Tips: Fundraising Concept

Why is a Fundraising Concept Essential?

No matter the size of your organisation or whether you are just starting out or well-established, having a fundraising concept makes a crucial difference between simply collecting donations and successfull fundraising.

A well-thought-out fundraising concept ...

can lead to consistently higher donation revenue.
ensures that fundraising activities become easier to plan.
simplifies processes and makes them more transparent.
facilitates collaboration within your organisation. Responsibilities and tasks are clearly defined in the concept.
saves time by systematically compiling key decisions in one document. This makes it a valuable guide for existing – and especially new – team members.
provides planning security. A fundraising concept ensures that your organisation only implements fundraising measures that are supported by sufficient financial and human resources.

Developing a fundraising concept is an important step—it encourages you to ask key strategic questions, such as identifying your target audience. It also helps define measures and responsibilities, ensuring that your fundraising efforts are structured and strategically aligned with long-term goals.

Who Should Develop a Fundraising Concept?

Typically, the fundraising team or person responsible for fundraising within your organisation should lead the process. They have (or will acquire) the necessary expertise and will ultimately be responsible for executing the planned activities.

For long-term and strategic goals, it’s beneficial to involve key decision-makers, such as board members or finance teams. Their support helps ensure internal alignment and ownership of the fundraising concept.

Understanding Your Organisation’s Starting Point - Before developing a strategy, assess your organisation’s current situation:

Internal assessment – Identify available time, budget, expertise, and staff for fundraising activities. These factors set the boundaries for realistic execution.
External analysis – Identify direct competitors and analyse their fundraising activities. Observing organisations of similar size can provide valuable insights and inspiration.

To gain insight into how similar organisations engage their donors, consider making a small donation. This will allow you to experience their fundraising approach firsthand, including online and offline communication strategies.

Your donor demographics shape your fundraising strategy. Key factors include:

Age, income, political views, and motivations influence fundraising approaches.
Personas help define different donor types and refine engagement strategies.
Online donation forms with optional fields (such as birthdate) can help gather useful insights about donors.

The better you understand your audience, the more effectively you can tailor your messaging, tone, and communication channels.

Setting Fundraising Goals: While the primary goal of fundraising is collecting donations, other objectives may include:

Building donor loyalty – Turning one-time donors into long-term supporters.
Growing an active community – Encouraging supporters to participate in petitions or events.
Increasing donor engagement – Strengthening relationships through personalised communication.

Best Practices for Setting Goals:

Prioritise a few key objectives rather than trying to achieve too much at once.
Ensure measurable goals, such as increasing the average donation amount.
Set a deadline to evaluate results and refine strategies.

Achieving Your Fundraising Goals: Successful fundraising relies on executing the right mix of fundraising activities.

Focus on well-planned, high-impact activities rather than spreading efforts too thin.
Work backwards from campaign deadlines to ensure seamless execution.
Align activities with available resources, including time, budget, and expertise.

A donor’s journey does not end after their first gift. Mapping the donor journey can help turn occasional donors into loyal supporters.

Choosing the Right Themes and Messaging: To build trust, organisations should maintain a consistent narrative in their fundraising efforts.

Stick to core topics – frequent changes in focus can confuse donors.
Plan ahead – many organisations define yearly themes in advance, such as "A Year for Ocean Conservation" for a marine charity.
Develop a content calendar – align fundraising messaging across different channels.

A clear and structured fundraising strategy helps establish credibility and maintain donor confidence.

Pro Tip:

Pro tip: Make a donation to one of your competitors – this way, you’ll be added to their mailing list. It’s an easy way to discover what kind of fundraising activities they run, both online and offline. You might even find inspiration for your own email welcome series from other NGOs.

More info about Welcome Mailings for NGOs