Every charity needs a multi-year perspective

Fundraising is still too often seen as the responsibility of the fundraising team, while decisions about investment, growth and risk affect the entire organisation. The development of your supporter base determines how much income will be available in the future to deliver the organisation’s mission. A strong multi-year perspective therefore connects day-to-day fundraising with the strategic choices made by management, executive leadership and governance. This also requires a clear division of roles and responsibilities.

For fundraisers, this starts with the quality of execution and the information generated through their work. They are often the first to see changes in response, donor acquisition, retention, average gift value and costs. They know which campaigns are performing well, where results are declining and where new opportunities are emerging. Their role therefore goes beyond delivering activities. They also need to test the assumptions behind plans, record results properly and flag early when developments differ from expectations. Without this practical knowledge, a multi-year plan can quickly become a theoretical exercise.

The Head of Fundraising translates the results of individual campaigns, channels and audiences into the development of the overall fundraising portfolio. This requires choices about which activities deserve further investment, which need to improve and which should be stopped. It should also be clear when investments are expected to generate returns, what risks are involved and what capacity is needed to deliver the plans. In this way, the Head of Fundraising connects the fundraising strategy, available data and multi-year financial planning, translating ambitions into concrete targets and budgets.

Within the management team, these proposals are weighed against other organisational priorities and interests. Investing in fundraising often requires budget, people, digital support, communications capacity and involvement from programme teams. The management team must assess whether the organisation as a whole is capable of delivering the chosen ambitions and which dependencies or bottlenecks need to be addressed. A financially attractive scenario can only be achieved if the necessary organisational conditions are also in place.

The executive leadership is responsible for the strategic direction and financial sustainability of the organisation. It determines what level of growth ambition is appropriate for the organisation’s mission, how much risk the organisation is willing to take and how much investment capacity should be made available. The consequences for future years must explicitly be taken into account. A lower investment may improve next year’s budget, but at the same time lead to fewer new donors, a smaller supporter base and lower future income. Executive leadership needs to understand these consequences and make conscious choices accordingly.

For the Supervisory Board or governing board, the emphasis is on the quality of this decision-making. Board members do not need to assess individual campaigns, channels or suppliers, but they do need to be able to judge whether executive leadership is looking sufficiently far ahead, using realistic assumptions and understanding the implications of different scenarios. They should have a clear view of how income is developing, the profitability of investments and the risks to the organisation’s financial sustainability.

Concrete figures connect all of the functions described above. The use of a long-term planning model is therefore essential. It translates the fundraising strategy into concrete objectives, investments, budgets and expected results for the next five years. It shows how developments in acquisition, retention, average gift value and costs affect the number of active donors and net income. Different scenarios can also be modelled in advance, allowing the consequences of investing more or less to be explicitly considered in decision-making.

In my view, a long-term model is a must-have for every fundraising organisation. My own product or not: I would recommend Forward for change to anyone.

Such a model does not stand alone, but forms an important part of the organisation’s data infrastructure. It looks forward, while reports and dashboards show how results are actually developing. By connecting planning with actual performance, an ongoing cycle of evidence-based decision-making, monitoring and adjustment is created. Data are translated into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into insight and better decision-making. The DIKW model in practice. This creates a stronger foundation for decisions that contribute to the organisation’s financial sustainability.

This shared perspective is essential not only when an organisation wants to grow, but especially during periods of decline, change or financial pressure. After all, the investment decisions made today determine not only next year’s results, but also the financial capacity, and therefore the impact, available in the years that follow.