12-month nonprofit fundraising plan template

Workbook preview: a complete fictional fundraising plan

Riverton Community Workshop is an invented community arts organization planning its 2027 workshops. It needs $26,000 in cash available for the program, after the direct costs of its fundraising events and paid sessions. Every amount below is an illustrative target; no grant, sponsor, gift, or other receipt is committed.

The download has a blank Plan sheet and a filled Example sheet. The preview below summarizes the same cash channels. The workbook lays January through December across columns and keeps each owner, next action, date, and assumption beside the figures.

The 12-month plan: receipts, owners, and next actions

Each amount belongs to the month the team hopes to receive the cash. The action dates are internal planning dates, not real funder deadlines. Applications and sponsor conversations begin earlier; confirm actual decision and payment dates. The Example sheet includes this monthly action schedule below the cash and in-kind tables.

Keep donated resources separate from cash

The fictional team also wants these resources. They add no dollars to the $26,000 cash target. If a donation replaces a planned purchase, revise the expense budget so the same need is not counted twice. If it falls through, fund the purchase or adjust the project scope.

Use the workbook for your own planning year

1. 1

   Download and open the XLSX workbook in Excel. Keep the Example sheet as a reference and enter your own figures in Plan. Name Month 1 through Month 12 for your planning year.

2. 2

   Enter your cash channels, owners, next actions, and action dates. Put each target in its expected receipt month, using your own donor history, program rules, and capacity.

3. 3

   Replace the illustrative assumptions. For events and earned income, use net amounts after direct costs. Review whether restricted receipts can fund the intended work.

4. 4

   Use a numeric zero when no cash is planned; leave unknown targets blank and explain them in Status and assumptions. Year and monthly totals calculate from numeric inputs.

5. 5

   Record goods and services in the separate in-kind section. For a monthly action schedule, adapt the schedule on Example and check that its dates match your planning year.

6. 6

   Review actual receipts and commitments separately each month. This workbook plans fundraising targets; it does not reconcile bank receipts or model expenditure timing.

Start with the work and the funding gap

Confirm the program scope and working budget before choosing revenue targets. List the resources already committed and the remaining gap. Keep restricted support attached to the purpose it can fund; a large organization-wide total can hide an unfunded activity or a timing problem.

Choose the 12-month period explicitly. The workbook provides Month 1 through Month 12 so it can follow your fiscal year or project season. Name those months when you begin. The fictional example demonstrates the structure rather than predicting what your organization can raise.

Choose channels you can actually pursue

Separate an ask from money available to spend

An application deadline, funding decision, and payment date can be different. Place a cash target in the month you plan to receive it, then record the related proposal or relationship work earlier in the schedule. Mark uncertainty in the notes instead of treating an application as a confirmed award.

Keep donated goods and services in their own resource plan. They can meet a specific need, but adding an estimated in-kind value to cash receipts can make available spending money look larger than it is. The workbook keeps those two views separate.

Assign the next action

Review the plan each month