Essentials in Arts Fundraising (FutureLearn)

Write a compelling fundraising application

You’ll learn to identify the criteria and strategies of the organisations that you are approaching. This knowledge will help you understand how to present a strong business case that explains the return on investment of your proposal and a clear budget that quickly shows what you’re trying to achieve.

Explore corporate sponsorship

You’ll be introduced to corporate sponsorship and understand what corporations are looking for when seeking partnerships with arts organisations. You’ll learn the benefits and challenges of working with a corporate partner and how to effectively identify, research, and approach partners that best represent your organisation’s unique values.

Design campaigns that promote individual giving and learn about digital fundraising

You’ll discover different types of individual giving programmes, understand what motivates people to give, and will design strategies to encourage donors to give. You’ll then be introduced to digital fundraising before exploring crowdfunding and how to develop appealing propositions suitable for your audiences.

What topics will you cover?

- Introduction to fundraising, what makes effective and sustainable fundraising, and assessing potential income streams.

- Writing effective fundraising applications.

- Developing corporate sponsorship programmes: design, implementation, ethics and evaluation.

- Creating individual giving schemes and exploring the different motivations of donors.

- Making the most of digital fundraising possibilities.

- Approaches to fundraising at times of crisis.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- Investigate different sources of income and their potential for your organisation

- Explore tools and tips for writing effective fundraising applications that reflect your organisation’s values and activities

- Identify how to select appropriate corporate prospects, develop compelling proposals, and apply the language skills necessary to attract and sell arts programmes to businesses

- Identify individual giving prospects by comparing and contrasting what motivates people to give, the internal and external factors that can influence donor relationships, and different fundraising opportunities that can target individual donors

- Evaluate strategies for online fundraising and assess the usefulness of different tools to make the most out of digital fundraising

- Evaluate fundraising strategies to manage risks and build resilience in times of crisis and for fundraising in the future
Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone working in the arts and culture industry who wants to take their first steps in fundraising.

It will be useful to businesses, artists, leaders, managers, trustees, volunteers and learners who are new to fundraising or require a refresher.