Picture this: Instead of scrambling for last-minute donations, your team is coasting past its financial goals all thanks to a rock-solid fundraising strategy. Sounds like a dream, right?
Luckily, this dream can become a reality if you know how to create a fundraiser strategy for your group or nonprofit.
Whether you’ve been tasked to raise some quick funds for your child’s youth sports team or you’re part of a large nonprofit that needs to develop a long-term fundraising plan for a big building renovation, it all boils down to this:
A well-thought-out strategy is your best bet for success!
So, how do organizers and community leaders like you create a fundraising strategy? Great question.
This beginner-friendly fundraiser planning guide walks you through every step of building a bulletproof strategy that actually works. You’ll learn how to assess where you stand, set realistic goals, choose the right campaigns, and pick easy-to-use fundraising tools that save hours of volunteer time.
By the end, you’ll have a repeatable system you can adapt season after season.
Table of Contents
- What is a Fundraising Strategy?
- Fundraising Strategy vs Fundraiser Plan
- What Informs Thinking about Fundraising Strategy
- Assess Past Performance Before You Start Planning
- How to Build a Strategy in 7 Actionable Steps
- How to Track Your Fundraising Strategy
- Put Your Strategy Into Action with Cheddar Up
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Fundraising Strategy?
- Why you’re raising money
- How much you need to raise
- Who you’re asking
- When you’re going to act
- Which approaches to take
- With what resources you’re going to pursue your fundraising goals
The best fundraising strategies also factor in what happens next. In other words, how will your organization steward trust and retain donors over time?
Fundraising Strategy vs Fundraiser Plan: Is There a Difference?
Yes, there is a difference! Your strategy is your high-level vision, while your plan is the tactical execution of that vision. They work hand in hand, but they are not the same thing.
Overall, your strategy sets the course for your overarching fundraiser plan, which is the operational document that turns your strategy into specific actions with deadlines and owners.
Let’s break this down a little further.
The Strategy Sets the Direction
Think of your strategy as a compass. It answers questions like:
- Are we focusing on a few large donors or many small ones?
- Will we run product sales or direct donation campaigns?
- Should we diversify beyond our usual fall fundraiser?
These decisions shape everything downstream.
A school PTA that decides to shift from individual cookie dough sales toward peer-to-peer online campaigns has made a strategic choice. The plan then details how many participants they need, what the campaign page looks like, and who sends the reminder emails.
The Fundraiser Plan Makes It Happen
Your fundraising plan is a big part of your strategy. It is the action layer that includes your budget, campaign calendar, assigned responsibilities, and the metrics you’ll watch.
Without a plan, strategy stays abstract. Without a strategy, the plan lacks coherence. You need both!
For smaller organizations, these can live in a single document. Larger nonprofits might maintain a multi-year strategy alongside annual plans. Either way, the relationship is the same: strategy first, plan second.
Top 3 Factors that Inform Your Thinking about Fundraising Strategy
A great fundraising strategy is built on what is actually possible for your group and what your donors care about. Before you start picking activities, you need to look at the facts that will decide whether you succeed or struggle.
The top three factors you need to think about include:
Your Goal and Mission
Exactly how much money do you need, and what is it for? Raising $500 for new team jerseys requires a completely different approach than trying to raise $50,000 to remodel a community building. Your strategy needs to match the size of your goal.
Your Supporters
You need to know who your donors are and how they like to give. For example, if you are asking teenagers or young parents for support, a mobile-friendly link or a social media challenge works best. If you are asking local business owners, they might prefer a face-to-face chat or a formal letter.
Your Team’s Time and Resources
Be honest about how much help you actually have. Do you have a big team of eager volunteers, or is it just two people running the whole show? Do you have a website that can accept donations online? Your strategy must fit your group’s actual energy, budget, and time.
Assess Past Performance Before You Start Planning
Jumping straight into goal-setting without reviewing last year’s results is one of the most common mistakes organizers make. Your historical data reveals patterns that raw optimism can’t.
Here’s what every smart organizer should do:
First, pull together whatever numbers you have from the past one to three years. Then, focus on total dollars raised, number of donors, and which campaigns generated the most revenue.
If you’re a brand-new organization, look at comparable groups in your area or ask other chapter leaders what realistic benchmarks look like.
Key Questions for Your Review
Ask these questions:
- Which campaign type raised the most per volunteer hour? A bake sale that nets $300 after 40 hours of labor is a worse return than a simple online collection that nets $1,200 in a weekend.
- What percentage of donors gave a second time? Retention tells you whether your community is engaged or just polite.
- Where did you lose momentum? Many groups see a surge at launch, then a drop-off. Knowing when energy fades helps you plan follow-up communications.
- Did you over- or under-budget? Upfront costs for merchandise or event venues eat into margins more than most groups realize.
This review doesn’t need to be formal. Even a 30-minute conversation with last year’s treasurer gives you a stronger starting point than guessing.
How to Build a Fundraising Strategy in 7 Actionable Steps
Now that you have context from past performance, it’s time to build a spectacular strategy that reflects your vision. These steps work whether you’re a youth sports booster club or a mid-sized nonprofit.
Define a Specific Fundraising Goal
“Raise as much as we can” isn’t a goal. A goal needs to have a realistic number and a deadline.
First, start with your budget gap: how much money does your organization need beyond what dues, grants, or other revenue will cover?
Then stress-test that number.
If you need $10,000 and your email list has 200 families, you’re asking an average of $50 per household. Is that realistic for your community? If not, you either need to expand your reach or add a campaign type that attracts higher-dollar donors.
Pro-Tip:
For a deeper walkthrough on establishing fundraising goals, check out our step-by-step guide on how to set a fundraising goal that breaks down the process with concrete examples.
Know Your Audience
Not everyone in your community gives for the same reason or at the same level. For example, parents of current students respond to different messaging than alumni, while corporate sponsors want visibility.
Even a simple two-tier segmentation (core community vs. extended network) helps you tailor your outreach. You’ll raise more with two targeted messages than one generic blast to your entire list.
Choose Your Campaign Mix
This is where strategy meets execution. Most groups benefit from running two or three campaign types per year rather than relying on a single approach.
A diversified mix might include a direct donation drive in fall, a product sale before the holidays, and a peer-to-peer campaign in spring.
When you try different styles of fundraisers, it helps you reach more people and raise more money. It also keeps you from putting all your eggs in one basket. If one fundraiser brings in less than you hoped, the others can help make up the difference.
Build a Fundraising Calendar
A fundraising calendar acts as your group’s master schedule for the year. It is a visual timeline where you plot out exactly when your fundraisers will start, when they will end, and everything you need to do in between.
When you build your calendar, look at the whole year and keep these three simple rules in mind:
- Watch out for busy times: Don’t start a fundraiser during Spring Break when everyone is on vacation, or right when families are already paying expensive sports registration fees.
- Mark all the important steps: Don’t just list the start date. Mark down dates for mid-way progress checks, the final deadline, and the days you will send out thank you notes.
- Keep a steady rhythm: Spacing out your events over 12 months ensures you aren’t asking the same people for money three weeks in a row, which keeps your donors happy and your volunteers from burning out!
Pro-Tip:
Building in a full-year fundraising calendar with monthly ideas prevents the “we forgot to plan for February” problem that derails even well-intentioned teams.
Assign Ownership and Set Your Budget
For small volunteer groups, keep your team tight and focused. Having just three people with clear, exact jobs works much better than having a huge committee of twelve people where no one is quite sure what to do.
Before you spend a single dollar, you need to make a simple budget that lists your costs versus the money you expect to bring in.
Be sure to count every hidden expense, like website fees, printing flyers, or buying supplies. If a fundraiser brings in $5,000 but costs $2,000 to set up, your group only keeps $3,000.
When you know these numbers ahead of time, it prevents you from getting a nasty surprise at the end of your campaign.
Select the Right Online Fundraising Platform
If you make people print out forms or jump through hoops just to give you money, they will simply give up. Using the right online fundraising platform makes donating effortless for your supporters and saves your volunteers hours of painful paperwork.
When choosing a platform, look for these must-have features:
- Super fast checkout: Donors should be able to pay instantly. They shouldn’t have to download an app just to support you
- All-in-one forms: Look for a tool that lets you collect information and money at the exact same time. If you need to know a donor’s t-shirt size or how many people are coming to your dinner, the platform should ask that right on the payment page
- Easy sharing pages: If your volunteers or team members want to share the fundraiser with their own friends and family, the platform should let them create their own collection pages with just a few clicks
Pro-Tip:
An all-inclusive online fundraising platform like Cheddar Up checks all of these boxes. Cheddar Up was purpose-built for community groups, schools, and nonprofits, which means you won’t wrestle with business-focused tools that weren’t designed for your workflow.
Launch With Clear Communication
Even the best fundraiser will fail if people don’t know about it.
To get people excited, you need a plan for how you will talk to your donors. The secret is to write your messages before your fundraiser even begins.
Draft your big opening announcement, two or three friendly reminders, and one final “last chance” message all at once. This way, you won’t be stressing about what to write when you’re busy running the campaign.
Next, be short and specific. People skim long emails. However, instead of just saying “Please donate,” give them a brief yet exciting update. For example, a message like, “We are at 60% of our goal with only 5 days left!” makes people want to jump in and help you cross the finish line.
Pro-Tip:
Keep your messages all in one place. Cheddar Up has a built-in message center that lets you text or email your donors directly, and it even tracks who has opened your messages so you know exactly who to follow up with.
How to Track Your Fundraising Strategy
It’s no secret that creating a fundraising strategy is super exciting, but you have to check in on it to make sure it’s actually working!
Too many groups launch a strategy and don’t look at the numbers again until the fundraiser is totally over. If you wait until the end, it’s too late to fix what isn’t working or celebrate what is.
So, what numbers should you check along the way?
The Simple Numbers That Tell Your Strategy’s Story
- Total raised vs. goal: Don’t wait until the end! Check this every week to see if your strategy is on pace
- Participation rate (Who is giving?): What percentage of your group or school has chipped in? If only a few people are giving big amounts, your strategy might be missing the rest of your community
- Average gift amount: Is the average donation size lower than you hoped? Your strategy’s ask might be a little too vague, and it might be time to suggest specific donation amounts
- Campaign speed: Are donations flooding in, or have they slowed to a crawl? A big slowdown in week two tells you your strategy needs a friendly reminder push
Pro-Tip:
Make your life easier by using simple fundraiser templates to help your group easily turn a big fundraising strategy into a simple, written plan with clear action steps. Then, track and manage donor information with a platform like Cheddar Up!
Put a Goal Tracker to Work
A fundraising goal tracker does two amazing things: it keeps your team on task and excites your community to help you cross the finish line! Sharing a colorful progress bar or a classic thermometer graphic in your updates makes everyone feel like they are winning together.
The Golden Rule: Tracking only works if you do something with the information! Take just five minutes once a week to look at the numbers with your team. This quick check-in lets you decide whether to send a quick reminder or change your timeline, turning your strategy into real, happy results.
Put Your Fundraising Strategy Into Action with Cheddar Up
As you can see, a winning fundraising strategy isn’t all that hard to set up. However, it requires a clear plan and the right tools to put it into action. The groups that raise the most money are simply the ones who strategize before they ask, track their progress weekly, and adjust as they go.
Cheddar Up makes this entire process effortless. Our easy-to-use online fundraising software handles the tricky tech stuff, like building custom donation pages, tracking your goals, and messaging your supporters. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and focus on connecting with your community.
Ready to smash your next goal? Join a live learning session to see exactly how easy fundraising can be for your group!
Frequently Asked Questions
How should we plan fundraising when the economy is uncertain and budgets are tight?
When times are tough, build flexibility into your strategy by creating two targets: a primary goal and a minimum viable goal (the absolute baseline you need to survive). Map your expenses clearly to each goal so you know exactly what initiatives to fund first.
To help donors who are feeling the pinch, shift your strategy to focus on smaller, more attainable giving options (like a $5 or $10 monthly recurring donation) rather than big, one-time asks. Most importantly, communicate your impact with total transparency. When money is tight, donors want to know exactly how every single dollar is being used to make a difference.
How do we measure fundraising success beyond dollars raised?
Track leading indicators like new donor count, returning donor rate over time, and the number of participants who actively shared the campaign. These signals help you diagnose what’s working so you can scale it in the next cycle.
How often should our group update or change our fundraising strategy?
Your strategy should be treated as a living roadmap, not a static document. It is best practice to do a major review once a year before your fundraising season begins to adjust for any changes in your goals or volunteer team. However, you should also do a quick check-in halfway through the year to make sure your strategies are actually working. If a specific approach isn’t bringing in donations, don’t be afraid to pivot!
What should we do if our fundraising strategy isn't hitting its targets?
First, don’t panic! If your strategy is falling short, look closely at your data to find the roadblock. If your page views are high but donations are low, your checkout process might be too complicated, or your ask might not be clear enough. If engagement is low overall, you likely need to switch up your communication channels, like sending a text reminder instead of just relying on email. Usually, a few small tweaks to how you reach people can get your strategy right back on track.
Should a membership form include payment?
Yes, if you collect dues during registration. Keeping payments in the same flow streamlines the process and reduces the risk of incomplete sign ups.
Before You Go
Want to see how an all-in-one payment collections platform like Cheddar Up can set your fundraiser plans up for success? Join a Cheddar Up Live Session for Q&A with product experts, or watch this demo.
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