Diversifying your funding
Blogs, resources, tools and training for you to ensure that you’re making the most of all opportunities to raise funds.
Our business models resources will help your NGO think more innovatively and long-term about planning and implementing projects and strategies. The fundraising section will help you utilise individual giving and sponsorship. And the partnership section will help you cultivate relationships outside of grants and governmental institutions.
Business models
As traditional funding sources are drying up, a good business model enables an organisation to have both impact, reaching the communities that they want to support, and have financial sustainability to continue doing so.
It’s important for an organisation to be aware of their business model as it may be that there is another approach that is more suited to them. A new model could allow your organisation to scale impact faster than you do now or deliver the same change but at a cheaper price.
More on business models
Five organisations who are challenging traditional development.
50 examples of innovative business models, and how to use them to start a conversation.
Trends in income growth for 305 INGOs and what this means for fundraising strategies.
We have to reinvent and manage any downturn in funding.
Three measures to encourage structural change.
INGOs must think deeply about what kind of organisation they want to be.
Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them.
Challenge your existing business models to thrive in a changing world.
Q&A with Liz Lowther, CEO of Motivation. A charity at the innovation forefront.
Fundraising
In order to have financial sustainability, organisations need to have a diverse funding model that can withstand the fast-changing external funding environment. Institutional donors, such as DFID, the EU and Comic Relief, are either government or other large-scale development agencies with high value, multi-annual funds, institutional donors. Their funding for international development NGOs can provide regular, reliable, year-on-year resourcing for high quality development grants or contracts.
Fundraising from the public provides the much needed unrestricted funding for NGOs and gives them the flexibility to choose where and how they spend their income. But it is getting harder and harder to raise funds this way. Fundraising from corporate partners and corporate foundations provides an opportunity outside institutional funding but INGOs should consider what aligning with a brand or corporate could mean for them.
More on fundraising
Essential information about the main UK/European institutional donors offering funding.
It’s time to examine our funding paradigms and transform the way NGOs are funded.
Top tips to help small NGOs improve their fundraising from GlobalGiving.
Digital fundraising strategies to capitalise on the increasing trend of online donations.
How to capture attention to improve your fundraising.
Expert advice on what different donors require.
Partnerships
Working in partnership is central to delivering the sustainable development goals. Many institutional donors now require grantees to work in consortia to deliver their programme, and INGOs are collaborating with business and other stakeholders to achieve impact at scale. Working with local partners is key to building the capacity and sustainability of local organisations and civil society.
More on partnerships
A corporate partnership can help your charity amplify its impact with the right approach.
Drawing on local knowledge to help deliver your mission.
Lessons on how best to create effective partnerships and succeed in your goals.
Recommendations for productive partnerships between academics and NGOs.
A financial tool for the humanitarian funding gap.
Building relationships is crucial to successful fundraising from foundations.