The “Fundraising Pyramid” refers to a fundraising strategy that can be used by organizations with limited funds and resources so that they can achieve larger, seemingly unreachable fundraising goals. The Fundraising Pyramid – what is it? The fundraising pyramid is a goal-setting and strategy tool that helps visually plan your group’s fundraising campaign. It is part goal-tracker and part campaign flow-chart. The fundraising pyramid charts outreach goals and breaks them down into incremental funding amounts and donation targets that are more obtainable. Discworld Novels Pdf : Free Programs. When you use the fundraising pyramid, you do not go after only one source for your total fund procurement. Rather, you structure your campaign so that a few campaigns reach out after an allotted portion of the total goal amount.

The funding pyramid is based on the concept that each group can secure one or a few large funds, some moderate awards, and many small donations. Targets and resources are then arranged correspondingly and different approaches are used to reach each funding goal. Structuring the Fundraising Pyramid The fundraising pyramid should be structured according to both target donor size/project capacity and target goal figures. The largest target amounts would be placed at the top of the pyramid, mid-level targets in the middle, and lowest target figures at the bottom.

However, a converse relationship is applied to the sources of each funding. The largest gifts would be secured from the fewest funding sources, increasing as you move down the pyramid until the largest number of supporters or donors are funding the smallest part of the goal-figure. For example: (This example is for illustration purposes only; your pyramid should be tailored to your specific goals.) Let’s say your organization is looking to secure $30,000 for a project.

Quirky but useful campaign pyramid creator. You can find the software's license number on the page so it's free. Install as administrator to force modern.

Break this goal down into three campaign goals. Let’s say the funding is broken down in this way: $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000. • The largest sum, $15,000 is placed at the top of the pyramid. Only one or two sources would be targeted for this funding, probably a one-time grant or possibly two.

• The mid-level goal of $10,000 goes to the middle. This will be broken down into sizable, but smaller donations – possibly four gifts of $2500 each. • The bottom of the pyramid is left for the remaining $5000. The support base for this amount will grow again. Your group might choose to target 100 donors for $50 each, or 50 donors for $100 each.

The premise behind the fundraising pyramid is that it is difficult to raise funds by tapping only one resource for all of your money. Successful large fundraisers are a combination of target goals and sources. Where you might be able to obtain funding from one well-off donor or grant, the remainder of the funds will have to come from many smaller donations. Using your Fundraising Pyramid The fundraising pyramid is most often applied to donation campaigns and grants, but the same concept can be used to create a visual outline for a sales campaign or mixed fundraising effort. The basic concept remains the same however the pyramid is used – the largest segment of funding will be most easily achieved by securing it in one effort and the rest of the funding support will be targeted in smaller increments from a larger support base.

The fundraising pyramid not only allows your group’s leaders to see how the total campaign breaks down into smaller, more manageable segments, but also helps communicate that to the group’s members. In addition, the fundraising pyramid helps potential donors and supporters see how they can help, and where their donation resources might fit in to the overall plan. It creates enough opportunities for all potential donors to participate in whatever way possible for them, while providing a manageable plan for fundraising action. Related Articles And Services.

Updated: This post was updated on 12/2/2016 to add new software options. A wise and noble wizard once said: “I’ll do anything for free stuff.” Just kidding! Actually it was, but if you want to imagine her decked out in Gandalf-like attire, I’m pretty sure that would work just fine. It would probably make her quote seem that much more wise. I feel wiser already.

The truth is, who doesn’t love free stuff? Especially when that stuff usually costs an arm and a leg. Perhaps you, too, should do anything for free software, especially free which can otherwise get quite costly. Spending tons of money for the purpose of, hopefully, raising more money (especially if you’re a new and small nonprofit) doesn’t make much sense until you’re well established.

That said, a word of caution: the saying, “you get what you pay for” can apply to free donation software, especially if you don’t have the tech-savvy to manage support and installation yourself. So with that, here are some great free and open source fundraising software options to choose from:, which not only acts as a fundraising database, but also gives your nonprofit a one stop shop for event registration/management, content creation management, and membership management. It is one of the few customer relationship software options that is tailored for the nonprofit/charity sector. One of the benefits of CiviCRM is its ability to integrate with your hosted website on,, and. This cuts down on the need for additional hosting and complicated programming. This also negates the need to download any additional software to your computer and allows you to access your donor information from any computer with internet access.

Have you used CiviCRM? Instead of a more permanent fundraising software solution, perhaps you were looking for something free to try out until you were comfortable moving up to something bigger? Turns out DONATION offers a free version of its software, DONATION Lite, which incorporates the basic functionality of its full version, such as donor information storage. The flip side is the limits placed on the Lite version. Unlike the full version of DONATION, Lite has a storage limit of 100 donors per year, which can hold back your fundraising goals.

The Lite version also does not have mail-merge capabilities, which can complicate donor mail processes. This makes DONATION Lite better suited for beginning nonprofits looking to try out different types of software before committing to a bigger and better system. If so, this is certainly a great place to start. Have you used DONATION Lite? Be sure to!, although primarily built as a church-specific donation management software, can easily be used for general nonprofit fundraising in a pinch. All of the features included with the program are the same, including donation databases, pledge tracking, mail-merge, and Excel integration capabilities. The program is with all versions of Windows up to Windows 8 and can also run on Mac and Linux with the use of Windows emulation software.

As long as you don’t mind the program referring to your organization as a “Ministry” on your own screen, it serves as a capable supplement to traditional fundraising software. Have you used Donor Manager? Although not as visually elegant as CiviCRM, is a solid alternative for open source fundraising software. Instead of going for a more aesthetic approach with their software, ebase focuses on functionality. This software offers membership and donor databases that are compatible and integratable with MS Word and Excel, as well as the ability to create phone banking lists, email campaigns, and integrate email campaigns with built in web services. As an open source software, it is able to work in conjunction with FileMaker Pro on both Mac and Windows, which allows you to customize ebase source code to your nonprofit’s needs.

Have you used ebase? In terms of functionality, Metrix excels in its ability to provide its users with donation, events, and membership management as well as scheduling capabilities. It may be a little more barebones than CiviCRM and ebase, but it does a good job on the main, core functions of a solid fundraising software tool. However, there is one downside to using Metrix.

According to its installation page, the software is only compatible with Windows XP or lower. It won’t run on a more advanced operating system like Windows 7 or Vista, let alone a Mac computer. So, unless you happen to have a Dell dinosaur laying around the house or the office, or are proficient at an older operating system on your current machine, Metrix may not be the right fit for you. Have you used Metrix? Apache OpenOffice is one of the most widely known open source office suites, so why did it make the bottom of our list? Tc Powercore Plugin Crack.

Simply the fact that it offers free for its spreadsheet program, which may be a good start if you’re not ready to commit to a software package yet. With the template you can collect and store records of donations and use that data to measure fundraising progress and goals, but it doesn’t offer any integrative membership databases or fundraising databases. All data must be entered manually into the program itself which, unless you are a very small nonprofit that doesn’t handle huge swaths of donor information, may not be very feasible.

Have you used OpenOffice? ProcessDonation is a relatively new online donation management software that offers for nonprofits. The standard free option offers features such as custom donation pages, social media connectivity, peer-to-peer fundraising, and even a mobile app. However, the catch for the free option is the limit to one campaign at a time and only one administrator allowed for access.

ProcessDonation touts this option as a “best fit” for smaller nonprofits which aren’t running multiple campaigns at one time. For additional features and unlimited campaign capabilities, ProcessDonation also offers a Premium and Ultimate packages. Have you used Process Donation? (addition) DonorBox is a fundraising software focused on attracting donors, processing donations, and recording donor information in a seamless manner. This online system offers customizable donation pages, the ability to process multiple currencies (US dollars, Euros, Canadian dollars, British pounds, and many others), and the ability to export donor data to and.

The one downside to DonorBox is the $1,000 donation threshold, which transitions you from free use, to paid use. Once you cross $1,000 per month in donations, DonorBox charges a 0.89% fee on the total monthly pool. Have you used DonorBox? Conclusion: For nonprofits that are fresh out of the gate, these free and open source fundraising tools could make much more sense than spending big money on bigger and more elaborate software. They offer a great starting block to launch your fundraising efforts while you grow your nonprofit or charity and, eventually, move on to something bigger and better.

If you are looking to move on from this step of open source fundraising software, be sure to check our!