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.

Find out more about developing a case for support document.

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Demystifying the National Lottery Heritage Fund

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New Year, New Ideas

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A guide giving specific help and assistance to churches fundraising in less affluent areas.

Fundraising in rural parishes

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Fundraising for your church's capital project

Top tips to help your church plan a successful capital fundraising appeal.

Engaging with the wider community

Communication is a key foundation stone in fundraising. Communicating the right message, in the right way, to the right person can pave the way to a donation now or in the future. Asking your wider community for support is no different.

Do you know the key terms in digital fundraising?

Digital fundraising opens up opportunities to grow your church’s giving, by making it easier for both the congregation and wider community to support your church.

Five top tips to create a successful grant application

Grant applications can be a great source of fundraising income for your church – and often provide the largest size of donation towards your project.

Forming a fundraising team

Like other types of teams, the most effective fundraising teams have clearly defined roles with people given particular responsibilites.

A little preparation goes a long way

Preparation and research - it may not sound exciting, but getting organised early can make a real difference for your grant applications.

The power of measuring your impact

Grant funders are increasingly interested in outputs, outcomes and impact to help them understand what your church does and the difference their donation could make.