Fundraising Company Business Plan [Sample Template]

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Are you about starting a fundraising company? If YES, here is a complete sample fundraising business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE.

The fundraising business is one that requires great oral and written skills for any entrepreneur intending to start this business. Asides, these two skills, the entrepreneur must also be one who has great inter-personal skills as well as public relation skills.

However, while there is no business that exists without an aim of making it profitable, this business requires an entrepreneur to have a true desire at helping others in promoting causes that are deemed worthy and noble.

It is important to find a niche in this business as there are a lot of organizations and associations that are of a noble cause, such as those fighting a deadly disease, reducing poverty, reducing oppression, increasing literacy or protecting the environment, and requires funds to be raised for them.

Starting this business would require an experience of some sorts because of the so many skills involved in raising funds. As with any other business, you would need to get in touch with a business consultant who has the required experience.

The business consultant will help look into the fundraising niche you intend going into and determine if you would make it and also point out likely obstacles you are likely to face when starting and whilst running the business. The business consultant will also offer strategies and advice that would help make the fundraising business become a success.

Writing a business plan is very essential for one’s business as it helps provide an overall direction for a business. While writing a business plan might sound hard and complicated, it is for this reason that there is a sample fundraising plan written below for you;

A Sample Fundraising Company Business Plan Template

1. Industry Overview

Even though most fundraising organizations prefer face-to-face interaction as it has always been a way to build valuable relationships, however, it is also know to be very expensive. Technology has come to play a huge role for fundraising organizations as it is not only easier to get more donors, it is also less expensive for the organizations who choose to indulge in it.

Donors in many decades back only donated to fundraising organizations that they had an history with and therefore treated donations to these organizations as one would with paying bills, donors now are however different and donate based on perceived needs.

Fundraising organizations are becoming more proactive than reactive by using social media to raise funds in advance for a cause that might not have occurred yet. Strategies are developed and newsworthy events maximized in order to connect a cause with their mission, even though this might look more exploitative.

Non-profit fundraising organizations that are mostly online and accept online donations have a 24% chance o increasing fundraising than those who don’t. These organizations have resorted to using activities such as blogging and sharing of video content in order to further increase their effectiveness.

Revenue growth in this industry is however not assured especially or non-profit fundraising organizations, where it was found that 47% of these non-profit fundraising organizations had the same revenue between two years.

More than $18.2 billion was raised by fundraisers in 2015, according to Blackbaud’s 2015 Charitable Giving Report, with more than $2.2 billion coming from online giving data. This shows a growth in overall giving in the united states as compared to 2014.

In 2015, small non-profit fundraising organizations saw a growth while medium sized nonprofit organizations have been on the other hand experiencing a decline from year to year. Organizations with the highest increase in charity giving from year to year were those that dealt in international affairs, however educational institutions had the highest online growth when compared to other niches.

2. Executive Summary

Zo Gill Fundraiser is a leading fundraising business that will be based in Fargo – North Dakota and will serve both corporate and individual clients and help them in achieving their organizational or personal goals and objectives. Our intended services which will include trainings and consultancy services will allow us cater to a wide range of customers here in Fargo – North Dakota.

Our vision is to ensure that we have more than fifteen clients by our second year of business that will not only allow us breakeven but also ensure that we garner a solid reputation and be amongst the top leaders in the industry. In order to achieve this, we intend to go the extra mile in hiring the finest professionals to help us achieve our intended goals.

Even though we would be based initially in Fargo – North Dakota, we are in a strategic location that will ensure that clients from Minneapolis, Chicago and Denver can get to us. We intend to have a strong base first here in Fargo before branching out to establish our fundraising business in other nearby states and all around the United States of America.

Our services to our clients will be one that will be based on transparency, honesty and the professional ethics and standard business practice required for this kind of business. We will ensure that we always act on the long-term interest of our clients so as to build the right relationship that will ensure that our business grows.

We believe in hiring and having professional and the best staff to help us handle our intended business. We will hire staff who understands our core values as a business and who are ready to work in ensuring that we attain our intended goals and objectives as a business.

We are ready to pay our staff well and will do all we can to ensure that they have the best welfare packages across similar start-ups of our kind here in Fargo – North Dakota. We will also ensure that our staff undergo continuous training that will allow them have enhanced skills as well as retain a high level of productivity for the organization.

We believe in customer excellence and so due to this have hired trained customer care executives who thoroughly understand how to handle the clients as well as the market and industry trends to handle our clients. This we believe will allow us retain a high number of our clients.

Finally, our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Zoe McGill is a veteran in the industry and has over 15 years as a professional fundraiser. She has several certifications and qualifications as well and sits on the board of some non-profit fundraising organizations. She has the tenacity to endure that we attain the desired goals and objectives for our business.

3. Our Products and Services

Zo Gill Fundraiser is a profit oriented fundraising business that deals in basic sector – education, health, environment and food; and work with clients in this sector to raise the needed funds that will ensure that they achieve their intended goals and objectives.

Due to the fact that we are profit oriented and intend to make as much profit as we can, we have set forth different strategies that will allow us create multiple sources of income that will boost our bottom line and sustain our fundraising business.

Any stream of income we intend to add to our core service will be one that is under the permissible laws of the United States of America. Therefore, below are some of the services that we will offer to boost our bottom line;

Sales of publications
Consultancy and advisory services
Trainings and offering of other forms of expertise
Charging service users
Selling products made by the beneficiaries of the organization

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

To have more than fifteen clients by our second year of business that will not only allow us breakeven but also ensure that we garner a solid reputation and be amongst the top leaders in the industry.
To achieve our vision, we intend to ensure that we have a solid business structure by hiring qualified personnel who thoroughly understand our policies and objectives and are committed to ensuring that we attain them.

Our Business Structure

Having a solid business structure is very important to us here at Zo Gill Fundraisers especially as we are focused on achieving our objectives at the time we intend. Due to this we are ensuring that we go all the way in sourcing for and hiring only highly qualified personnel who do not only possess industry experience but those that will show a high rate of commitment towards helping us achieve our goals and objectives.

In order to ensure that the productivity rate for our employees are high, we intend to pay them fair wages and ensure that they have a great welfare package that is the best in similar start-ups such as our across the industry. We know that an attractive pay as well as welfare package is a great stimulant to ensuring that the goals and objectives of the organization are helped achieved by the employees.

We also intend to ensure that our employees work in a conducive and highly creative environment and that they see themselves as stakeholders in helping ensure that we are seen as fair, honest and transparent in our dealings. Also, our employees will undergo the necessary training that will not only enhance their skills but also ensure that productivity for the industry is achieved at an optimal rate.

Therefore below is the business structure we intend to build at Zo Gill Fundraisers;

Chief Executive Officer
Administration Manager
Human Resources Manager
Projects Supervisor
Accountant
Marketing Team
Customer Service Executives
Security Guard
Cleaner
Driver

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer

Drafts strategic policies that will provide direction for the organization
Meets high profile clients on behalf of the organization
Removes or modifies strategies that are not deemed effective on behalf of the organization

Administration Manager

Communicates management’s policies to all staff
Ensures that organizational policies are widely implemented in the organization
Ensures that the organization and its administration runs smoothly

Human Resources Manager

In charge of sourcing for and recruiting qualified personnel on behalf of the organization
Carries our orientation and induction for new personnel
In charge of payment and welfare packages for staffs

Projects Supervisor

In charge of what projects the organization undertakes
Ensures that feasible and achievable milestones are set on behalf of the organization
Ensures that the organization maintain a high level of success in its projects

Accountant

Prepares all financial information and statement on behalf of the business
Ensures that the books of the organization are reconciled with that of the bank monthly or quarterly
Ensures that the budget is effectively implemented by all the departments

Marketing Team

Ensures that adequate market research is conducted on behalf of the organization in order to find new target markets or opportunities
Drafts effective marketing strategies on behalf of the organization
Conducts direct marketing on behalf of the organization

Customer Service Executives

Possesses accurate information about the organization and remains updated about industry trends in order to pass along accurate information to the clients
In charge of receiving calls regarding enquiries, feedbacks and complaints from clients and ensuring that they are well attended to
Keeps an updated database of customers on behalf of the organization

Security Guard

Ensures that the premises is protected during and after work hours
Patrols the premises after work hours to ensure that no intruder enters the premises
Passes along vital security tips to company personnel at regular intervals

Cleaner

Ensures that the premises remains clean at all times
Ensures that cleaning supplies are always in stock
Carries out any other duties as might be determined by the Human Resources Manager

Driver

Ensure that field workers get to their intended location on time
Carry out regular maintenance of the vehicle
Obeys all traffic rules and regulations

6. SWOT Analysis

As with any other business, we are driven to ensure that we attain excellence when it comes to starting and running a standard fundraising business that is profit oriented. For this purpose, we hired the services of the finest business consultant here in Fargo – North Dakota with the right experience to look through our business concept and help us determine if we are likely to thrive in this business.

In looking critically at our business concept, the business consultant was able to take stock of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats so as to determine if it was necessary for us to go into the business or not here in Fargo – North Dakota and what we were likely to face if we indeed go ahead in starting the business. Below therefore if the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Zo Gill Fundraiser business;

Strengths

There are several strengths that we posses as a business that ensures that we are ahead of the pack and this includes the fact that we are offering our clients – existing and potential – a wide range of services that will meet their various needs.

Another factor lies in the fact that we hired the right staff who are not only experienced enough but who also thoroughly understand the industry and our core values and are willing and committed to ensure that we attain our desired goals and objectives.

Finally, our last advantage is the fact that our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Zoe McGill has over 15 years of experience raising funds in the profit and nonprofit sector as well as in several niches. She currently serves as a board member in several non-profit fundraising businesses as well and will ensure that we attain our desired goals and objectives as a business.

Weaknesses

We do not have enough hands at the organization to carry out all our intended services and so even though we need additional staff, we cannot get more for now due to funding. We also have less time with which to accomplish the goals of our clients; we are however confident that we would work through our weaknesses in order to achieve our goals and that of our clients.

Opportunities

Various opportunities are available to us as the fact that we will build relationships and networks with donors for the future purpose of our own business. We have the opportunity to get many potential prospects – through education and communication – that are still not aware of what we do as a company.

Threats

The threats that we are likely to face at Zo Gill Fundraiser are that we are likely to face tremendous completion from other fundraising businesses such as ours. Also, the uncertain economy which places a huge pall on likely fundraising sources as individuals will be unwilling to part with large donations will affect how we run our business and the kind of clients we will attend to.

However, every businesses faces threats every now and then and we have laid down strategies to ensure that these threats have no effect on our business.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Trends

While most fundraisers in the past were usually those that were more of nonprofit in nature, the trend as started shifting away to accumulate fundraising businesses that are totally profit oriented. This came about in a bid to reduce having to seek for funds from the government and also the fact that nonprofit fundraisers were beginning to be bogged down with too many requests from clients, with some not being able to help their clients attain their goals and objectives because they were handling too much at once.

Also, nonprofit fundraising organizations could not handle all the niches in all the industry which led to the birth of profit oriented fundraising organization and allowed clients that could afford the services go for this kind instead.

While it was normal to run these kind of businesses from home, more people going into this business, especially those that are going into it for profit, are now preferring to lease facilities instead and ensure that the business looks more professional so as to boost the confidence of clients. Also, hiring qualified staff has come to be a must and these qualified staffs need to be placed in a facility that is not only professional but conducive and easily accessible as well.

Fundraising organizations have now started operating online and this has been made possible due to the influx of technology which has made more people to prefer to use the internet to raise money that would help them attain their goals in return for a fee. These internet based fundraising organizations do not need to lease a huge facility as this business is one that can be run from home.

8. Our Target Market

There are several institutions and individuals that require the use of fundraisers in order to be able to achieve their intended goals and objectives. Therefore, due to this fact we intend to conduct a market survey that will enable us understand exactly who we are targeting and what strategies we should draft in order to be able to meet up to the expectations of our target market.

The market research we are also conducting would allow us have an idea of what our existing and potential clients would be expecting from us. From our result, we are in business to offer our services to the following group of people;

Educational institutions
Health institutions
Environmental protection organizations
Small Businesses
Charity organizations

Our competitive advantage

The fundraising business either profit or non-profit are both established with the intention of achieving a noble cause, and so even though profit based fundraisers might seek to get more clients, it is not usually done in a competitive environment as that of a normal business.

However as a for profit fundraiser, we have several strategies that will ensure that we get the required number of clients to our business in order to allow us achieve our intended goals. These strategies are designed to give us an edge over the others.

First off, we intend to ensure that we hire quality staff who do not only have the required industry experience but also understand our policies and objectives and are highly committed to ensuring that we achieve them. Our qualified personnel will also ensure that our business ethics and transparency is maintained at all times in order to positively communicate our brand to our customers.

We know how important it is to create an awareness that will ensure that our target market is aware of services and so we have laid down marketing and publicity strategies that will not only help us generate interest and penetrate the target market but also bring in clients who are in need of fundraising to patronize our business.

Finally, ensuring that our clients get excellent service is paramount to us and so we intend to ensure that we offer the best customer service experience to all our clients which we know will lead to more referrals for our business and take us to the standard we hope to achieve for our business.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Sources of Income

Due to the recent changes recently in this industry as regarding funding, more fundraisers are beginning to look inward in order to ensure that revenue is generated to help sustain and grow the business either profit or non-profit oriented.

Therefore at Zo Bill Fundraisers, we have been established with sole intention of generating profit that will help sustain our fundraising business and ensure we are capable at handling the various requests of our clients. Therefore, Zo Gill Fundraisers intends to generate income via the following means;

Sales of publications
Consultancy and advisory services
Trainings and offering of other forms of expertise
Charging service users
Selling products made by the beneficiaries of the organization

10. Sales Forecast

Even though more people in this industry are geared towards nonprofit fundraising businesses, there is still a high demand for profit oriented fundraising business as those who seek have a certain goal they intend to attain using these services.

Being one of the few of our kind in this industry, we are well positioned to getting a huge share of our target market and are optimistic that we would meet our target of ensuring that we generate enough income to sustain and grow our business within one year.

Our statement is based on the result gotten from a thorough analysis of the industry, where we analyzed our chances of survival and well we would be able to thrive in the industry, which allowed us come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projection is based on information that was gathered from similar start-ups such as ours here in Fargo – North Dakota.

Therefore, below are the sales projections for Zo Gill fundraiser based on our location, the statistics gathered in the market, and other assumptions for our business;

First Fiscal Year-: $200,000
Second Fiscal Year-: $400,000
Third Fiscal Year-: $800,000

N.B: It should be noted that the above sales projections were carried out based on what is obtainable in the industry and on the assumptions that there won’t be a change in the factors used to carry out this analysis, such as more clients preferring to nonprofit fundraising businesses or a competitor arriving in our location and offering same businesses like we are offering. Should there be any change in the factors used, it might have a positive or negative bearing on the projected figures.

Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Every business needs generated revenue in order to be able to carry out its activities and remain in its industry for a long time as it deems fit, and to achieve this, such a business must know how to market itself well to generate the intended awareness for itself and services. Marketing is therefore a very important aspect in any business and should not be taken lightly by any entrepreneur or group looking to start a business.

To this effect, we have therefore conducted a thorough market survey that will enable us penetrate our target market and generate the right interest for our business. In conducting an accurate market survey, we made use of detailed information and data from similar businesses such as ours in this same location and we used that to structure our business in such a way as to attract the right clients to us.

In helping us to draft the right strategies, we hired a reputable marketing consultant who not only understands the market and the industry but who also knows what strategies are likely to help us succeed in this industry whilst also allowing clients understand what we stand for and how we can help them achieve their intended goals and objectives.

We also have ensured that our marketing teams have been empowered to help draft strategies and also modify strategies that do not reflect our core values and positively communicate our brand. In summary, below are the marketing and sales strategies we intend to adopt in offering our wide range of activities at Zo Gill Fundraiser;

Ensure that we network with industry stakeholders, especially those in our target niche and also other nonprofit fundraising businesses in order to introduce and promote our fundraising business here in Fargo – North Dakota as well as round the United States of America
Engage in direct marketing of our business to existing and potential clients in our target market
Use our official website to vigorously promote our business
Advertise our business in local newspapers and magazines as well as on radio and television stations here in Fargo – North Dakota
Ensure that our fundraising business is listed in local and online directories
Throw a party when launching our business in order to generate the needed awareness for Zo Gill fundraising business here in Fargo – North Dakota, USA

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Because we intend to ensure that we can suitably raise funds for any clients we intend to take on in our business, we know that having the right amount of publicity would go a long way into ensuring that we not only generate the right interest and achieve our goals and objectives, but that we also penetrate the market and gain more share of potential clients for our fundraising business.

It is to this effect that we sought the services of a reputable brand consultant who not only understands the market and industry as a whole but also has the experience required to ensure that we attain the right amount of publicity using the best strategies that will not only allow us become amongst the top leading brands but will also ensure that we are favorites and preferred by most of our target market.

Therefore, some of the platforms we intend to adopt in promoting as well as advertising our fundraising business include;

Ensure that we engage in relevant beneficial programs in our community
Install our bill boards in strategic locations all around Fargo – North Dakota
Ensure that we place adverts in local newspapers and magazines as well as on radio and television stations
Distribute handbills and business cards as well as paste posters in conspicuous locations here in North Dakota
Use social media platforms to our advantage by leveraging on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram
Ensure that we have a unique traditional color and that our staff wear our customized tee-shirts anytime they are out on field work

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Setting up the rates for our fundraising business depends on a whole lot of factors, such as how huge the project is, the financial capability of our client, our overhead and running costs as well as what similar fundraising businesses in our category and same location are offering. Setting a price might look difficult but we have come up with the strategy that will ensure that we set rates that are affordable to our clients whilst also not plunging our business into any debt of sorts.

However, due to the fact that we are still new in the industry and in order to generate the required awareness for our business, we intend to offer existing and potential clients a reduction in our rates for at least three months. This strategy, according to our business consultant will allow us garner more clients whilst also opening us to several opportunities that the market has to offer. Also, reducing our rates will in no way affect our overhead or running experiences for the period in question.

Payment Options

Zo Gill Fundraiser has come up several payment policies that is intended to ensure that all our clients with their diversity and preferences have the necessary options that will be convenient for them and for us as well. Therefore the payment options that are available for all our clients are;

Payment via check
Payment via online payment portal
Payment via credit card
Payment via bank draft

The above payment options were carefully chosen after we had several discussions with our bank as well as certain merchants. We are confident that the above platforms will work without any sort of hitches for our clients and our business as well.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

Starting a profit oriented fundraising business is quite different from starting a non-profit oriented one. However, regardless of this fact, there are basic requirements that are expected to be achieved when starting a business and there are things that one is expected to spend the bulk of the start-up capital on such as paying employees and utility bills for a certain period of time, purchasing a vehicle and leasing a facility for use.

Therefore, the key areas where we intend to spend the bulk of our capital on are;

Total fee for registering our business in the United States of America – $750
Obtaining permits as well as other legal and accounting expenses – $1,250
Marketing promotion expenses (For grand opening of Zo Gills Fundraisers as well as general marketing promotion activities for the business and for clients) – $5,000
Cost of hiring reputable business consultants – $2,500
Insurance coverage (workers’ compensation and general liability) – $3,000
Operational cost for the first 6 months (salaries of employees and payment of utilities) – $100,000
Leasing of a facility for at least two years as well as renovations – $50,000
Other start-up expenses (stationery, furniture, phones, computers and other utilities) – $4,000
Cost of purchasing a van for field trips – $20,000
Cost of launching a website – $500
Cost of throwing a grand opening party – $5,000
Miscellaneous – $5,000

From the above analysis, we would need a total of $197,000 in order to successfully start and run our fund raising business here in Fargo – North Dakota. It should be noted that that bulk of the capital will go towards leasing a facility, purchasing an official van and paying employees salaries as well as utility bills for a definite period of time.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Zo Gill Fundraising Business

Zo Gill Fundraiser is a profit oriented fundraising business that is owned and run fully by Ms. Zoe McGill a professional fundraiser who intends to run the business alone without seeking for external partners to run the business with her.

This decision has therefore limited her sourcing of income to just few sources. Therefore, below are the areas where funds will be sourced from to start and run the business;

Generate part start-up capital from personal savings
Source for soft loans from family members and friends
Apply for grant
Apply for loan from bank

N.B: Ms. Zoe was able to generate the sum of $40,000 from her personal savings. $30,000 soft loans were gotten from family members and friends. We applied for a grant and were lucky to be granted the sum of $50,000. We approached the bank for the sum of $77,000 and was granted the sum after all documents had been signed and approved.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

Regardless of whether a business is established for profit making or not, there are always plans in place to ensure that the business remains and thrives for a period that is deemed fit by the owners and so due to this we have several strategies in place that will ensure that our business is suitably sustained and doesn’t fold up.

One of our major goals in starting Zo Gill Fundraisers is to ensure that we help clients achieve their objectives and goals by raising the amount of funds needed by our clients for the various projects they intend to engage in. To achieve this, we intend to hire the right personnel, those that are highly qualified and understand the industry. Having the right employees will help us achieve the set goals by our clients in a timely manner, therefore improving our brand and stand in the industry.

Having the right publicity strategies is very important to us as it will not only push our business to its intended height but also improve the confidence of clients – existing and potential – in our abilities to ensure that they achieve their own goals and objectives.

Publicity is very important to us and for this we have hired a branding and publicity consultant who will help us achieve the right publicity for our fundraising business here in Fargo – North Dakota.

We believe in giving our clients the best experience that would ensure that that they remain loyal and also refer others to our business. We have an accurate customer database that allows us not only to keep in touch with our clients but also to pass along industry trends that might help them in their business, this way allowing us retain a huge number of clients to our fundraising business.

Check List / Milestone

Business Name Availability Check: Completed
Business Registration: Completed
Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
Application for business license and permit: Completed
Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
Generating capital from family members: Completed
Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
Writing of Business Plan: Completed
Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
Recruitment of employees: In Progress
Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In Progress
Purchase of trucks: Completed