Having worked and volunteered in fundraising for over three decades, I have noticed that there are a few questions that I am asked repeatedly, particularly when I consult on mobilising resources for non-profits:
1. How can we raise money quickly? (or: Where can we find the low hanging fruit?)
My response is generally to suggest arranging an event, a crowdfunding campaign and/or asking existing loyal donors to give again. With an estimated 250 000 + (no one knows for sure) registered NPOs as well as CBOs, schools, clubs and tertiary institutions competing for funding, there is unlikely to be much low hanging fruit that has not been picked.
2. How can we disguise/massage all running costs into our project budgets?
Here I quote what many CSI managers and trusts’ staff members have told me over the years: ‘Do they think that we’re that stupid?’ They add; ‘We see thousands of proposals and budgets for similar projects. We know the costs of the average training course, animal sterilisation or homeless shelter project budget.’
3. I will be visiting London on a fundraising trip. As you specialise in raising money from UK donors, how much would you charge to introduce us to wealthy philanthropists and those in decision-making roles in UK donor trusts?
I have had this request so often that I have resorted to adding it to the FAQs on my website. I do NOT offer this service! Although I know some wealthy people (and have successfully raised substantial money in the UK from them), I would never contravene privacy laws or jeopardise my relationships with anyone for an introductory fee.
Staff and trustees in UK donor trusts (generally) do not have meetings with people seeking funding. This is both in the interests of time management and to not advantage those few non-profits who representatives are able to afford trips to the UK. They have application processes, and these must be adhered to.
4. How can we get the media to publish/broadcast our releases? We send so many and none are used.
I consulted two senior editors (one from a newspaper – with print and online editions – and one from radio). They confirmed my instinctive response that if sent something that really is newsworthy, they will use it. They both shared just a few of the ‘boring’ releases that NPO people send to them: details of donations (with photos of donors); an organisation’s tenth or twentieth anniversary; trainees graduating from short courses; desperate public appeals for funding (not even a crisis caused by the Trump government affecting one NPO, is considered newsworthy).
They are looking for innovative, interesting and different stories. The organisation is not the story. The impact made is the beginning of a story . . .
5. Can I sell my NPO?
This one simply has me gobsmacked!
6. How soon after submitting an application is it OK to follow up with CSI departments, donor trusts or embassies?
I was asked this in a consulting session and two days later, received the following in response to an application pack that I had compiled for a client organisation:
Thank you for submitting your application documents for our April 2025 funding call. Due to the high volume of applications, we are currently reviewing these and planning our selection process. Please refrain from inquiring about the status. We will get back to you once the funding decisions have been made.
We kindly ask for your understanding.
I could not have phrased, ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you’ any better than this genuine email from a donor trust where staff are proactively trying to prevent what fundraisers call ‘following up’ and donors call ‘nagging’.
At least they acknowledged receipt – not all do! There is not a right or wrong answer to this question. My preference is to nurture relationships with potential donors, rather than to irritate them to achieve a ‘quick win’.
7. We don’t have a project that fits this donor call. How do you suggest we create something so that we can be funded by this donor?
This is dangerous and best avoided. Going back to basics: Staff and volunteers (should) recognise a problem, work on their theory of change to address the issue and develop both their solution (project activities) and how they intend monitoring the activities to gather data for later evaluation.
Simply thumb sucking a project in the hope of being funded – even if funding is secured – can be dangerous and is likely to be unsustainable.
8. We’d like to go after legacy funding. How can we do this quickly?
My first question in response, is to ask how many ongoing and loyal individual donors the organisation has. Generally, I find that people from NPOs asking this, don’t have many as ‘it’s too time consuming’. I advise them to consider growing support from individuals (this takes time), if they are serious about future bequest funding. At minimum, there should be easily printable codicil wording on all organisations’ websites.
9. Some of our board members are prepared to help with fundraising if they are paid a commission. Is this OK?
No! this is not OK on many levels. Directors, trustees, council members or board members should not earn from a non-profit entity. Despite all well-run meetings having a ‘Declaration of Members’ Interests’ agenda item, it is SO much healthier if there is never anything to declare by anyone steering the organisation.
Aside from it being unpalatable for senior volunteers to earn any money from a non-profit, paying anyone any form of commission should be avoided. Sadly, it’s not illegal (if such payment is deemed ‘reasonable’), but it is such a minefield that it is best avoided.
In the USA, when new board members are recruited, they are required to commit to either personally donating a minimum amount or undertaking to raise this (and, hopefully, more).
10. What do we do when donors’ websites state that they do not accept unsolicited applications?
This is the most challenging quandary facing fundraisers globally. It’s useful to understand why many donors have this policy. Generally, they are inundated by requests (often for projects that do not align with their grant making criteria) and this is a way to save their time.
Some insist that trustees suggest potential beneficiary organisations. This highlights the critical importance of NPOs having good and regularly updated websites, excellent and ongoing marketing (not restricted to social media posts) and board members constantly looking out for opportunities for their organisations.
More and more UK donor trusts with ‘no unsolicited proposals’ policies are creating spaces on their websites where one can upload brief information on projects. They assure us that trustees do look at these but also emphasise that these are not formal applications – merely an opportunity for individual trustees to request information to establish whether they would like to propose that organisations are invited to submit funding requests.
