You probably already know that we sell online courses about fundraising. The comment we get a lot when people get to know our program is: “I love it, but we don´t have a budget for fundraising expenses in our organization.” In this article, I want to shine a light on why this is an issue and how you can convince your board that they should actually allocate some funds towards your fundraising department!
No matter if you are working for a huge NGO or a small organization – funding for fundraising and capacity development is almost always a problem. The best way to look at this issue is if you try to reframe it – don’t look at it as an expense, but as an investment!
If you work in an NGO, foundation, social enterprise or volunteer for a good cause – your heart is in the right spot. You probably have strong feelings for the cause you support and want to give it your all. If you have a budget at your hands, you probably want to spend that on the project itself instead of administration. If your board makes budgeting decisions for you, they probably have a similar approach.
But here lies the mistake in that thinking: spending on fundraising is not an expense, it is an investment. There are a few more direct ways of increasing your organizational income than increasing your fundraising success! If you learn how to better write a proposal and win a grant because of that knowledge – you instantly made the investment count. And even if the return is not that direct, it will still be beneficial in the long run once you learn how to implement the things you learned.
If you explain to your board that they should look at expenses made in the field of fundraising as a necessary investment instead of a cost, they will be more inclined to actually grant you a budget. Just to give you some numbers to convince your board – some specialists estimate, that an investment in fundraising would create an annual rate of return of 20-30 % – doesn´t that sound good?
Many people tell us, that they get to hear this sentence when they ask for fundraising education: “Well, you will just take this course and then look for a better-paid job with the certificate you got!” This is a fear of many employers in the philanthropy sector, as staff turnover is extremely high. So how can you still convince your seniors to help you to educate yourself in the fundraising sector without being scared of losing you as an employee?
I would always start arguing that a happy employee is always more likely to stay than an unhappy one. If staff is denied opportunities for growth, they will start looking elsewhere for it. Opening up these opportunities might actually be a good reason to stay.
If you want to convince your board to allocate a budget for your fundraising education, you could also agree to stay with the organization for a certain period of time to make sure that you will use the knowledge you gain for the benefit or the organization that paid for it. This should be a voluntary agreement.
If you have followed our page for a while, you will have noticed that we talk about the sustainability plan a lot. I am convinced that it is one of the most important sections of the proposal and that it is one where you can really differentiate yourself from other contenders.
Investing in capacity development in the field of fundraising will contribute a great deal to your credibility when writing your sustainability plan. Particularly for financial and organizational sustainability, knowing how to fundraise professionally is of key importance. If you can show that you invest in staff to learn these skills, donors will see that you have a true commitment to making your projects work in the long term.
If you need to convince your board of the benefits of investing in fundraising, you can add the strengthening of your sustainability plan to the list! This will make any proposal you write stronger and enhance your chances of success. And this is some basic math, that every board member should understand!
Do you want to learn more about why it is so important to invest in fundraising to not be left behind?
Sign up for our free webinar on the 13th of March. Dr. Eva Wieners will give you some great tips on how to convince the decision-makers in your organization to spend some money on fundraising efforts!
proposalsforNGOs is an online community for global development professionals with the goal of increasing the sustainability of NGOs around the world. The enormous growth in funding opportunities, as well as NGOs over time, has made fundraising more competitive.
