8 Resources to Help with Fundraising Planning

All nonprofits, no matter the size of their budget or staff, should spend some time crafting a fundraising plan for 2017.

Here are some templates, resources, and tips to help you get your plan ready and give your individual giving a boost this year.

• If you’re exploring a capital campaign this year, Network for Good guest blogger Barbara O’Reilly suggests you consider three things before you commit to a big campaign.
• Not sure where to start with a plan? Our Super Simple Fundraising Plan Template is exactly what you need need to start putting pen to paper immediately.
• It’s always helpful to have some examples of how you can acquire more donors, retain more donors, and upgrade more donors. In last week’s webinar Heather Yandow and I discussed some ways to make planning individual giving strategies less overwhelming.
• New or emerging nonprofits who need more step-by-step guidance on how to map out a 12-month fundraising plan should sign up for next week’s Nonprofit911 webinar: Fundraising Planning 101.
• Pursuing major gifts is one thing you know you should build into your fundraising plan but for many small nonprofits, it just doesn’t always get the attention it needs. Luckily, Amy Eisenstein wrote a book about major gift fundraising specifically for small shops. Read our interview with Amy.
• Find out what’s usually missing from fundraising plans (so you don’t forget to include it when you’re working on your 2017 plan).
• After you gather all the data you need for your fundraising plan, be sure to include all that relevant information, along with programmatic successes, in your 2016 annual report if you haven’t already done so. But, as guest blogger Nancy Schwartz reminds us, not all annual reports are created equal.
• If you feel like you are constantly begging for online donations or you feel stuck in the planning process, sign up for our Nonprofit911 webinar at the end of the month: Seven Steps to a Written Fundraising Plan.