The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Practical planning
In this section, you'll find some of the ways that you can plan your fundraising activities to ensure you have a clear message and clear plan in place.
Case for Support
A case for support is a central document which outlines your message to potential supporters. It should concisely and clearly explain what it that that your charity does, why it’s important and why people should support you. A case for support is a tool that everyone in your organisation can use as a reference with potential and existing supporters.
Your case for support doesn’t have to be long or complicated. When writing, it can be useful to think about the following points:
- Problem: What is the problem you’re trying to solve and who/what is affected?
- Solution: What solution do you offer?
- Uniqueness: What makes your organisation unique and the best people to solve the problem?
- Success: What would a successful outcome look like? Do you have any case studies which demonstrate this?
- Impact: What would the impact be on the problem?
Remember, donors are not giving to you, they are giving to solve the problem. Your case for support should be emotive rather than descriptive.
Fundraising planning
It can be tempting to jump straight in, but planning your fundraising is an important step to help you think about longer-term sustainability. A fundraising plan or strategy can also help you to work out where to focus your efforts, especially if you only have limited time and resources.
Think about the following questions:
Where are you now?
Take stock of where you are now. Where does your income currently come from and what resources do you have available to help with your fundraising?
Where do you want to be?
Consider how much funding you need, what for, and when you need it by. You should aim to bring in income from a range of sources and include plans to generate unrestricted income.
How are you going to get there?
Set out an action plan with specific objectives that you can work towards. These should be realistic for your organisation and set a deadline that you can aim for. Don’t forget to include an appropriate budget for any resources you might need.
Creating a funding database
For grant funding, having one place to log all funds you intend to apply for can be a useful timesaver and help you decide which applications to prioritise. This is called a funding database or tracker which can form part of your organisations fundraising plan or strategy.
You don’t have to pay for a full system or database if you are just getting started. A simple Excel spreadsheet can be an effective way to track your funding if you only apply to a small number of funders each year.
We've provided a template below which you can use as a starting point to keep a record of deadline dates, applications submitted, outcomes of each application, and any monitoring requirements.
Alternatively, if you are applying for a variety of funds each year may want to look into a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) which can help you to create a central database for you to store, organise and manage your interactions with different funders. If you are thinking of using a CRM, Datawise London has a useful guide on what organisations should consider, along with a list of CRM systems.
Funding Scotland
SCVO's Funding Scotland service gives you access to up to date, high-quality information on funding opportunities. It is free for any voluntary organisation working in Scotland with exclusive features for SCVO members.