Top tips for fundraising by churches
Key steps and suggestions for you and your church to take for successful fundraising.
Regardless of which funder or donor you approach, you will need to have a clear and compelling case for support. This will act as a foundation for all your fundraising and is key to achieving successful applications.
Your grant application will need to be persuasive and show how this financial support will make a difference, to help give your application the best chance of success.
It is important to create a narrative about your church and its work that inspires potential donors. This should also provide detailed information about the specific projects that need funding.
Your case for support will form the backbone of your approaches to all major donors, funding bodies, and the local community, so it is well worth investing time and resource to get it right. It should draw on the voices of key people in your church and be a live document that is regularly updated.
As a simple guide, you can position your case for support around three basic questions:
These questions can be used to create a quick and punchy fundraising message on your donation forms, newsletters, fundraising posters, crowdfunding pages. They will also provide the background when you write your detailed case for support.
The following questions will help you think about how to express your case for support; some of the possible responses may not apply to your church but they should give you some ideas to work from. Although funders’ questions will vary, they're typically based on the following:
Considering the questions above will help you to develop your case for support.
Once developed, you can use it as a starting point for applications to donors and funders. It's important to bear in mind that each funder has different areas of interest, so you should adapt and tweak your case to fit with each funders interests and requirements.
Remember to regularly review and update your case as your fundraising progresses. This will help you to present a more successful case for support to potential funders.
This guidance is provided for information purposes and is general and educational in nature. Nothing constitutes legal advice. You are free to choose whether or not to use it and it should not be considered a substitute for seeking professional legal help in specific circumstances. Where links are provided to third-party sites and resources, these links are provided for your information only. Ecclesiastical is not responsible for the contents of those sites or resources.