Fundraising Readiness

Before a nonprofit organization embarks on planning a fundraising campaign it needs to assess its readiness to seek support. Does it have the resources, opportunity, and self understanding to successfully fundraise? What is the value proposition it will take to potential donors? Is it visible enough within its community to even get a hearing? How strong, concise, and clear is its statement of mission?

Those are just a few of the questions that must be answered before a nonprofit embarks on a fundraising campaign. An organization ready to fundraise needs to have an involved and committed board willing to lead the way. It needs to have identified and validated a base of supporters.

Before a nonprofit even starts to plan a campaign, it needs to have an overall fundraising plan.

Articles about Fundraising Readiness

We Call It Development
But What Is It Really

When setting up a new development shop or restructuring an existing  one, the last thing you should be worrying about is—well—development! The modern development department succeeds not because an organization has had an epiphany about the need to raise money, but...

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Donor Surveys

What Do You Know About Your Donors and What Do They Know About Your Organization? If we're going to ask people for money, it sure helps if they think highly of both our organization and its mission. Do they see our mission as vital and valid? Are we perceived as being...

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Develop Your Fund-Raising Plan
with Consensus

Introduction Are you working on a fund-raising plan—or planning to? When seeking to construct a plan for a fund-raising campaign, the persons charged by their non-profit organizations with that responsibility often ask for a plan "boilerplate," or a "template,"...

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In the Beginning

All fund-raising campaigns must begin with a realization that the organization needs money, usually voiced to the person charged with fund-raising as, "We need to raise $________." The amount varies, but once accepted it becomes the Goal. Whether the effort is to be...

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Nonprofit Fund-Raising Demystified

When it comes to fund-raising, there are truths and myths. The truths illuminate the path to success. The myths speak with the dark voice of "conventional wisdom" of what can't be done and won't work. Throughout my career I have had to overcome three myths of...

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Know Your Organization

You start the process of becoming a fund-raiser for an organization when you first become involved with the organization. That's when you begin to acquire knowledge about an organization, and acquisition of knowledge is the first step in preparing to raise money. To...

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Nine basic truths of fund-raising

The nine basic truths of fund-raising listed below are taken from the introduction to my book It's a Great Day to Fund-Raise, and they are the foundation of my successful career as a development officer for and consultant to nonprofit organizations. Organizations are...

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