Annual Fundraising Planning Framework
An Excel workbook and step-by-step guide for small UK charities planning next year’s fundraising. It builds your target from your budget, tests each income source against your own history, links every activity to a written objective and counts the hours your people have. When something does not add up, it tells you what to change.
Two faults can sink a fundraising plan before a single campaign runs. The first is a target that was picked rather than worked out: a round number, or last year with a percentage added, with nothing to show trustees why it is achievable. The second is capacity that was assumed rather than counted. Six campaigns, four funding applications and an events calendar, all delivered by one person who also runs services, can look reasonable on paper and still fail, because nobody added up the hours.
This framework deals with both. The target comes out of the budget, line by line. The plan is then tested against your own record and against the time your people genuinely have, so you know before the year starts whether it holds.
The problem this framework solves
A plan that trustees approve on trust, and that falls apart by the second quarter. The framework gives the board three tests to look at alongside the plan: whether projected income meets the target, whether every activity serves a written objective, and whether the work fits the people expected to do it. It adds an honesty check that shows how far the target reaches beyond anything the charity has raised before.
What’s included
Workbook (Excel)
- A target you can defend. It’s built up from your budget, the income you already have and what you want to build next, so trustees can see where every pound of it comes from.
- Projections tested against your own record. Any income source projected beyond what your charity has achieved before is flagged, and the workbook shows how much of the plan depends on a single source or on income you have never raised.
- Clear objectives. Each activity in the year has to serve a written objective, with a number and an owner, so nothing goes into the plan without a reason.
- A count of the hours. It sets the hours the plan needs against the time your people actually have, and shows who is overloaded before the year starts.
- A check on how often you ask. It compares how often each group of supporters is asked for money with how often they hear back from you, so over-asking shows up early.
- Plain-English checks. Every check is written as a message, not an error code. Before the plan goes to the board, it tells you whether it holds, and what to change if it doesn’t.
Every input cell is clearly marked, and the calculations are protected.
Guide
- An explanation of why plans fail, and how the framework is built to prevent both faults.
- A step-by-step walk through each tab in the order you complete them.
- How to derive the target, and what counts as promised or earned income.
- Sizing each income source honestly, including what to do with a short history.
- Building the calendar around fixed points, counting the hours and deciding what to stop.
- Reading every check and what to take to the board.
- Four measures for judging the year, and how to review the plan each quarter.
Who it’s for
Trustees, chief executives and fundraisers in small UK charities, across CIOs, charitable companies, trusts and unincorporated associations. It works for established charities with several years of figures and for new charities in their first year. Where there is little history, the framework shows which parts of the plan rest on a track record and which are still a guess, so trustees know what they are approving.
FAQ
We are a new charity with less than a year of figures. Will it work for us?
Yes. The target is built from your budget, so it does not depend on history. On the Baseline, sources with no track record are labelled as such, and the plan shows how much of it rests on income you have not yet raised. That is worth knowing before trustees approve it.
Do we need the Charity Income Tracker as well?
No. The framework works on its own. If you use the Income Tracker, the eight fundraised sources match its first eight in the same order, so your figures copy straight across.
Which software do we need?
Microsoft Excel on a computer. The framework has been built and tested in Excel. It has not been tested in Google Sheets or Apple Numbers, and some checks may not work in them.
How long does it take?
Allow 3-5 hours, spread over a week or two. Most of the time goes on gathering three years of income by source. Once that is done, the rest of the workbook moves quickly.
Can we change the income sources?
The eight sources are fixed, so the checks and the link with the Income Tracker stay reliable. Each one is defined by where the money comes from, not how it was paid, and the guide explains where any receipt belongs.
What do we take to the board?
The target and how it was built, the three tests and the honesty check. The guide sets out the three questions trustees should be able to answer before approving the plan.
Is it financial advice?
No. It is a planning tool that tests whether a fundraising plan adds up. Decisions about your budget, reserves and fundraising remain with your trustees.
Excel workbook + guide | Instant download
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