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Your fundraising vision
The key to a successful fundraising plan is an inspiring vision, which allows a potential funder to see quickly and easily why they should support your church.
A vision is an aspirational description of what your church or project would ultimately like to achieve. It should summarise the impact that your fundraising will have.
It's important for several reasons, as it:
- Ensures that everyone involved is working towards the same end goals (For example, PCC, project committee and volunteers).
- Keeps your external messaging clear and consistent, making it simple for potential donors to understand your church and its aims and objectives.
- Allows your church to explain the impact of your fundraising succinctly.
Your church’s written vision does not need to be long or complicated – it can just be a paragraph. The important thing is that you have a written vision to help your church improve its chances of fundraising success.
When writing your vision, you should try and make sure that it is:
- Short and concise – your vision should get to the very essence of the impact your church makes and why it needs funds.
- Compelling – focus on the impact of the funds on people to appeal to potential donors. How will the money help people and what impact will it have on their lives?
- Relevant to your church – make sure your vision is personal to your church. Think about what makes your church unique and special, rather than borrowing someone else’s vision. Consider tying it into the Five Marks of Mission (for Anglican churches) or your church’s wider mission (if you have this in place).
- Agreed upon internally – make sure your vision is agreed before you publish it, so everyone in your church is aligned and working towards the same end goals.
- Consistent – your vision is the guiding star of your overall fundraising appeal, campaign, or project.
Your vision statement is the concise starting point that will be expanded upon in your case for support document.
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