Fundraising is about matching your aspirations and priorities with funders who are seeking to achieve the same objectives. This matching needs to be an ongoing process as it provides opportunity for you to review your objectives and priorities.

Before you start writing

Before deciding to apply for grant funds, you should ask yourself, your governing body and staff members the following questions:

Mission: Is this new opportunity within the scope of the agency's stated mission?

Strategic Plan: Are the proposed programmes/services in keeping with our current strategic plan? Will it help to better meet a stated priority need of the community?

Clientele: Will the services meet the needs of our current target populations? If not, do we want to serve a new classification of clients?

Staff: Are the staff members qualified and prepared to provide these services? If not, how much will it cost to retrain current staff or to hire new staff? How long will this take? Could staff morale seriously suffer if they are unable to meet new performance demands?

Finances: If the agency does not successfully meet the performance-based outcomes, can it financially risk non-reimbursement of its operational costs?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, fundraisers should seriously consider declining to apply for the funds.