"Are we ready to fundraise?"

“Are we ready to fundraise? “

As a fundraising consultant, I get this question a lot. Often, organizations find it hard to determine how to evaluate their fundraising readiness, especially those that have traditionally relied on government funding. There's often hesitation or stop-and-start energy when they think about starting their funding programs.

It's a mindset blockage, but it's also a very practical concern.

Earlier this year, Forward Avenue had the exciting opportunity to collaborate with Mass Culture, a nonprofit that takes a community based approach to enhance the equitable mobilization of arts and culture research. We took a step back to really look at the dimensions of evaluating a nonprofit's fundraising readiness. We created a rubric to help organizations self-evaluate where they are in their journey. ​

The rubric breaks down into these dimensions: Strategic Alignment; Human Resources; Process & Technology; Champions; Planning & Evaluation; Case for Support; Culture of Philanthropy.

I won't dive into the specifics of each dimension, as you can read about them in the Mass Culture blog that breaks them down so beautifully. But what I do want to share is some of my personal reflections that arise as we created the rubric. There were some real a-ha moments!​

1. Progress over Perfection

One of our biggest aha moments was realizing there’s no magical destination where an organization suddenly becomes “fully ready” to fundraise. There’s no perfect moment when every system is in place, every message is refined, and every process feels complete.

Fundraising grows alongside the organization itself, and vice versa.

That’s why tools like this rubric aren’t meant to destabilize you or create paralysis. They’re meant to help you move forward with greater intention.

You’ll likely discover areas where your organization already has strong instincts and momentum. You’ll also uncover areas that need more attention earlier in the journey as you build a fundraising program. That’s normal. Start where you’re at.

2. The sum of the parts should indeed be bigger than the parts themselves.

Fundraising is never just a side effort. You can see this reflected throughout the rubric, especially in areas like systems, leadership champions, and impact evaluation. Funding has a way of revealing how an organization functions as a whole. In many ways, fundraising becomes that slightly annoying but necessary friend who keeps knocking at the door asking:

“Have you really thought about how your organization is structured to support sustainability?”

And honestly, that’s what cultural philanthropy is about.

It’s not just raising money. It’s building an organization where fundraising is woven into the culture, relationships, systems, and shared sense of responsibility.

3. Collective evaluation is the first step of momentum building

If you're the Executive Director or the solo Fundraising Manager reading this piece, there may be a temptation to quickly run through this rubric on your own and call it a day.

I encourage you to go beyond that. Use this as a rubric as the first point in momentum building.

At your next team or board meeting, run through this rubric as a collective reflection.

Socialize these questions: what are our strengths in fundraising? What are our blind spots? What should we act on first, and what do we plan to come back to once we gain early traction?

Most importantly, how can each of us at this table support our fundraising goals

Now, over to you. Ready to take the rubric to jumpstart your fundraising?

READ MASS CULTURE'S BLOG AND ACCESS THE EVALUATION TOOL

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