Importance of Fundraising Audit in Fundraising Planning Process

[MSONGA The Consultant]

Many non-profits, particularly smaller charities and start-ups, operate without a fundraising plan. When someone has an idea for an event or a campaign, these organizations simply put together a volunteer group and go for it. No matter how small your church, school, or charity is, or how far along you are into your operations, your group needs a comprehensive, well-written fundraising plan. A written plan will allow you to focus your efforts, plan out your yearly fundraising calendar and give you guidance on strategy and tactics when you are in the thick of events, mailings, and calls.

The process of fundraising planning always tries to find the answers of three questions; What is the Position of our Organization Now? Where Are We Heading ? How Will We Get There?

Fundraising audit specially is conducted to address question number one above. Organizations perform the audit to comprehensively assess the status of their current fundraising efforts, to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to seek out areas for growth.

Fundraising audit review in details factors that likely impact the organization to raise funds by both internally and externally. Fundraising audit should gather much information about the environments and foresee how environment might be expected to change over the duration of time. Both micro and macro environments should be reviewed for fundraising audit to be effective;

Micro Factors: Here the organization needs to scrutinize past fundraising efforts and assess carefully what has worked well and what has not. Also fundraising trends, current fundraising activities and organization structure to carry out the activity should be scrutinized too. In this level; the organization should examine the revenue generated, cost incurred to generate those revenues and returns generated.

• In this level of scrutiny, the organization should ask the following questions; Do we tend to segment our donor segment? Have some donor segments proved responsive to us than other? If so why.
• The auditing in this level further; should look the way fundraising is structured within the organization. Should the fundraising team be structured based on the form such as corporate fundraising, mailing, events etc? or structured based on the donors' region or by both or by another form?
• Data for the micro factors are gathered through a mixture of secondary research, interview with board members, staff, volunteers. Data can also be gathered through meetings.

Macro factors: In this level, the fundraising audit examine the wider environment that might affect the organization in its fundraising activities. The macro environments are always beyond the organization's control. Here; PESTL and COMPETITION ANALYSIS model are usually used.

• Political factors: Political factors that can have impact on fundraising can be government attitude to nonprofit sector, government relation with outsiders etc.
• Economic factors: Economic factors that might have an impact in fundraising can be trend of wealth among individuals, employment rate, tax imposition. monetary system etc.
• Sociocultural factors: Factors to be examined here concern demographics, behavior and values change, confidence to nonprofit sector etc.
• Technological factors: Here; development of technology and its application to nonprofits should be examined, Other things to put an examining eye include; bank payment systems and communication technology.
• Legal factors; Factors such as enactment of laws in relation to nonprofits and fundraising should be examined
• Data for PESTL are usually gathered through secondary researches,, publications etc.

Competition Analysis: Here; the organization should examine its market position, The position will be examined by looking at the Industry leader in fundraising regardless the sector it belongs, other organizations working in the same sector/cause and lastly; the organization of a similar size
When all information are gathered, they need to be summarized and presented in a suitable way for further stage.

OMAR MSONGA
CONSULTANT
Project Management, Strategy, Fundraising & Training
Call: +255 719 518 367
Email: omarmsonga8@gmail.com
DAR ES SALAAM
TANZANIA