suitably raise funds for any clients we intend to take on in our business, we know that having the right amount of publicity would go a long way into ensuring that we not only generate the right interest and achieve our goals and objectives, but that we also penetrate the market and gain more share of potential clients for our fundraising business.

It is to this effect that we sought the services of a reputable brand consultant who not only understands the market and industry as a whole but also has the experience required to ensure that we attain the right amount of publicity using the best strategies that will not only allow us become amongst the top leading brands but will also ensure that we are favorites and preferred by most of our target market.

Therefore, some of the platforms we intend to adopt in promoting as well as advertising our fundraising business include;

• Ensure that we engage in relevant beneficial programs in our community
• Install our bill boards in strategic locations all around Fargo – North Dakota
• Ensure that we place adverts in local newspapers and magazines as well as on radio and television stations
• Distribute handbills and business cards as well as paste posters in conspicuous locations here in North Dakota
• Use social media platforms to our advantage by leveraging on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram
•  Ensure that we have a unique traditional color and that our staff wear our customized tee-shirts anytime they are out on field work

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Setting up the rates for our fundraising business depends on a whole lot of factors, such as how huge the project is, the financial capability of our client, our overhead and running costs as well as what similar fundraising businesses in our category and same location are offering. Setting a price might look difficult but we have come up with the strategy that will ensure that we set rates that are affordable to our clients whilst also not plunging our business into any debt of sorts.

However, due to the fact that we are still new in the industry and in order to generate the required awareness for our business, we intend to offer existing and potential clients a reduction in our rates for at least three months. This strategy, according to our business consultant will allow us garner more clients whilst also opening us to several opportunities that the market has to offer. Also, reducing our rates will in no way affect our overhead or running experiences for the period in question.

• Payment Options

Zo Gill Fundraiser has come up several payment policies that is intended to ensure that all our clients with their diversity and preferences have the necessary options that will be convenient for them and for us as well. Therefore the payment options that are available for all our clients are;

• Payment via check
• Payment via online payment portal
• Payment via credit card
• Payment via bank draft

The above payment options were carefully chosen after we had several discussions with our bank as well as certain merchants. We are confident that the above platforms will work without any sort of hitches for our clients and our business as well.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

Starting a profit oriented fundraising business is quite different from starting a non-profit oriented one. However, regardless of this fact, there are basic requirements that are expected to be achieved when starting a business and there are things that one is expected to spend the bulk of the start-up capital on such as paying employees and utility bills for a certain period of time, purchasing a vehicle and leasing a facility for use.

Therefore, the key areas where we intend to spend the bulk of our capital on are;

• Total fee for registering our business in the United States of America – $750
• Obtaining permits as well as other legal and accounting expenses – $1,250
• Marketing promotion expenses (For grand opening of Zo Gills Fundraisers as well as general marketing promotion activities for the business and for clients) – $5,000
• Cost of hiring reputable business consultants – $2,500
• Insurance coverage (workers’ compensation and general liability) – $3,000
• Operational cost for the first 6 months (salaries of employees and payment of utilities) – $100,000
• Leasing of a facility for at least two years as well as renovations – $50,000
• Other start-up expenses (stationery, furniture, phones, computers and other utilities) – $4,000
• Cost of purchasing a van for field trips – $20,000
• Cost of launching a website – $500
• Cost of throwing a grand opening party – $5,000
• Miscellaneous – $5,000

From the above analysis, we would need a total of $197,000 in order to successfully start and run our fund raising business here in Fargo – North Dakota. It should be noted that that bulk of the capital will go towards leasing a facility, purchasing an official van and paying employees salaries as well as utility bills for a definite period of time.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Zo Gill Fundraising Business

Zo Gill Fundraiser is a profit oriented fundraising business that is owned and run fully by Ms. Zoe McGill a professional fundraiser who intends to run the business alone without seeking for external partners to run the business with her.

This decision has therefore limited her sourcing of income to just few sources. Therefore, below are the areas where funds will be sourced from to start and run the business;

• Generate part start-up capital from personal savings
• Source for soft loans from family members and friends
• Apply for grant
• Apply for loan from bank

N.B: Ms. Zoe was able to generate the sum of $40,000 from her personal savings. $30,000 soft loans were gotten from family members and friends. We applied for a grant and were lucky to be granted the sum of $50,000. We approached the bank for the sum of $77,000 and was granted the sum after all documents had been signed and approved.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

Regardless of whether a business is established for profit making or not, there are always plans in place to ensure that the business remains and thrives for a period that is deemed fit by the owners and so due to this we have several strategies in place that will ensure that our business is suitably sustained and doesn’t fold up.

One of our major goals in starting Zo Gill Fundraisers is to ensure that we help clients achieve their objectives and goals by raising the amount of funds needed by our clients for the various projects they intend to engage in. To achieve this, we intend to hire the right personnel, those that are highly qualified and understand the industry. Having the right employees will help us achieve the set goals by our clients in a timely manner, therefore improving our brand and stand in the industry.

Having the right publicity strategies is very important to us as it will not only push our business to its intended height but also improve the confidence of clients – existing and potential – in our abilities to ensure that they achieve their own goals and objectives.

Publicity is very important to us and for this we have hired a branding and publicity consultant who will help us achieve the right publicity for our fundraising business here in Fargo – North Dakota.

We believe in giving our clients the best experience that would ensure that that they remain loyal and also refer others to our business. We have an accurate customer database that allows us not only to keep in touch with our clients but also to pass along industry trends that might help them in their business, this way allowing us retain a huge number of clients to our fundraising business.

Check List / Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members: Completed
• Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In Progress
• Purchase of trucks: Completed

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A business plans for lawyers: How to write one and what to include

• June 21, 2024

Jennifer Anderson

If you’re reading this article, Congratulations! You must be thinking about starting a law firm and are looking for examples of a business plan for lawyers.

Of course, if you’re serious about this prospect, one of the first things you’ll need to do is sit down and draft a business plan. And, as luck would have it, that’s why we’re here today.

In this post, we’re going to walk you through the steps of creating a business plan for your new firm. As Aristotle once said, “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”

Sound advice.

A simple guide for a business plan for lawyers

So, we’ll provide you with the key parts and pieces for creating a law firm business plan along with a sample plan intended to show you how to create your own plan. 

Now, in order to walk you through this, we’ve created a hypothetical firm using certain assumptions, which we’ll list below. Your new firm almost certainly has different factors at play.

That’s alright. We trust you’ll be able to plug in the particulars that suit your business. For now, here’s what our fictional new law firm looks like:

• This California-based law firm is founded by four partners who were all business owners before going to law school. Using our fictional founders’ last names, we’ll call the firm Smith, Jones, Jackson, & Wyle, LLP.
• The firm aims to have multiple practice areas including business litigation, labor and employment, technology, and real estate.
• The target clients will be small-to-midsize regional businesses throughout the state. 
• The partners’ goal is to hire up to 10 associates over the next five years. 
• The firm’s main competitors are other small, regional business-focused firms. 
• Initial marketing ideas include social media, networking with former business contacts, and becoming thought leaders in various areas of the law through blogging and public speaking.
• The partners envision being highly tech dependent, utilizing CRMs, AI, and other tech tools as much as possible. 
• The founding partners’ goal is to launch the firm in 6 months and to be profitable within a year.

With those basic facts in mind, let’s break down the various components that we’ll include in our business plan:

1. Executive summary

A business plan for lawyers, like any plan, should start with an e xecutive summary . This section concisely outlines a business plan’s key points, goals, and strategies. Ultimately, it serves as a snapshot for quick understanding and decision-making and should include the following parts:

Mission statement

A Mission Statement is like the elevator speech for your new firm. It charts the course for your goals, objectives, clients – and also quickly lays out your proposed methods for reaching those goals. A sample Mission Statement for our firm might say: 

At Smith, Jones, Jackson, & Wyle, LLP (“SJJW”) we are dedicated to empowering small-to-midsize businesses in California with comprehensive legal solutions. With a foundation built on the rich business acumen and legal expertise of our founding partners, we aim to bridge the gap between business challenges and legal success. Our mission is to provide personalized, effective, and technology-driven legal services that not only address today’s legal needs but also anticipate tomorrow’s challenges. We are committed to becoming trusted advisors to our clients who leverage our unique background as former business owners to offer practical, actionable legal advice. Through innovation, integrity, and a client-focused approach, SJJW strives to achieve excellence in all aspects of our service, fostering long-term partnerships with our clients and contributing to their success.

Here, you will outline the firm’s growth objectives and provide a snapshot of the firm’s operations.

SJJW aims to become the leading legal advisor for California’s small to mid-sized businesses, expand our team with 10 associates within five years, and leverage technology to enhance efficiency and client satisfaction.

Brief overview

Some business plans also include a brief overview of the business. Our hypothetical firm’s overview might look like this:

Founded by four partners with business ownership backgrounds, our California-based law firm specializes in serving small-to-midsize businesses, emphasizing technology-driven solutions and personalized legal services to navigate complex challenges.

2. Firm description

Your law firm description will provide a bit more detail about the make-up of your business. This section should include information on: (1) legal structure and history; (2) location and areas of practice; and (3) vision for the future: 

SJJW is a dynamic legal partnership founded by four seasoned attorneys who are also experienced business owners. Based in California, our firm offers comprehensive legal services tailored to the needs and challenges of small-to-midsize businesses across the state. Our firm practices in four distinct areas: Business Litigation, Labor and Employment, Technology, and Real Estate. With a deep understanding of both the legal landscape and the entrepreneurial journey, our team is uniquely positioned to provide strategic, effective solutions across this range of legal disciplines. As an LLP, we emphasize collaboration, integrity, and innovation, leveraging cutting-edge technology to deliver exceptional service and outcomes for our clients. Our commitment to excellence, combined with our business-savvy approach, makes us a trusted partner for businesses seeking to navigate legal complexities with confidence.

3. Market analysis

The next part of our business plan for lawyers is the market analysis. Your market analysis is where you do the heavy lifting around how your firm fits into California’s extensive legal market. It should include information on your target market, a competitive analysis, and the need for your particular firm within the region. 

Target market

SJJW’s primary target market consists of small-to-midsize businesses in California, spanning various industries such as technology, retail, real estate, energy, and manufacturing. These businesses often encounter unique legal challenges that require personalized attention and expertise. With the state’s diverse economic landscape, there is a substantial demand for legal services that cater specifically to the nuanced needs of these entities, from regulatory compliance and intellectual property protection to labor disputes and contract negotiations.

Competitive landscape

The legal services market in California is highly competitive, with numerous firms vying for the business sector’s attention. Small, regional law firms similar to ours form the bulk of this competition, offering a range of general and specialized services. However, our differentiation lies in the unique blend of legal expertise and real-world business experience possessed by our founding partners. This combination positions us to offer unparalleled insights and practical solutions that resonate with business owners.

Market trends

The increasing complexity of regulatory environments, coupled with the rapid evolution of technology and the digital economy, has led businesses to seek legal partners who are not only advisors but also innovators. There’s a growing trend towards legal services that are highly specialized yet broadly knowledgeable about the cross-functional impacts of legal decisions.

Opportunities

Given our firm’s unique positioning and expertise, significant opportunities exist to capture market share by:

• Offering specialized services that address the intersection of business operations and legal requirements, such as compliance, data privacy, and e-commerce.
• Developing niche expertise in emerging areas of law that are particularly relevant to California’s business environment, such as tech startups, renewable energy, and digital media.
• Leveraging technology to provide more efficient, transparent, and cost-effective legal services, appealing to the tech-savvy and cost-conscious small-to-midsize business sector.
• Building strong relationships through networking and thought leadership, establishing the founding partners as go-to experts in legal matters relating to business.

Key challenges include establishing a distinct brand in a crowded market, continually adapting to rapidly changing legal and technological landscapes, and ensuring the firm remains accessible and appealing to the target market’s cost and value expectations.

In summary, the market analysis underscores the potential for SJJW to carve out a significant presence in California’s legal services sector for small-to-midsize businesses. By focusing on our strengths and strategically addressing the market’s needs, we can achieve substantial growth and success.

4. Marketing and sales strategy

The marketing and sales strategy is a crucial but often neglected aspect of any business plan for lawyers. This is where you lay out how you’re going to attract clients, convince them to use your firm’s services, and – importantly – how you’re going to retain those clients long term: 

Our objective is to establish SJJW as the premier legal service provider for small to mid-sized businesses in California, leveraging our unique blend of business acumen and legal expertise.

Marketing strategy

Brand positioning

Position the firm as not just legal experts, but as partners in our clients’ business success, emphasizing our founding partners’ background as business owners.

Digital marketing

• Website : Develop a professional website highlighting our expertise, services, and the unique value we bring to businesses.
• Content marketing : Regularly publish blogs, articles, and whitepapers on legal issues affecting our target market, positioning us as thought leaders.
• Social media : Engage with our audience on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, sharing insights, legal updates, and participating in discussions relevant to our target industries.

Networking and partnerships

• Leverage the existing business contacts of our founding partners and actively participate in industry events, seminars, and local business associations to build relationships and referrals.
• Establish partnerships with complementary service providers (e.g., accounting firms, business consultants) to offer bundled services or referrals.

Public relations

• Engage in speaking opportunities at industry conferences, webinars, and local business events to increase visibility and establish credibility.
• Utilize press releases for significant firm milestones, new service offerings, or significant case wins to build brand awareness.

Sales strategy

Client acquisition

• Implement a CRM system to manage leads and opportunities effectively and utilize  personalized follow-up and engagement strategies.
• Offer free initial consultations to prospective clients that provide immediate value and foster trust from the first interaction.

Client retention

• Provide exceptional client service with a focus on transparency, regular communication, and technology-driven solutions for ease of access and efficiency.
• Implement a client feedback loop to continuously improve services and address client needs proactively.

Cross-selling and up-selling

Once a client relationship is established, SJJW will identify additional legal needs or areas where the firm can provide value. The goal is to make sure all clients are aware of the full range of services offered.

By executing this comprehensive marketing and sales strategy, SJJW aims to rapidly grow its client base while maintaining high levels of client satisfaction and loyalty.

5. Operations plan

An operations plan outlines the day-to-day activities required to run your law firm. It details  things like processes, technology, staffing, and resources needed to achieve business objectives.

To ensure efficient, effective, and client-focused legal service delivery through advanced technology integration and streamlined processes.

Legal operations

Case managemen t: Implement a state-of-the-art Case Management System (CMS) to track and manage all cases efficiently, ensuring deadlines are met, and clients are kept informed.

Document management : Utilize a secure, cloud-based Document Management System (DMS) for storing, retrieving, and sharing documents with clients and within the team, enhancing collaboration and security.

Client communication : Adopt Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to manage client interactions, ensuring personalized and timely communication across all touchpoints.

Technology integration

Artificial Intelligence (AI) : Leverage AI tools for legal research, document review, and predictive analytics to increase accuracy and reduce turnaround times.

Automation tools : Implement automation in routine tasks such as billing, client notifications, and document drafting to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of human error.

Human resources

Team structure : SJJW will initially be comprised of four partners and support staff, with plans to expand to up to 10 associates within five years. It is our goal to foster a culture of teamwork and continuous learning.

Professional development : Invest in ongoing training and professional development opportunities for all staff, ensuring the team remains at the forefront of legal and technological advancements.

Client service

Service delivery model : Offer flexible service models including traditional hourly billing and alternative arrangements like flat fees for defined services.  

Client feedback system : Implement a system for collecting and acting on client feedback to continually refine and improve service offerings.

Compliance and quality assurance

Regulatory compliance : Ensure strict adherence to legal and ethical standards, with regular reviews of compliance protocols, especially regarding data protection and privacy laws.

Quality control : Establish a quality control framework to review legal work internally, guaranteeing the highest standards of legal service.

6. Financial plan

Your financial plan is one of the most critical aspects of a business plan for lawyers. There are too many factors at play here for us to create a meaningful sample plan for our hypothetical firm, but here are the details you definitely want to include in your plan:

Initial capital and use

Detail how the initial capital provided by the founding partners will be allocated (e.g., office space, technology, marketing, initial payroll).

Financial projections

Include projections for revenue, expenses, and profitability for the first 1-5 years. Use realistic assumptions based on the size of your target market, expected client acquisition rates, billing rates, and operational costs. 

Revenue projections

Estimate potential earnings from client work, taking into account the growth in associate numbers and the capacity to handle more cases and matters.

Expense projections

Forecast expenses, including salaries, technology investments, office overhead, and marketing costs.

Profitability analysis

Calculate when the firm expects to become profitable. Our hypothetical firm, for example, aims to be profitable within the first year.

7. Legal and regulatory compliance

What kind of lawyers would you be if your plan didn’t include a section on legal and regulatory compliance ? A business plan for lawyers should always cover compliance, particularly in an environment where it is becoming increasingly important for firms to accommodate it .

This is where you’ll provide details regarding legal practice, data protection, and any relevant regulations for your areas of practice.

To uphold the highest standards of legal and ethical integrity by ensuring full compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and professional guidelines governing the practice of law in California.

Compliance framework

State Bar of California : SJJW will strictly adhere to the rules and ethical standards set forth by the State Bar of California, including those related to client confidentiality, conflict of interest, and professional conduct.

Data protection and privacy : We will implement powerful data security measures compliant with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and any relevant federal laws. We will also protect client information through encrypted storage and secure communication channels.

Business operations compliance : As an LLP, SJJW will maintain compliance with California’s business operation laws, including partnership registration requirements, financial reporting, and tax obligations.

Employment law : It is our steadfast aim to follow all state and federal employment laws, ensuring fair labor practices, workplace safety, and equal opportunity employment within the firm.

Continuous monitoring and education

Regular training : We will conduct or host ongoing legal education and training for all partners and staff on compliance matters, changes in the law, and best practices in legal ethics and data protection.

Compliance audits : The firm will perform regular internal audits to review and assess compliance with all legal, regulatory, and ethical standards, identifying and rectifying any potential issues proactively.

Risk management

Professional liability insurance : Before beginning operations, SJJW will secure comprehensive professional liability insurance to protect the firm and its clients against potential legal malpractice claims or other claims.

Conflict of interest checks : The firm will implement a rigorous system for conducting conflict of interest checks for every new client and case, with the goal of preventing ethical breaches and maintaining the firm’s integrity.

Client confidentiality and trust

Confidentiality protocols : SJJW will establish strict confidentiality protocols to protect client information, including secure document handling procedures and restricted access to sensitive data.

Client trust accounts : In accordance with California law, the firm will manage client funds with the utmost care, adhering to the State Bar’s guidelines for handling and accounting for trust accounts, ensuring transparency and accountability.

8. Milestones and timeline

Finally, a business plan for lawyers should include a section that details the timing involved in getting your law firm up and running. Again, there are probably too many details to give an effective sample here, but at the very least, your plan should include the following components:

Launch timeline

Here, you’ll plot out the key steps leading up to your launch date , including legal organization, the establishment of your office space, technology implementation, and initial marketing.

Growth milestones

Lawyers love deadlines and the growth milestones section is a good place to create them. Set specific goals for things like client acquisition, revenue targets, and team expansion to be reached within the first year and beyond.

Obviously, your firm’s business plan will include a lot more detail than our hypothetical plan for SJJW. We hope, however, that this sample plan gets you started on an enjoyable journey to starting a successful law firm.

Starting a law firm is a challenging yet rewarding endeavor. A well-crafted business plan for lawyers means getting all the essentials in place to guide your firm’s growth and success.

Get your executive summary, firm description, market analysis, marketing and sales strategy, operations plan, financial plan, and legal compliance all covered before embarking.

With careful planning and execution, you can build a firm that not only meets but exceeds your expectations, providing exceptional legal services to your clients.

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Biden’s Stimulus Juiced the Economy, but Its Political Effects Are Muddled

Some voters blame the American Rescue Plan for fueling price increases. But the growth it unleashed may be helping the president stay more popular than counterparts in Europe.

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By Jim Tankersley and Madeleine Ngo

Jim Tankersley reported from Washington, and Madeleine Ngo from Georgia.

The $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package that President Biden signed shortly after taking office has become both an anchor and a buoy for his re-election campaign.

The American Rescue Plan, which the Biden administration created and Democrats passed in March 2021 , has fueled discontent among voters, in sometimes paradoxical ways. Some Americans blame the law, which included direct checks to individuals, for helping to fuel rapid inflation.

Others appear upset that its relief to people, businesses and school districts was short-lived . The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported recently that several business contacts in its district “expressed concern about the winding down of American Rescue Plan Act dollars and whether nonprofits and K-12 schools will be able to sustain certain programs without that funding.”

Polls show that Americans continue to favor Mr. Biden’s opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, on economic issues. Often, they indicate that only relatively small slices of the electorate believe Mr. Biden’s policies have helped them or their family financially.

At the same time, though, the stimulus may be lifting Mr. Biden’s chances for November in ways that pollsters rarely ask about.

Economists say the relief package, along with stimulus measures Mr. Trump signed into law in 2020, has helped accelerate America’s recovery from the pandemic recession. The United States has grown and added jobs in a way that no other wealthy nation has experienced after the pandemic.

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Introducing Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that puts powerful generative models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac

New Capabilities for Understanding and Creating Language

Image Playground Makes Communication and Self‑Expression Even More Fun

Genmoji Creation to Fit Any Moment

New Features in Photos Give Users More Control

Siri Enters a New Era

A New Standard for Privacy in AI

ChatGPT Gets Integrated Across Apple Platforms

Text of this article

June 10, 2024

PRESS RELEASE

Setting a new standard for privacy in AI, Apple Intelligence understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today introduced Apple Intelligence , the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant. Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. It harnesses the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. With Private Cloud Compute, Apple sets a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.

“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation. Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them. This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do.”

Apple Intelligence unlocks new ways for users to enhance their writing and communicate more effectively. With brand-new systemwide Writing Tools built into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.

Whether tidying up class notes, ensuring a blog post reads just right, or making sure an email is perfectly crafted, Writing Tools help users feel more confident in their writing. With Rewrite, Apple Intelligence allows users to choose from different versions of what they have written, adjusting the tone to suit the audience and task at hand. From finessing a cover letter, to adding humor and creativity to a party invitation, Rewrite helps deliver the right words to meet the occasion. Proofread checks grammar, word choice, and sentence structure while also suggesting edits — along with explanations of the edits — that users can review or quickly accept. With Summarize, users can select text and have it recapped in the form of a digestible paragraph, bulleted key points, a table, or a list.

In Mail, staying on top of emails has never been easier. With Priority Messages, a new section at the top of the inbox shows the most urgent emails, like a same-day dinner invitation or boarding pass. Across a user’s inbox, instead of previewing the first few lines of each email, they can see summaries without needing to open a message. For long threads, users can view pertinent details with just a tap. Smart Reply provides suggestions for a quick response, and will identify questions in an email to ensure everything is answered.

Deep understanding of language also extends to Notifications. Priority Notifications appear at the top of the stack to surface what’s most important, and summaries help users scan long or stacked notifications to show key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active. And to help users stay present in what they’re doing, Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that surfaces only the notifications that might need immediate attention, like a text about an early pickup from daycare.

In the Notes and Phone apps, users can now record, transcribe, and summarize audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence generates a summary to help recall key points.

Apple Intelligence powers exciting image creation capabilities to help users communicate and express themselves in new ways. With Image Playground, users can create fun images in seconds, choosing from three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Image Playground is easy to use and built right into apps including Messages. It’s also available in a dedicated app, perfect for experimenting with different concepts and styles. All images are created on device, giving users the freedom to experiment with as many images as they want.

With Image Playground, users can choose from a range of concepts from categories like themes, costumes, accessories, and places; type a description to define an image; choose someone from their personal photo library to include in their image; and pick their favorite style.

With the Image Playground experience in Messages, users can quickly create fun images for their friends, and even see personalized suggested concepts related to their conversations. For example, if a user is messaging a group about going hiking, they’ll see suggested concepts related to their friends, their destination, and their activity, making image creation even faster and more relevant.

In Notes, users can access Image Playground through the new Image Wand in the Apple Pencil tool palette, making notes more visually engaging. Rough sketches can be turned into delightful images, and users can even select empty space to create an image using context from the surrounding area. Image Playground is also available in apps like Keynote, Freeform, and Pages, as well as in third-party apps that adopt the new Image Playground API.

Taking emoji to an entirely new level, users can create an original Genmoji to express themselves. By simply typing a description, their Genmoji appears, along with additional options. Users can even create Genmoji of friends and family based on their photos. Just like emoji, Genmoji can be added inline to messages, or shared as a sticker or reaction in a Tapback.

Searching for photos and videos becomes even more convenient with Apple Intelligence. Natural language can be used to search for specific photos, such as “Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt,” or “Katie with stickers on her face.” Search in videos also becomes more powerful with the ability to find specific moments in clips so users can go right to the relevant segment. Additionally, the new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.

With Memories, users can create the story they want to see by simply typing a description. Using language and image understanding, Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc. Users will even get song suggestions to match their memory from Apple Music. As with all Apple Intelligence features, user photos and videos are kept private on device and are not shared with Apple or anyone else.

Powered by Apple Intelligence, Siri becomes more deeply integrated into the system experience. With richer language-understanding capabilities, Siri is more natural, more contextually relevant, and more personal, with the ability to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. It can follow along if users stumble over words and maintain context from one request to the next. Additionally, users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment. Siri also has a brand-new design with an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when Siri is active.

Siri can now give users device support everywhere they go, and answer thousands of questions about how to do something on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Users can learn everything from how to schedule an email in the Mail app, to how to switch from Light to Dark Mode.

With onscreen awareness, Siri will be able to understand and take action with users’ content in more apps over time. For example, if a friend texts a user their new address in Messages, the receiver can say, “Add this address to his contact card.”

With Apple Intelligence, Siri will be able to take hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party apps. For example, a user could say, “Bring up that article about cicadas from my Reading List,” or “Send the photos from the barbecue on Saturday to Malia,” and Siri will take care of it.

Siri will be able to deliver intelligence that’s tailored to the user and their on-device information. For example, a user can say, “Play that podcast that Jamie recommended,” and Siri will locate and play the episode, without the user having to remember whether it was mentioned in a text or an email. Or they could ask, “When is Mom’s flight landing?” and Siri will find the flight details and cross-reference them with real-time flight tracking to give an arrival time.

To be truly helpful, Apple Intelligence relies on understanding deep personal context while also protecting user privacy. A cornerstone of Apple Intelligence is on-device processing, and many of the models that power it run entirely on device. To run more complex requests that require more processing power, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple devices into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence.

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple Intelligence can flex and scale its computational capacity and draw on larger, server-based models for more complex requests. These models run on servers powered by Apple silicon, providing a foundation that allows Apple to ensure that data is never retained or exposed.

Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to verify privacy, and Private Cloud Compute cryptographically ensures that iPhone, iPad, and Mac do not talk to a server unless its software has been publicly logged for inspection. Apple Intelligence with Private Cloud Compute sets a new standard for privacy in AI, unlocking intelligence users can trust.

Apple is integrating ChatGPT access into experiences within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, allowing users to access its expertise — as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities — without needing to jump between tools.

Siri can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise when helpful. Users are asked before any questions are sent to ChatGPT, along with any documents or photos, and Siri then presents the answer directly.

Additionally, ChatGPT will be available in Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools, which help users generate content for anything they are writing about. With Compose, users can also access ChatGPT image tools to generate images in a wide variety of styles to complement what they are writing.

Privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for users who choose to connect their account.

ChatGPT will come to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year, powered by GPT-4o. Users can access it for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT subscribers can connect their accounts and access paid features right from these experiences.

Availability

Apple Intelligence is free for users, and will be available in beta as part of iOS 18 , iPadOS 18 , and macOS Sequoia  this fall in U.S. English. Some features, software platforms, and additional languages will come over the course of the next year. Apple Intelligence will be available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with Siri and device language set to U.S. English. For more information, visit apple.com/apple-intelligence .

Press Contacts

Cat Franklin

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Jacqueline Roy

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Apple Media Helpline

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