Step 2: Create Your Fundraising Plan & Fundraising Offer

Why Step 2 Is Critical

Here’s the truth:
You can’t just show up to donors with your hands out. People don’t like it when the first time they hear from you, you’re already asking for money.

To raise money consistently, your prospects must:
👉 Know you
👉 Like you
👉 Trust you
👉 Then (and only then)… say yes to your ask.

This is why you need a repeatable fundraising plan that builds relationships, provides value, and positions your nonprofit as trustworthy — before making the ask.

And you also need a fundraising offer: something specific, tangible, and transformational that a donor can buy into.

What Goes Into a Fundraising Plan

Your fundraising plan should clearly outline:

Your Goal

• How much money do you want to raise?
• By when?
• What transformation will it provide?
• Your Engagement Process (Plan of Care)

This is how you guide funders through the 4-step journey:

• Get Them to Know You: Introduce your nonprofit (e.g., invite to an event, share a story-driven video).
• Get Them to Like You: Build rapport (e.g., co-host a community initiative, highlight them in a newsletter).
• Get Them to Trust You: Prove your credibility (e.g., share impact data, offer program tours).
• Make the Ask: Tailor your request to their capacity and motivation.

Include a follow-up process for those who don’t give and a stewardship process for those who do.
Your Team

Who is needed to execute the plan?

• Roles for outreach, follow-up, stewardship, and administration.

Your Execution Materials

• Email templates
• Call scripts
• Fundraising appeals
• Proposals & case for support
• Donation page setup

Your Fundraising Offer

• A fundraising offer = a clear transformation with a price tag.
  Example: If you run a back-to-school nonprofit, a “Back-to-School Pack” = $150.
• A donor can then say: “I’ll fund 10 packs.”

Your Execution Budget

• Every plan needs resources. Even if you start small, outline what’s needed to launch and sustain the campaign.

Using AI to Create Your Plan & Offer

To save you time, I’ve created AI prompts that guide you through building:

• Your fundraising goal
• Your plan of care (engagement steps)
• Your fundraising offer(s)

👉 You can customize the output to fit your mission and language.

Best Practices for Step 2

• Be Specific: Donors respond to clear offers (e.g., $50 = feed a family for a week).
• Think Transformation, Not Transaction: Focus on the change their gift creates, not just the cost.
• Always Build Before You Ask: Invest in relationships; then the ask feels natural, not forced.
• Test Different Offers: Some donors will connect more with education, others with health, others with community impact — create options.

Action Items

• Run the Step 2 prompts to generate your draft fundraising plan and fundraising offers.
• Choose 1–2 fundraising offers that feel the most powerful.
• Build out your fundraising plan using the AI output as your foundation.
• Prepare your execution materials (emails, scripts, donation page).
• Move to Step 3: Recruit & Equip Your Fundraising Team.

Remember: a plan + an offer = donor confidence. When people can clearly see what their money does, they say YES faster.