Fundraising for Success
A Guide for Small and Diaspora NGOs
A short guide from INTRAC's Common Ground Initiative for small and diaspora NGOs that have little time, staff or fundraising experience. It explains why fundraising needs a strategy, and how a small organisation can plan where its money will come from, who will raise it and how. It is part of a series of guides for small NGOs that includes one on governance.
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How to cite
Ajay Mehta (2012). Fundraising for Success: A Guide for Small and Diaspora NGOs. INTRAC. https://www.intrac.org/resources/fundraising-success-guide-small-diaspora-ngos/
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Fundraising Bright Spots
A research report from the Resetting Development project, which grew out of the UnderDeveloped study of nonprofit fundraising. It tells the stories of social change organisations that raise steady money from individual donors. It is for nonprofit leaders, boards and fundraising staff. Readers use the cases to rethink who owns fundraising in their organisation. A 2017 companion, Fundraising Bright Spots in Action, follows programme participants as they change their approach.
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Fundraising for Social Change
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Change the Game Academy
A free online learning platform for community-based organisations that want to raise money and support from their own communities. It has 2 self-paced courses. Local Fundraising covers proposal writing, fundraising communication and donor relations. Mobilising Support covers winning commitment from stakeholders and decision makers, lobbying, social accountability and communication. Users create an account and follow the courses at any time. A Green version for groups managing natural resources launched in 2025.
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Strategic planning: a toolkit for small NGOs
A short, step-by-step strategic planning toolkit for small NGOs, including those that fund partners and those that work directly with communities. It is one of 5 toolkits from INTRAC's Strengthening Small Organisations with Big Ambitions project (2021 to 2022), funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It comes as a PDF and as a lighter online version for low-bandwidth and mobile users. It is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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Leadership Transition: Overcoming the Threat of Founders Syndrome
A short INTRAC Praxis paper on leadership transitions in civil society organisations, with a focus on founders stepping down. It describes these transitions as rocky and risky yet normal. Drawing on the experiences of several CSOs in the global South that have been through the process, it suggests how founders, boards and funders can make the handover smoother. It expands on a series of INTRAC blogs from 2016 and is a free PDF.
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Monitoring, evaluation and learning
A short toolkit that helps small NGOs set up monitoring, evaluation and learning they can run with few staff and little money. It is one of 5 toolkits from INTRAC's Strengthening Small Organisations with Big Ambitions project for small UK charities working internationally. It comes as a PDF and a lighter online version for slow connections and mobile use, under a Creative Commons licence.
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