Successful fundraising is critical to the mission of a charity. Not only do you need to ensure that you can raise the funds you need to deliver services and meet your goals, but you also need to ensure that the funds raised are used effectively.
Poor fiscal management in the charity and not-for-profit sectors can quickly lead to a loss of trust in an organisation, a reduction in their charitable activities and may result in the charity failing. For this reason, robust regulatory requirements are in place to manage fundraising activities and financial reporting and to ensure transparency. Successful fundraising and sound financial planning are key to the long-term success and growth of any charity.
How can a charity develop successful fundraising strategies and ensure that any money raised is managed effectively?
Define Your Goals & Develop Your Strategy
Charities need to establish clear fundraising goals based on what they hope to deliver. These should be realistic and underpinned by comprehensive strategies to achieve them. Typically, a charity fundraising strategy will determine the most effective fundraising channels and how they will be used. A well-defined strategy, based on both the financial realities of the organisation and the human resources available for fundraising increases the likelihood of success.
Build Strong Relationships
One-off donations are always welcome but to place your charity on a sound footing and to better support effective planning requires regular giving with a degree of predictability. Strong relationships between charities and donors are essential, whether those people are donating a small amount a month from their household budget or are large corporate donors.
Charities should develop strategies for building relationships through regular communications, events, and other opportunities to get involved in the charity’s life.
Diversify Fundraising Streams
Successful charities usually have various funding sources including grants, large corporate donations, fundraising events, and small donations. A diversified fundraising stream helps organisations to handle unexpected financial shocks or the loss of fundraising sources.
If you are currently overdependent on a small number of sources of finance such as grants or large corporate donations, it is important to explore how this can widen out. Doing so gives your charity stronger financial foundations.
Ensure Transparency & Accountability
Transparency, accurate reporting, and accountability are not just compliance requirements, they also help inform decision-making and better strategy. Maintaining understandable and accessible information about the organisations performance allows for problems to be addressed early on and future objectives can be based on sound data.
Transparency and accountability also help to foster confidence in your charity among donors, service users and the wider community.
How Wilder Coe can help you build for long-term success
Effective financial planning is essential in the charitable sector. From fundraising to fiscal management, reporting and auditing, all come together to support successful charities.
At Wilder Coe, we work with a wide range of charitable organisations and social enterprises to improve their operations, their fundraising activities, and to maximise their impact in a complex regulatory world.
Contact Charlotte Willmore and her experienced team to learn more about our bespoke services for charities and social enterprises today.
