The Creative Activist

Strategic planning, including SWOT analysis, is for small nonprofits, giant philanthropic foundations, and every other nonprofit. Every nonprofit that seeks financial support of any kind needs a strategy.  The point is to make a plan and work the plan. Business gurus have shared a bunch of strategic planning tools, some generic and some made for a specific purpose. This post is about looking at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats - SWOT.  Knowing about your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is step one in planning your fundraising efforts.  SWOT - A Quick Review This is not the best place to run through SWOT analysis, but an overview will make it obvious why we need to do it. First, however, you should write down your fundraising goal. Then, you can do some analysis. Here are the steps: Strengths - What about your financial resources? What about your reputation and your connections? How big is your audience on social medi...

As I am trying to promote a systematic (scientific?) approach to addressing the challenges that activists and nonprofits face, fundraising seems like a fit topic to address. Every organization has a fundraising plan of some sort. Each plan includes one or more tactics for getting money or in-kind contributions. The whole process should begin with a formal accounting of what you have and what you need to reach your goals. Try listing them on one sheet of paper divided into two columns. List assets on the right and needs on the left. Start with money, but add equipment, credit, and skills too. Yes, list skills as an asset here because those skills could be turned into money later. Who is your audience? List, on another sheet of paper, who you could approach for support and what they may want or need. Be sure you can also name the benefits you provide the community. People want to feel like their money will accomplish something useful. Write down the benefits of giving and the reasons...