If you’re like most nonprofit leaders, figuring out how to keep your organization financially stable is perhaps your biggest pain point.

Individual donors, foundations, and granting agencies will often donate to your organization because their heart connects to your mission—helping children, pursuing social justice, teaching the arts, etc. However, for funders to support you many times, you have to appeal to their logical senses. To do that, your strategic plan can demonstrate that your organization is committed to executing your vision, and funders will be happy to support your well-run nonprofit.

With a strategic plan—and strong mission statements and vision statements—your nonprofit’s team will feel confident and aligned with your fundraising objectives. And an organization with positive energy towards their strategic objectives will stand out to funders more than a nonprofit that isn't tuned in to their organizational health and will keep their promises.

What data do we have to back this up? In 2020, Mission Met conducted a fundraising survey to learn more about the relationship between strategic planning and fundraising. From the 169 nonprofit leaders that participated, 86% of respondents said that having a strategic plan had a positive impact on generating revenue through grants, donors, events, etc. And respondents that regularly reviewed, revised, and measured their strategic plan were over six times more likely to generate revenue as a result of their plan.

Want to read more details on the relationship between strategic planning and positive fundraising results? Check out this guidance on how to improve your fund building in Mission Met’s article on how strategic planning will raise you significantly more money on NonProfit PRO’s blog!