example of a charity business plan

Charity Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Charity Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their charity companies. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a charity business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Charity Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your charity business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Charity

If you’re looking to start a charity business or grow your existing charity company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your charity business to improve your chances of success. Your charity business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Charity Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a charity business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and major donors . When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan (hand it to them in person or email to them as a PDF file) and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Donations and bank loans are the most common funding paths for charity companies.

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How to write a business plan for a charity business.

If you want to start a charity business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide and sample below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your charity business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of charity business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a charity business that you would like to grow, or are you operating more than one charity business?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. 

• Give a brief overv iew of the charity business industry. 
• Discuss the type of charity business you are operating. 
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. 
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team. 
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of charity business you are operating.

For example, you m ight specialize in one of the following types of charity businesses:

• Public charity business: A charity business that is defined by the Internal Revenue Service as a “public service support,” is one that benefits the public at large. This may include chambers of commerce, labor unions, and certain types of insurance companies. If a charity business fits within the specifications set by the IRS, the charity is considered a 501c3 entity, and receives preferential tax treatment.
• Private charity business: By far, the majority of charities fall within the category of “private charities,” which can be identified as serving a specific group of people. This may include philanthropic foundations, churches or synagogues, and other clubs or associations that serve via a privately-funded means. If a private charity business fits within the specifications set by the IRS, the charity is considered a 501c3 entity and receives preferential tax treatment.

In addition to explaining the type of charity business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of people served, the number of charitable outcomes, reaching X number of geographic locations, etc.
• Your legal business structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the charity business industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the charity business industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating. 

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your charity business business plan:

• How big is the charity business industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your charity business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Donor Analysis

The donor analysis section of your charity business plan must detail the individuals or business entities who donate or those you expect to donate to your charitable business. 

The following are examples of donor segments: individuals, families, foundations and corporations.

As you can imagine, the donor segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of charity business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target donors in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential donors you seek.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target donors . The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your donors . Ideally you can speak with a sample of your target donors before writing your plan to better understand their needs.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are othe r charity businesses. 

Indirect competitors are other options that donors may contribute to that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes service-related charitable endeavors, private foundations, and organizations that serve specific communities, etc. You need to mention direct competition, as well.

For each direct competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of donors do they solicit ?
• What type of charity business are they?
• What is their donation model (cash, assets, estate-wealth)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the donors’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ donors what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide recognition for all your donors?
• Will you offer premium products or services for your top-tier donors?
• Will you provide consistent communication with your donors?
• Will you offer directorships or preferential placement for your donors?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a charity business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type o f charity company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide food for the homeless population? Will you improve the neighborhood park? Will you invest in artwork on behalf of your charity to support the art world? 

Value : Document the specific value your charity provides and how that compares to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of yo ur plan, yo u are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their respective values.

Place : Place refers to the site of your charity company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your charity business located in an affluent neighborhood, a warehouse, a standalone office, or is it purely online? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for the donors who contribute and the services you provide.

Promotions : The final part of your charity business marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential donors and charitable recipients to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Reach out to websites 
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your charity business, including answering calls, planning and providing fund-raising events or campaigns, correspondence with donors and charitable recipients, and maintaining records of acts of service.  

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your Xth charity recipient, or when you hope to reach $X in donations. It could also be when you expect to expand your charity business to a new city.

Management Team

To demonstrate your charity business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company. 

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing charity businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a charity business or top-tier donors who are regularly involved in your charity business. 

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your donation and gift income statement, balance s heet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. In a charity business, profits can be made through sales; however, the majority of income is received from donor gifts and activity. Your income statement will show several avenues of income as a result. It will demonstrate your receipts and then subtract your costs to show the IRS the activity of your 501c3 organization. 

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you hold 5 donor events each year, and/or offer acts of service weekly ? And will your charity business grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your charity business, this will not give you an immediate return on the investment. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you maintain your charity business for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can generate gifts or assets , but run out of money and go bankrupt. 

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a charity business business:

• Cost of equipment and office supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your list of top-tier donors, or examples of how your charity has changed lives or communities for the better. 

Writing a business plan for your charity business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the charity business industry, your competition, and your donors. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful charity business.

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Charity business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how a Growthink business plan consultant can create your business plan for you.  

Charity Business Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my charity business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your charity business plan.

How Do You Start a Charity Business?

Starting a charity business is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Charity Business
• Create Your Charity Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Charity Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Your Charity Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Charity Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Charity Business
• Buy or Lease the Right Charity Business Equipment
• Develop Your Charity Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Charity Business
• Open for Business

Where Can I Download a Free Business Plan Template PDF?

Click here to download the pdf version of our basic business plan template.

Our free business plan template pdf allows you to see the key sections to complete in your plan and the key questions that each must answer. The business plan pdf will definitely get you started in the right direction.

We do offer a premium version of our business plan template. Click here to learn more about it. The premium version includes numerous features allowing you to quickly and easily create a professional business plan. Its most touted feature is its financial projections template which allows you to simply enter your estimated sales and growth rates, and it automatically calculates your complete five-year financial projections including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. Here’s the link to our Ultimate Business Plan Template.

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.  

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Free Nonprofit Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | September 18, 2020

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In this article, we’ve rounded up the most useful list of nonprofit business plan templates, all free to download in Word, PDF, and Excel formats.

Included on this page, you’ll find a one-page nonprofit business plan template , a fill-in-the-blank nonprofit business plan template , a startup nonprofit business planning timeline template , and more. Plus, we provide helpful tips for creating your nonprofit business plan .

Nonprofit Business Plan Template

Use this customizable nonprofit business plan template to organize your nonprofit organization’s mission and goals and convey them to stakeholders. This template includes space for information about your nonprofit’s background, objectives, management team, program offerings, market analysis, promotional activities, funding sources, fundraising methods, and much more. 

Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template

One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Template

This one-page nonprofit business plan template has a simple and scannable design to outline the key details of your organization’s strategy. This template includes space to detail your mission, vision, and purpose statements, as well as the problems you aim to solve in your community, the people who benefit from your program offerings, your key marketing activities, your financial goals, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Template

Excel | Word | PDF

For additional resources, including an example of a one-page business plan , visit “ One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide .”

Fill-In-the-Blank Nonprofit Business Plan Template

Use this fill-in-the-blank template as the basis for building a thorough business plan for a nonprofit organization. This template includes space to describe your organization’s background, purpose, and main objectives, as well as key personnel, program and service offerings, market analysis, promotional activities, fundraising methods, and more. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Nonprofit Business Plan Template

For additional resources that cater to a wide variety of organizations, visit “ Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates .”

Startup Nonprofit Business Planning Template with Timeline

Use this business planning template to organize and schedule key activities for your business. Fill in the cells according to the due dates, and color-code the cells by phase, owner, or category to provide a visual timeline of progress.

Download Startup Nonprofit Business Planning Template with Timeline

Excel | Smartsheet

Nonprofit Business Plan Template for Youth Program

Use this template as a foundation for building a powerful and attractive nonprofit business plan for youth programs and services. This template has all the core components of a nonprofit business plan. It includes room to detail the organization’s background, management team key personnel, current and future youth program offerings, promotional activities, operations plan, financial statements, and much more.

Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template for Youth Program

Word | PDF  | Google Doc

Sample Nonprofit Business Plan Outline Template

You can customize this sample nonprofit business plan outline to fit the specific needs of your organization. To ensure that you don’t miss any essential details, use this outline to help you prepare and organize the elements of your plan before filling in each section.

Download Sample Nonprofit Business Plan Outline Template

Nonprofit Startup Business Planning Checklist Template

Use this customizable business planning checklist as the basis for outlining the necessary steps to get your nonprofit organization up and running. You can customize this checklist to fit your individual needs. It includes essential steps, such as conducting a SWOT analysis , fulfilling the research requirements specific to your state, conducting a risk assessment , defining roles and responsibilities, creating a portal for board members, and other tasks to keep your plan on track.

Download Nonprofit Startup Business Planning Checklist Template

Tips to Create Your Nonprofit Business Plan

Your nonprofit business plan should provide your donors, volunteers, and other key stakeholders with a clear picture of your overarching mission and objectives. Below, we share our top tips for ensuring that your plan is attractive and thorough.

• Develop a Strategy First: You must aim before you fire if you want to be effective. In other words, develop a strategic plan for your nonprofit in order to provide your team with direction and a roadmap before you build your business plan.
• Save Time with a Template: No need to start from scratch when you can use a customizable nonprofit business plan template to get started. (Download one of the options above.)
• Start with What You Have: With the exception of completing the executive summary, which you must do last, you aren’t obligated to fill in each section of the plan in order. Use the information you have on hand to begin filling in the various parts of your business plan, then conduct additional research to fill in the gaps.
• Ensure Your Information Is Credible: Back up all the details in your plan with reputable sources that stakeholders can easily reference.
• Be Realistic: Use realistic assumptions and numbers in your financial statements and forecasts. Avoid the use of overly lofty or low-lying projections, so stakeholders feel more confident about your plan. 
• Strive for Scannability: Keep each section clear and concise. Use bullet points where appropriate, and avoid large walls of text. 
• Use Visuals: Add tables, charts, and other graphics to draw the eye and support key points in the plan.
• Be Consistent: Keep the voice and formatting (e.g., font style and size) consistent throughout the plan to maintain a sense of continuity.
• Stay True to Your Brand: Make sure that the tone, colors, and overall style of the business plan are a true reflection of your organization’s brand.
• Proofread Before Distribution: Prior to distributing the plan to stakeholders, have a colleague proofread the rough version to check for errors and ensure that the plan is polished.
• Don’t Set It and Forget It: You should treat your nonprofit business plan as a living document that you need to review and update on a regular basis — as objectives change and your organization grows.
• Use an Effective Collaboration Tool: Use an online tool to accomplish the following: collaborate with key personnel on all components of the business plan; enable version control for all documents; and keep resources in one accessible place.

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Business Planning for Nonprofits

Business planning is a way of systematically answering questions such as, “What problem(s) are we trying to solve?” or “What are we trying to achieve?” and also, “Who will get us there, by when, and how much money and other resources will it take?”

The business planning process takes into account the nonprofit’s mission and vision, the role of the board, and external environmental factors, such as the climate for fundraising.

Ideally, the business planning process also critically examines basic assumptions about the nonprofit’s operating environment. What if the sources of income that exist today change in the future? Is the nonprofit too reliant on one foundation for revenue? What happens if there’s an economic downturn?

A business plan can help the nonprofit and its board be prepared for future risks. What is the likelihood that the planned activities will continue as usual, and that revenue will continue at current levels – and what is Plan B if they don't?

Narrative of a business plan

You can think of a business plan as a narrative or story explaining how the nonprofit will operate given its activities, its sources of revenue, its expenses, and the inevitable changes in its internal and external environments over time. Ideally, your plan will tell the story in a way that will make sense to someone not intimately familiar with the nonprofit’s operations.

According to  Propel Nonprofits , business plans usually should have four components that identify revenue sources/mix; operations costs; program costs; and capital structure.

A business plan outlines the expected income sources to support the charitable nonprofit's activities. What types of revenue will the nonprofit rely on to keep its engine running – how much will be earned, how much from government grants or contracts, how much will be contributed? Within each of those broad categories, how much diversification exists, and should they be further diversified? Are there certain factors that need to be in place in order for today’s income streams to continue flowing?

The plan should address the everyday costs needed to operate the organization, as well as costs of specific programs and activities.

The plan may include details about the need for the organization's services (a needs assessment), the likelihood that certain funding will be available (a feasibility study), or changes to the organization's technology or staffing that will be needed in the future.

Another aspect of a business plan could be a "competitive analysis" describing what other entities may be providing similar services in the nonprofit's service and mission areas. What are their sources of revenue and staffing structures? How do their services and capacities differ from those of your nonprofit?

Finally, the business plan should name important assumptions, such as the organization's reserve policies. Do your nonprofit’s policies require it to have at least six months of operating cash on hand? Do you have different types of cash reserves that require different levels of board approval to release?

The idea is to identify the known, and take into consideration the unknown, realities of the nonprofit's operations, and propose how the nonprofit will continue to be financially healthy.  If the underlying assumptions or current conditions change, then having a plan can be useful to help identify adjustments that must be made to respond to changes in the nonprofit's operating environment.

Basic format of a business plan

The format may vary depending on the audience. A business plan prepared for a bank to support a loan application may be different than a business plan that board members use as the basis for budgeting. Here is a typical outline of the format for a business plan:

• Table of contents
• Executive summary - Name the problem the nonprofit is trying to solve: its mission, and how it accomplishes its mission.
• People: overview of the nonprofit’s board, staffing, and volunteer structure and who makes what happen
• Market opportunities/competitive analysis
• Programs and services: overview of implementation
• Contingencies: what could change?
• Financial health: what is the current status, and what are the sources of revenue to operate programs and advance the mission over time?
• Assumptions and proposed changes: What needs to be in place for this nonprofit to continue on sound financial footing?

More About Business Planning

Budgeting for Nonprofits

Strategic Planning

Contact your state association of nonprofits  for support and resources related to business planning, strategic planning, and other fundamentals of nonprofit leadership. 

Additional Resources

• Components of transforming nonprofit business models  (Propel Nonprofits)
• The matrix map: a powerful tool for nonprofit sustainability  (Nonprofit Quarterly)
• The Nonprofit Business Plan: A Leader's Guide to Creating a Successful Business Model  (David La Piana, Heather Gowdy, Lester Olmstead-Rose, and Brent Copen, Turner Publishing)
• Nonprofit Earned Income: Critical Business Model Considerations for Nonprofits (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
• Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability  (Jan Masaoka, Steve Zimmerman, and Jeanne Bell)

Disclaimer: Information on this website is provided for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be nor should be construed as legal, accounting, tax, investment, or financial advice. Please consult a professional (attorney, accountant, tax advisor) for the latest and most accurate information. The National Council of Nonprofits makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein.

Raise More & Grow Your Nonprofit.

The complete guide to writing a nonprofit business plan.

August 14, 2019

Leadership & Management

July 7, 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statistics from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) show that there are over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations currently operating in the U.S. alone. Many of these organizations are hard at work helping people in need and addressing the great issues of our time. However, doing good work doesn’t necessarily translate into long-term success and financial stability. Other information has shown that around 12% of non-profits don’t make it past the 5-year mark, and this number expands to 17% at the 10-year mark.

12% of non-profits don’t make it past the 5-year mark and 17% at the 10-year mark

There are a variety of challenges behind these sobering statistics. In many cases, a nonprofit can be sunk before it starts due to a lack of a strong nonprofit business plan. Below is a complete guide to understanding why a nonprofit needs a business plan in place, and how to construct one, piece by piece.

The purpose of a nonprofit business plan

A business plan for a nonprofit is similar to that of a for-profit business plan, in that you want it to serve as a clear, complete roadmap for your organization. When your plan is complete, questions such as "what goals are we trying to accomplish?" or "what is the true purpose of our organization?" should be clear and simple to answer.

Your nonprofit business plan should provide answers to the following questions:

1. What activities do you plan to pursue in order to meet the organization’s high level goals?

2. What's your plan on getting revenue to fund these activities?

3. What are your operating costs and specifically how do these break down?

Note that there’s a difference between a business plan and a strategic plan, though there may be some overlap. A strategic plan is more conceptual, with different ideas you have in place to try and meet the organization’s greater vision (such as fighting homelessness or raising climate change awareness). A business plan serves as an action plan because it provides, in as much detail as possible, the specifics on how you’re going to execute your strategy.

More Reading

• What is the Difference Between a Business Plan and a Strategic Plan?
• Business Planning for Nonprofits

Creating a nonprofit business plan

With this in mind, it’s important to discuss the individual sections of a nonprofit business plan. Having a proper plan in a recognizable format is essential for a variety of reasons. On your business’s end, it makes sure that as many issues or questions you may encounter are addressed up front. For outside entities, such as potential volunteers or donors, it shows that their time and energy will be managed well and put to good use. So, how do you go from conceptual to concrete?

Step 1: Write a mission statement

‍ Having a mission statement is essential for any company, but even more so for nonprofits. Your markers of success are not just how the organization performs financially, but the impact it makes for your cause.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating a mission statement. A strong mission statement clarifies why your organization exists and determines the direction of activities.

At the head of their ethics page , NPR has a mission statement that clearly and concisely explains why they exist. From this you learn:

• The key point of their mission: creating a more informed public that understands new ideas and cultures
• Their mechanism of executing that vision: providing and reporting news/info that meets top journalistic standards
• Other essential details: their partnership with their membership statement

You should aim for the same level of clarity and brevity in your own mission statement.

The goal of a mission statement isn’t just about being able to showcase things externally, but also giving your internal team something to realign them if they get off track.

For example, if you're considering a new program or services, you can always check the idea against the mission statement. Does it align with your higher level goal and what your organization is ultimately trying to achieve? A mission statement is a compass to guide your team and keep the organization aligned and focused.

Step 2: Collect the data

‍ You can’t prepare for the future without some data from the past and present. This can range from financial data if you’re already in operation to secured funding if you’re getting ready to start.

Data related to operations and finances (such as revenue, expenses, taxes, etc.) is crucial for budgeting and organizational decisions.

You'll also want to collect data about your target donor. Who are they in terms of their income, demographics, location, etc. and what is the best way to reach them? Every business needs to market, and answering these demographic questions are crucial to targeting the right audience in a marketing campaign. You'll also need data about marketing costs collected from your fundraising, marketing, and CRM software and tools. This data can be extremely important for demonstrating the effectiveness of a given fundraising campaign or the organization as a whole.  

Then there is data that nonprofits collect from third-party sources as to how to effectively address their cause, such as shared data from other nonprofits and data from governments.

By properly collecting and interpreting the above data, you can build your nonprofit to not only make an impact, but also ensure the organization is financially sustainable.

Step 3: Create an outline

Before you begin writing your plan, it’s important to have an outline of the  sections of your plan. Just like an academic essay, it’s easier to make sure all the points are addressed by taking inventory of high level topics first. If you create an outline and find you don’t have all the materials you need to fill it, you may need to go back to the data collection stage.

Writing an outline gives you something simple to read that can easily be circulated to your team for input. Maybe some of your partners will want to emphasize an area that you missed or an area that needs more substance.

Having an outline makes it easier for you to create an organized, well-flowing piece. Each section needs to be clear on its own, but you also don’t want to be overly repetitive. 

As a side-note, one area where a lot of business novices  stall in terms of getting their plans off the ground is not knowing what format to choose or start with. The good news is there are a lot of resources available online for you to draw templates for from your plan, or just inspire one of your own.

Using a business plan template

You may want to use a template as a starting point for your business plan. The major benefit here is that a lot of the outlining work that we mentioned is already done for you. However, you may not want to follow the template word for word. A nonprofit business plan may require additional sections or parts that aren’t included in a conventional business plan template.

The best way to go about this is to try and focus less on copying the template, and more about copying the spirit of the template. For example, if you see a template that you like, you can keep the outline, but you may want to change the color scheme and font to better reflect your brand. And of course, all your text should be unique.

When it comes to adding a new section to a business plan template, for the most part, you can use your judgment. We will get into specific sections in a bit, but generally, you just want to pair your new section with the existing section that makes the most sense. For example, if your non-profit has retail sales as a part of a financial plan, you can include that along with the products, services and programs section.

• Free Nonprofit Sample Business Plans - Bplans
• Non-Profit Business Plan Template - Growthink
• Sample Nonprofit Business Plans - Bridgespan
• Nonprofit Business Plan Template - Slidebean
• 23+ Non Profit Business Plan Templates - Template.net

Nonprofit business plan sections

The exact content is going to vary based on the size, purpose, and nature of your nonprofit. However, there are certain sections that every business plan will need to have for investors, donors, and lenders to take you seriously. Generally, your outline will be built around the following main sections:

1. Executive summary

Many people write this last, even though it comes first in a business plan. This is because the executive summary is designed to be a general summary of the business plan as a whole. Naturally, it may be easier to write this after the rest of the business plan has been completed.

After reading your executive summary a person should ideally have a general idea of what the entire plan covers. Sometimes, a person may be interested in learning about your non-profit, but doesn’t have time to read a 20+ page document. In this case, the executive summary could be the difference between whether or not you land a major donor. 

As a start, you want to cover the basic need your nonprofit services, why that need exists, and the way you plan to address that need. The goal here is to tell the story as clearly and and concisely as possible. If the person is sold and wants more details, they can read through the rest of your business plan. 

2. Products/Services/Programs

This is the space where you can clarify exactly what your non-profit does. Think of it as explaining the way your nonprofit addresses that base need you laid out earlier. This can vary a lot based on what type of non-profit you’re running. 

This page gives us some insight into the mechanisms Bucks County Historical Society uses to further their mission, which is “to educate and engage its many audiences in appreciating the past and to help people find stories and meanings relevant to their lives—both today and in the future.”

They accomplish this goal through putting together both permanent exhibits as well as regular events at their primary museum. However, in a non-profit business plan, you need to go further. 

It’s important here not only to clearly explain who benefits from your services, but also the specific details how those services are provided. For example, saying you “help inner-city school children” isn’t specific enough. Are you providing education or material support? Your non-profit business plan readers need as much detail as possible using simple and clear language. 

3. Marketing

For a non-profit to succeed, it needs to have a steady stream of both donors and volunteers. Marketing plays a key role here as it does in a conventional business. This section should outline who your target audience is, and what you’ve already done/plan on doing to reach this audience. How you explain this is going to vary based on what stage your non-profit is in. We’ll split this section to make it more clear.

Nonprofits not in operation

‍ Obviously, it’s difficult to market an idea effectively if you’re not in operation, but you still need to have a marketing plan in place. People who want to support your non-profit need to understand your marketing plan to attract donors. You need to profile all the data you have about your target market and outline how you plan to reach this audience.

Nonprofits already in operation

‍ Marketing plans differ greatly for nonprofits already in operation. If your nonprofit is off the ground, you want to include data about your target market as well, along with other key details.  Describe all your current marketing efforts, from events to general outreach, to conventional types of marketing like advertisements and email plans. Specific details are important. By the end of this, the reader should know:

• What type of marketing methods your organization prefers
• Why you’ve chosen these methods
• The track record of success using these methods
• What the costs and ROI of a marketing campaign

4. Operations

This is designed to serve as the “how” of your Products/Services/Programs section.

For example, if your goal is to provide school supplies for inner-city schoolchildren, you’ll need to explain how you will procure the supplies and distribute them to kids in need. Again, detail is essential. A reader should be able to understand not only how your non-profit operates on a daily basis, but also how it executes any task in the rest of the plan.

If your marketing plan says that you hold community events monthly to drum up interest. Who is in charge of the event? How are they run? How much do they cost?  What personnel or volunteers are needed for each event?  Where are the venues?

This is also a good place to cover additional certifications or insurance that your non-profit needs in order to execute these operations, and your current progress towards obtaining them. 

Your operations section should also have a space dedicated to your team. The reason for this is, just like any other business plan, is that the strength of an organization lies in the people running it.

For example, let’s look at this profile from The Nature Conservancy . The main points of the biography are to showcase Chief Development Officer Jim Asp’s work history as it is relevant to his job. You’ll want to do something similar in your business plan’s team section.

Equally important is making sure that you cover any staff changes that you plan to implement in the near future in your business plan. The reason for this is that investors/partners may not want to sign on assuming that one leadership team is in place, only for it to change when the business reaches a certain stage. 

The sections we’ve been talking about would also be in a traditional for profit business plan. We start to deviate a bit at this point. The impact section is designed to outline the social change you plan to make with your organization, and how your choices factor into those goals.

Remember the thoughts that go into that mission statement we mentioned before? This is your chance to show how you plan to address that mission with your actions, and how you plan to track your progress.

Let’s revisit the idea of helping inner-city school children by providing school supplies. What exactly is the metric you’re going to use to determine your success? For-profit businesses can have their finances as their primary KPI, but it’s not that easy for non-profits. Let’s say that your mission is to provide 1,000 schoolchildren in an underserved school district supplies for their classes. Your impact plan could cover two metrics:

• How many supplies are distributed
• Secondary impact (improved grades, classwork completed, etc).

The primary goal of this section is to transform that vision into concrete, measurable goals and objectives. A great acronym to help you create these are S.M.A.R.T. goals which stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. ‍

Vitamin Angels does a good job of showing how their action supports the mission. Their goal of providing vitamins to mothers and children in developing countries has a concrete impact when we look at the numbers of how many children they service as well as how many countries they deliver to. As a non-profit business plan, it’s a good idea to include statistics like these to show exactly how close you are to your planned goals. 

6. Finances

Every non-profit needs funding to operate, and this all-important section details exactly how you plan to cover these financial needs. Your business plan can be strong in every other section, but if your financial planning is flimsy, it’s going to prove difficult to gather believers to your cause.

It's important to paint a complete, positive picture of your fundraising plans and ambitions. Generally, this entails the following parts:

• Current financial status, such as current assets, cash on hand, liabilities
• Projections based off of your existing financial data and forms
• Key financial documents, such as a balance sheet, income statements, and cash flow sheet
• Any grants or major contributions received
• Your plan for fundraising (this may overlap with your marketing section which is okay)
• Potential issues and hurdles to your funding plan
• Your plans to address those issues
• How you'll utilize surplus donations
• Startup costs (if your non-profit is not established yet)

In general, if you see something else that isn’t accounted for here, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and put the relevant information in. It’s better to have too much information than too little when it comes to finances, especially since there is usually a clear preference for transparent business culture.

• ‍ How to Make a Five-Year Budget Plan for a Nonprofit ‍
• Financial Transparency - National Council of Nonprofits

7. Appendix

Generally, this serves as a space to attach additional documents and elements that you may find useful for your business plan. This can include things like supplementary charts or a list of your board of directors. 

This is also a good place to put text or technical information that you think may be relevant to your business plan, but might be long-winded or difficult to read. A lot of the flow and structure concerns you have for a plan don’t really apply with an appendix.

In summary, while a non-profit may have very different goals than your average business, the ways that they reach those goals do have a lot of similarities with for-profit businesses. The best way to ensure your success is to have a clear, concrete vision and path to different milestones along the way. A solid, in-depth business plan also gives you something to refer back to when you are struggling and not sure where to turn.

Alongside your business plan, you also want to use tools and resources that promote efficiency at all levels. For example, every non-profit needs a consistent stream of donations to survive, so consider using a program like GiveForms that creates simple, accessible forms for your donors to easily make donations. Accounting and budgeting for these in your plans can pay dividends later on.

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Start » strategy, how to write a nonprofit business plan.

A nonprofit business plan ensures your organization’s fundraising and activities align with your core mission.

Every nonprofit needs a mission statement that demonstrates how the organization will support a social cause and provide a public benefit. A nonprofit business plan fleshes out this mission statement in greater detail. These plans include many of the same elements as a for-profit business plan, with a focus on fundraising, creating a board of directors, raising awareness, and staying compliant with IRS regulations. A nonprofit business plan can be instrumental in getting your organization off the ground successfully.

Start with your mission statement

The mission statement is foundational for your nonprofit organization. The IRS will review your mission statement in determining whether to grant you tax-exempt status. This statement also helps you recruit volunteers and staff, fundraise, and plan activities for the year.

[Read more: Writing a Mission Statement: A Step-by-Step Guide ]

Therefore, you should start your business plan with a clear mission statement in the executive summary. The executive summary can also cover, at a high level, the goals, vision, and unique strengths of your nonprofit organization. Keep this section brief, since you will be going into greater detail in later sections.

Identify a board of directors

Many business plans include a section identifying the people behind the operation: your key leaders, volunteers, and full-time employees. For nonprofits, it’s also important to identify your board of directors. The board of directors is ultimately responsible for hiring and managing the CEO of your nonprofit.

“Board members are the fiduciaries who steer the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure the nonprofit has adequate resources to advance its mission,” wrote the Council of Nonprofits.

As such, identify members of your board in your business plan to give potential donors confidence in the management of your nonprofit.

Be as realistic as possible about the impact you can make with the funding you hope to gain.

Describe your organization’s activities

In this section, provide more information about what your nonprofit does on a day-to-day basis. What products, training, education, or other services do you provide? What does your organization do to benefit the constituents identified in your mission statement? Here’s an example from the American Red Cross, courtesy of DonorBox :

“The American Red Cross carries out their mission to prevent and relieve suffering with five key services: disaster relief, supporting America’s military families, lifesaving blood, health and safety services, and international service.”

This section should be detailed and get into the operational weeds of how your business delivers on its mission statement. Explain the strategies your team will take to service clients, including outreach and marketing, inventory and equipment needs, a hiring plan, and other key elements.

Write a fundraising plan

This part is the most important element of your business plan. In addition to providing required financial statements (e.g., the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement), identify potential sources of funding for your nonprofit. These may include individual donors, corporate donors, grants, or in-kind support. If you are planning to host a fundraising event, put together a budget for that event and demonstrate the anticipated impact that event will have on your budget.

Create an impact plan

An impact plan ties everything together. It demonstrates how your fundraising and day-to-day activities will further your mission. For potential donors, it can make a very convincing case for why they should invest in your nonprofit.

“This section turns your purpose and motivation into concrete accomplishments your nonprofit wants to make and sets specific goals and objectives,” wrote DonorBox . “These define the real bottom line of your nonprofit, so they’re the key to unlocking support. Funders want to know for whom, in what way, and exactly how you’ll measure your impact.”

Be as realistic as possible about the impact you can make with the funding you hope to gain. Revisit your business plan as your organization grows to make sure the goals you’ve set both align with your mission and continue to be within reach.

[Read more: 8 Signs It's Time to Update Your Business Plan ]

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Charity Business Plan Template

What is a Charity Business Plan?

A charity business plan outlines the goals, projects, and initiatives of a non-profit organization or social enterprise. It serves as a roadmap for the organization's activities, and helps to ensure that the organization is working towards achieving its objectives in an effective and efficient manner. The charity business plan template provides a structure for outlining the organization's mission and goals, as well as the strategies, projects, and KPIs that can be used to achieve them.

What's included in this Charity Business Plan template?

• 3 focus areas
• 6 objectives

Each focus area has its own objectives, projects, and KPIs to ensure that the strategy is comprehensive and effective.

Who is the Charity Business Plan template for?

The charity business plan template is designed for non-profit organizations and social enterprises that want to develop a business plan that outlines their mission, goals, and strategies. The template provides an organized and systematic way to create a business plan that takes into consideration the organization's resources, goals, and objectives. It is designed to help organizations create an effective and efficient business plan that can be used to track their progress and ensure that they are on the right path towards achieving their mission.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

Focus areas are the broad topics that the organization is focusing on. Examples of focus areas may include increasing outreach, improving efficiency, or increasing impact. Each focus area should have several objectives and projects that are related to that focus area.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

Objectives are the goals that the organization wants to achieve within a particular focus area. These objectives should be specific, measurable, and achievable. Examples of objectives may include reaching new donors, engaging existing donors, or automating data entry.

3. Set measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

KPIs, or key performance indicators, are measurable targets that are used to track progress towards an organization's objectives. Examples of KPIs may include increasing website visits, increasing email response rate, or decreasing time to process donations.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the KPIs

Projects are the actions that are taken to achieve the organization's objectives and KPIs. Examples of projects may include creating a digital marketing campaign, implementing email strategies, or automating data entry.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

Cascade Strategy Execution Platform provides a comprehensive suite of tools and resources to help organizations develop and implement a successful business plan. It offers features such as goal setting, project tracking, real-time reporting, and automated notifications, which can help organizations see faster results from their strategy.

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• Energy Conservation Business Plan
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Nonprofit organizations have a unique set of needs and requirements. That’s why these sample business plans for nonprofit organizations and social enterprise businesses can help you get started on the right foot.

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The best nonprofit business plan template

If you’re looking to start a new charity but don’t know where to start, a nonprofit business plan template can help. There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations registered in the US. While it’s awesome that there are so many charitable orgs, unfortunately, many of them struggle to keep their doors open.

Like any other business, a nonprofit needs to prepare for the unexpected. Even without a global pandemic, strategic planning is crucial for a nonprofit to succeed.

In this article, we’ll look at why a business plan is important for nonprofit organizations and what details to include in your business plan. To get you started, our versatile nonprofit business plan template is ready for you to download to turn your nonprofit dreams into a reality.

Get the template

What is a nonprofit business plan template?

A nonprofit business plan template is not that different from a regular, profit-oriented business plan template. It can even focus on financial gain — as long as it specifies how to use that excess for the greater good.

A nonprofit business plan template includes fields that cover the foundational elements of a business plan, including:

• The overarching purpose of your nonprofit
• Its long and short-term goals
• An outline of how you’ll achieve these goals

The template also controls the general layout of the business plan, like recommended headings, sub-headings, and questions. But what’s the point? Let’s dive into the benefits a business plan template offers nonprofits.

Download Excel template

Why use a nonprofit business plan template?

To get your nonprofit business plans in motion, templates can:

Provide direction

If you’ve decided to start a nonprofit, you’re likely driven by passion and purpose. Although nonprofits are generally mission-driven, they’re still businesses. And that means you need to have a working business model. A template will give your ideas direction and encourage you to put your strategic thinking cap on.

Help you secure funding

One of the biggest reasons for writing a nonprofit business plan is to attract investment. After all, without enough funding , it’s nearly impossible to get your business off the ground. There’s simply no business without capital investment, and that’s even more true for nonprofits that rarely sell products.

Stakeholders and potential investors will need to assess the feasibility of your nonprofit business. You can encourage them to invest by presenting them with a well-written, well-thought-out business plan with all the necessary details — and a template lays the right foundation.

Facilitate clear messaging

One of the essential characteristics of any business plan — nonprofits included — is transparency around what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it. A nebulous statement with grandiose aspirations but no practical plan won’t inspire confidence.

Instead, you should create a clear and concise purpose statement that sums up your goals and planned action steps. A good template will help you maintain a strong purpose statement and use clear messaging throughout.

Of course, there are different types of nonprofit plan templates you can use, depending on the kind of business plan you want to draw up.

What are some examples of a nonprofit business plan template?

From summary nonprofit plans to all encompassing strategies, check out a few sample business plan templates for different nonprofit use cases.

Summary nonprofit business plan template

New nonprofit ventures in the early stages of development can use this business plan template. It’s created to put out feelers to see if investors are interested in your idea. For example, you may want to start an animal shelter in your community, but aren’t sure if it’s a viable option due to a lack of funds. You’d use a summary business plan template to gauge interest in your nonprofit.

Full nonprofit business plan template

In this scenario, you have already laid the foundations for your nonprofit. You’re now at a point where you need financing to get your nonprofit off the ground.

This template is much longer than a summary and includes all the sections of a nonprofit business plan including the:

Executive summary

• Nonprofit description
• Needs analysis
• Product/service
• Marketing strategy
• Management team & board
• Human resource needs

It also typically includes a variety of documents that back up your market research and financial situation.

Operational nonprofit business plan template

This type of business plan template is extremely detail-oriented and outlines your nonprofit’s daily operations. It acts as an in-depth guide for who does what, how they should do it, and when they should do it.

An operational nonprofit business plan is written for your internal team rather than external parties like investors or board members.

Convinced to give a business plan template a go? Lucky for you, our team has created the perfect option for nonprofits.

monday.com’s nonprofit business plan template

At monday.com, we understand that starting a nonprofit business can feel overwhelming — scrambling to line up investors, arranging fundraising events, filing federal forms, and more. Because we want you and your nonprofit to succeed, we’ve created a customizable template to get you started. It’s right inside our Work OS , a digital platform that helps you effectively manage every aspect of your work — from budgets and high-level plans to individual to-do lists.

Here’s what you can do on our template:

Access all your documents from one central location

Besides a business plan, starting a nonprofit requires a lot of other documentation. Supporting documents include a cash flow statement or a general financial statement, resumes of founders, and letters of support.

monday.com’s Work OS lets you store all these essential documents in one centralized location. That means you don’t need to open several tabs or run multiple programs to view your information. On monday.com, you can quickly and easily access documents and share them with potential investors and donors. Security features also help you control access to any board or document, only letting invited people or employees view or edit them. By keeping everything in one place, you save time on tracking down rogue files or statements and can focus on what really matters, such as running your nonprofit.

Turn your business plan into action

With monday.com’s nonprofit business plan template, you can seamlessly transform your plan into actionable tasks. After all, it’s going to take more than some sound strategic planning to bring your nonprofit to life.

Based on your business plan, you have the power to create interactive vision boards, calendars, timelines, cards, charts, and more. Because delegation is key, assign tasks to any of your team members from your main board. You can even set up notification automations so that everyone stays up to date with their responsibilities. Plus, to make sure the team stays on track, you can use the Progress Tracking Column that shows you the percent to completion of tasks based on the different status columns of your board.

Keep your finger on the pulse

From budgets to customer satisfaction, you need to maintain a high-level overview of your nonprofit’s key metrics.

monday.com keeps you well-informed on the status of your nonprofit’s progress, all on one platform. With customizable dashboards — for example, a real-time overview of donations received and projects completed — and visually appealing views, you can make confident decisions on how to take your nonprofit business forward.

Now that you have the template, let’s cover each section and how to fill it out correctly.

Essential sections of a nonprofit business plan template

So what exactly goes into a nonprofit business plan? Let’s take a look at the different sections you’ll find in most templates.

This is a concise summary of your business at the beginning of your plan. It should be both inspired and to the point. The executive summary is typically two pages long and dedicates about two sentences to each section of the plan.

Organization overview

This section gives some background on your company and summarizes the goal of your business. At the same time, it should touch on other important factors like your action plan for attracting potential external stakeholders. You can think of an organization overview as a mission statement and company description rolled into one.

Products, programs, and services

Any business exists to provide products, programs, and services — perhaps with a focus on the latter two for nonprofits. Your business plan should outline what you are bringing to your community. This will influence your target market , potential investors, and marketing strategies.

Marketing plan

An effective marketing strategy is the cornerstone of any successful business. Your marketing plan will identify your target audience and how you plan to reach them. It deals with pricing structures while also assessing customer engagement levels.

Operational plan

The operational plan describes the steps a company will take over a certain period. It focuses on the day-to-day aspects of the business, like what tasks need to be done and who is responsible for what. The operational section of a business plan works closely with strategic planning.

Competitive analysis

Even nonprofits face competition from other nonprofits with similar business profiles. A market analysis looks at the strengths and weaknesses of competing businesses and where you fit in. This section should include a strategy to overtake competitors in the market. There are many formats and templates you can use here, for example, a SWOT analysis .

Financial plan

Your financial plan should be a holistic image of your company’s financial status and financial goals. As well as your fundraising plan , make sure to include details like cash flow, investments, insurance, debt, and savings.

Before we wrap up, we’ll address some commonly asked questions about nonprofit business plan templates.

FAQs about nonprofit business plan templates

How do you write a business plan for a nonprofit.

The best way to write a nonprofit business plan is with a template so that you don’t leave anything out. Our template has all the sections ready for you to fill in, combined with features of a cutting-edge Work OS.

For some extra tips, take a look at our advice on how to write a business plan . We’ve detailed the various elements involved in business planning processes and how these should be structured.

How many pages should a nonprofit business plan be?

Business plans don’t have to be excessively long. Remember that concise communication is optimal. As a rule of thumb — and this will vary depending on the complexity and size of your business plan — a nonprofit business plan is typically between seven and thirty pages long.

What is a nonprofit business plan called?

A nonprofit business plan is called just that — a ‘nonprofit business plan.’ You may think that its nonprofit element makes it very different from a profit-oriented plan. But it is essentially the same type of document.

What is the best business structure for a nonprofit?

The consensus is that a corporation is the most appropriate and effective structure for a nonprofit business.

How do you start a nonprofit with no money?

Creating a business plan and approaching potential investors, aka donators, is the best way to start a nonprofit business if you don’t have the funds yourself.

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Free Example UK CIC or Charity Business Plan Template

Uk cic and charity business plan template - 3 steps.

I've used the term charity business plan and as an example. Your business plan is what you aim to achieve in the coming year.  However, this planning template and checklist will work just as well for fundraising, project and other plans, and will work just as well for your CIC or other not for profit organisation.

The only right way to create a charity business plan is whatever way works for your charity and you can use this simple 3 step process as a template to create your CIC or charity business plan.  That could be anything from a one page business plan in Word, for a very small CIC, to a substantial, detailed business plan for a large UK charity.

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Step 1 - charity business plan goals & objectives.

Your objectives (or goals) are what you must achieve to deliver your charity business plan.  These can either be long term (strategic plan)) or nearer term, such as annual business, fundraising and project plans.

Charity Business Plan Objectives - Strategic Plan

Often strategic and business, or other annual plans can be seen as quite separate, but these are not.  Next year's business plan, is Year 1 of your strategy.  Looking at your strategic plan objectives, what must you achieve in the coming year to deliver these?

Charity Business Plan Objectives - Operations

You also need to ensure that your charity continues to be well run and delivers the high quality support you want it to.  Look at your operations, such as delivering services for your beneficiaries, fundraising, finance, people and other activities.  What are the key activities and what must you achieve in these areas areas?

STEP 2 - CHARITY BUSINESS PLAN KPIs (TARGETS)

Trying to measure everything would take a huge amount of time and most won't really matter.  Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the key targets you use to measure and monitor your progress to achieving your business plan objectives.

Measuring Charity KPIs

There are really only 3 things you might want to measure - quality, quantity, time and cost.  And, these are interlinked.  The public sector is particularly prone to what are called perverse outcomes.  Focussing on a single KPI measure, to the exclusion of the others that nobody thought about, but which turn out to be really important.

• Buying higher quality fresh food and/or preparing food from scratch, rather than buying in pre-prepared.
• Preparing more meals and/or extending opening times.
• Using pre-prepared ingredients and buying more equipment/expanding kitchen capacity.

You don't need to measure all of them for everything, if the other factors aren't important, or won't change.  I've provided some examples of planning KPIs below.

How To Set Charity Business Plan KPIs

In order to ensure you deliver your charity business plan objectives, you need to be able to measure these and monitor progress.

The first step is to set KPIs for each objective using SMART – that is your KPIs are S imple, M easurable, A chievable, T imely and R elevant.

You then need to decide who will be responsible for delivering and reporting these, any milestones in terms of when activities will be delivered and how and when these will be reported.

Once you've set your business plan KPIs, ask yourself if these are the key issues you need to monitor and manage to deliver your business plan objective. Are there any KPIs you don't need and is there anything missing that you do?  And does each KPI meet the SMART criteria above?

STEP 3 - IMPLEMENTING YOU CHARITY BUSINESS PLAN

The Charity Excellence Data Store tracks sector resilience and a key theme is a lack of realism in charity planning.  Ambition is a hallmark of the sector, but 'Aspirational' is the flip side of planning to fail, if that involves committing people and resources to business plans that aren't achievable.  Here are my ideas to help you ensure that your business plan will succeed.

Charity Business Plan Reality Checklist

For your charity business plan to work, you need to be able to confidently answer 'yes' to each of the questions below.  That's about making an objective assessment of each.

• Our charity business plan includes everything that's important to us that we want to achieve
• Our business plan objectives and targets are realistic and achievable
• We will have enough people, with the necessary skills and experience to deliver our plan
• The key risks have been identified and quantified
• We have taken adequate steps to manage these, to ensure no risk remains unacceptably high
• There is adequate funding in our budget to resource all of our business plan objectives
• Our fundraising targets are realistic and we are confident that these should be achieved
• For example, not launching a project until funding is secured, or having plans to scale back activity
• Our business plan has been communicated to everyone who needs to know about it and it is simple, clear and will be understood by them
• The information reported focusses on the key issues and will enable us to take action in good time, if we need to

Congratulations, you have created a simple, clear and effective business plan.  If you are unsure about any of the above, revisit your plan and make any changes you need to.

Communicating Your Charity Business Plan And Making It A Success

The World is full of detailed and beautifully crafted business plans sitting on shelves gathering dust.  In any, except the smallest of charities, it is your staff and volunteers who will deliver your business plan, so they need to know what you want them to do and feel motivated to do so.  If you e mail a big complicated business plan to everyone, it may not be read and, if it is, may not mean much to its readers.

You need to communicate your plan in a simple, clear way that engages them. It also needs to be reflected in any other plans or procedures. For example, your budget and risk plans, any project plans and, for larger charities, appraisal objectives and departmental work plans.

For reporting, sometimes reports are too 'fluffy' or nor easily understandable, or far too long and complicated.  Often these can be simply rubber stamped by boards.  Ensure that your reports meet your needs, focus on the key issues, are clear and understandable for trustees, and acted upon.  Here's the  Charity Excellence guide  to making reports more effective and less work.

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How to write a business plan for a small charity

Table of Contents

Description of charity

Explaining the audience, swot analysis, opportunities, financial projection, manage your finances for achieving objectives with countingup.

Typical businesses use a plan to secure funding by sharing it as a proposal to investors or forming part of an application to the bank for a loan. For a charity, though, there might be other uses to putting together a business plan . These may include the ability to set out a direction for your organisation or look for sizable donations, which may require you to share a plan.

This guide will make sure that you can get on with reaching your social objectives by showing you how to write a business plan for a charity. It includes:

For a social enterprise (charity), the business’ objectives are different from usual companies. Typical companies may aim to create wealth for the owner, for example. But, according to the UK Government , to be legally considered a charity, your organisation must have a charitable purpose. So the first thing to include in your business plan should be these aims.

If you can make it clear what the objectives of your business are, it provides a greater incentive for people to donate. It might also be helpful to explain why it’s the purpose you chose. With an objective, you should also describe how the organisation plans to help it. For example, if your charity aims to help blind people, they may look to fund guide dogs to be provided for them.

The other key element of your description of your charity should be how you plan to fund it. You may sell products, provide services or ask for donations. There may be other charities helping a similar cause, so you should also describe what makes you unique that will make people want to donate.

Charities rely on funding to fulfil their objectives. Without it, you may struggle to help those you would like to. As a result, running the organisation requires some business thinking. For example, identifying a target audience most likely to donate or pay for products/services shows that you are more likely to reach your goals.

To find your audience, you may have to carry out market research . Speak directly to those affected by the issue you aim to solve and those interested in helping your charity. You can gather information through surveys and interviews to find out as much as possible about your market. Another way to do this is by looking at similar charities’ focus and who they target.

It may be helpful for you to put together a customer profile (sometimes called customer avatar) to use your findings from your market research productively. By having a hypothetical person to think about, you can find insights for where you should be marketing to them and why they would donate. 

A customer profile could include:

Putting these details together helps you describe how you plan to market your charity.

For more information on how to market your small business, see: How to Market Your Small Business Effectively: 9 Top Tips

It is essential to understand where the current position of your charity is to help you plan for the future. To think about all aspects of your business, you can do a SWOT analysis . This technique focuses on your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Your organisation’s strengths should provide the reasons that your charity is likely to achieve its goals. For example, you could mention the quotes and information of those who would benefit you in your marketing.

There are likely some weaknesses your charity may have. Identifying them lets you talk about how you will get over them. For example, if you lack experience in financial management, mention that you plan to use an app like Countingup to make it easier.

If you show that there are opportunities your organisation can take advantage of, it might give more confidence to someone willing to donate. For example, if a sports event is coming up later this year that relates to your cause, maybe you could partner with them.

Like any business, there may be potential threats to your charity. But by mentioning them, you can also say how you plan to avoid them. For example, if you sell donated things and you run out, mention your plans to make other things to sell.

Even though the primary purpose of the business is not to make a profit for the owners, it’s still essential that the charity covers its costs and makes enough to fund its social activities. So, it could be helpful to provide your business plan with some calculations to reassure those looking to donate towards your organisation that it will go towards a successful venture.

A sales forecast estimates the sales you expect. Multiply your planned prices for products, services or typical donation amounts by the number of customers you expect. Put this to a timescale of a month, quarter or year. You can refer to your projections in later stages and compare your performance.

This section may also be helpful for you to detail what the business would be hoping to use donations for specifically. For example, you may pay a marketing agency for a social media campaign if someone provides significant assistance. If you have a smaller donation, though, that may reach your particular objective.

It is important for your financial projection to be accurate and for you to monitor whether your business is sticking to your expectations. That’s why thousands of business owners use the Countingup app to make their financial admin easier. 

Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. With features like automatic expense categorisation, you can see exactly where your costs are going in your charity. To make sure that you can fulfil the objectives of your organisation, cash flow insights let you receive reports about your finances. You can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

Start your three-month free trial today.  Find out more here .

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Charity Business Plan

Various people lead different lives. That said, individuals consequently end up setting varying career goals . Some of them, such as people like you, find their calling in helping others. Most people who like supporting a cause start a charity. If you are here because you are planning to start one, or probably because you are finding ways to keep your nonprofit organization up and running, continue reading this article and learn how to devise a charity business plan.

10+ Charity Business Plan Examples

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What Is a Charity Business Plan?

A charity business plan is a document that provides a detailed description of the nonprofit organization. It also includes an outline of the business marketing strategy and techniques to secure volunteers and sponsors of the charity’s cause. In addition, it involves conducting a nonprofit analysis and other essential elements considering the influential factors in setting an organization. 

How to Generate a Charity Business Plan?

A charity is different from a profit organization in how it handles its income and expenses. As a figurehead, you need to think as a businessman would. That said, you need to strategize and plan on how to secure business opportunities and how to handle various circumstances. Help more people by making your charity a success. 

1. Conduct a Nonprofit SWOT Analysis

To know how your charity is operating and how you can better it, you must conduct a nonprofit SWOT analysis . This method will help you understand the standing of your nonprofit organization. Also, it will lead you to discover the strength of your organization and the weak areas that you need to improve. In addition, it will also uncover opportunities and help you detect the possible threats that will put your nonprofit business at risk.

2. Set Your Organizational Goals

The next step is to strengthen your organization’s cause by setting your goals. Goal-setting is a crucial step for all business ventures, may it be a profit or nonprofit. It is because your organizational goals will set the direction for all the upcoming plans and strategies. In addition, it will also strengthen your cause and help you come up with strategic methods to achieve your aim. 

3. Devise a Nonprofit Marketing Plan

Now that you have your target, the next step in generating your charity business plan is to devise a nonprofit marketing plan . One way to secure and retain your foundation is to find people who would love to support your cause. To do that, you need to develop nonprofit marketing strategies . This action will boost the people’s awareness and persuade them to sponsor and volunteer for your organization. 

4. Detail Your Nonprofit Budget

Another essential element to consider is your nonprofit budget . To gain more knowledge regarding your budget, you should conduct a financial analysis. To do this, you need to take note of your charity’s expenses and income. Take out essential paperwork that you might need in calculating for your budget plan . Remember to label each item on your budget sheet in detail to avoid confusion.

What are the best ways to raise funds for your charity?

There are numerous ways of fundraising for a charity. One of the best methods is to conduct fun and unique fundraising events. You can do all sorts of things for your event, such as bake sales, charity auctions, crowdfunding marathons, and boosting your online presence to ask for online donations. All of these are effective methods you can incorporate into your nonprofit fundraising plan .

What is a charity proposal?

A charity proposal is a document that will communicate your organization’s mission and vision, as well as your cause, to the potential prospects. This proposal letter will present your strategies and plans to secure sponsors and financial donations from charity volunteers. Writing this form is one method to raise funds for your charity. There are available business proposal templates online to make the process of composing this document easier.

What are some examples of impressive charity goals?

One example of a charity goal would be to increase staffing. Just like other businesses, nonprofit organizations need employees that will render their services. The more quality employees you have, the more people you can help. Another one is to gain more sponsors and volunteers. Most of the budget of charities comes from the donations of people who support a similar cause.

When doing business, a professional must not only look in one direction. Instead, you must do a complete three-sixty and look at all the possibilities for your organization. This statement applies to all business ventures, including nonprofits such as a charity. One way to do that is to evaluate the ins and outs of your business while devising a business plan. Generate a charity business plan as early as now to attain your goals.

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Nonprofit and community organizations are way different than traditional businesses, making it crucial to have a well-thought-out plan to ensure streamlined operations.

This library of community and nonprofit business plans here can inspire and guide you as you begin to plan your organization. So, don’t worry; we got you covered on that part.

Let’s learn more about these sample nonprofit plans, starting with their benefits.

Benefits of using an industry-specific business plan example

Believe it or not, using an industry-specific business plan example is the best and probably the quickest way of writing a business plan.

Doubt it? Hold, this may change your perception; an extended list of the benefits of using an industry-specific business plan template.

• Inspiration : Reading a business-specific template can be incredibly helpful in getting content inspiration. Furthermore, it helps you gain insights into how to present your vision, mission, and service offerings.
• Risk-free method : You are taking a reference from a real-life, let’s say, charity business plan—so you know this plan has worked in the past or uses a method subscribed by experts.
• Deep market understanding : Analyzing and reading such examples can provide clarity and develop a deeper market understanding of complex industry trends and issues you may not know but relate directly to the realities of your organization landscape.
• Increased credibilit y: A business plan developed using an example follows a standard business plan format, wisely presents your business, and provides invaluable insights into your business. There’s no question it establishes you as a credible business owner, demonstrating your deep market understanding.
• Realistic financial projections : Financial forecasting being a critical aspect of your plan, this real-life example can help you better understand how they project their financials—ultimately helping you set realistic projections for your business.

These were the benefits; let’s briefly discuss choosing a business plan template for a nonprofit that best suits your business niche.

Choosing a Nonprofit or Community Business Plan

This category has multiple business plan templates for various nonprofit, charity and community centers. With many similar organization types and templates, you may not find the most suitable one through manual scrolling.

Here are the steps to consider while choosing the most suitable business plan template.

Identify your organization type

Are you going to be a community center? A shelter home helping the homeless? Or a food bank serving those in need?

Asking yourself these questions will help you identify your nonprofit type, which will help in choosing a niche-specific business plan template.

Once you identify your nonprofit business type, you can choose between templates for different business segments.

Search for the template

We have an in-built search feature, so you can easily search for a business-specific template using your business type as a key term. Once you have the search results, choose the most suitable one. Simple as that.

Review the example

Look closely at the content of the sample business plan you are considering. Analyze its sections and components to identify relevant as well as unnecessary areas.

Since all the Upmetrics templates are tailored to specific business needs, there won’t be many fundamental customizations. However, a hybrid business model targeting multiple customer segments may require adjustments.

No big deal—you can view and copy sections from other business plan examples or write using AI while customizing a template.

That’s how you find and select the most suitable business plan. Still haven’t found the perfect business plan example? Here’s the next step for you.

Explore 400+ business plan examples

Discover Upmetrics’ template library and find the right business plan template for your needs . Upmetrics is a modern and intuitive business plan software that streamlines business planning with its free templates and AI-powered features. So what are you waiting for? Download your example and draft a perfect business plan.

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Table of Contents

5 steps for preparing a charity business plan, 9+ charity business plan templates in pdf | word, 1. charity fund business plan template, 2. charity commission business plan template, 3. charity organisation business plan template, 4. charity non-profit business plan template, 5. charity business plan template in pdf, 6. charity business plan in doc, 7. business plan for charities, 8. charity startup business plan format, 9. simple charity business plan template, 10. formal charity organisation business plan, charity templates.

A business plan is a crucial document that is required for several purposes. Charity organizations too produce such documents while starting a new venture, to secure fundings and also for expansion projects and more. The document provides elaborate details on the goals and objectives of the organization or a project as well as the budget plan and the estimated outcomes of the undertaking. We have prepared our professional plan templates to help you make such important documents conveniently.

Step 1: Provide the Executive Summary

Step 2: give an introduction to the organization, step 3: define your market and operational plans, step 4: provide summary of your finances, step 5: understand the risks.

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Featured Reads

• How to build a strategic plan for your ...

How to build a strategic plan for your nonprofit (with template)

Every organization needs a strategic plan—even if you’re a nonprofit. A strategic plan helps you define who you are, what you want to achieve, and how you’ll get there. Use our template to walk through the three steps of creating a strategic plan: Assessing your situation, developing your strategy and building your plan.

If you’re not quite sure where to start and how a strategic plan will help your nonprofit grow, this article is for you. Learn what a strategic plan for nonprofit organizations should entail, how to write one, and check out our template for further inspiration.

What is a nonprofit strategic plan?

A nonprofit strategic plan is a tool that helps you define where your nonprofit organization wants to go and what actions you will take to achieve your goals.

At its core, the process for nonprofits doesn’t differ too much from the strategic planning process other organizations and industries embark on. Regardless of your form of work, you need a strategic plan to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take in order to get there.

This plan should be updated every three to five years to ensure your organization continues challenging itself and growing.

Before you can create an action plan or a roadmap for your nonprofit that drives results, you need to walk through the following three steps of strategic planning:

Step 1: Assess your current situation

Step 2: Develop your strategy

Step 3: build your strategic plan.

Once you’ve built your strategic plan, you can set KPIs and schedule the milestones your organization needs to hit in order to be successful.

Whether you’re creating a strategic plan for the first time or updating your existing one, it’s important that you consult and involve the right people in this process. Create a strategic planning team that consists of senior executives, board members, and key team members who can contribute to the long-term success of your nonprofit.

We’ll walk you through the steps your strategic planning team will take on this journey and provide a template that you can use to assist your team during this process. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Assess your situation

Before you can figure out where you want to go, you need to assess where you are right now. Gather all the information you can about your nonprofit so your strategic planning team has a clear understanding of who you are and where you’re at.

Demographics: While some of these questions may seem trivial, it’s a good idea to start with questions that are easy to answer and align your strategic planning team.

How big is your organization?

Where are you located?

What is your annual net asset?

How many people do you employ?

What is your target demographic?

Success and goals: Before you dive into the details, it’s good practice to give yourself credit for the things you’ve accomplished in the past. First of all, this will give you better clarity on your strengths and opportunities (which you’ll analyze in more depth later). But this also puts your strategic planning team in a positive and optimistic mood which will make the process much easier and more enjoyable.

What were your biggest accomplishments so far?

Do you have any goals set for the future?

How thought-out are these goals, and do they meet SMART goal criteria ?

Capital: As a nonprofit, money may not be your main driver. However, in order to make an impact, you need capital. So ask yourself where you’re currently getting your revenue.

Does the government fund you?

How successful has fundraising been in the past?

Who are your donors or sponsors?

What other revenue streams do you have?

Are there any revenue sources you haven’t considered yet?

What does your grant management process typically look like?

Stakeholders: A stakeholder analysis is key in strategic planning. Your internal and external stakeholders are the people who can impact the success of your organization, so you need to know who they are and what their roles are. 

Internal stakeholders are team members who are directly impacted by the strategic plan and likely the ones who are already on your strategic planning team. External stakeholders are usually agencies, clients, or other parties who are involved financially or contribute otherwise to the performance of your organization.

Who are our top stakeholders (internal and external)?

Why do they believe in our nonprofit?

What do we need from them (e.g., labor, capital, marketing, etc.)?

Why do we believe and trust in these stakeholders?

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats: Finally, you’ll want to conduct a SWOT analysis to find out  your internal strengths and weaknesses and how external threats and opportunities can influence your nonprofit’s success. 

What makes us stand out from other nonprofits in the industry?

What past events have impacted our success and why?

Are there any weaknesses that have prevented us from reaching our full potential in the past?

Once you’ve completed your SWOT analysis, you’re ready for the next step: developing your nonprofit’s strategy.

In this phase of the strategic planning process, you’ll take the information you’ve gathered in step one and put your heads together to define who you want to be as an organization—more precisely, you’ll define your values, mission, and vision statements .

Mission and vision statement

You’ll want to start out with your mission and vision statements. If you already have these statements in place, review and consider updating them to match your new strategy.

It’s not always easy to come up with vision and mission statements for your nonprofit organization. That’s why it can be helpful to check out how others have put their dreams into writing. Take a look at three examples of how nonprofit organizations define their vision and mission:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s mission and vision statements are very closely intertwined. The organization’s mission is to “Create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.” Their vision is to help all people lead a healthy and productive life.

The American Red Cross

The mission statement of the American Red Cross is to prevent and alleviate “Human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.​”

Their vision statement reads as follows: “The American Red Cross, through its strong network of volunteers, donors and partners, is always there in times of need. We aspire to turn compassion into action.”

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York

The Research Foundation of SUNY’s mission is to provide “Talent, services, and technology that empower SUNY to research, innovate, and transfer discoveries that transform the world’s knowledge economy.”

Their vision is to “Make it the best place for faculty, students and staff to research, innovate, and solve the world’s most pressing problems.”

Company values

Next, you’ll want to define your nonprofit’s core values . Try to define anywhere between five to 10 values that describe your organization and align with your mission and vision.

Here are some examples of values that could describe your nonprofit:

Reliability

Trustworthiness

Communication

Transparency

Assessing where you’re at and defining who you are are two crucial steps in the strategic planning process. They build the foundation for your strategic plan that you’re ready to create now that you’ve put in the groundwork.

The heart of your strategic plan consists of your strategic priorities and goals for the future. They will inspire your implementation plan and ultimately define how effective and successful your new strategy will be. 

You should pick at least three main strategic priorities based on what you’ve learned from your SWOT analysis. For example, if your SWOT analysis showed that you only have a couple of revenue sources, you could make “diversifying revenue streams” a strategic priority. 

Your strategic priorities don’t have to be super built out—that’s what happens in the next and final step of your strategic plan.

Step 4: Create SMART goals

Creating SMART objectives is crucial so you can successfully put your new strategy into action.

Your SMART goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. For example, to diversify your revenue streams, your SMART goal could be:

“Over the next three years, we plan to add at least seven new revenue streams to our repertoire by applying to one new government fund per quarter, hosting monthly fundraisers on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter), and bi-annual in-person charity events.”

Nonprofit strategic plan template and example

Use our template to build a strategic plan for your nonprofit that drives results. Don’t forget to include stakeholders, your board of directors, and key staff members in your strategic planning process—their insight and ideas will shape the future of your company.

Here is what your nonprofit strategic plan can look like once you start working on it:

You can download the template using the button below and modify it to your organization’s needs.

Put your plan into action

After you’ve built your strategic plan, there’s just one step left: put it into action. Implementing your strategic plan is both rewarding and scary. All the hard work you put into building a strategy for your nonprofit is about to come to fruition.

With the support of Asana’s goal-setting software, you can turn your strategic plan into actionable steps so you can easily track, manage, and share your strategic initiatives with shareholders and teammates.

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Charity Strategy and Business Planning

Pro bono management consultancy, help with charity business planning, charity business strategy, and charity business plan template..

Free management consultancy for charities

Cranfield Trust provides free, tailored management consultancy support to welfare charities. 

Free management consultancy

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Advice on immediate questions and management challenges is available via Cranfield Trust On Call, our telephone advice service.

Cranfield Trust On Call

Working with a management consultant

Before you start work with an external consultant, Stella Smith gives some useful pointers.

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CHARITY BUSINESS STRATEGY AND PLANNING 

Having a good charity business plan in place will not only help you to have a clear focus, it will position you to attract new funders, volunteers and supporters. , thinking about and aligning your charitable activities also gives you time to think about potential risks and opportunities. a well thought out business plan is vital part of building a robust and successful charity. .

Webinar: How to create a business plan for your charity

The below webinar was delivered by Cranfield Trust Volunteer Stephen Cahill, as part of the ongoing Essentials to Excellence webinar series. The style of the webinar is a mix of presenter input and lively case studies with as much input as possible. You will leave the session equipped with simple practical steps you can take to translate your thoughts into action quickly.

You will learn how to:

• Be successful at business planning – what has changed forever and why you need to revisit your business planning approach.
• Make your business plan robust and avoid being ‘blindsided’.
• Use your business plan as a focus for funders.
• Do business planning with half the effort for twice the result!

Stephen Cahill Bio: 

Stephen Cahill BSc MPA (Warwick) is a semi-retired executive with extensive senior experience across the public, private and charity sectors. He has over 30 years of experience in helping organisations improve their governance, strategy, and operations. He specialises in helping organisations to achieve rapid results by focusing on,"the things that really matter".  He has been an active Cranfield Trust volunteer for nearly a decade.

Reworking your strategy

Six steps to reworking your charity’s strategy in the ‘new normal’ by Cranfield Trust Volunteer, Stephen Cahill. 

Build your charity business plan

Questions to ask to help you build your charity's business plan.

Business Planning - questions to build your plan

Charity business plan template

A template for a straightforward business plan, in Word and PDF versions.

Word template for three year business plan

PDF template for three year business plan

LEAN Management

In reviewing your activities and writing your business plan you may wish to consider your processes to ensure that they are efficient and contributing to a high quality of activity.  This article on LEAN management provides some guidance.

Introduction to Lean

Is merger right for your charity?

Volunteer Matthew Wilkley, Director of Income Generation at Independent Age, considers merger as a strategic option, with particular reference to fundraising.

Blog: To merge or not to merge

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Business plan good practice guidance

By reading this guidance you'll get help with how to develop a business plan, including basic headings and prompts on how to review your plan as it develops. It also includes a list of further resources and a glossary of terms to do with business planning.

Please note: if you already have a business plan, you don’t need to produce a new one.

Writing your plan

Before producing your business plan, consider:

• if you need expertise in areas such as market analysis, taxation or legal matters
• who will be involved in writing the plan, including staff and trustees
• the timelines for the business plan to be approved

The headings below give a basic framework for developing a business plan, but every organisation is different so you may want to use different headings or additional content that better explains how your organisation works:

• executive summary
• about the organisation   
• governance and management structures
• market appraisal and current approach
• financial appraisal
• risk register
• monitoring and evaluating the organisation
• organisational impact assessment
• contact details for the organisation

Once you have a draft it’s a good idea to review it to assess its strengths and weaknesses, tackle any gaps and ensure it’s as clear, concise and logical as possible.

Your business plan will be a document you refer back to continually and update in the general course of running your organisation, so ask yourself:

• Does your business plan present a strategy for achieving your aims and your mission?
• Does your business plan align with our Heritage 2033 investment principles ?

Executive summary

Your plan should start with a concise overview (no more than two pages) highlighting the most important information in the document, including:

• an overview of your organisation including your mission statement and what you want to achieve
• the organisation’s key aims for the period of the plan (usually 3–5 years)
• key elements of your strategy including how you will assure the longer-term financial future of the organisation
• the main risks facing your organisation and how you plan to manage these in the short, medium and long term
• an explanation of how your organisation is resilient enough to meet challenges: likely including financial information, how you will ensure governance and management structures are fit for purpose, and the monitoring and evaluation processes you have in place
• any additional key information

Review this section by asking:

• Is it a well-structured summary highlighting key points from the plan?
• If someone with no prior knowledge of your organisation read this summary on its own, would it make sense?

About the organisation

This should provide information on the structure, objectives and activities of your organisation, including:

• when and why it was started
• its purpose, aims and key successes
• the key areas of activity, products and/or services that you deliver, how they are distinctive and how will they be developed over the course of the plan
• details of the targets you have set for each area of activity
• Legal status, eg: unincorporated association or trust, or incorporated by Act of Parliament, Royal Charter, as a company limited by shares/guarantee, (Scottish) Charitable Incorporated Organisation or Industrial and Provident Society. Indicate whether it is a Community Interest Company or is registered or recognised as a charity.
• whether it has a membership of individuals, and if so the number of members
• the names of any other entities with which it has a formal association (eg: any bodies with which there are funding agreements or that have the right to nominate multiple board members)
• Whether it is a partnership of different organisations with a shared interest, identifying the other organisations/stakeholders you will be working with, the basis of the arrangement and whether it is formal or informal. Summarise any partnership agreements.
• the number and roles of paid staff (in total and full-time equivalents) and explain the tasks they perform within the organisation
• the role of volunteers (give estimates of the number of regular volunteers, the tasks they do within the organisation and the total number of hours they work on each task every year)
• describe how you fund your organisation’s activities, noting any sources that account for a particularly large proportion of your income and, if these come from a funding body, when this funding will be subject to review
• Have you accurately described your organisation’s purpose and main areas of activity and how you are distinctive?
• Do you highlight key successes?
• Is it clear what services or products you offer and how you intend to develop them?
• Have you set clear targets?
• Is the structure of your organisation clearly set out in a way that is easy to understand?
• Have you included key information about your legal set up and how you staff and fund core activities?

Governance and management structures

This should explain your organisation’s management structure, decision-making processes, lines of communication and reporting. It can include simple organograms/network diagrams to show your governance, management and staffing structures.

Governance summary

This should provide an overview of the governance in place within your organisation to ensure that business plans and strategies are approved and monitored.

Describe the size and composition of the governing body (eg: council, board of trustees, board of directors) and, where appropriate, arrangements in place for succession planning and board development training. List the roles covered by your senior management team.

You should explain the make-up of your board. This includes how the board provides a diversity of perspective and skills. You should also explain their engagement with the organisation, particularly in relation to:

• business planning, pricing policies and marketing strategies
• financial management and administration
• fundraising
• approving potential projects and maintaining oversight
• commissioning advisers and consultants

Summarise the functions of any sub-groups, describing their membership, roles and responsibilities, and specifying any delegated powers they are authorised to use. Indicate how frequently such groups meet.

Management structure

You should include simple organigrams or network diagrams. These should show each job title. There’s no need to include individuals’ names.

Show how many post-holders are employed in each position and whether they are full-time, part-time or volunteers. 

An accompanying schedule should list each role, summarising its purpose and function, and the name of the post-holder (so we can see if there are vacancies in key roles).

You should provide information on your recruitment policies for core staff. If you use external advisors regularly, you should give details of their company and role and how they relate to the positions on the organogram.

If volunteers are a key part of your organisation, you should explain:

• the roles volunteers play in the organisation, including the types of responsibilities they have
• how many volunteers the organisation works with
• the number of volunteer hours
• the role within your organisation responsible for managing volunteering and how this is monitored
• Have you covered how your organisation is managed and governed in a clear way? Is there any information missing?
• Have you included the main challenges you face in running your business?
• Is it clear what skills and experience are needed going forward? Have you included information on how you develop skills within the organisation?
• Have you included plans for developing your structure and processes in the future?

This should include a more detailed overview of the aims of your organisation for the period of the plan and how they relate to your overall mission, setting out the key activities you will undertake to achieve them.

Include any projects you plan to take on, demonstrating how they will work together to achieve your organisation’s aims. You should include information on the impact additional projects will have on your organisation and how you plan to deal with those impacts.

Include dates and a timetable for reviewing and updating your strategy.

Market appraisal and current approach

A market appraisal looks at your offer within the context of the marketplace. You should assess your market, your competition and your marketing strategy. Market analysis should be proportionate to the scope and size of your organisation.

Describe your current market:

• Is the profile of your heritage attraction or place of local or national interest? Is it well known?
• Is it valued by a wide cross-section of the public or a more limited special-interest group?
• How many customers have you had each year over the past 10 years?
• What are the demographics of your current customers and visitors – their age, gender, income, education, and occupation? What proportion are family groups/schools?
• Where do they live – very locally, from the surrounding region, from the UK or overseas?
• What proportion of customer contacts are repeats?

Show you know your market:

• On a national or regional basis, is your market growing, falling or stable?
• How does this relate to your organisation’s experience?
• Are there any national socio-economic trends or policies that will have an impact on your market?
• How might foreseeable political, economic, social and/or technological changes affect your market?

Consider your potential/target audience:

• Who are the people most likely to access your service?
• Are they single or repeat customers?
• What are their needs, behaviours, tastes and preferences?
• What has research shown you so far?

Review the competition

All organisations have competition of some sort. Find out what organisations are in competition with yours. Look at how they price their activities, their business strategy, strengths and weaknesses.

Develop a competitive strategy for your organisation

Do a ‘SWOT’ analysis looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your organisation.

Use evidence-based information and remember to include internal and external factors. Describe what is unique and special to your organisation and include the disadvantages you have.

Outline your marketing strategy

A marketing strategy is how you will reach new audiences. It will likely be based on evidence from:

• data you have collected, over as long a period of time as is achievable
• national data, for example, the Taking Part survey (in England), national tourism surveys, national and local authority statistics
• existing market research
• market research commissioned to estimate potential markets and the potential popularity of the business with your target market
• reviewing operations that are similar to those you propose in your own area and further afield, using annual accounts available online from the Charity Commission (England) or Companies House

Your marketing strategy should clearly set out:

• people:  who your target audiences are, including the size of these audiences
• product:  what you’re offering people
• price:  your pricing strategy and the rationale behind it
• promotion:  the communication channels and messages you will use to reach your target audiences

Financial appraisal

This should include a general financial assessment of your organisation, an overview of your total financial need to support your day-to-day operations and details of your financial model, including your main sources of funding.

Provide supporting documents in an appendix at the end of your business plan, detailing:

• a forecast income and expenditure account
• a cashflow forecast showing the expected monthly cashflow
• statements of assumptions underlying the forecasts

Detail the assumptions made in your calculations. An assumption is anything you are relying on to make forecasts. For example, the average number of visitors you are expecting based on the previous year, or any unknown costs of materials. Make sure you also include details of any reserves.

You may want to undertake a sensitivity analysis to show what your finances would look like if your projections fall short by various amounts, for example between 5% and 20%. What would the risk to your operation be if either of these scenarios were to occur and what action might you need to take?

• Have you described how your organisation operates financially in a way that is easy to understand?
• Have you included an overview of your total financial needs, what your main sources of funding are and how your main activities contribute to achieving this?
• Have you included an expected cashflow forecast and income and expenditure forecast?

Risk register

A risk assessment identifies your organisation’s internal weaknesses and external threats. A risk register, usually set out as a table, lists all the identified risks prioritised in order of importance.

For each risk, outline:

• the nature of the risk, eg: technical, market, financial, economic, management, legal
• a description of the risk
• the probability of the risk happening: low, medium, high or as a percentage
• the effect the risk could have, eg: on cost, time, performance
• the level of effect: low, medium, high, or as a percentage
• how you would prepare for and lessen the risk’s effect
• Have you listed the key potential problems that your organisation faces?
• On reflection, are they your main risks or can the list be reduced?
• Have the risks been properly calculated?
• Do you need to do any further thinking about how risks will be mitigated?
• Are there any alternative courses of action that have not been considered?

Monitoring and evaluating your organisation

In this section you should set out your plans for monitoring and evaluating your organisation's performance and impact to ensure you are meeting your aims and achieving your mission.

You will need to gather different kinds of information at various stages, starting at the earliest opportunity by benchmarking where you are to start with. You should set a series of milestones, financial targets and performance targets to track these.

Evaluation should be carried out regularly using the monitoring information. You should summarise your planned approach and include details of milestones. Your approach should show when you anticipate evaluating your achievements and specify the scope of the evaluation and whether your organisation plans to bring in any expertise to help you assess the extent to which you are meeting your aims.

• Have you included details of the changes you want your organisation to make? How does this link to your mission and aims?
• Have you set out how you intend to monitor progress? Will you need any external advice?
• Have you detailed what success looks like? How will you know if you have achieved your targets?
• Do you have a plan for linking your findings into future decision-making? How do you report back to your board of trustees?

Organisational impact assessment

Within your application we want to see how your proposed project will impact your organisation and its finances and continue to deliver against our investment principles for a period of five years from the end of the project, including:

How will any additional costs created by the project continue to be funded?

These can include additional staffing and housekeeping costs, business rates, maintenance obligations arising from implementing management and maintenance plans (and, if applicable, conservation plans ). Document these additional costs in a table.

Where the project is expected to lead to reduced expenditure (for example, reduced energy expenditure, productivity gains due to improved technology), include the costs of the savings in the table to give the planned net additional cost or saving. 

What additional volunteer input will be required?

Tell us about additional numbers of hours to be worked and the number of additional hours required. Indicate where these volunteers come from and the impact on your volunteer management and training arrangements. 

Are there any changes in governance or management that could affect the project?

Tell us about any relevant changes to board composition or committee structure, or variation in individual duties or responsibilities. If the structure will be different during different phases of your project, provide separate diagrams to explain the arrangements. Outline any other material change in how the organisation will be managed as a consequence of the project.

Provide the following financial projections:

A statement of unrestricted funds, or of income and expenditure where the organisation is a local authority, university or other large organisation and the scale of the project is immaterial to the organisation's total financial circumstances. Where the organisation has a trading subsidiary, its projections should be consolidated with those of its parent. Include:

• the organisation's balance sheet
• the assumptions on which the financial projections are based
• a sensitivity analysis

In carrying out this impact assessment you should:

• Use the market appraisal you have carried out in your overall business planning to give details of your market size and the income generated. The assumptions should clearly show the basis on which the numbers have been calculated.
• demonstrate that the general trend will be for the organisation to generate annual surpluses on its unrestricted funds
• Base your assessment on your latest completed financial year if you have been in existence for that length of time (or the current year budget). Use this as a starting point for your projections so you can clearly assess the net impact on your financial position from the incremental, on-going income and expenditure caused by the project you are proposing.
• Include in the sensitivity analysis the income items that are most critical to the organisation's success, are most uncertain or contain the greatest risk. By adjusting these by percentages between 5% and 20%, depending on their nature and risk, it is possible to see the impact on the reported surplus.

Contact details for your organisation

At the end of your business plan, include:

• head office address
• telephone number
• email address

If you need to include additional information to support your plan, for example, evidence or reports you have commissioned, external advice, financial information or visuals which support the plan, add these as appendices.

When you have completed the plan, review your appendices to make sure you haven’t missed any relevant detail. Check whether you have included information in the main business plan that should be listed in the appendix instead.

Additional resources

• Sample business plans for various industries.
• Business planning guidance for arts and cultural organisations   commissioned by   Arts Council England for the arts and cultural sector.
• The Sustainable Sun tool : 10 steps towards financial sustainability from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
• An introduction to benchmarking , developed by The Audience Agency.
• How to build a measurement and evaluation framework , developed by New Philanthropy Capital.
• Impact and evaluation resources from the Small Charities Coalition
• DIY toolkit on how to invent, adopt or adapt ideas that can deliver better results, created by Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency. It includes a template for  SWOT analysis .
• Various business planning resources from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.
• Various resources to help you run your organisation from the Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
• Resources and templates relating to business planning , including a template for developing a cashflow, from the Small Charities Programme. 

Glossary of terms to do with business planning

Aims:  a broad statement of intent.

Asset : an item of value owned and controlled by the organisation that has a useful life longer than a single accounting period.

Budget : a plan for future activity expressed in terms of incoming and outgoing resources.

Cashflow : the pattern of an organisation’s income and expenditure. Having surplus cash in hand after being able to meet all debts on the day they are due is a ‘positive’ cashflow, not having cash to meet debts as they fall due is a ‘negative’ cashflow.

Forecast : a   financial projection, based on performance to date, of where the organisation expects to be at the end of the current financial period. Revised forecasts are often prepared throughout the financial year.

Impact: the intended or unintended sustainable changes brought about by an initiative, project, programme or organisation.

Mission : the overall guiding direction of the organisation, which usually states your purpose, refers to what your organisation does, who it does it for and what is unique or different about what you do.

Objectives : achievements set out for a business to aim for, often within a certain timeframe. These should be ‘SMART’, ie: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. They underpin planning and strategic activities and serve as the basis for performance monitoring and evaluation.

Trustee: a person who has independent control over, and legal responsibility for, an organisation’s (especially a charity’s) management and administration.  Find out more about trustees on the Government’s website .

Sensitivity analysis: tests different scenarios to see how they will affect your bottom line, for example by increasing and decreasing your financial projections by between 5% and 20%.

Unrestricted funds: money that can be spent on any activity that furthers the organisation’s purpose.

If you query is regarding our application portal, please contact our support team .

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The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558 . Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.

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While the language of business can seem at odds with the aims of voluntary organisations, you still need to plan for the future to get things done, and to account to your members, to funders and to the public as you carry out your activities.

Business planning in uncertain times

Your plan may need to be revised more often in response to the current cost of living crisis. By taking the time to try and identify future risks (such as an increase in costs or a reduction of funds) and some potential ways to address these, your organisation may be better equipped to adapt and respond quickly to lower the risks.

• to clarify and meet your aims and objectives
• to spot potential risks and problems
• to set out your goals
• to measure your progress, keep on track, manage performance
• to ensure you do not accumulate losses
• to ensure you comply with legislation and regulations
• to plan your approach and monitor your activities over time
• to raise money for the organisation or specific projects. It can be shown to other people who might provide or lend money, eg funders, public bodies, the bank.

You can also use your plan to introduce new groups of people to your organisation, such as volunteers or funders.

If you decide to apply to be a charity then the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator will want to see a copy of a business plan, organisational plan or grant application, or any other documents detailing your organisation’s intended activities.

What should our business plan say?

A business plan is a clear and documented account of the activities you have decided to undertake over a given period of time, and the cost of making them happen. It should cover objectives and strategies, and enable the organisation to deliver more effectively. Business plans are as individual as the groups that develop them, but some common elements include:

• the history and background of your organisation and current activities
• future activities – what you are going to do and why?
• when and how you are going to do it?
• where will the money come from? When and how it will be spent?
• how will you assess the potential risks to your project?
• how will you keep track of your progress and spending? How will you monitor and review?
• how will you know if the plan is working? How will you evaluate?

Remember who you are writing the plan for: your management committee, your staff, members, clients. You should be honest and realistic when setting out your aims and objectives and how you intend to deliver them.

The information supplied in the ‘public version’ of a Business Plan may be slightly different to the version you will use for yourself. You should consider the information you supply to any third party carefully.

Who should be involved in the planning process?

Depending on the size of the organisation, it is useful to involve a number – or all – key players in the development of the plan to varying degrees. In voluntary organisations it is quite common to consult with clients, service users or members, as well as staff and/or the management committee.

Useful resources

• MyGov.scot - Writing a business plan Step by step guide to preparing a business plan.
• Forth sector development A business planning guide to developing a social enterprise.
• SCVO Business Planning webinar A look at new, more agile, ways of writing a business plan
• Risk analysis & management
• Monitoring, evaluation and review
• Mergers & collaborations

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