How to leverage organisational strengthening for fundraising success

As an organisation with a maximum of five staff members at any given time, every team member carries multiple responsibilities simultaneously. One of the most acute tensions we experienced was the need to continue quality programme implementation while at the same time developing new funding proposals.

Proposal development is a specialised, time-intensive task. For FAITH, this responsibility falls primarily on the Executive Director. The core challenge was that without dedicated, funded time for fundraising, this critical organisational function could easily be crowded out by day-to-day programme delivery. Organisations like us often cannot afford to hire specialist proposal writers, and the ratio of applications submitted to grants won means that significant effort must be invested consistently, with no guaranteed return.

A further and often overlooked challenge is the nature of advocacy work itself. Unlike service delivery, where results can be measured within a project cycle, advocacy outcomes take time – sometimes years – to materialise. Policy change, shifts in social norms, and the empowerment of marginalised communities are long-term processes. This means that an organisation must remain present, active, and financially sustained well beyond any single grant period to see the fruits of its work. Funding gaps or organisational instability do not just pause advocacy; they can reverse hard-won gains and break trust with the communities being served. Continuity of funding is therefore not just an organisational concern; it is a programmatic and ethical one.

There is also a common and understandable pressure on organisations to allocate as much of their budget as possible directly to programme activities, either driven by their own commitment to impact, or because traditional donors simply do not allow for organisational strengthening in their budgets. Even in cases where donors do support organisational strengthening funding, it can go underused, often to the long-term detriment of the organisation’s sustainability and resilience.

Additionally, without formal organisational strategies, policies, and documented systems in place, organisations risked appearing less credible or less “donor-ready” when approaching new and larger funders.

FAITH tackled these challenges by making deliberate and strategic use of AmplifyChange’s organisational capacity building component, which allows up to 40% of the total grant budget to be directed toward strengthening the organisation itself. Key steps included:

• Building rigour through compliance: Going through AmplifyChange’s thorough due diligence processes prepared FAITH to meet the standards expected by a wide range of other funders, making the organisation more competitive overall.
• Investing in organisational infrastructure: Capacity building funds were used to develop organisational strategies, institutional policies, and core documentation. These materials demonstrate FAITH’s values, ways of working, and strategic direction, essential for presenting a credible and professional profile to new potential donors.
• Protecting time for fundraising: AmplifyChange approved dedicated space in the Executive Director’s timesheet for proposal development. This was transformative; it meant that fundraising was treated as a legitimate, funded activity rather than something squeezed into leftover hours.
• Building capacity and organisational sustainability: Media advocacy is at the core of FAITH’s organisational approach. AmplifyChange’s support allowed us to enhance and strengthen that existing capacity further.

Through programme activities, we developed materials primarily for advocacy and social norms reform, and crucially, AmplifyChange’s flexibility allowed us to repurpose those same materials for fundraising visibility. Our programme works and our fundraising efforts reinforce each other.

As a direct result of these investments, in 2025 FAITH successfully won a one-million-dollar grant for a mental health programme, one of the most significant achievements in the organisation’s history.

• Fundraising must be resourced, not assumed. It is not realistic to expect proposal development to happen as an afterthought. Treating it as a funded function within a staff member’s timesheet is essential, especially for organisations like us.
• Capacity building is not a luxury; it is a fundraising strategy. Investing in organisational policies, strategies, and systems directly strengthens your ability to attract new donors and win larger grants.
• Compliance builds credibility. Engaging seriously with a rigorous donor’s due diligence processes, though demanding, builds organisational muscle that pays dividends when approaching other funders.
• Diversification is survival. Continuously expanding your programmatic areas around a coherent organisational mission reduces dependency on any single funding stream and signals strategic maturity to donors.
• Innovation requires permission to fail. Having flexible capacity building funding creates space to try new approaches and to learn from what does not work, without it threatening core programme delivery.

• Advocate for funded time for fundraising. Include fundraising and business development as a legitimate line item in staff timesheets. Most donors who support capacity building will understand this need.
• Use capacity building funds strategically. Do not treat this budget line as miscellaneous. Prioritise developing the organisational documents such as strategic plans, financial policies, HR policies, and safeguarding frameworks that new donors will ask for during due diligence.
• See donor compliance as an asset. The rigour of meeting one demanding donor’s standards prepares you for many others. Document your processes and use them as evidence of organisational strength.
• Build a strong organisational identity. Knowing clearly what your values are, how you work, and where you are heading is not just internally useful; it is your pitch to the next donor.
• Invest in visibility which allows you to generate materials that serve both advocacy and fundraising purposes simultaneously.
• Plan for diversification early. Do not wait until one funding stream ends to think about new ones. Use periods of relative stability to explore adjacent programmatic areas that align with your mission.
• Start small and learn. You do not need to transform overnight. Each grant cycle is an opportunity to improve your internal systems, and your fundraising approach incrementally.

We recognise that not every organisation has a donor as flexible and supportive as ours has been. The willingness of AmplifyChange to fund organisational capacity building is not universal, and we are deeply grateful for it. Our message to other grantees is: you have this opportunity, use it fully and use it intentionally. Too often, organisations underutilise capacity building budgets out of uncertainty about what is allowable or appropriate.

We also want to acknowledge the broader environment honestly. Shrinking civic space and declining international funding for women’ s health and rights-based programmes is a real and serious threat. No organisational strategy can fully insulate any advocacy organisation from these pressures. But being a stronger, more credible, more visible, and more diversified organisation gives us the best possible chance of continuing our work and sustaining the communities you serve.