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Posted by Sarah Brown on 07 Oct '24

Our five top tools to make your fundraising efforts more effective

I have worked with charities facing funding crises since the early 1990s and have developed a set of unique tools to help identify ways that charities can attract more money. I know that, unfortunately, in a crisis, it can be tempting to chase money and ignore your values and vision, leading to failure.

Inspire2aspire has developed the unique Charity Survival Toolkit© to assist charitable organisations in navigating a range of challenges, including dwindling grant income, mounting pressure to merge or engage in collaborative efforts, and the impact of the cost of living crisis on donations.

I am concerned about charities of all sizes, especially those in the middle. Cuts from the public sector will put pressure on charities in every way—less funding, higher costs, and increased demand. I have been using my business experience, which was developed during a recession, to work with charities since 1991. However, I believe that creativity and new ways of thinking will now be more important than ever. Our "Charity Survival Toolkit©" will provide even more value because it is designed to help manage the tension between mission and money.

Inspire2aspire uses a process that builds on the resources and mission of an organisation rather than just looking for any opportunities to make money or attract funding. Experience has shown that any organisation will be more successful if it builds on its strengths rather than chasing apparently good opportunities, which are not particularly related to it and will not motivate its staff or volunteers. New ideas often fail because they do not fit with the values of the charity – it's no good taking the attitude we'll do anything for money!

The toolkit has had a good response at senior management level and with fundraisers; even one session can really help as Louise Danielczuk, Appeals Manager of Overgate Hospice explained after her session with one tool The Growth Inspirer©

"My session with Sarah was a huge help to me. As fundraisers we all rush around, trying to make sense of where the money has come from in the past, is coming from now and where on earth we will get it from in the future. Sarah helped me to slow down, take stock, re-assess and look more strategically and creatively at the future which has been a huge help to me. I would recommend every fundraiser uses Sarah to help them plan for their future and to help them just make sense of things."

Louise Danielczuk, Appeals Manager of Overgate Hospice

There are a lot of tools we use to help charities be more successful, but our five top tools from our Charity Survival Toolkit© which we use most often with charities are:

  1. The Focus Finder © - It is good to start with this audit tool, which will analyse your current situation for you to identify what is working and what isn't. If you have a building, you will find it particularly useful to see it in action here.
  2. The Growth Inspirer © - this is designed to help identify if you should find new people to work with or refine what you offer developing projects, for example to attract funding
  3. The Collaboration Optimiser © - you can read more here about how collaboration can work for you, this might be in terms of fundraising but you also might find partners who can reduce your costs or help with volunteers so that the pressure on funds is reduced
  4. The Theory of Change Developer © - Being able to include your theory of change in any funding application or donor campaign will help you stand out and help the funder or giver understand the big picture and how they can help you change the world, read more here
  5. The Social Impact Identifier © - this is the starting point for the technical measurement of the results you can't generally measure with money but which need to be measured i.e. the social return on investment but more importantly, it is the foundation for identifying the powerful and emotional stories you want to tell about your organisation see here for an example from Riding for the Disabled.


Inspire2aspire can work with charities in several ways. This includes conducting strategic workshops with senior staff and trustees, as well as managing complete strategy development projects. Smaller charities or CVS can organise joint sessions or reduce costs by conducting sessions online.

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