1 RESEARCH: How to develop your grant funding strategy and research your best potential funders
In this first phase, you get to know the different types of donors, with a special emphasis on international trusts and foundations, and explore the latest trends shaping today’s foundation funding landscape. You start developing your own practical grant fundraising strategy and begin mapping your potential funders.
You are also introduced to our Excel-based FUNCAP Tool, which helps you organise and manage your research data with ease, and you receive access to TripleFunds, our donor and grants research platform.
Training
The training takes 2.5 hours and is conducted via Zoom in a group setting. We begin by exploring the different donor types, with a particular focus on the specifics of trusts and foundations. Next, we discuss the latest funding trends in foundation fundraising before moving on to developing a practical grant fundraising strategy. This includes identifying your donor markets and setting clear fundraising goals and success indicators.
You also learn how to effectively research potential funders, using various research strategies and online platforms—including TripleFunds (access is included to over 4,000 donor profiles and calls for proposals as well as live/recorded webinars) —to identify the most suitable prospects for your organisation.
Finally, we introduce you to our FUNCAP Tool, an Excel-based system that we have specifically designed to store and manage your data across all four phases of the grant cycle.
Coaching
The first phase RESEARCH includes the following coaching sessions:
Grant Fundraising Strategy:
We develop a fundraising strategy, approximately 5-10 pages long, which includes financial goals, an analysis of the different donor markets, and an activity schedule. You can use it to guide your fundraising and present a clear plan to your board and funders.
Donor Mapping:
We carry out a donor mapping exercise, which involves identifying a number of potential donor matches and ranking them into hot, medium, and cold categories. You can use it to prioritize relationship building and target the right key contacts.
Tailored to your individual needs
All coaching sessions are delivered in a 1:1 setting exclusively for your organisation.
We develop concrete outputs that you can apply immediately.
Why RESEARCH matters so much…
The RESEARCH phase lays the foundation of your successful fundraising. It helps you find donors who truly match your organisation, understand the latest funding trends of philanthropic foundations, and set clear, realistic goals. Using tools like TripleFunds, foundation directors and other platforms, you can gather accurate information to focus your efforts on the opportunities that matter most.
Good research also saves you time and effort. By building a clear, organised list of strong potential funders or your hottest matches, you avoid chasing unsuitable donors and make the rest of the fundraising process easier and more effective. Strong research sets you up for success in every stage of FUNCAP – from planning to proposals to managing donor relationships.
What others say about this phase…
The session was engaging, insightful, and enjoyable. I particularly appreciated learning about the various categories of donors and gaining a better understanding of how to use the comprehensive donor database TripleFunds.
What I really liked about the training is that you enlightened us with different tools and methods we can use to search for potential donors. I also found TripleFunds very useful and diverse, offering a variety of resources and information. The training itself was engaging, dynamic, and not boring.