Major Donor Fundraising: Is your organisation ready?

Are you looking to get started with major donor fundraising? Perhaps you're already identifying potential donors and preparing your initial documentation?

Before you begin, ask yourself one crucial question: Is your organisation ready for this?

Many NPOs skip an important first step when they start major donor fundraising: the institutional readiness assessment.

The success of a fundraising strategy depends heavily on an organisation's institutional readiness.

What does institutional readiness actually mean, and why is it so important?

Institutional readiness indicates how well an organisation is prepared for major donor fundraising – in terms of organisation, strategy and staff.

This includes, amongst other things:

• clear roles and responsibilities
• appropriate internal structures and processes
• sufficient staff and time resources
• a shared strategic direction
• a willingness to build and maintain long-term relationships with major donors

The better the conditions, the greater the chance that your major donor fundraising campaign will be successful in the long term.

Institutional readiness can be assessed very effectively using a checklist that identifies where your organisation is already well positioned and where there is still room for improvement.

With Impact Partners' checklist, you can assess your organisation's institutional readiness for major donor fundraising.