Trust Fundraising Planning: How to Prepare for a Busy Autumn
If there's one thing every trust fundraiser knows about autumn - it's that it arrives faster than you expect!
One minute it's August. The next, the deadlines are stacking up, your inbox is full and everyone in your organisation wants something from you at once.
It's not just trust fundraising that gets busy in autumn. It's end of year planning, budget setting, board meetings, end of grant reporting - all landing at the same time, all competing for the same limited hours in your day.
Which is exactly why August and early September are such invaluable planning windows.
Not to work through your holiday or stay sat at your desk until late into the night or to panic about what's coming. But to spend a few intentional hours getting your pipeline into a shape so September and beyond feels manageable rather than overwhelming.
Here's what I focus on in August and early September.
How to review your trust pipeline honestly
Start with a proper, honest, pipeline review - and I mean honest - not optimistic with your fingers crossed!
Look at every entry and ask yourself: are we genuinely well aligned with this trust and its priorities? Is the timing right to apply? Do we have the right project? Capacity within the team? The information we need to make an application a success? Is this a realistic prospect for this autumn - or is it a proposal we need to delay until the timing is better? Do you have any sort of relationship with this trust, or could one be built?
Then for the ones that are a good fit add in any known application deadlines or confirm the ones you have – things are constantly changing at the moment, so it’s always best to double check.
How to forecast trust income using confidence tiers
Next add a confidence tier to each entry. A simple traffic light system works well - high confidence (60% - 80%), medium confidence (50% - 30%), lower confidence (20% and less). This is based on the warmth of the relationship and your alignment. Then attach a realistic forecast income figure to each listing in your pipeline using your confidence percentage as a proportion of your expected ask.
So for example – a £1,000 ask to a high confidence trust at 60% would be a potential forecast income of £600.
Looking at your pipeline in this way does two things. It shows you where to concentrate your time and energy when September hits and it gives you an honest picture of what your pipeline is actually likely to deliver, which is invaluable for those internal conversations about targets and capacity that are on the horizon.
A prioritised pipeline with a clear plan is worth so much more than a long list of possibilities. When things get busy - and we know they will - you need to be able to open your pipeline and immediately know what needs attention first.
How to plan for autumn grant application deadlines
Once you’re happy with your pipeline, go through it and pull out every deadline that falls in September, October and November. Add them all to your calendar now - not just the submission deadline but working backwards from it.
If an application needs sign-off from a senior leader or trustee, when does it need to be with them? If it needs input from your programmes or finance team, when do you need that by? If it requires a project budget to be built from scratch, how long will that realistically take?
Block out time in your diary to work on each one. Treat those blocks like meetings you can't move. Because the biggest mistake I see trust fundraisers make in autumn is underestimating how long applications take - and running out of time for the ones that matter most.
Remember this isn’t about volume, it’s about focusing on those that are the best fit to increase your likelihood of success.
How to make time for funder relationships
While you’re looking at your diary it’s a good opportunity to plan in some relationship building time too. Start by looking at what “Meet the Funder” events are coming up in the autumn and get them in your diary now. These are often first-come-first-served and they fill up quickly.
Next think about your stewardship plan for each priority relationship. Are there funders you're currently in a grant period with who are due an update? Any local events coming up that a funder’s trustees might attend? Any good news stories you could share before you make your next ask?
Are there any funders in your pipeline that you’ve been meaning to reach out to but haven’t found the time? Take some time now to plan in that first contact. A brief email in early September, before the rush hits, is so much easier to write than one squeezed in between three application deadlines.
Building a good split between relationship building and applications - rather than letting applications crowd everything else out - is one of the hallmarks of a really well prepared autumn pipeline.
How to stay on top of end of grant reports
This is the one that can catch you out when things get busy!
You know what it’s like - you’re aware an end of grant report is due, it’s on your internal radar! Then, September arrives, everything gets busy and suddenly the report is two weeks overdue and the relationship with a funder you worked so hard to build is at risk.
Go through your pipeline now and pull out every end of grant report due in the next three months. Add those deadlines to your calendar too. And start pre-preparing - gathering the impact data, the financial figures, the case studies and quotes - while things are quieter.
A well written, on time, end of grant report is one of the most powerful stewardship tools you have. Don't let the busyness of autumn be the reason it slips.
What can you prepare in advance?
Look at your upcoming applications and ask yourself: is there anything I can do now that will save me time later?
Can you draft an executive summary while things are quieter? Pull together your impact data and case studies before the programmes team gets busier? Build your project budget with your finance colleague before the year end pressure hits?
Even getting 30 - 40% of a large application drafted in August - the sections that don't change much between applications, like your organisation overview - can make a significant difference when you're juggling multiple deadlines come the autumn.
Your autumn trust fundraising plan
A well prepared autumn pipeline isn't just a list of applications. It's a plan - for your time, your relationships, your stewardship and your reporting.
It's a pipeline that tells you, immediately, what needs your attention first. What relationships need warming. What reports are coming due. What opportunities are worth getting in the diary.
August and early September are your windows to build that plan. Use it well and the autumn will feel so much more manageable.
Prepare your proposals before the rush
The Proposal Matrix is a template for gathering everything a funder will ask for, in one place, before you start writing. Fill it in for your priority projects in August and the September applications start from something rather than nothing. Free to download.