IFMSA Leadership Training Program

Fundraising Strategies

Step 2: Start Organizing

Set your fundraising goals
Assemble a fundraising team
Divide fundraising tasks
Build a feedback mechanism
Draw a Plan of Action
Recruit Allies and a Patron

Set your fundraising goals The most important factor in a successful fundraising campaign is to have a sound and solid plan. Take your time to think through a strategy, set a timeline, and break tasks into manageable pieces. Check again: How much money do you need? Did you consider all expense items? What do you need funds for? Are all expense items defendable and accountable? How much fund do you have? How much should still be raised? Once you know your overall goal, you can break it down into manageable pieces and divide fundraising tasks. Assemble a fundraising team If you are not hiring a paid fundraiser, begin by building a team of people who will help to raise money and provide support. Ask people who are close to you and who want to help, to join you in this planning process. This group is the beginning of your fundraising committee. Divide fundraising tasks Divide the fundraising tasks as manageable pieces among the fundraising committee members, indicating clearly who will be in charge of what. You should consider at least who will develop the donor profiles, appeal documents, the cover letter; who will check, sort and mail appeals; who will follow up the appeals by phone calls and by responding requests for further information; and who will conduct face-to-face negotiations. Build a feedback mechanism This is a very essential part or organization. Each member of the fundraising committee should function as a piece of a greater machine. When a potential donor is on the line, you cannot say you do not know the details and the person responsible is not there. You cannot make a follow up call twice. You cannot mail appeal documents twice. Build a systematic feedback mechanism to update all the members of the committee. This is not solely setting up meeting dates, but also developing a meeting agenda, and a standard form of written progress reports. Keep all records and data in writing, accessible to as much of the team as possible. All of this will make everyone feel a part of the project and the team, will put positive pressure on everyone to keep up with the others, and will provide adequate insight to all about the current process and where it is leading to. Draw a Plan of Action Formulate all the steps above in a Plan of Action. Develop a table that illustrates who will be doing what and when, and what should be achieved by when. Develop a fundraising strategy to identify your further steps: developing a list of potential donors, building a fundraising pyramid, creating a donor database, compiling the appeal documents, sending and following up the appeals. Recruit Allies and a Patron Another important factor in successful fundraising is to have allies, and preferably a Patron. For a Summer Course, your Patron could be the Dean of the Faculty, rector Magnificus of the University, or Minister of Health -aim high. More influencial names translate into more credibility and a better image; both are cashable. The allies are your professors who could lead you to fundraising links, and all others who could contribute to your fundraising process either by their names, their links or their efforts. For a project on Maternal and Child Health, WHO and UNICEF, for example, would make good allies.