I serve on a charity board, and I work with leaders of charities, churches and community groups across Perth and the Peel region. One pattern shows up again and again. I call it the fundraising sprint.
It goes like this. The bank balance gets low. Everyone panics. A big push begins: grant applications, an appeal, a few desperate phone calls. People work nights and weekends. The money comes in, or some of it does. The team is exhausted. Then everyone goes back to the real work, and six months later the sprint starts again.
The sprint is not a character flaw. It is what happens when funding has no system. A nonprofit funding pipeline is the system.
What a pipeline is
A pipeline is a single page that lists every funding opportunity you have, with where each one sits right now. That is all it is.
Each line has the same few details:
- The opportunity. A grant, a regular giver program, a partner, a fee for service, a major gift.
- The stage. Idea, researching, preparing, submitted, waiting, won, lost or renewing.
- The amount. What you honestly expect to receive, not what you hope for.
- The owner. One named person.
- The next date. The next thing that needs to happen, and when.
The stages matter because they show you the shape of your funding. A page full of ideas and nothing submitted is a very different story from a page full of things you are waiting on.
How to build it in an afternoon
First, list every source you have now. Every grant, every regular giver group, every partner, every earned income stream. Include the small ones.
Second, list every source you could pursue. Think across five groups: grants, regular givers, partners and sponsors, earned income, and major gifts. Most organisations I meet have strong ideas in one or two groups and a blank in the rest. The blanks are worth noticing.
Third, put each line on the page in its stage. Be plain about it. If you have not started, it is an idea. If you applied in March and have heard nothing, it is waiting.
Fourth, estimate honestly. Write down what you think each line is worth, and how likely it is. This is the hard part, and I will come back to it below.
Fifth, decide the next action and the date for every line. Not "follow up". Something like "ring the program officer by the 15th". Then give each line one owner.
When you finish, you will have the whole picture on one page, probably for the first time. Some leaders feel relief at that point. Others feel a bit sick.
The monthly rhythm
A pipeline only works if you look at it regularly. Set aside 45 minutes, on the same day each month. First Tuesday, last Friday, whatever suits you. Put it in the diary and protect it.
In those 45 minutes you do four things:
- Move things along. Anything that has changed stage gets updated.
- Kill the dead ones. If a funder has said no, or you have decided it is not worth the effort, take it off the live list.
- Add new ones. Every month, ask what you have heard about that might be worth pursuing.
- Check every next date. If one has passed, someone needs to act or reset it.
Then report three numbers to the board: what is in the pipeline, what has been submitted, and what has been won this year. That is the whole report. Three numbers and a short conversation.
Why it works
Nothing depends on one source. When you can see ten lines, you stop betting the year on a single grant round.
Deadlines stop surprising you. A date on the page, with an owner, is very different from a date in someone's memory.
The board can see the whole picture. Directors often feel anxious about funding because they cannot see it. A page they can read each month turns worry into useful questions.
And the leader stops carrying it all in their head. I have watched this one change how people feel. When the pipeline holds it, you can think about something else on the weekend.
Common mistakes
Too many lines. If the page runs to four pages, nobody will read it. Keep it to the opportunities that are real. Park the rest.
No owner. A line that belongs to "the team" belongs to nobody. Put one name on it.
Pretending a 20 per cent chance is 80. It is tempting to be hopeful, especially when the bank balance is low. But a pipeline built on hope gives the board false comfort, and the shock comes later. If you are unsure, mark it low. You can always be pleasantly surprised.
Never removing losses. A lost line that stays on the page makes the total look better than it is. Mark it lost, note what you learned, and clear it. Some can move to renewing or be tried again next round.
Tools
A simple spreadsheet is enough. One tab, one row per opportunity, the columns above. Plenty of the organisations I work with run theirs this way and it does the job well.
TenXed clients keep theirs in the TenXed app, which keeps the stages, owners and dates in one place and makes the monthly board numbers quick to pull. But the tool is not the point. The habit is.
Where to start
Block out one afternoon this week and build the first version of your nonprofit funding pipeline. It will be rough, and that is fine.
If you want a clearer picture of where your organisation stands first, take the free five-minute quick check. And if you would like help setting the pipeline up, book a free hour with me and we will start on it together.