Introduction

Every voluntary sector group needs to generate income in some way.

There are three basic fundraising steps:

• do something worthwhile (or plan to do it);
• tell potential funders about what you have done (or plan to do); and
• ask them to give you money to continue doing it (or start to do it).

Types of Funding

There are two main types of income. While the precise mix varies greatly, a great many voluntary sector groups depend on both:

• one-off gifts and grants; and
• regular donations.

Gifts and Grants

Gifts and grants may occasionally arrive unsolicited, but most of the time they are the result of dedicated and strategic work. Obtaining gifts and grants was never easy, but it used to be far easier, when there was more money available and fewer organisations chasing it.

Receiving a few large donations can make a massive difference to the finances, but identifying potential large donors and submitting applications takes a lot of time and hard work, and doing it successfully on a regular basis – for someone who is not very well connected – involves the effective use of comparatively rare, specialist skills. People who do this well are paid a great deal, for good reason.

There are also hidden costs often associated with large donations: submitting the application requires some work, but large funders invariably ask for details of the organisation and the work it does which are difficult and time-consuming to collect and collate, and will often take front-line workers away from their activities to focus on counting, measuring and documenting the activity. And substantial grants generally come with substantial reporting requirements, which can be onerous.

Also, while large donations can be very helpful, they can take the focus away from building up the regular donations; and when they fail to arrive, the result can be damaging, or even fatal for the organisation.

A ‘middle way’ can be to make a great many applications to medium and small grant-making bodies, asking for comparatively small amounts, requiring some general supporting evidence, and imposing only light reporting obligations. But the sales pitch and evidence provided must both be of high quality for this to work.

Regular Donations

A more consistent source of income is to develop a broad base of supporters who are committed enough to the work to donate regularly. This may seem unexciting when compared with a large grant, but many small amounts can up to a significant amount, and regular income provides financial stability.

The standard strategy is to connect with people who do not know about your work, collect their contact details, persuade them to receive information from you, promote your work to them, then provide a variety of ways in which they can support you – which will include volunteering, regular financial donations, and commitment to membership.

Each of these steps has its own challenges and disciplines, but almost all the workers can be involved, and it is comparatively easy to improve because feedback (or the lack of it) comes on a regular basis with little delay.

Sometimes donors support you financially because they want to help but are unable to volunteer for practical reasons.; sometimes it will be because they think money is the best thing they can offer you – which may not actually be the case.

Supporters must feel connected: your activity is worthwhile, they make a meaningful contribution to it, and their contribution is recognised and valued. It helps if the supporters receive ‘family’ news, and are told about future developments before they become public: it may only be a few days (or a few hours) difference, but making the effort matters, because it says they matter to you.

Members have a personal commitment to the success of your project; they need to feel their involvement is meaningful – the more meaningful, the better. Whenever possible, ask for their input, their advice and judgement. Not only will it make them feel involved, they may also give you ideas and insights you would otherwise miss.

Appealing to Funders

In order to appeal to a potential funder, you must think of your project from their perspective. No potential funder is motivated to make your project a success (if they were, they would already be a part of your project).

Every potential funder has their own motivations and priorities: you need to understand what is important to them, and talk about your project in those terms, in language which they understand and resonate with.

Everybody, quite naturally, wants to talk about what they do, and this is perfectly valid, but you must also talk about why you do it (both motivation and goal), and about the difference you make. You need to include both personal stories and objective (verifiable) facts. With regular communications, you don’t need to do all this every time, but you do need to do all of it regularly.

When you communicate, you need to answer three basic questions.

• Why should they be interested in your project?
• Why should they invest in your project?
• Why should they prioritise your project, rather than another?

Firstly, why should they be interested in your project? It is because you are addressing a real, important need, which connects with them personally.

You need to be able to communicate the basics verbally, at a moment’s notice, when a suitable opportunity arises. If you are not passionate about your work, why should anyone else be?

• What is your elevator pitch?
• What is your story?

Secondly, why should they invest in your project? In a word, they should invest because you are effective.

You need to produce some standard publicity which communicates this, using both personal stories and objective facts, words and numbers.

• Focus on outcomes, not outputs
• Focus on achievements, not activities

Thirdly, why should they prioritise your project, rather than another? It is because you are efficient, and could do so much more good if you had sufficient resources.

• What have you already achieved? (And how do you know you have achieved it?)
• What objective evidence of your achievements can you provide?
• What have you learned in doing your work? (And how are you applying that learning?)
• What are you aiming to achieve in the future?
• What are your plans and timescales? (What are your fallback plans if things don’t work out?)
• What resources do you already have, and what do you need?

While promoting your work, mention your partners; don’t dismiss, criticise or rubbish other groups: talk about the reasons for choosing your group, and let your audience make the comparison.

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